A Grocery Shoppers Look into the 2012 Honda CR-V

I am so excited that I can FINALLY tell you all about a recent trip I got to take to California courtesy of Honda. If you don’t know it already, I am a bit of a Honda fan. My dream car as a teenager was a Honda Accord. I know, I dream big, right? I am practical to the core. In 2001 that dream became a reality and I still own that Accord today. So when asked if I was interested in joining the Honda team for the reveal of the all new redesigned 2012 CR-V I was all for it! Well, the trip to California when you live in Ohio was definitely a draw too.

When I am getting ready to write a post I usually try to do a bit of some informal research on Facebook. In the case of reviewing the CR-V I knew that they spent A LOT of time focusing on my Once A Month Mom demographic; women 25-34. Who better to tell me what they are looking for a car than YOU? After all, I need to see if the CR-V really has all the features that you are looking for.

So here is a run down of some of the things that you mentioned being important when you are making a grocery store run and how the CR-V stacks up:

Cargo Space

If you are headed the the grocery store for a month’s worth of groceries, of course, you need some trunk space. The new 2012 CR-V has more cargo space with over 37 cubic feet of room. There is also a removable and retractable cover for hiding what you have stored inside too. With that much room you can fit all your groceries AND the double stroller!

The repositioned cargo cover keeping my soon to be purchased groceries from rolling around everywhere!

Another cool feature of the cargo space is that the retractable and removable cover also can be repositioned just in front to the back hatch door so that your groceries stay in place if you are only buying a few. Nice.

The back seats easily fold down with the pull of a latch making the process nearly hands free. No more spilling groceries everywhere while you try to rearrange and create more space for large purchases.

Fuel Economy

Most people when given the opportunity aren’t going to take their gas guzzling vehicle for the trip to the grocery store unless they have to. Given that you have more cargo space you can take your 2012 CR-V which gets 22 mpg and 30 mpg highway for the all wheel drive and 23 mpg and 31 mpg highway for the 2 wheel drive.

The other amazing feature of this vehicle that it comes standard with an Eco button for you to push to regulate fuel economy. When the ECO but is pushed the car dash lights up green when you are in the economy range. Got a lead foot? You can use the ECO button to help train yourself to be a better and more fuel efficient driver. Frankly, my transmission would really appreciate this feature! (So would my husband for that matter).

Safety

Whether you got out of the house without the kids (hallelujah!) or not, safety is important, is it not? It isn’t something we think about every day, in fact, we rarely think about it until we need it or it isn’t there for us. Thankfully, Honda has done all the worrying for you!

The expanded mirror for diminished blind spots.

Without going into a lot of detail that I am sure that you can read more accurately in Car & Driver, the new CR-V has the highest crash safety ratings in its class. It is also the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety Top Safety Pick for 2012. Of course, it is a Honda!

Additionally, Honda has added some features to make the driver more save as well. Here are some special features to note:

• Expanded view driver’s mirror for a diminished blindspot.
• Standard rear backing camera on all models.
• Integration of Pandora on all models for hands-free audio entertainment.
• Hands-free, voice recognition texting integration with some model phones for hands-free texting while driving.

Comfort

I don’t know about you but after an hour or more in the grocery store pushing around a heavy cart and pulling children out of the laundry and produce aisles, I am exhausted. Absolutely exhausted. When I climb in my vehicle to head home I want to be comfortable. And if there is one thing that I commented on over and over again about this new CR-V it is that they put the Comfort back into Comfort Reliability Vehicle!

I’m sure many of you are thinking, “15 minutes in a vehicle doesn’t help you determine if it is comfortable!” But I was in the vehicle for nearly 3 hours in total and was absolutely blown away by the comfort and the ride. Additionally, Honda is so confident in their vehicles that they bring in their competitors comparable vehicles and let you test drive those as well. And I did. And I can confidently report that I would seriously consider purchasing the 2012 CR-V if I was in the market for an SUV at this time. And is there a big difference between the 2011 CR-V and the 2012? YES! I drove one of those too.

Cup Holders

The middle console with two cup holders and a USB audio interface (iPhone not included). :)

I truly can’t do a vehicle review without speaking of the number of cup holders available. What kind of reviewer would I be? Not only that, I gave the Honda staff such a hard time quizing them on the number of cup holders available that I am certain that upon reading my review and not finding said information, they would never let me live it down!

You should know that there are eight cup holders listed for this vehicle; however, I counted 10 possible places for beverages to go. Considering that I am not a big beverage drinker myself, it is amusing that I scout the cup holders first and foremost. I attribute it to all those sippy and snack cups I always have to have in arms reach!

So there you have it! I have to say, Honda hit a home run with this one. I truly wish we weren’t in mini-van land for awhile because I thoroughly enjoyed this vehicle. And I thoroughly enjoyed spending time with this company. They are everything they say they are and more. It is a company that takes pride in its product and stands behind it every step of the way. I was privileged to attend this event and see this vehicle first hand. If you are in the market for an economy SUV I highly recommend giving this one a whirl.

Disclosure: Details and expenses for this trip were provided by American Honda Corporation. All the opinions in this post are mine, want to know more about how I facilitate reviews, view my full disclosure policy!

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This entry was posted on Thursday, November 17th, 2011 at 8:00 am and is filed under Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.