Our trusty V70 is on the verge of eating its autobox and its been utterly abused since we’ve owned it and it owes us nothing hence thinking of scrapping it.

Thinking of replacing it with a petrol MK2 CRV as we don’t need such a large estate anymore, mainly local journeys hence wanting a petrol.
I do my own tinkering/servicing and a quick google doesn’t throw up much to be overly concerned about.

Any STWers have one? any help and info appreciated.

I have the diesel not the petrol, so no point in any engine stuff.
I believe they can have problems with the 2/4wd thingy, basically two fully open hydraulic circuits until front wheels are spinning faster than rear, detects and engages rear, know to have been a weak point on earlier mk2s. I think this system means you have to keep all your tyres on abour the same wear. A/c compressor pumps are know to disintegrate and pollute the whole system with metal shards. Check upper hinge on rear door as if its not been lubricated the pin will wear and rot and your rear door will fall of.
Apart from that seem to be pretty solid, bags of room for passengers and stowage, though it took me by surprise that I couldn’t get the bikes in it as easily as my old Octavia estate, I do it now by taking both wheels of and standing them on the bars and saddle using bungees to hold it down.
Loads of stuff on their forum but a lot of it ‘Merican so not sure if all points are valid. Hopefully by now all the lemons have been eliminated from their gene pool and only the good ones are left.
I like mine, suits my driving style ie not very fast.
Best of luck.

Thanks for the info Mucker.
Am having 2nd thoughts though – looks like the timing chain/tensioner set up is similar to my transit (ie crap) and the achilles heel for these engines.
I change my vans oil every 5k miles and its recommended 5k changes for the CRV as well but obviously very doubtful if people would ever do that.

Ah, Ok, wasn’t aware of that, the diesel is also a chain not belt but I thought they were pretty much bombproof.

top end clatter at start up and cold idle due to the timing chains stretching. Im looking at 100k mile examples so its a cost that needs factoring in for me.

We ran a petrol 2.0 2002(?) for about 5 years, from 10K to 80K – main car, family run-around and general workhorse. The most expensive thing to go was £100 on a seat belt stalk. Had an oil change every year, cheap independent servicing and cleaned intermittently. Inside was large, childproof and held up well to the usual mucky dog + toddlers. It was quite thirsty but seemed to be pretty much bombproof.

For what it’s worth the chap who serviced it ended up buying one – was suitably impressed with it mechanically. I’m considering one as a station car – sad we sold it.

We had one for 12 years and as above it was a bit thirsty but totally reliable, 4WD worked perfectly in snow and the only money spent on it was for servicing until recently when tyres and rear brake calipers gave up. Just bought a Mk3 to replace it. Great for chucking bikes in the back, seats up or down. My mechanic said it had another 100k in it no worries.

I had a 2004 petrol for a while. Bombproof, nothing went wrong. Hated it, least favourite car out of the many I’ve owned. Uncomfy seats, had to lean forward wnd twist to reach anything on the dash, thirsty, crap brakes, didn’t handle,rubbish sat nav. Apart from that it was great.

Excuse slight hijack OP. How flat do seats fold ? Bikes in with seats up means both wheels off I assume ? What sort of money do they fetch ? I’m looking at getting another older model Rav4 having had one before but would consider a CRV

Absolutely acres of room for bikes in the back with the seats folded down. I loved the 2003 petrol we had but it started suffering with starting issues which we couldn’t find the source of, looking back I still think it was the timing chain but didn’t want to fork out the £100 Honda wanted to plug it in to their computers (was quite tight on money at the time). As for the 4wd mode I’m not sure about that tyre wear thing, ours had the same tyres as the inlaws farm pickup and was superb in the odd field and also commuting in the High Peak snow around Buxton which was horrendous at the time. Would definitely consider another.

Absolutely acres of room for bikes in the back with the seats folded down

Cavernous with the seats down, less so with seats up as there’s plenty of room for rear seat passengers which costs boot space.
Seats fold completely flat
Lived in rural Perthshire at the time, up a farm track, and never had problems getting anywhere.
Very reliable, had mine for 3 years, sailed through MoTs
Biggest problem was fuel costs, very thirsty. reason I get rid was a couple of high mileage years so changed for something more fuel economical.