Ladies and Gents,
Well, thanks to many of you, and a good friend of whom I've not met yet, we've come to the end of a long and tiresome search. After a zillion phone calls, emails, checkups, searches and scanning Craigslist and the Trader all over the U.S, we finally got our new toad/toy.
It's a 2011 CRV, EX-L, 4WD, W/NAVIGATION. This car, basically is the last 2011, new, in the state of CA, with those options. Sure, there are quite a few of CRVs in and on various lots and, some have 4WD, and some have NAV but, to have both, was incredibly hard to find. Even in the used market, we had a hard time locating any. And when we did, they were either several states away or, had a zillion miles on fairly newer year models.
We were contending with the facts that we were at the end of the year, and the end of the year model and, while there are already 2012 Honda Fits, Pilots, Civics, Accords and Ridgelines, there ARE NO 2012 CRVs on sale anywhere in the U.S. just yet. They were and are, on schedule to go on sale 12/15/11 but, that's a very iffy situation due to a lot of factors. Some dealers say the 12s won't appear 'till Jan maybe Feb. And yet, we have one dealer that was/is supposed to get one today, 12/8/11. Hmmmmm.
But, long story short, after a lot of looking, we found one 2011, 340 miles away, the last one (with those parameters) in at least the southern part of the state of CA. You folks were a great help in the decision making process. We looked at Chevy Equinox's too. And, while the one we test drove was very nice, I just liked the features, looks, and quality of the CRV better. On our trip home to San Diego, we averaged 29.0 mpg at around 68-72 mph, with the cruise on for about 98% of the distance. It has a great ride, very stable on the roads, very good rider comfort, in our opinion, very quiet for a smaller cross-over SUV.
We do agree the glass should be a tad bit tinted though. There's a lot of glass there and I can't believe that Honda doesn't tint the top part of the windshield. Oh well, we'll contend with all of that, no big deal. The GPS unit is pretty cool with tons of features and options. The salesman helped the War Department program her phone with all the blue tooth stuff and pare the phone book so, that's all done. So far, we're greatly impressed. We've got 400 miles on it and it just turned the fuel warning light on. We'll fuel her up tomorrow. Thanks again for all your tips and assistance here.
Now, it's time to do a search for a base plate, tow bar, and towing accessories. Here's a glimpse of the new girl.
Scott
Scott and Karla SDFD RETIRED
2004 Itasca Horizon, 36GD Slate Blue 330 CAT
2011 White Honda CRV EX-L,4WD w/NAV Toad 2008 Caliente Red LVL II GL 1800 Goldwing KI60ND
Found mine on Ebay. It was a well known RV parts store from Tennessee that has a Ebay store and has great buy it now prices. They often have combination deals for both the base plate and tow bar.
Good looking toy you've got there. I like white, every second vehicle I buy is white... You will be glad you didn't make any sacrifices, despite all the effort that went into the hunt.
Mr.Mark wrote: Scott, we have 50,500 miles on our '07 CR-V with another 49,000 of towing. Perfect compact SUV for towing. You will be very pleased with the CR-V.
I was thinking of trading for the 2012 CR-V but haven't verified if it is towable 4 wheels down like the previous model.
MM.
MM,
Thanks for the encouragement. We're looking forward to hooking her up and movin' on down the road. As for the 2012 and towing, I've read several write ups on the new unit and, no one's mentioned that it "WON'T" be towable. But, no one's mentioned that it "WILL" either. Most of the article writers are giving it mixed reviews. They're hacking at this or that while giving it OK marks in other areas. Honda for some reason, they must have good one, is still keeping the 5 speed auto trans while 98% of the competition for it is using 6 speed autos. I guess they think if it works, why change it? The gas mileage is keeping right up there with the 6 speeders.
According to some of the base plate makers I've emailed, there are none available for the 2012 CRVs YET! I have no idea how long, after the first 12s hit the show room floors, (which no one knows for sure), there will be a base plate made and we've got trips planned for the middle part of Jan. So, the 11 got the pick.
Scott
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