Honda CR-V:
Posted by George Peterson on July 30, 2012 at 12:39 pm
AutoPacific’s Ideal Vehicle Award (IVA) recognizes the vehicle that best hits the target its buyers demand. Winning an IVA shows the product planners, engineers and designers of the manufacturer understand what their target customers want and have created the vehicle to best meet their demands.
Honda CR-V Edges Subaru Forester for IVA Win: The 2012 Honda CR-V comes closest to the ideal of any Mid-Size Crossover SUV. The CR-V edges out the second place Subaru Forester by 27 rating points to win in its class. Having eighty-percent or more of owners rating a characteristic ideal is outstanding. Achieving a score of ninety-percent is even more impressive. Ninety-percent or more of Honda CR-V owners rate its wheels ideal. Eighty-percent or more of Honda CR-V owners find these additional characteristics ideal: exterior size, interior lighting, passenger roominess, cargo space, exterior styling, driver’s seat comfort, ride and handling, tires, ease of getting in and out and safety features.
The Honda CR-V was also best in class in AutoPacific’s 2012 Vehicle Satisfaction Award research.
A Few Shortfalls – Some Could Have Been Offset by Selecting Available Options: About 26% of CR-V owners want better infotainment technology than now. About 25% want better driver’s seat visibility. About 24% want more power and acceleration than now. About 23% want more interior storage compartments than now.
You can find an Autobytel review of this IVA award winner at http://www.autobytel.com/auto-news/awards/ideal-suvs-pickups-rated-by-owners-in-2012-iva-awards-112117/
For a complete summary of all AutoPacific 2012 Ideal Vehicle Award results contact karin.turner@vehiclevoice.com and title your email “IVA Results”. A copy of the results will be emailed to you within 48-hours.
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Posted by Stephanie Brinley on August 11, 2009 at 6:38 am
“The Honda CR-V wins the 2009 Motorist Choice Award in the Mid-Size Crossover SUV segment. Traditional CR-V strengths include brand reputation, vehicle reputation, reliability/dependability, durability, and overall quality. What a base to build upon! Even subjective attributes like exterior styling and environmental friendliness were highly rated. A solid winner.” — AutoPacific
“The CR-V has best-in-segment ownership costs. The CR-V has the highest retained value and strong insurance, fuel, and maintenance costs.” — IntelliChoice
Owner Satisfaction Highlights
* Brand and Vehicle Reputation
* Reliability / Dependability
* Durability
* Overall Quality
* Safety Features/Feeling Safe While Driving
Cost-of-Ownership Strengths
* Best-in-Segment Ownership Costs
* Best Retained Value
* Low Insurance Costs
* Low Fuel Costs
* Low Maintenance Costs
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Posted by Keagan Patrick on January 8, 2008 at 4:33 pm
The real news with the 2009MY Forester is not the drivetrain; because you still get the 2.5L H4. Nor is it the trim levels available; from X to XT to the L.L. Bean edition. The real news is image. The next generation Forester will have a much bolder image for 2009 and as a result fewer snide ‘station wagon’ remarks.
Segmentation
Around here segmentation is very important, it’s not always easy and it changes every year. The whole, “If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck…” thing doesn’t always work. When it comes to segmentation there are multiple variables at work, vehicle platform, body, seating position, competition, profitability, etc., etc. And when it comes to the Subaru Forester, it seems to be one of those vehicles lost in segmentation limbo. From Subaru owner blog sites to critics asking “Is it a station wagon or a ‘crossover’ it’s been somewhat of an issue plaguing the Subaru Forester.
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Posted by Keagan Patrick on September 4, 2007 at 11:19 pm
The Honda CR-V is one of only two vehicles that have won all three AutoPacific awards in 2007 – the Ideal Vehicle Award, the Vehicle Satisfaction Award and the Motorist Choice Award with IntelliChoice. This is an extremely rare occurrence. Honda CR-V buyers like their exterior size, passenger room, cargo room, and level of technology. Some owners would prefer more visibility, and some CR-V owners would prefer more power and acceleration, but overall, CR-V is an Ideal, satisfying Mid-Size Crossover SUV that meets the requirements of the buyer.
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Posted by George Peterson on August 24, 2007 at 12:00 am
The Nissan Rogue is a small Crossover SUV derived from the Nissan/Renault global C-Class platform – i.e. Nissan Sentra, Nissan Qashqai, Renault Megane. VehicleVoice was given the chance to drive several Rogues in the desert East of San Diego. Here’s the scoop.
Justification for Rogue – It Was Easy to Do
The 4-cylinder-only Rogue begs the question, “Why?” Did Nissan feel they HAD TO add a small Crossover SUV to their lineup to compete with the Honda CR-V? Yes. Is there anything particularly intriguing about Rogue? No. It is another is a plethora of conveniently sized, pleasant to drive, reasonably priced small wagons available with all wheel drive. So, I guess it is OK to call it a “Crossover SUV” because definitions in the segment are very broad.
Rogue’s styling does not turn heads. Its target market is the same one as all the other small wagons – married male in early 30s just starting a family and needing more utility than his previous sporty coupe (or more likely Chevrolet Silverado or Dodge Ram full size pickup) gave him. Not that we are down on the Rogue. It’s just that it doesn’t answer questions much differently from any other small Crossover SUV.
Nissan North America Vice President of Product Planning, Larry Dominique, gives walkaround of new Rogue in San Diego
Conclusion: Nissan had a competent, flexible global platform that could be efficiently stretched from a sedan (Sentra) to a small Crossover. It couldn’t carry a V6, but that’s OK because the class leading Honda CR-V doesn’t have a V6 either. So here we have a low cost program, assembled in Kyushu, Japan that can fill a niche in the broad Nissan lineup.
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Posted by Keagan Patrick on June 11, 2007 at 9:00 pm
Honda CR-V Wins AutoPacific 2007 Vehicle Satisfaction Award for Mid-Size Crossover SUV:
“The all-new Honda CR-V is a segment winner primarily based on Overall Quality and Overall Satisfaction. While there few attributes where the CR-V soundly beat the segment average, (Brand Reputation was very strong) there were no areas where the CR-V was rated below average. They won by making the fewest mistakes! A defensive strategy, but it works! The fact that the CR-V is the only Crossover SUV in its class without a V6 engine available apparently did not hurt its performance much,” says AutoPacific president George Peterson.
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Posted by George Peterson on December 28, 2006 at 12:35 pm
Nissan’s introduction of its 2008 Rogue Crossover SUV at the North American International Auto Show launches a Nissan competitor to the Toyota RAV4, Honda CR-V, Subaru Forester and Mitsubishi Outlander. Rogue’s styling, while “pleasant”, is too milquetoast for even a small Crossover SUV in the first decade of the 21st Century.
VehicleVoice and AutoPacific staffers were given a download on Rogue at the Los Angeles Auto Show in November, but couldn’t really report on it until now. The Rogue is clearly derived from the European
Nissan Quashqai.
Rogue’s Styling Does Not Communicate Tough, Rugged Bad-Boy. It’s a Chick’s SUV
With Toyota, Honda and Mitsubishi adopting much stronger design themes for their small SUVs, Nissan launches a smoothly tailored wagon designed to be inoffensive to anybody. There is nothing intimidating or in-your-face about the Rogue. In fact the most intimidating aspect may be its name.
Nissan perceives that Rogue will communicate a “bad-boy” image that will appeal to young males, but we see only a girly SUV… nothing macho about its looks. So, Rogue will go the way of the many other soft-roaders and be bought by women of all ages. Rogue certainly is not a Crossover Xterra. It looks like a wimp-roader.
Crossover SUVs outsold traditional SUVs for the first time in 2006. Nissan has been behind the curve in getting into the Crossover SUV business relying instead on its traditional entries – Xterra, Pathfinder, Armada. The closest Crossover SUV in Nissan’s stable is the Murano (a winner of AutoPacific’s Vehicle Satisfaction Award) and the Infiniti FX (no, the Murano and FX are not similar – Murano is based on a front wheel drive car platform – FX is based on a rear wheel drive platform). So, Rogue gives the Nissan brand something below Murano to compete with the smaller Crossover SUVs.
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Posted by George Peterson on November 22, 2006 at 1:28 pm
IIHS released the results of its 2007 Safety Pick Awards on November 20. VehicleVoice and AutoPacific feel that these results are important to communicate to our readers. Along with other awards for quality, satisfaction and performance, safety awards can and should be among the information sources a buyer uses when deciding which new vehicle to buy. After all, the Internet gives us almost perfect information.
While we do appreciate the safety value of electronic stability control, it will take years for the entire fleet to be equipped with ESC. For IIHS to eliminate all vehicles lacking ESC eliminates many otherwise safe vehicles from their analysis. This is too simplistic an approach.
2007 TOP SAFETY PICK award winners: award criteria are tougher; SUVs eligible for first time
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety announces 13 vehicles that earn TOP SAFETY PICK awards for 2007. Winners include 4 cars, 7 SUVs, and 2 minivans. This award recognizes vehicles that do the best job of protecting people in front, side, and rear crashes based on ratings in Institute tests. Winners also have to be equipped with electronic stability control (ESC).
WINNERS
Large car
Audi A6 manufactured in Dec. 2006 and later
Midsize cars
Audi A4
Saab 9-3
Subaru Legacy equipped with optional electronic stability control
Minivans
Hyundai Entourage
Kia Sedona
Luxury SUVs
Mercedes M class
Volvo XC90
Midsize SUVs
Acura RDX
Honda Pilot
Subaru B9 Tribeca
Small SUVs
Honda CR-V
Subaru Forester equipped with optional electronic stability control
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Posted by George Peterson on November 17, 2006 at 11:16 am
Since we have identified the vehicles that have the longest days supply, we have been asked to show which vehicles have the shortest days supply. Which vehicles are so hot they just blow off the dealer’s lot? As with the slower moving vehicles where we arbitrarily cut off the days supply at 150 days, here we are using 50 days as the cut off point. The details are shown “below the fold”
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Posted by Stephanie Brinley on October 12, 2006 at 10:03 am
Dodge showed concept and production versions of Nitro at the Chicago Auto Show, in 2005 and 2006 respectively (click for our coverage of the 2006 reveal). In September, VehicleVoice and AutoPacific correspondents had our first opportunity to drive it. Starting at Broadway Pier in the San Diego Harbor, we drove the Nitro on a long, winding route to Palm Springs.
Related to the
Jeep Liberty and built in the same facility, Nitro is bigger, has an all-new suspension, and is optimized for the on-road side of life. Entering this segment late, Dodge’s best opportunity for creating a buzz was exterior styling or innovative new interior features. Dodge saw an opportunity for an in-your-face look with a decidedly male-oriented bias and went for it; the brand’s established in-your-face attitude would be best supported by an aggressive, in-your-face mid-size SUV and there aren’t many of those out there already. Nitro competes with soft-road or crossover SUV entries including
Toyota RAV4,
Saturn VUE, and latest
Mitsubishi Outlander as well as with more traditional SUVs
Nissan Xterra,
Kia Sorento, and Jeep’s own Liberty. In this arena, only the Xterra wears strongly masculine styling.
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