The Need for a New GRU Car

For the new series of fifty, we needed a brand new GRU car. After a few polite phone calls to the nice people of Honda, they told us to log on to their online configurator and choose ourselves a brand new CRV. This gave us a lot of options to consider.

The First Choice: Luxury Spec

We started by choosing our spec inevitably. The first choice was the most luxurious EX model, which came with a parking camera, Bluetooth, and a nice audio system. We were impressed with the features that came as standard on this trim level. It's always exciting to see what Honda has in store for their new models.

The Engine: A Refined Option

The next choice was our engine. Honda have just updated their 2.2 liter turbo diesel to make it more refined and powerful. This was a no-brainer, as we knew this engine would deliver the performance we needed. We were eager to put it through its paces and see how it performed on the road.

Gearbox: A Manual Option

None of us really like driving automatics, so we chose a manual gearbox for our CRV. We wanted to feel more connected to the car and have control over our driving experience. The manual version of the CRV does an impressive 43.5 miles per gallon, which is a great compromise between performance and fuel efficiency.

Paint and Trim: A Personal Touch

We then chose our paint color, opting for metallic blue with black leather trim. This gave us a sleek and modern look that we loved. We wanted to personalize our car to make it stand out from the crowd.

Extras: Safety and Practicality

For the extras, we went for the advanced safety pack, which costs £2,090 mainly because it comes with adaptive cruise control, which makes motorway driving much easier and safer. We also wanted to test out how it worked. Additionally, we chose a tow bar, as sometimes we need to tow equipment or trailers.

The Total Cost: A Price Worth Paying

The total cost of our new CRV was £34,595, which included all the extras and features we had chosen. While it may seem steep at first glance, we knew that this car would be worth every penny in the long run.

First Impressions: Spacious and Comfortable

Our new crew car arrived a few weeks later, and we were thrilled with our first impressions. The CRV turned out to be much more spacious than we had expected, making it perfect for carrying soundmen, cameramen, and equipment from one location to another. It performed exceptionally well on long trips, keeping everyone comfortable and happy.

A Comfortable Drive

The car is also very comfortable and quiet on the motorway, thanks to its soft squishy seats that are supportive yet gentle on our backs. While it may not be the most exciting car to drive, we found it to be accurate and easy to handle, much like many other Honda models.

Niggles So Far

So far, there have been a few niggles with the car. Despite driving very gently during its running-in period, the CRV has only averaged 33.4 miles per gallon over the first 1,500 miles. Additionally, the gearbox can sometimes feel notching resistance, especially between first, second, and third gears, which makes it feel like we haven't pressed the clutch properly.

A Promise of Improvement

However, Honda assures us that these issues will improve as the car runs in. We'll continue putting the CRV through hard use and upload another video soon to let you know how our experience progresses.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enfor the new series of fifty we needed a brand new GRU car so after a few polite phone calls to the nice people of Honda they told us to log on to their online configurator and choose ourselves a brand new CRV the first choice was spec inevitably we opted for the most luxurious gex model this gave us a parking camera Bluetooth and sang the next choice was engine as Honda have just updated their 2.2 liter turbo diesel to make it more refined how powerful it was the obvious choice and then we had to choose a gearbox none of us really like driving automatics so we chose a manual and the manual version does forty three and a half miles per gallon whereas you also only does 38 then we chose metallic blue paint with black lever and finally decided what extras to have we went for the advanced safety pack which costs two thousand and ninety pounds mainly because it comes with adaptive cruise control which makes motorway driving a lot easier and because it comes with collision avoidance and we wanted to test out how it worked second we went for a tow bar purely because sometimes we tow stuff total cost was thirty four thousand five hundred and ninety five pounds and then a few weeks later our new crew car arrived so far we are very pleased first impressions are that it's a lot more spacious than we expected it to be its first job was to carry me a soundman a cameraman and two days with a filming kit from a hotel in Heathrow to our office in Birmingham and it cooked absolutely perfectly without any complaints from anybody it's also a very comfortable quiet car on the motorway has nice soft squidgy but supportive seats and even though it isn't massively exciting to drive it accurate and easy in the way that a lot of Honda's are just to niggles so far and they are as follows firstly despite the fact that we've been driving very gently during the cars running in period it has only averaged thirty three point four miles per gallon over the first 1,500 miles and secondly the gearbox is actually quite notching resistance which I didn't expect from Honda's especially between first second and third if really feels like you just haven't pressed the clutch properly but I promise you that half hopefully though the fuel economy and the gear change will improve as the car runs in so I will reserve judgment for now so we'll continue putting the CRV through hard use and upload another video soon to let you know how we get tofor the new series of fifty we needed a brand new GRU car so after a few polite phone calls to the nice people of Honda they told us to log on to their online configurator and choose ourselves a brand new CRV the first choice was spec inevitably we opted for the most luxurious gex model this gave us a parking camera Bluetooth and sang the next choice was engine as Honda have just updated their 2.2 liter turbo diesel to make it more refined how powerful it was the obvious choice and then we had to choose a gearbox none of us really like driving automatics so we chose a manual and the manual version does forty three and a half miles per gallon whereas you also only does 38 then we chose metallic blue paint with black lever and finally decided what extras to have we went for the advanced safety pack which costs two thousand and ninety pounds mainly because it comes with adaptive cruise control which makes motorway driving a lot easier and because it comes with collision avoidance and we wanted to test out how it worked second we went for a tow bar purely because sometimes we tow stuff total cost was thirty four thousand five hundred and ninety five pounds and then a few weeks later our new crew car arrived so far we are very pleased first impressions are that it's a lot more spacious than we expected it to be its first job was to carry me a soundman a cameraman and two days with a filming kit from a hotel in Heathrow to our office in Birmingham and it cooked absolutely perfectly without any complaints from anybody it's also a very comfortable quiet car on the motorway has nice soft squidgy but supportive seats and even though it isn't massively exciting to drive it accurate and easy in the way that a lot of Honda's are just to niggles so far and they are as follows firstly despite the fact that we've been driving very gently during the cars running in period it has only averaged thirty three point four miles per gallon over the first 1,500 miles and secondly the gearbox is actually quite notching resistance which I didn't expect from Honda's especially between first second and third if really feels like you just haven't pressed the clutch properly but I promise you that half hopefully though the fuel economy and the gear change will improve as the car runs in so I will reserve judgment for now so we'll continue putting the CRV through hard use and upload another video soon to let you know how we get to\n"