Honda Element / CRV as a run around vehicle

[unclebilly]

I'm considering a Honda Element or CrV as an appliance vehicle.

I would put on a 2" lift so I could run slightly bigger tires for ground clearance for farm chores such as checking and chasing cows.

Does anyone have any experience with either of these off road or with a modest lift?

[SeanPizzle]

the honda AWD isn't a great system. It's mostly FWD and needs a fair amount of slip before the clutches engage the rear. Subaru is a far better system. I would look at the XV crosstreks and check out Primitive Racing for skidplates and a small lift.

[CurtEgerer]

I have a 2011 CRV 4WD as a work vehicle. I think it's been the best-selling compact SUV for 10+ years. It's been great for reliability. Build quality is good (but pretty much everything is these days). The 4WD system with snow tires doesn't really bother me at all. It's not an Audi quattro, but it's fine. That's the good news.

The problem is it is underpowered and has, quite possibly, the most horrid transmission shift mapping and gearing in the history of motorized vehicles. It's the only vehicle I've owned since a VW bug that requires the throttle on the floor frequently during normal driving. With the A/C on, the car can be dangerously underpowered. The throttle travel needed to maintain a constant speed on the highway is horrible and requires 120% focus. If there is over a 1 MPH headwind and anything over a 1% grade? Good luck. It will hunt between 4th and 5th (and sometimes 3rd) repeatedly. There's no manual 4th which would have gone a long ways toward making it driveable on the highway. Only a manual 3rd. Actually, if you drive it in 3rd on the highway at about 5000-6000 RPMs, it is sort of fun to drive and actually has some throttle response I use cruise control whenever I can, even in the city, and I generally hate cruise control. MPG is not good for a small vehicle, if that is a factor. It's only a few MPG better than my '14 Ram Cummins dually!!

I can't imagine how bad the driveability of this vehicle would be with oversize tires.

While I had the CRV in for 3 months waiting for the Takata air bag recall, I was given a Jeep Compass with the CVT transmission that most people hate. Guess what? I liked the engine/trans combo in that car 10 times better than the CRV.

I'd take a long test drive in a CRV before you decide and see if you can live with it.

[onewhippedpuppy]

My parents have a 2014-ish loaded CRV, it is 100% mediocre. I can think of at least 10 SUVs that would be better suited to farm and light off road duty than the CRV. Oh yeah, and it's expensive to boot. It's basically a tall and overpriced Civic.

[VincentVega]

I think the Element is great, lots of space (holds tons of stuff), weirdly fun to drive and good mpg. But not something I would want to drive in a field or offroad.

[unclebilly]

This is what I am thinking...

[onewhippedpuppy]

Which begs the question - why? There are a number of SUV options that would be more capable stock than a modified CRV, and for less money.

[unclebilly]

A used CRV goes for as low as $1500, an Element is around $3500.

These are rock solid reliable, get good mileage (which none of my bigger vehicles do), and I think could be perfectly capable for what I want to do.

[VincentVega]

I actually think the first one looks pretty cool. To me its the definition of mall crawler.

[onewhippedpuppy]

Spend another $3k on a lift and wheels/tires, and you have an SUV that still isn't half as capable as a $1500 4Runner, Montero, Trooper, Pathfinder, Cherokee, or just about any 4x4 pickup. But if you just want to be different, go for it!

[wildthing]

How many people will be riding the Element on a regular basis? I don't have one, but my friend who has two kids said it was too small and had to trade up.

[CurtEgerer]

Isn't the Element simply a CRV with a different body? I suppose if you're not going to do any highway driving and pretty much keep it in 1-2-3 gears only, it might work as you envision. It is easy to work on as far as oil, trans fluid, diff oil changes, brakes, etc. Easy to get at everything.

My average MPG over the last 120,000 miles is only 24-25. It will get 30MPG if you hyper-mile it.

[wayner]

Early Toyota Rav 4s are tearing it up on the rally circuit

They seem well suited for what you intend

[Oracle]

Uncle,
We had a 2007 CRV and sold it 2 years later because the throttle response time (drive by wire) was dangerously slow to react.. I mean my wife noticed that and trust me, she couldn't tell if a wheel was missing.
Maybe newer ones are better.

But for the farm I would use :

https://www.kijiji.ca/v-cars-trucks/calgary/reduced-1999-toyota-rav4-suv-crossover/1296333955?enableSearchNavigationFlag=true

https://www.kijiji.ca/v-cars-trucks/calgary/1997-toyota-rav4/1298177470?enableSearchNavigationFlag=true

[wayner]

RAv 4 part way through this video