HONDA’S CR-V IS A COMPLETELY RESPONSIBLE VEHICLE Honda is taking great pains to point out that its latest CR-V is not a typical 4x4. Owners have allegedly become so alarmed by the obsessive anti-4x4 lobby that the car maker is sending out window stickers so all CR-V owners can point out their car is “safer, cleaner and smaller”. Naturally, the text is in green. Perhaps Honda should be emphasising this CR-V possesses the Core Roaduser Values that make it a Completely Responsible Vehicle. This car is, after all, space efficient with a sensible estate car body, good for its CO2 outputs, and has four wheel drive for safety in bad conditions. This is no Chelsea tractor. And car magazines are wrong to include this CR-V in the same comparison tests as the new Land Rover Freelander. The two are not the same although I agree they share an estate car body style and 4x4 driveline. For the purposes of this road test, I did not, for instance, off-road the CR-V. But I did off-road the Freelander. If you buy a CR-V and even green lane it you are off your trolley, although it would probably cope with occasional escapades. (Surprisingly competent off-road - Editor) When considering CR-V purchase, you would not discuss its wading depth, ground clearance, or approach, departure, and ramp over angles. But when buying a Freelander, these 4x4 essentials should be paramount and among the first things you enquire about. If they are not, you don’t need a Freelander. This Honda, made right here in Blighty at the Swindon plant, should really be compared with the likes of the Dodge Caliber and Nissan Qashqai. The Dodge is no 4x4 but the Nissan can possess this attribute if you want it to. Like the Honda, you would probably not dream of taking the Nissan off-road. But you would consider running the kids to school in either and not feel guilty about anything other than your dearest possessions gradually losing the use of their legs through lack of walking. I not sure any of these three – Dodge, Honda, or Nissan – really fall into the much-maligned SUV category any more. The Honda did for its first two model runs but has fundamentally changed for its Mark 3 iteration. And it keeps such a low profile that if you don’t use Honda’s window sticker most 4x4 protestors won’t even realise what it is. Not that it is any smaller than the car that went before. I had my test car parked in the High Street of a Cotswold town when the previous model passed by. If anything, the new car looked bigger but its dimensions were shrunk by the trick of not having a spare wheel hanging off the back. The test car was a 2.2 litre diesel EX with advance safety pack costing £26,717. It would manage almost 40 mpg, which is not bad. But a flashing warning light prompted a recall of the car by Honda and saw it replaced with a £20,227 ES 2.0 petrol model that managed 35 mpg with no trouble at all. The moral of the story might be that if the rest of the world is queuing for a diesel CR-V then grab a more readily available petrol car instead, although it might be more difficult to sell on. Either car is superb. The interior seems to have had a quality lift since the last car, which it needed if Honda is asking people to stump up the asking price of the diesel I had. The CR-V is an excellent package and if you try it you will be convinced too. And the recall of my test car turned out to be unnecessary. Someone had nicked the handbook so I was unable to detect the lamp was merely the collision mitigation system telling me to put the brakes on. The last thing you need to concentrate on when you should be stopping. Too much nannying these days! Maurice Hardy Annette's View The arrival of our second Honda CR-V test car demonstrated two things – the slickness of Honda’s team and the satisfaction to be gained from running a lower value car. We called Honda’s press office at 6.15 p.m. to enquire about the warning lamp, no explanation could quickly be gleaned for it, and by 8.15 the next morning the petrol car was outside the house. And judging by the way the car was built, this positive, can-do mindset pervades the whole company. That’s why many British-built cars these days carry the names of Japanese companies. As a family car, the CR-V has peers but few equals. It fulfils its role well and the ES would suit most people’s needs, even if you opted to spend extra cash on the diesel. Some of the styling is a little unfortunate – the front end looks like it was designed by a committee in conflict where the chairman was too weak to come up with a ruling. On the diesel test car, with its bluish paint, it was not too obvious but the bright red of the petrol car really drew the awkwardness of the styling to your attention. But you could live with that in order to enjoy all the car’s other qualities. If 4x4 estates appeal to you, Honda has crafted near perfection. Car: Honda CR-V 2.2 I-CDTi EX Does it fit your ego?... 0-62 mph: 10.3 secs Top speed: 116 mph Bhp: 138 @ 4000 rpm Torque: 251 lb ft @ 2000 rpm ...and your wallet?... Price: £26,717 Urban: 34.9 mpg Extra urban: 49.6 mpg Combined: 43.5 mpg CO2 emissions: 173 g/km,br> Insurance Group: 12 Best bits: sensible body; good economy; improved quality.