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I'm thinking of buying a 1996 Honda CRV. Are these cars reliable and what faults if any do they have?

Michael

From the "Ask Jack" archives - 14 December 2009

Around 1996 was the introduction of the CRV into NZ and like every other make and model, huge improvements have been made over time.

The CRV sold new in NZ was actually a domestic Japan model initially and when an export model was launched mechanicals such as brakes, suspension and wheel stud numbers were all improved for a global market.

That doesn't make the early versions bad vehicles but if you could move up to a 1999 / 2000 year model you would notice a huge difference.

Their one big weakness in the early days was in the automatic transmission operation. It was a very sloppy and lazy change most noticeable going around roundabouts and the like. The best transmission was when they had an overdrive button on the end of the select lever.

Like the RAV4 the CRV was a huge success from day one in NZ but I would go for a later model to be honest. If you are looking at a manual then a lot of fears of high maintenance costs would be reduced.

They also run a cam belt (up to around 2006) which should be replaced every 5 years or 100,000kms.