Honda cars have been available on the Irish market for a long time, but they always seemed to be low key, with sales not spectacular. But you can expect to see more from Honda, now that they are part of the expanding Gown group.
The headquarters for Honda cars in Ireland was for many years located at Brownsbarn on the Naas Road. They have moved, but not far, simply crossing the busy motorway and they are now under the Gowan umbrella in Orchard Avenue, CityWest.
Gowan can give the brand the marketing support that it needs and expect to see Honda climbing the sales chart, if they keeping producing excellent cars like the new plug-in hybrid version of the CR-V, that I drove last week.
Honda started producing their CR-V in Sayama, Japan and Swindon, England in 1995 and they say that the letters CR-V, stand for Comfortable Runaround Vehicle; few will disagree with that statement.
Initial models of the CR-V were built using the same platform as the popular Civic. The previous version of the CR-V was available as a standard hybrid but now Honda has introduced a plug-in hybrid to the range for the first time.
The CR-V plug-in hybrid uses a 2.0-litre petrol engine and a large 17.7kWh battery which you can charge to give you an approximate fully electric driving range of around 80km.
If you want to charge the car overnight, it would be used as an urban run-around in EV mode and I reckon it would look good on the school-run next month also. But to really to enjoy this car I think you would should head for the hills, or at least some country roads for a long drive and you will appreciate the comforts it offers.
The colour of my test car was Platinum White Pearl and the Monday I picked up the car was surely the brightest Monday of the year, so the car glistened in the August sun. It’s also available in other attractive colours like, Crystal Red and Canyon River Blue.
I liked the high driving position. In the cabin you get a neat infotainment screen on the dash and the main controls are located in the column that separates the driver and front seat passenger. The controls are well laid out and easy to use. And the good news is that Honda has retained a good old-fashioned button to control the radio volume.
The seats are black and overall the interior décor is a bit dark, but the sun roof certainly brightened up the interior.
The plug-in hybrid has biggest boot of the CR-V range at 617 litres. It’s really awesome and should be able to cater for the needs of most Irish families no matter what hobbies they have. A powered tailgate comes as standard.
The CR-V has a sporty look with 18-inch black alloy wheels and a piano black mesh grille. LED headlights come as standard. Last week a few people I met thought I was driving a Volvo, not a bad comparison.
Prices for the Elegance version start at €69,995, while the Advance version will cost you €74,995. Both come with 4WD, while the 2WD Advance Tech version is cheaper at €67,995. Road tax is €140. I know it’s a lot of money, but then it’s a massive car.
It’s a really impressive car to drive and travel in. I loved it. Take a test drive and I think you will be impressed also.
