Just returned from my first major road trip with the CR-V. Here's some
mentionables:

Gas mileage. On the hi-way, I was able to get 26-27 mpg most of the way.
Sometimes it would be lower if the traffic clogged up in spots or if we
stopped a lot. There were two adults and 2 kids. Also a small dog. The
cargo area was full of luggage plus a cooler with food. Also, I drove 75-77
mph most of the time. I bet mileage would go up more at slower speeds and
less cargo!

The AC worked perfectly. I hear many complaints about this, but in the high
humidity and upper 90's of La, it worked fine. Many times, we had to put it
on low speeds as the inside cooled off. Yes it was hot inside when we'd
first get in but, if you roll the windows down and keep the recirc on it
works much faster.

The electric windows, were a little bit unnerving at times. I have to keep
the main switch off because the kids love to play with the switches, but my
wife can't use hers. Wish the switch would only lock out the back. The
location of the power window switches is awkward, especially at night. If
it had lighting like the rest of the panel, I don't think it would be as
bad.

The ride is extremely smooth. Compared to other SUV's, there is none better
in my opinion (in it's classs). My brothers Jeep and a friends Explorer
can't compare. My wife loved the fact that she could get to the back w/out
me having to stop. Adults rode in back on ocassion and could not believe
how comfortable the back seat area is.

I am so glad we didn't get a Jeep!

>I wish I could say my trip this past weekend was as good. I got horrible
gas
>mileage (20mpg). I was so depressed. There 4 lightweighted adults in the
car
>and 1 small suitcase and a couple pillows. I did usually 70-75. I have the
>manual transmission and when I came to a big hill, if I did not have a
>running start it would just die. I ended up getting stuck in a 3 hour
>traffic jam on the way home (maryland to connecticut). Three hours of
>clutching and braking. I was regretted taking the Cr-V and not taking our
>Saab. If you know anyone else who has had as bad of luck please let me
know.
>Or if you have any idea why I had suck bad luck with gas mileage and horse
>power please let me know.
>
>- Diana


I was probably as loaded down as you, but when driving around 80 for long
periods, I noticed the mileage was not as good as when going 65. My last
tank I avereged 26.7 mpg hiway, I drove much slower on that tank and that
also included 3 to 4 stops and some in town driving. I may experiment a
little next week. I will fill up, and with just me, go on a short trip
driving 60'ish to see how much better mileage I get.

Also I plan on getting a K and N filter to help the engine breath better.
Will also switch to synthetic oil at 7500 miles.

BTW, how many miles does your CRV have? Mine is improving with every tank.
I now have 4400 miles on mine.
David

I live in Scotland and have a Passion Orange 5 speed CRV ES. Like yourselves I
seem to be getting 26-28 MPG when mostly cruising around 60-75 mph. However this
drops remarkably when pushed any faster. This is quite important, when you live
in a country where gas costs 67 pence per litre, which is approx 5 dollars per
gallon. You Americans are so lucky !! I did research this prior to buying it,
so I knew it would happen and I am not too concerned about it.

You also get off lightly on the original cost of cars. I paid 18000 pounds for
my CRV, which is approx equivalent to around 29K dollars. The spec includes
sunroof, aircon, roof rails, alarm and immobiliser, and alloy wheels. As you can
see we are being ripped off left, right and centre. Anyway I digress.......

The fuel gauge seems to drop very quickly due to the relatively small fuel tank.
I don't know why honda have fitted such a small tank. My last car was Ford
mondeo with a 2 litre engine. This had a 68 litre fuel tank which gave a range
of about 450 miles compared with the CRV's meagre 58 litres which is only giving
a range of about 300 miles. Given the relative size and lack of aerodynamics I
would have expected a much larger tank on the CRV.

I do a lot of travelling in my CRV and find the neverending visits to the fuel
stations to be only drawback to a remarkable car. If I could get a larger tank
fitted, I would do it in a heartbeat. Is the CRV tank a leftover from the much
smaller Civic ?? or is it the underbody design which limits the tank.

Ian writes;
>I live in Scotland and have a Passion Orange 5 speed CRV ES. Like
yourselves I
>seem to be getting 26-28 MPG when mostly cruising around 60-75 mph. However
this
>drops remarkably when pushed any faster. This is quite important, when you
live
>in a country where gas costs 67 pence per litre, which is approx 5 dollars
per
>gallon. You Americans are so lucky !! I did research this prior to buying
it,
>so I knew it would happen and I am not too concerned about it.
>
>You also get off lightly on the original cost of cars. I paid 18000 pounds
for
>my CRV, which is approx equivalent to around 29K dollars. The spec includes
>sunroof, aircon, roof rails, alarm and immobiliser, and alloy wheels. As
you can
>see we are being ripped off left, right and centre. Anyway I digress.......
>
>The fuel gauge seems to drop very quickly due to the relatively small fuel
tank.
>I don't know why honda have fitted such a small tank. My last car was Ford
>mondeo with a 2 litre engine. This had a 68 litre fuel tank which gave a
range
>of about 450 miles compared with the CRV's meagre 58 litres which is only
giving
>a range of about 300 miles. Given the relative size and lack of
aerodynamics I
>would have expected a much larger tank on the CRV.
>
>I do a lot of travelling in my CRV and find the neverending visits to the
fuel
>stations to be only drawback to a remarkable car. If I could get a larger
tank
>fitted, I would do it in a heartbeat. Is the CRV tank a leftover from the
much
>smaller Civic ?? or is it the underbody design which limits the tank.
>

Yes, I definately agree there is a point where the gas mileage really drops
at a certain speed. To me it's anything over 75 mph. My best mileages were
at speed around 65-70. after 75 it seems to drop a lot. But I'm sure
there's lot's of other cars that do that.

While in Georgia last week we paid 86 cents per gallon. I think it's the
cheapest state on the east coast. I wish I had a fuel truck with me at the
time (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

David

I wish we had some of the great colored CR-V's that you have in Europe!!!

Hank


-

>I live in Scotland and have a Passion Orange 5 speed CRV ES

Yes, I think it is strange that the colour range differs so much between
countries. Since they originate in the same factories, I cannot see why the
whole range is not available to all countries, especially a large market like
the US. However you can console yourselves with the thought that our CRV's
cost nearly twice as much as yours. Coupled with this, there is a much larger
aftermarket in the States. Finding suppliers of add-ons for a CRV in the UK
is very difficult and expensive.

Ian...

>However you can console yourselves with the thought that our CRV's
>cost nearly twice as much as yours. Coupled with this, there is a much
larger
>aftermarket in the States. Finding suppliers of add-ons for a CRV in the UK
>is very difficult and expensive.
>
>Ian...


That's why they cost so much more everywhere else. Since we Yanks can't get
the wide selection of colors, Honda gives us a slight discount (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)



David

Does it worry you a bit to have the engine spinning at 3700rpm (give or take
a few rpm) at 75mph? It does me, so I tend to stay down around 3200 rpm
(110kmh or 65 mph).

My mileage so far is about 32 miles per imperial gallon, or 25ish per US
gallon. My CR-V has only 5000km (3100 miles) so I'm hoping for an
improvement as things break in.

Cheers,

Todd

>Does it worry you a bit to have the engine spinning at 3700rpm (give or
take
>a few rpm) at 75mph? It does me, so I tend to stay down around 3200 rpm
>(110kmh or 65 mph).
>

No, I doubt if the extra rpm's matter at all. maybe after 200,000 miles it
could, but by that time I hope to have a 2015 CR-V EX ;-) normally my
driving is in town and short runs on the highway. We don't take a lot of
long trips, so the extra rpm's are probably not significant.

In my Escort GT my rpm's are about 150 rpms lower at 70mph.

David

That's pretty neat. My other car is an Escort GT too! At 150,000 km it
still runs great, but the rpms are about 250 lower in 5th than my CR-V (also
in 5th). Are your cars automatic?

I'm pretty sure, by the way, that the reason my Escort has gone all those km
without burning any oil (still runs like new) is the slick 50 I put in. And
the fantastic quality of the mazda engine. My drive to work is 40km one way
(24 miles) on the highway at 65 mph, every day so the car sees lots of high
revs.

I'm hoping to get well over 200,000km from the CR-V, so I'm trying not too
stress the engine very often over 3500rpm (same theory I used on the GT).

Cheers,

Todd

I bought a 2003 CRV EX in November 2002. Upon my recommendation, my
uncle also bought a CRV. We have been very pleased with all aspects
of the CRV except the gas mileage. The mileage was the number one
reason why we chose the CRV over other options, and we deliberately
chose mileage while missing out on the the V6 towing capability of
other makes. The advertised rate of 27 mpg on highway is WAY off.
My uncle reports 22 mpg on highway and I just finished a trip of 680
highway miles and I got 20.82 mpg. I know that speed and AC
contribute to the decline - but not 7 mpg!

The mileage on my 2002 CRV-EX from 11/29/01 through 8/5/03 is 23.5972MPG
(19497.80miles/826.275gal). This represents almost 2-years experience in
hot/cold, city/highway conditions. My MPG is still increasing BTW!

As far as I know HONDA has to publish the numbers obtained during EPA
testing. They can't pull these numbers "out of thin air"

AB, LI. NY

That is strange! In my 99 CRV-LX (OK, this has a smaller 2.0L engine), on last
count I got 24mpg and that is within city, with >50% times AC-on. So 27mpg on
highway should easily possible.

However, I run with a little higher pressure than what Honda recommends, 30psi,
both in front and back. Also, I strictly follow the speed limits and smooth
driving rules.

Regards,

I drive my '98 LX 4WD (with 115k mi. on it) like a bat out of
you-know-where and we typically get about 25-26 MPG in the city and
30-35 MPG on the highway.

I keep our tires at 35 psi and I've added a DC Sports DAC intake and
Random Technology high flow cat.

BTW, while towing a trailer loaded with one half ton of batteries
(Optima YTs) and with four full-sized adults plus luggage packed to the
ceiling we got 24 MPG from Milwaukee, WI to the middle of South
Carolina, where we dropped off the batteries. We then continued on to
Florida and eventually home again, and got about 28 MPG for the rest of
the trip. Average speed on the highway was about 5 over whatever the
limit happened to be at the time.

Later,

Matt

Garry,

Driving two Priuses will just about equal the mileage of one CR-V, with
just about the same carrying capacity but absolutely no towing
capability. Why, may I ask, did you get the Prius? In my opinion it
is not a very nice car. The Honda Civic Hybrid is far superior and it
gets better gas mileage. The new '04 Prius is much improved, but still
an inferior product.

I have a Honda Insight, I regularly get 60 MPG in the city and 75 MPG
on the highway. Its a great small car and it handles like a sports
car, but the CR-V still has more power than any of the hybrids
currently available.

I can't wait for Honda to release the hybrid CR-V. When that happens
I'll be trading up.

Later,

Matt

Matthew,

After modifying back-pressure and inlet resistance did
you need to modify the fuel management programming?

-David

David,

I haven't modified anything but the intake and the cat. I have noticed
no ill effects with regard to timing or fuel management.

I am due for a valve adjustment and overdue for a timing belt
replacement however. :-)

If we keep this CR-V long enough I plan on a full exhaust upgrade
(headers and a cat-back system), in addition to an MSD ignition system,
performance ECU chip and AEM adjustable Cam gears. Possibly even the
Jackson Racing Supercharger if I run into some money, though I'd have
to ditch the chip then.

I killed the rear suspension towing those batteries halfway across the
country, now the back is sagging. The whole suspension needed to be
replaced anyway. I'm trying to find an airbag system to put in it, but
I may settle for a threaded-strut-body coilover system instead.

BTW, I had mentioned that I was replacing my upper ball joint on the
driver's side due to a noise in the area. Well, I did, and it turns
out that it wasn't the ball joint causing the noise after all, though
it did need to be replaced. It looks like the CV joint (the whole
half-shaft) is the next to go.

Later,

Matt