UKC

Hi folks,
we are heading out to the States for 2 years and I've been looking at buying a car out there.

Where my wife is going to work, there are a couple of CRV's for sale, very good spec and price. 07 model EX which has every conceivable extra I've ever seen on a car with 80k miles, 4 x 4, 2 litre petrol and a 08 EX model which is a 2,2CDTI diesel 90k miles

Both are in immaculate condition, full history and both have had 2 owners. So I know petrol is cheaper but to me it's all a bit of a false economy although the petrol version seems to do about 32 mpg on the motorway which is most of my wofe's commute but the diesel does a lot more and may suit us for road trips. Both are about £6500 or there about which seems comparable with UK and US fleabay prices.

Long story short, does anyone have or have had one of these and what did you think of it?

Cheers, Den

In reply to Denni:

I had one for a couple of years in Switzerland. The 2006 model I think. It was far from the most exciting car I've ever had but pretty much trouble free. I quite liked the driving position though it was a bit of a beast to park (our didn't have radar and Swiss parking spaces are tighter than, er, the Swiss).

Mine had the spare wheel on the tailgate which was a bit of a pain, if you park on a hill (boot door weighs a ton) but by no means a showstopper.

It's really not great 4x4; didn't inspire much confidence in the snow as the 4 wheel drive always seemed to kick in just after you'd stop needing it but unless you're taking it properly off road I can't see this being a big deal. The auto box was a bit old school with pregnant pauses between changes but only really noticeable going up steep hills.

My ex wife found it a little challenging to drive because of the size and achieved some spectacular damage despite the low speed of her mishaps - but I'm not sure I can blame Honda for that...

In reply to Denni:

I had a CRV from new 2003 and put 150,000 miles on it.

It was a very solid bit of kit, built like the proverbial brick karzi, I liked it but the missus didn't, she didn't find it that comfortable.

In reply to Denni:

We've had an 06 plate one for 6 years, never had any mechanical problems, wife drives it daily as "her car", comfortable enough for us, never had any problems with heavy boot (??) or parking and the car has coped with the snow in Scotland.

Boot is a great size for transporting gear (incl. bikes) but the rear seats don't fold down flat enough to allow sleeping in the boot, apart from that its been fine

In reply to Pids:

Hi folks,
thanks very much for all the replies, much appreciated.
Having looked around, I reckon we are pretty much sold on buying one.

Test drove a diesel and a petrol at the weekend, both great and spec is massive! Like the ride position and all the space. Just have to decide on which one now, thinking of the diesel so we can then import back into the UK when we come back.

Any more tips, keep them comng.
Cheers, Den

In reply to Denni:

Just a thought - will it be worth the cost of importing the car when you come back, instead of selling it there and buying another here?

In reply to Denni: 2.2D is one of the best going.

In reply to Tall Clare:

Hi Clare,
luckily we get a free import and export allowance with my wifes job and we would get less money that end for our car meaning we would have to fork out more this end on return so will use the free iso container to our advantage :0)

In reply to Stu Tyrrell:

Cheers Stu, that seems to be the best choice so will probably pull the trigger.

In reply to Denni:

We have one here...very nice to drive, very comfortable.

I'd go petrol here, almost everything is.

Would you import? I'd sell it here tbh.

In reply to Denni:
Ok that makes sense