1998 Honda CR-V ES review from UK and Ireland

Touch wood, nothing went wrong with it yet. Only minor thing which already existed when I bought it was a knocking sound coming from the suspension bushes (I'm not sure of the exact terminology here) but I've been told by my mechanic that it won't be an issue apart from the noise coming when I go over bumps. So I won't get it fixed until next year's MOT (annual inspection)

This is my 11th car in UK and 15th overall. I've always had second hand, usually old cars with high mileages (bangers as we call here in UK) and experienced a lot of problems as well as reliable ones.

Although I had the car for a few months yet, I'm pretty sure it will stay at the top of my reliability experience list. It feels like it's going to go forever!

It's very comfortable on long journeys. I've just done a 320 mile return journey and didn't feel any tiredness at all.

My version has the rare leather seats which was a must for me as the cloth upholstery looks horrible! It has a lot of comfortable gadgets like fold down picnic table, fold down arm rest for the driver and a lot of storage areas around.

The rear seats can be adjusted to lean back, which is a first for me, and very comfortable for rear passengers. They can also be folded down for huge loading space.

I only have two negative points for this car. First one is the fuel consumption, which is usually quoted as 30mpg in the reviews. I've measured very carefully and found that in day to day drive, you'd struggle to get past 23mpg! However, on a long, steady 70mph motorway journey (see above) I managed 29mpg. The other negative point is the way the boot opens. You need to open the window first before opening the door. You just can't open both at the same time. But after you get used to it, you stop bothering about this minor problem.

As for the performance, I only rated it 6 out of 10 because it's my first 4x4 and I'm comparing it to my previous cars. Nevertheless, you still get the v-tec experience if you floor it (if you are OK with 23mpg or less consumption that is)

I didn't try the CR-V off road and I'm not planning to. I bought it purely for road driving.

It's got very good visibility, but you need to keep the spare wheel sticking out from the back in mind when backing into a tight spot.

The road noise is not more than I expected from a 4x4, but compared to a car it's a lot higher on motorway speeds.