Street smart

Honda's best-selling soft-roader has gone, er, a bit soft.

Okay, everybody has heard of that old factoid that 90 per cent of SUVs don't step off the road. You know, people buy these big cars which are sometimes capable of reaching Mount Everest base camp, but in real life, the highest incline they would see is that of a speedbreaker on the way to work. But people buy them nevertheless, because with these SUVs it's the case of "it's not as if you would, but that you could".

But automotive manufacturers are a clever lot. Why give their customers the ability to ford streams and criss-cross deserts when all they want is a large, powerful machine for the daily commute and the occasional long-distance drive, and of course, handle a pothole or two?

They had the answer: soft-roaders "" large, spacious cars that looked the part but with car-like driving dynamics, and power going to all the four wheels only when the computer inside decided it was necessary. Hey, suddenly everybody is happy.

The Honda CR-V is one of the best examples you can get of a soft-roader today. It is certainly big, with room for five adults to discuss office politics in peace. It has terrific space at the rear for the proverbial kitchen sink as well. It has an incredible number of thoughtful touches that make living with it a comfortable and convenient experience.

But more importantly, it drives like a car... not any car, but a dynamically sorted, well-engineered car. And despite its size, it handles brilliantly, it is nimble and the steering precision is amazing. I am not done yet. The 159 bhp 2400cc i-VTEC four-cylinder engine is another marvel of engineering that does a beautiful job in matching the CR-V's driver-friendly attributes.

Besides that, Honda's Realtime 4WD which features as standard, means better safety and handling "" essentially, the CR-V is front-wheel driven in normal conditions, but when the need arises, power is transferred to the rear wheels as well.

Okay, you know all this. So what's happened this time around? Well, remember the old adage (90 per cent of SUVs...)? Honda has taken it mighty seriously. They have added another CR-V to their lineup which has a smaller 2.0-litre motor and have done away with the all-wheel drive system.

You see, Honda had a 2.0 i-VTEC motor in the last generation CR-V, which they have now brought back in the new one. And by removing the AWD system, they now have a cheaper, entry-level CR-V. While the 2.4 CR-V's price would have been a little forbidding to many (almost Rs 19 lakh for the manual version, ex-showroom Mumbai), the Rs 17.67 lakh price tag means it has become that much more accessible. So how different is the new 2.0 version compared to the bigger-engined sibling? Read on.

The 1997cc four-cylinder 16-valve SOHC motor produces 141.5 bhp at 6000 rpm and 19.4 kgm of torque at 4200 revs.

This engine is no less a gem compared to the 2.4. It is smooth and refined and, when you step on the gas, exhibits a beautiful urgency and note that stays in your mind long after you have parked it for the night.

And it makes the SUV fairly quick too. It attains 60 kph in just a little over 6 seconds and dismisses the 100 kph dash in 12.71 seconds. And a top speed of 173.2 kph is not bad either. Timings aside, for most of your driving applications, the power it develops is more than adequate.

Still, it's only when you have driven the 2.4 version that you know where the 2.0 loses out. The 2.4 has a better flow of torque and max engine power develops at slightly lower rpm levels.

Besides this, the 2.4 is much more relaxed at higher engine speeds and on the go, is quick to recover when the revs drop, compared to the 2.0-litre engine. And you'll experience this in stop-and-go traffic as well. It is perhaps keeping this in mind that Honda is not offering the 5-speed automatic transmission for the smaller-engined CR-V (and of course, there's the price and fuel consumption). That said, you won't find the 2.0 wanting under most circumstances.

Added to this equation is that snappy, short-throw six-speed manual transmission that makes the CR-V driveable across most conditions. Initially I thought that the sixth cog was superfluous, but when you get out on the open highway, trust me, without realising, you'll shift to the sixth gear and enjoy the cruise.

Another significant difference with this CR-V is that you can stretch that litre of fuel a bit more. In the Business Standard Motoring long-term fleet, we had a 2.4 automatic model, which returned 5.5 kpl in city driving conditions. This one returns well above 8 km to the litre in the metro and over 11 kpl on the highways.

Does the absence of AWD make a significant difference to the driving experience? Again, not in most conditions that you'd usually put the CR-V through. Power going to the front wheels in a large SUV seems quirky, but this is only to be expected from these new generation car-platform based monocoque SUVs, where the electronics step in to make them all-wheel drive.

But in the 2.0 CR-V, there are no such electrical impulses that transfer the torque to the rear wheels. It does not make much of a difference if you treat it like a normal car, whether you are driving to work or going out of town on straight highways.

And it is especially true with the CR-V, which is about as close as an SUV can get to a car when it comes to ride and handling attributes. Where the AWD system helps is in low traction conditions like rain and when you are battling sharp curves. Here, the grip levels you get allow the driver more confidence and makes the car more capable. So don't overdo it when you see some corners, treat the 2.0 CR-V like a tall car and you'll still enjoy tackling them.

Once, people driving SUVs on urban roads were taunted as road-hoggers and major contributors to global warming. But now, with these soft-roaders, it's not the case anymore.

These machines are essentially tall, spacious cars for people who don't want conventional sedans. The new 2.0 CR-V is a car that probably defines this category. So what if it cannot make the grade in one of those gruelling Rainforest Challenge events?