It's been a couple months since I last jumped into our long-term 2007 Honda CR-V, and it didn't take long for me to fall for its charm all over again.
Everyone knows I have an arduous commute to office, and a recent flop of morning responsibilities to haul my two-year-old nephew to daycare has given this pint-size SUV a beautiful halo of light. Not until I climbed into the narrow back seat of my Mini Cooper to rip the Recaro baby seat did I realize that maybe a bigger vehicle would make life easier for me to play mommy in the morning. Within minutes, I had the child seat strapped in and ready to go for the week. The Honda back seats are nicely equipped with all the right hooks and doohickeys that make these complex child safety seats a breeze to attach and remove.
My nephew enjoyed the ride all too much from the back seat. It took moments for him to fall into a deep sleep somewhere between home and the daycare. He got a kick out of the sunroof. I left it fully open, and he would just watch the sky pass before nodding off to sleep.
With the slow decrease of gas prices, the CR-V was less thirsty than I remembered on the long stretch of highway I travel. Good thing, since I normally fill up at least three times a week. Its peppy 2.4-liter motor also handled like a pro through the Cajon Pass on highway 15. It didn't lose power as I climbed the steep evaluation change and hardly required more gas as it remained steady at the speed limit. In traffic, however, the throttle response wasn't as quick as I would have liked. There was a brief second of lack of power between standstill and acceleration.
For what it's worth, the CR-V is great on gas, is small enough to zip around town, and makes playing mom a lot easier without sacrificing the comfort and peace of mind of the driver and pint-size passengers.