I am your man! I'll tell you ALL about it!

Two years ago, I bot a 2005 CR-V Special Edition (top o' the line) to have
as a 3rd family vehicle that my then 15 year old daughter would, shortly,
drive primarily. My thinking was that eventually I'd give her that car as a
junior or senior in college. My wife drives a Mercury Mountaineer (Explorer)
and I drive a luxury car. So the CR-V also serves as my "daily runner" when
I don't want my "good" car out.
Ford Escape/Mercury Mariner were also on my list but I asked myself this one
question: Which vehicle, in 5,6 7 years from now, will will have the best
odds against generating "Dad, my car is making this noise/dummy light is
on/won't run/the dealer says needs a $2000 repair". While I knew intuitively
that Honda was the answer, a timely article said that an 8 year old Honda
had fewer defects than a 3 year old Ford. Case closed.

Well, the 2005 was a great vehicle. Got 20MPG in Pittsburgh hills, versus 13
on the Mountaineer. I felt that if I was going to feed a 3rd vehicle, I
wanted AWD...this is PITTSBURGH. But I did not want another piggie like the
Mountaineer. Yet I still wanted something big(ish) and safe enough so that
when my affluent suburban neighbor's SUBURBAN/ESCALADE run into my CR-V, we
would stand a chance. The side curtain air bags and stability control give
me SOME confidence in this respect. I certainly would NOT put myself or my
kid into anything smaller, at least not as long as the Jones are driving
Suburbans and Hummers.

Well, I took the CR-V in for an oil change and saw the 2007 model. One thing
led to another and I traded. (Honda resale value on the old vehicle, by the
way, was the deal-clenching factor....our Mountaineer was worth about half
in just 2 years...the 2005 CR-V was worth MUCH more. If you keep them
forever as per my original plan, it doesn't matter but if you are a 2-4 year
holder than resale actually makes the higher upfront priced Honda/Toyota
cheaper to own for that period than the competition that depreciates much
faster).

The 2007 rides like a "real car". The 2005 was OK, but you could feel the
bumps like a "small car". For $26,000 (top 'o the line EX-L) you get about
85% of a Lexus ES330 for only 60% of the cost. Honda's got a MAJOR winner
here. The current plan is, again, for my kid to get this vehicle in a few
years OR my wife might take it over when my daughter goes to college and our
Mountaineer will be 6-7 years old and we'll get our daughter something else
(or another CR-V) when the time comes. My point is that the 2005 was not
"good enough" to be my wife's "primary" vehicle...it was a great "3rd
vehicle". But the 2007 reaches "primary vehicle status". The ride is SO much
improved. Same great gas mileage too.

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