Haven't noticed any undue wear or noise - overall the car is
exceptionally quiet and user-friendly except for the (DIESEL) engine.

Its a noisy unit although powerful and smooth. I get a terrible noise
almost like exacerbated pinking on a petrol engine which my main
dealer claims is a feature of the car. In short, I have to drive
everywhere with the radio on which is annoying if you are transporting
people and trying to talk.

Love the car, hate the engine. My first and last Honda that I wish I
could afford to replace.
http://www.jsmdistribution.co.uk

Taps, Sinks, Showers
MP3 Players & Spy Gadgets

it's not ful time 4WD, the rear kicks in only when the system detects
slip at the front.

cause iny problems (tyre wear,transmission wear or noise

a bit of additional maintenance.
a bit of a loss of fuel economy.
tire noise depends upon what tires are delivered on the car in your
market.

during the recent plunge in car sales in the USA, Subaru emerged as
the least impacted. Subaru's AWD system is MUCH better than that on
the CRV.

Neville,

I agree that the 4wd system is not up to the performance of Subaru.
However, I own a 1998 CRV. I live in the upper peninsula of Michigan. We
average 300 inches of snow per year. I have no problem getting around on
snow or ice. We have 5 months each year here of continual snow and ice.
The CRV works well enough that I have never had a problem getting about.

I bought this vehicle new. My repair bills have been miniscule. My
largest bill ever was $400 when It was time to change the timing belt.
That was two months ago. This included a water pump because it was open
and easy to replace when changing the timing belt.  This is a durable
automobile.

However, I am not pleased with the gas mileage I get. I think the 4wd is
costing me extra money in fuel. The good news is that I do not drive my
vehicle as much as most people do, so I do not use that much fuel.

My mileage in summer on the highway is 26 mpg. In winter (the worst) my
in town mileage is 18 mpg. I consider this pretty horrible. But I am
driving in below zero weather on streets with lots of snow.

Perhaps Honda has done something with their newer CRVs to improve
mileage. I don't know.

At 100,000 miles now I have had NO failures except the ignition switch.
This cost me $50. This is not a bad record.