2001 Honda CRV

[daveenty]

What are these like then?

Just thinking out loud really as I'm tempted to buy one, or something similar, just for pootling about in the bad weather we're supposed to be getting. It's not a desperate thing as I have another couple of cars I could use, though I don't particularly like getting them filthy and full of salt.

Any other suggestions would be appreciated, though my stipulations are that it must be petrol, due to many short trips, cheap to buy, £1,500 max though slightly flexible on this, and comfortable.

I've always had some form of shed for the Winter, though I started to go a bit silly in the last few years with stupid stuff including an SRT8 Jeep and a 5.0 supercharged Range Rover. These are the sort of things I now want to avoid, going back to basics as opposed from stupidity.

[MrAverage]

Whilst i can't comment directly on that age of CR-V i can say we bought a newer (07) CR-V and it is a very well put together car and once a few common issues were sorted it is a lovely car to drive.

When looking at any cheap 4x4 i'd look to steer clear of LR products (i don't like them anyway). the CR-V, RAV 4, Sportage etc etc will all do a little bit of soft roading but i think they'd struggle with too much off-roading. it'd be hard to fault them unless you buy a lemon or a real pup.

i've purchased a few cheaper 4x4's and know a few people with them currently; we had a terrano 2.7td which was a very good jeep, a friend has had a few JEEP's and swears by them another won't let his shogun/pajero go for love nor money. they are all worth a look in.

also you have the smaller breed of 4x4's such as the jimny, fourtrak etc. buy jap or korean and you shouldn't go too far wrong!

Edited to add: i wouldn't worry too much about diesels of this age as they are pretty solid units, if you don't like diesels they all have a petrol variant.

Edited by MrAverage on Tuesday 14th November 17:57

[LordHaveMurci]

Lot's of threads already running about these if you do a search.

[steve-5snwi]

I'm looking at the 2004 model, rear brakes seem to be a consumable every 2 years, other than that there doesn't appear to be much else.

[Johnspex]

I've got a 2003 CRV with 137k on it. I've done 200 miles round trips in it but it's really a scruffy dog/tip car. It's wet and mucky where I live and I don't mind putting it in a hedge to allow a tractor past. It's good to know that only the deepest mud at the side of the road when moving over will cause a problem.
All in all I'd say it's great but it does feel like it's going to fall over on bends.
It's a petrol auto.

[daveenty]

Thanks for the comments people.

I was going to look at the car yesterday but half the roads were shut round here due to an accident so I decided to leave it a day or two as I'm in no particular rush. One thing which did surprise me was the insurance cost. My own broker wanted over £600, which I'm not prepared to pay for a low mileage daily dog, though they do tend to specialise in performance stuff.

Trawling through the comparison sites I managed to get this down to around £360, so now it's just making the decision of whether I really need another car or not...

[Johnspex]

daveenty said:

Thanks for the comments people.

I was going to look at the car yesterday but half the roads were shut round here due to an accident so I decided to leave it a day or two as I'm in no particular rush. One thing which did surprise me was the insurance cost. My own broker wanted over £600, which I'm not prepared to pay for a low mileage daily dog, though they do tend to specialise in performance stuff.

Trawling through the comparison sites I managed to get this down to around £360, so now it's just making the decision of whether I really need another car or not...

Blimey, where do you live, Mayfair?
I pay £173 on mine. It is the third car in the house but we pay about the same on each. We're mid sixties in north Devon. The others are an MX5 and a 330i.

[LordHaveMurci]

Johnspex said:

daveenty said:

Thanks for the comments people.

I was going to look at the car yesterday but half the roads were shut round here due to an accident so I decided to leave it a day or two as I'm in no particular rush. One thing which did surprise me was the insurance cost. My own broker wanted over £600, which I'm not prepared to pay for a low mileage daily dog, though they do tend to specialise in performance stuff.

Trawling through the comparison sites I managed to get this down to around £360, so now it's just making the decision of whether I really need another car or not...

Blimey, where do you live, Mayfair?
I pay £173 on mine. It is the third car in the house but we pay about the same on each. We're mid sixties in north Devon. The others are an MX5 and a 330i.

My OH commented on how expensive hers was to insure compared to the Focus she had before.

[daveenty]

Johnspex said:

Blimey, where do you live, Mayfair?
I pay £173 on mine. It is the third car in the house but we pay about the same on each. We're mid sixties in north Devon. The others are an MX5 and a 330i.

Up in N Manchester though a reasonable postcode compared to those a few miles away. I have an E63s Merc which doesn't cost much more than the quote I got, and that's Class 1 business use. I also have a 190E Cosworth which is £140 p/a, albeit on a Classic policy.

LordHaveMurci said:

My OH commented on how expensive hers was to insure compared to the Focus she had before.

This seems to be the impression I'm getting, possibly due to the price and availability of parts, though there's barely a difference between Comprehensive and Third Party, so not sure on that.

Think I may move the goalposts a bit to include something interesting like a Yank...