Having had my winter beater ’92 Shadow develop a case of headgasket-itis, I figured it was time to get a good vehicle. I had a few things in mind – the only prerequisite was that it would have to be automatic, so my wife could drive it. I wasn’t sure what to get – but figured on it being Japanese.
I have to confess – I’d said previously that the Shadow had lasted till May – it didn’t even get that far. Looking at these pictures, I would have to say it gave up the ghost in March or so, given the snow. My wife and I had also gotten married the previous May (2007), and we had a baby on the way – I wasn’t going to cart them around in a $300 car.
Anyhow, we went looking in Halifax for something that would suit us. She still had her Mazda 3, but wanted to be able to use it if the weather was bad. The CR-V interested us the most – I don’t remember looking at anything else at the time. I had two uncles that each had one, and they were given good service by them.
All 3 CR-V’s together. Mine is in the middle.
We settled on a black ’01 EX. The EX had some extras like remote keyless entry, aluminum rims, and some other stuff I can’t recall. It had a shade over 200,000 KMs on it, but it ran well, drove tightly, and was a price I could afford. All the switchgear had that traditional Honda feel of being solid. The mileage didn’t scare me off, either. These CR-V’s had a 2-litre DOHC engine, one of their B-series engines. It was kind of a high-strung engine, needing to rev to make its power. The transmission suited it – it would hold out its shifts to keep the engine in the power band. I find it really annoying when something shifts too soon and you’re left lugging the engine. It handled well, too, and was quite good in the snow.
Taken just after I bought it.
The instrument panel was laid out nicely, with clear gauges, a nice notchy column shifter, and all controls fell easily to hand. It even had a maintenance reminder that’d change colour from green to yellow to red as you got closer to oil change time. One annoying thing about the CR-V was a lack of variable intermittent wipers. The heater and air conditioner gave no trouble, and all the other power accessories worked well.
It proved to be mostly reliable over the time I had it. I changed the timing belt and water pump before it gave trouble, but it did develop two strange issues. The first time it left my wife stranded on the side of the road 150 KM from home. It had a sudden loss of power, and would not make much more than 20 KM/H on the road. We had it towed home.
It’s a shame you don’t sit up this high in the new CR-V’s.
Some research pointed towards a plugged catalytic converter. I tapped on the converter and could hear a rattle. Sure enough, some of the substrate inside had broken away, and was plugging the outlet. With that replaced, the CR-V was back to its own self. The second issue it developed was stranger still. It developed a bad surging at 1700 RPM. It wouldn’t set a trouble code, though. After reading some on the online forums, it was suggested that it may be the idle air control motor. I replaced it with a new one, and it was the same. Someone else suggested the mass air flow sensor – replaced that, and it made no difference. I took it to the dealer, and they couldn’t find anything apparent, but they did suggest that it could be the computer. A used one was installed, and the problem went away. Upon pulling the old ECM apart, I could see a burnt spot where some component had failed.
I’d put about 60,000 KM on it in my 2 years of owning it. I enjoyed it, but I was starting to get tired of it. The final straw came when a wheel bearing had failed in the front. The rotor had rusted so badly, it was stuck to the hub, and the same went for the axle, which had also seized to the hub. It took a few hours, a press, and lots of heat to disassemble. The other side starting to get noisy sealed the deal. I cleaned it up, put it up for sale, and it sold quickly.
A final goodbye.
Was it stone-reliable? No – but it wasn’t new, either. The front end appeared to be all original in it aside from sway bar links, and the body was still in good shape 10 years after it was built. My wife’s Mazda was rusting badly after 5 years. This version of the CR-V couldn’t have been too bad overall – I still see them regularly, with the newest one being 17 years old.
Considering the high mileage your CRV had when you bought it, you had less trouble with it than some newer vehicles, and I’m sure its current owner is quite happy with it as well. Both of my sisters have Hondas that have racked up plenty of kilometres (I’m Canadian as well) and are still running strong. My younger sister has a 2000 Accord and a 2006 Odyssey (both bought new) that get regular use, and my older sister has a Civic with over 300,000 km on the clock. It’s never given them any trouble and still looks good. She also picked up our late mother’s 2010 CRV from the estate, and her and her husband get plenty of use from it.
Looking forward to your next COAL.
My wife bought a 2014 CR-V new, and has 172,000 KM on it currently. We had one issue with it, the heater core had plugged internally at around a year old, and it was repaired under warranty by the dealer. Other than a set of rear pads at 60K, and fronts at 150K, that’s been all that has been replaced other than tires, wipers, etc.
It’s been the most reliable car we’ve owned so far.
Japanese computers were famous for having bad capacitors as the cause of failure.
I have fixed more than a few Mitsubishi computers with this problem.
These, as you know, are known to be good vehicles. Perhaps you just got an unlucky one.
Control module problems and catalytic converter failure are low probability events, with symptoms that can be difficult to diagnose, especially if they don’t cause error codes, though I would expect the catalyst failure to cause a code.
That thing with the front hub sounds like a real pain to repair at home. It was good that you had the ability to do it. Both of the Outbacks in my fleet have needed front hub replacement, which I had not done before. Tight bolts, difficult access, and rust combined with inexperience made these challenging repairs that took longer than I had hoped they would.
My in-laws have two of these, one of similar vintage to the subject of the article, one that is two or three years old, and have been very happy with them, with no major problems that I am aware of. The older one had a wiring issue in a brake and tail light harness that proved challenging for their mechanic, but I think that it has only required regular maintenance otherwise.
It wasn’t really bad – who knows what happened to it before I owned it – I think if someone ran it a while with a miss, it could cause the cat to fail. Wheel bearings, etc – it seems to be a crap shoot. A first replacement of wheel bearings/ball joints/etc over 200K KM is a win, really, especially with the rotten roads here
These gen 1 CRVs are my favorite. Fantastically airy greenhouses, handsome styling inside and out, and freakishly durable running gear. 2nd gens improved on the formula with keeping most of the best parts and introducing the substantially more powerful K24 (possibly one of the best all around 4 cyl motors anyone has ever made), but I find them to be kind of ugly. I’ve often thought about picking one up as a winter/utility vehicle, something to keep salt off my beloved 4Runner. Just keep the valves (good old screw and locknut) adjusted on that B20 and they’ll just keep going and going. Undercoat it in Fluid Film and you’ll have a lifetime car.
My parents had one of these, and I recently had to take my 86 year old mother off the road and sell her 2001 CR-V. They’d bought it in 2003 with 40,000 kms on it and it had 71,000 when I sold it. It had been garaged all it’s life and was in nearly perfect condition. Stereotypical elderly-owned car. I drove it a for a week around this time, due to my only available car being distinctly unsuitable for March use in Calgary, and I found it wimpy and buzzy but still solid. I had to remind myself that it was 17 tears old and even the tires were original, so I cut it some slack. I am used to either much older or much newer cars so my perspective was perhaps not great.
I sold it for $8000, after being literally inundated with responses to my local ad. These are evidently held in high esteem and I could have held out for more but the sheer nuisance of replying to all the ad responses got quickly tiresome.
My parents loved this car, though frankly I always thought it bland and average. My mother in particular liked familiar things – she drove her 1991 Acura Integra until 2015, the CR-V was my father’s car until he died in 2014.
This is among the cars that I have always wanted but just never had one pop up at the right time when they were more common. One with a stick could still seduce me if it were in good enough condition.
Mrs JPC and I test drove one of the next generation in 06 before we bought our Fit. I never cared much for its looks. It was roomier than the Fit, but not by a lot, and not by enough to offset the fuel mileage penalty. It was also a fair amount more expensive. Had this generation still been selling, our choice might have been different.
I am still driving a 2001 HR-V as my daily, 230.000 km on it now, and it simply keeps on going. 1.6 engine, no vtec, engine probably will outlive the body, because it sure rusts with the salt we have here on the road in winter. Timing belt and waterpump replaced at 200.000, and maybe some fresh sparkplugs, filters and oil this month before it’s getting winter again.
(Winterwheels on in this pictures, from a Civic hybrid)
I really like these. I appreciate the practicality of the 2001 CRV which is the subject of the COAL, but IMO the look of the HRV from the same year has aged much better.
Despite already having too many cars, I’ve sometimes thought about buying an inexpensive but reliable vehicle with higher riding 4wd capability and I think this is what I’d choose. I’ve even test driven a couple.
Smaller than the CRV of course so it wouldn’t suit everyone and I understand that CVT is to be avoided, but it would work for me. The VTEC model wasn’t sold in Australia – but no salt on the road and not much rust in modern cars where I live either.
Thanks for the good read! Nice to see a doggo like mine who enjoys a a quality Honda. I’ve had our 2011 CRV since June and am very pleased with it. At 100k miles it still retains it’s jewel like quality. A gift from my sister after our Town & County self ignited, the original tires, and brakes were replaced at 93k. An AWD model, my only wish is for more hp and and better than 26mpg. Three of our neighbors have them, one with 179k and never an issue. Aside from a stuck rear brake caliper I haven’t had a issue ( nor did my sister in the 80k she drove it). Looked at new one for kicks. My, have they gotten big!
I have driven both a 1st and a 2nd generation CR-V with the thought of buying but just couldn’t shake the feeling that I was driving a Civic hatchback on stilts. The 1st generation car had an automatic transmission and FWD while the 2nd generation car had a manual transmission and AWD. Having owned 3 Civics from the 90s, the CR-Vs were familiar feeling and like nearly every brand of Japanese car that I have owned had controls that were logical and well placed.
From having spent time in successive generations of the CR-V I got the feeling that the same folks must have been involved with the design process from all or at least most generations as they all seem to drive somewhat similarly. And yet, I don’t have a strong desire to own one unless I am looking for a small wagon, which doesn’t happen all that often. For me, a CR-V is like the reliable friend who will always “come through” for you, but that has never been to your home.
I had a the same problem of a plugged cat with my previa. The wife called from work saying the van was down on power. I drove it back and couldn’t do more that 80 km/hr. I was thinking it might be the transmission but after some looking on forums figured it was the cat. Took it down to the muffler shop and was surprised when I picked it up the bill was only $80. Got home realized they cut out the car and welded in a straight pipe. Oddly it doesn’t give me a check engine light and we don’t have emissions testing here.
I had the computer go on my old vanagon that was a hard one to diagnose. It would buck under certain conditions. After putting in a new fuel pump idle air control valve and a bunch of ignition components (and $). I finally gave up and took it into my mechanic he suggested we put a new computer in. One plug and a big Phillips screw and it was running fine. $1000 for a new one but I got lucky and he had a good used one for $300.
Damn British Car….
I know the 2nd generation, and I believe this first, were built both in Japan and Northern Ireland. Japanese ones were shipped to the West Coast and Northern Irish ones to the East. Our second generation, Northern Irish built one has had its share of problems, bad front bearings from the factory, warps front rotors every 10,000 miles, power steering pump, taillight losing function, broken roof rack from factory.
I’ve wondered if there was a difference in both factory defects and reliability from the two plants…