2001 - 2006 Honda CR-Vs

ateixeira

That's gotta be better mileage than your other truck. :-)

-juice

djg4312

It was $22,500 out the door. I believe the breakdown on the bill of sale was 21,700, plus 715 for the 3% tax and 65 title, plus 85 dealer fee. As mentioned tho, they threw in the foglights, which I know probably only cost them $100 or so, but would have cost me just over $400 installed. So, I feel that I effectively got the car for a base price of $21,300 to 21,400. I'm happy with the deal.

gatorgreg

...I suppose it's not too early to remind everyone to be sure to attend the 4th Annual Big Hondacura 4x4 Scrub on Feb. 15, 2003 at the Caddyshack in St. Augustine, Fla. It's only three months away, woohoo! Details on the upcoming Scrub can be found HERE

Here's a pic from last year's 3rd Annual Scrub to whet everyone's appetites



GoongalaGoonga

rrube

I know this has come up before but I am unable to find reference. Is there anyway to turn off AC so
it does not come on with defogger. This seems that it should be up to the individuals preference- I have a 2003 CRV.

varmint

For anyone in the FLA area, I highly recommend the Scrub. Last year I made the drive from Boston and had a great time (that's me with the open door).

If you're in New England, we have another meet in Cooperstown, NY (baseball hall of fame). That's coming up on December 7th.

We're already planning next year's Honda SUV Olympics, as well.

luv2motor

Varmint,
I'm interested in learning more about the meet being held in Cooperstown 12-7. What exactly takes place? Is this for Honda CRVs only? Can any CRV owner attend?
I'm about 2 hours away!
Thanks

h1vc

Type 9435 into message# go to

denise31

Which color can withstand all sorts of weather the best?

Are car/SUV covers any good for preserving paint?

Especially from bird droppings!

Which color is the most popular?

daveghh

black shows dirt. Silver you rarely have to wash becasue it looks clean.

If you have lots of red clay in your area then disregard my comments.

varmint

Luv2motor - Any CR-V owner may attend. For that matter, I'm sure just about anyone can join us. By chance, we met a group of PT Cruisers on our last outing. I was ready to start a rumble, but they left before I'd had enough to drink. j/k

This link will take you to the itinerary.

vickieb

A friend of mine just purchased a 2003 CRV 2WD LX. Price of car $18,300 out the door after tax and license $19998.57. I'm also looking to purchase a CRV within the next few weeks and was wondering if this was a pretty good price. Any input appreciated.

Thanks

2003corolla

The price of $18,300 is pretty good. I just got a quote here in Wisconsin for a 2WD at $18,460.00. The dealer said that this was a "RARE" version.
How many 2WD LX versions will Honda make? Can I order one when I am ready to purchase?

moonkat

"By chance, we met a group of PT Cruisers on our last outing. I was ready to start a rumble, but they left before I'd had enough to drink. j/k"

Love the quaint, effette, psuedo-macho personna...LOL-)

ateixeira

Get silver or beige/gold. Light metallics are good. They almost never look dirty.

Avoid black or other very dark colors, which shows swirls and dust/pollen easily.

-juice

gatorgreg

I agree with ateixeira's comments above, with the key being "almost"

Thanks for the plug Varmint

ateixeira

Do they sell a Metallic Mud Clearcoat color? ;-)

-juice

qgu

After a whole day of rain, I found my spare tire was wet. The problem was that it stayed wet for many days because of the cover. I wonder if it is a good idea to have it covered. Especially here in northeast, the street water are salted in winter.

ateixeira

Wax your wheel to protect it. In fact, do that to all your wheels (I believe both the steel and alloys are painted).

It stays clean, prevents corrosion, and prevents ice/slush from sticking to the inside of your rim and throwing the wheel off balance.

I'd use a cover to keep the tire from drying out and cracking.

-juice

beatfarmer

I do get much better mileage with the 'V, but its hard to beat the range of a 42 gallon tank.

My 'V is black and it looks clean for about 40 seconds after I'm done buffing it. I haven't washed it since before the drought restrictions went into place. Looks more hazy dark grey than black right now

ateixeira

42 gallons? Wow. Then again, it probably takes an hour to fill that up! :-)

As far as colors, we have:

white: bad, because dirt shows
dark green: bad, swirl marks and dust/pollen shows, salt from snow trucks also shows
light green metallic: good, hides everything

-juice

trilliumsteve

RRube, the routine I used to enable the AC to be turned off in defog mode is in message #9101. I tried it exactly as it is described, and it works like a charm.

denise31

Thanks to everyone for helping me decide the color of my new 2003 CR-V, silver it is!!!!!!

Hopefully a car cover will keep it safe from some environmental damage.

dtruong8

Although my CR-V had many unresolved rattles and squeaks, I have learned to cope with them. (Not to mention the first time I discovered the brakes clunking

This time, whenever my CR-V leans towards the rear driver side, I hear a rough noise, somewhat of a croaking very repetitively and quickly.

This sometimes happens whenever a bump actually hits the rear driver side wheel. Accelerating up a hill or driving over a large mogul, at least there is pressure to the wheel, the noise arises.

I'm suspecting something loose in the suspension. It is difficult to reproduce to the dealership though. Any opinions? Thanks!

pescadito10

The person that had a friend buy the car for 19998.57, please let me know what state they live in or the tax % and tag fee. I am tryin to get mine for 19949. here in Fl. but they don't whant to budge from 20150.
thanks.

segross

Sherwood Honda, in Delray Beach, Florida, has advertised in today's newspaper, a 2003 Honda CRV for $ 18,495. This is probably for a LX 2WD version. You will have to add destination fees of about $460, dealer prep fees of $400 to $500, plus tax, title, tag.

thedane

Currently considering 2003 CR-V. Can any current owners comment on the CR-V's ability to drive on sand. From what I have heard and read, the AWD system is really not suitable for other than paved roads (which would be 99% of my needs) but I do occassionally want to drive on the beach. Thanks.

slugline

The CR-V is not the best vehicle on the market for sand driving, but the true issue is not the RT4WD system; it operates wonderfully on the beach. The number one problem is with the stock tires. Compared to the competition, the CR-V is equipped with small and narrow tires that have a tendency to dig in; a larger contact patch lets you "float" on the sand. Letting some air out before hitting the beach helps with this. Some owners have swapped in more appropriate off-road rubber.

Otherwise, I can tell you from personal experience that a RT4WD CR-V is pretty fun in the sand and the mud!

gatorgreg

thedane, I agree with what slugline said above, the CR-V is great fun on the beach. I think I can sum up my thoughts on off-road driving in the V with two rules/pics. First, always remember that you are driving a Honda and not a Land Rover. Therefore, rather than driving directly through obstacles, if at all possible I try to go around them - as demonstrated in the pic below. The V's nimble size and excellent steering are almost as important as the RealTime 4WD and 8.1" of ground clearance IMO.


Second, if there's absolutely no way to get around a particular obstacle, you may want to risk going directly through it - just make sure you've always got a good tow strap in the back just in case Remember: no locking diffs or low range on the V

richk6

Just curious how clean the back of the engine bay stays after mud and sand driving because of the large A-shaped openings in the wheel wells to accommodate the steering rods. I have never driven off-road, but have installed rubber boots in my wheel well openings to keep out road salt in the winter. They do a good job.

inkie

Could you elaborate some and describe the "boots". Where did you purchase the materials for fabrication or are the ready made? Thanks,

hondaman02

I would like to have info on that as well.

varmint

One thing left unsaid in Gator's post. Always walk through an obstacle like deep water. You never know what the water might be hiding. Paisan has a good pic of a Soob driver who ignored warnings about driving in a water hazard. They ended up damaging the front of the car on a submerged stump.

About 8-10 months ago, someone posted a link to plans for those "boots". IMHO, it's a waste of time, unless you show the car and need to keep it in pristine condition (or you're just a neat-freak). No offense, but there is no evidence to suggest that dirt in the engine bay leads to damage, rust, bad karma, or anything else.

gatorgreg

Hey Varmint, rather than walking through it, I prefer to use a tree branch to check for obstacles and depth of the mud - but then again I'm a bit of a sissy
As for the boots - I agree it's a waste of time myself. However, here are a couple of links to more discussion / info on rubber boots for the 2nd gen V's front wheel wells:
Link ONE
Link TWO

ateixeira

I agree with varmint, another example is driving around in flood conditions - careful, you never know where a huge pothole would be.

On an off road jaunt, just let someone else cross the water first! :-)

I went from 205/70R15 (CR-V sized) to 225/60R16 tires on my Forester, and those had great floatation on sand. No problem at all at the beach or in the Pine Barrens on sand/dirt.

Saw a big GMC pickup that got stuck - he hadn't aired down. 18psi was good for me. I drove by but stopped to offer help (LOL).

-juice

gary_william

I recently leased an '03 CRV and the dealership says that since I leased it through Honda that they charge a fee of 550 bucks on top of the price of the vehicle. Anyone have an idea what this fee is for?
gary_provencher@hotmail.com

varmint

Gary - Greater profit.

richk6

The rubber boots I installed in my wheel wells are a variation of plans on Brit Chris Walkers web site. WWW.cwbr22088.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk. He has plans in text, photos and diagrams. He glued his pieces of rubber on the A-frame border in the wells. I installed mine with self tapping screws and washers. They are basically two pieces per well, leaving a slot opening for the steering rods. I used rubber from a cheap set of floor mats. His site is very informing and he answered some questions I had through e-mail. Hope this helps.

joulupukki

I'm planning to move back to Europe and I'm considering of buing a new car to bring over also. One of the canditates is CR-V, but I'm wondering how similar are the models in Europe compared to here ? I know that the engines are different (2.0 l vs 2.4 l), but I'm more worried about the body parts (fender bender, cracked windshield, etc.).
Does anybody have information about that ? Dealers are quite useless and I haven't been able to find a proper e-mail address for Honda either.

Thanks.

inkie

Thanks for the response as to what you used.

crvic

My toddler daughter got a hold of my remote key entry thingy and popped open the rear glass gate I assume before 8:00 pm last night. This morning I discovered that, as a result, the light was on all night long. The 'V started right up, but would that have weakened the battery?

Kindly offer your thoughts.

jfigueroa1

No, your batt should be ok, just give you V a ride and the cars will take care of the charging if any is need it.
Greetings from sunny Miami.

ateixeira

You might want to take a long highway drive to let the alternator recharge the battery fully.

If that battery had been 4-5 years old, it would have been toast.

-juice

crvic

I drive 45 miles to work on the interstate so that should have charged the battery.

andries

My understanding is that the canada honda plant does not make the CR-V. If so then where are they brought in from?

rerenov8r

Japan & England.

My suspicion is that MORE Canadian CR-Vs are built in UK than Japan, as is generally the case with US models.

Further complicating matters, the Candians have different specific content than either US bound, consumed in the UK or 'homeland bound' CR-Vs...

Good news -- though folks like to speculate on which are "better built" nobody has been able to find any meaningful statistics to suggest that the UK built CR-Vs are better or worse than the Japanese built units.

arkydog

I have over 5000 mi. on my new 02 CR-V. Since about 4,000 mi. I have been noticing a pronounced tendency for hesitation coming out of clutch, mostly at speeds that require 3d gear (I have the 5-spd). This tends to occur right after I release into 3d and again a few seconds later if I accelerate strongly, as in merging with traffic or changing lanes. I don't notice it when I'm not accelerating as strongly.

It feels like throttle or choke is holding the engine back and then finally releasing it in some sequence other than changing gears.

Ordinarily, I would say it's just my own clutch coordination, but I'm releasing my clutch the only smooth way I have found that works with this vehicle, which is very different from my 93 Suzuki. None of the other speeds or gears seem to choke this much. In any event, I am not holding in the clutch too long and I am fully releasing it each time I shift.

Have any other 5-spd drivers noticed this hesitation? If it is a throttle/choke problem, I know that it is not likely to be obvious to the dealer, so what are my options? Thanks.

dmundy1

The Honda plant in Alliston ON makes the Honda Civic, and Acura EL sedans, the Acura MDX, Honda Pilot, and Honda Odyssey (I worked at the plant for a few years). Congrats on the new CRV, hope you enjoy it, I have a '99 CRV and have had zero problems thus far.

rerenov8r

...so it can't be an drive-by-wire issue.

Fuel injection does not require a choke.

My suspicion is "they all do that", so I would strongly recommend asking dealer if you could please test drive another.

If it does NOT seem that the tester is the same as yours, it might be something as simple as a loose spark plug wire or as messed up as the entire PCM.

Get is fixed under warranty, if there is indeed a problem.

Good Luck.

soccermum02

Our '02 is Japanese and all the CRV's that we looked at (many) and test drove (three) in Ottawa were from Japan.

protege_fan

In Calgary, my parent's '02 CR-V is from Japan as well, as were the others that we tested on the lots at 2 different dealerships.