Story & photos by Patrick P. Tulfo
HONDA Cars Phils. Inc. (HCPI) recently held the industry’s first out-of-town test-drive event in Bataan to showcase the features and capabilities of their newly minted CR-V, which was introduced in August of last year.
The event was a welcome news, as there has been a dearth of events in the auto industry since the start of the year, after manufacturers focused their attention on the implementation of the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion law.
The test drive started early in the morning at the Sentro Restaurant in Uptown Mall inside Bonifacio Global City, where the briefing on car assignments and the route we would be taking were assigned. It was presided by fellow motoring journalist George Ramirez, whose group also happened to be the official organizer of many of Honda’s drive event. Sherwin Kuan, head of product planning, gave a short talk on the features of the new CR-V.
The convoy of six brand-new CR-Vs awaited the participants outside the venue. I was assigned in car no. 6, together with Ron de los Reyes of Auto Review and Belle Alba of Gadgets magazine.
Our convoy encountered the early rush-hour traffic on our way to Northern Luzon Expressway (Nlex), where we spent almost an hour going to Las Casas Filipinas De Acuzar, our destination in the historic province of Bataan.
Luckily, I wasn’t driving and spent most of the time snoozing at the rear seat of the 2WD gas variant, as it offered plenty of legroom to stretch out, a powerful cooling system that kept the temperature low even during the midday and a plush ride. My turn came on the second stop of the journey at the Petron gas station, along the Nlex.
The 2.0 I-VTEC gasoline engine that powers this variant seemed underpowered at first, but by just turning off the Econ button, the engine’s performance was restored, making it enjoyable to drive along the nicely paved asphalt of the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEx).
We tested the Real Time AWD feature of the top-of-line SX variant on the track prepared by the team of George Ramirez earlier. The Real Time AWD delivered the power on all wheels when the situation called for it. It didn’t have any problem on the muddy portion of the track, the sand at the beach and even the steep hill.
But, what caught my attention was the Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC), with Low Speed Follow (LSF) feature, which is integrated with other features, such as Lane Keep Assist (LKS), Road Departure Mitigation (RDM) to name a few that Honda calls Honda Sensing.
The ACC and LSF are a glimpse to the future of a driverless car, as when activated, the driver can take their feet off the accelerator and brake pedals and the vehicle will do the rest. This would be perfect in the worsening traffic conditions of Mega Manila.
During dinner, Honda President Noriyuki Takakura proudly said, “With only five months in the market, the all-new CR-V was able to garner over 2,799 vehicle sales since customer delivery started in September 2017. With this, HCPI set a record-breaking sale with a total sale of 31,758 vehicles.”
On our way back to Manila the following day, the change in vehicle assignments gave us the opportunity to sample the diesel variant of the CR-V. The 1.6-liter DTEC turbocharged engine, equipped with the segment’s first 9-speed AT performed flawlessly. Although, it is only rated at 120 horsepower, its 300 N-m of torque gave it more than enough verve to overtake slow-moving vehicles along the SCTEx.
The two-day jaunt with the new CR-V may be too short for us to fully enjoy the SUV, but it was long enough to remind us why it deserves to win the “Car of the Year” award for 2018 given by Car Awards Group Inc. last year.
It is now available in all Honda dealerships nationwide, with the prices starting at P1.648 million for the 2.0 I-VTEC gasoline variant, all the way to P2.048 million for the loaded top-of-the-line SX Diesel 9AT seven-seater AWD version.
Image credits: Patrick P. Tulfo