Plan B

A 2,000km road trip reveals the true Honda CR-V

- Simran Rastogi

We all love a story of an underdog. Teams with players no one’s heard of, coming from behind to win championships. People starting from the streets and rising to the top. There’s something about rooting for the little guy who hasn’t got a chance that appeals to human nature, I think. And there’s nothing more underdog than a 1.6-litre engine being tasked with moving a 1.7-tonne SUV, as is the case of the new Honda CR-V.

You see, this story began with a last minute road trip, from Mumbai to Chikmagalur to cover the Rally of Chikmagalur. 850km of highway, some of the best highways in the country no less, and many more kilometres of the tight, twisty roads around Chikmagalur, perhaps even some of the dirt paths that make up the stages of the Rally of Chikmagalur.

Of course, I thought, it’d be the perfect testing ground for the Honda CR-V, available with a diesel engine for the first time ever. Additionally, my first time driving it was brief, and I came away with my apprehensions of its Davidpulling-Goliath setup about almost all but melted away. But obviously the prospect of a full road trip in it was too tempting to pass up, in a “let’s see what happens, for science” kind of way.

Getting the CR-V out of the narrow gate of my parking lot was the first sign that perhaps I’d signed up for too much. This is a large hunk of metal! And it’s made worse by the thought that there’s what seems like a foot-and-a-half in bumpers to think about. But with a little faith in the visibility out of the large windows, large rear-view mirrors and reversing camera, I found myself proceeding down the Pune expressway. Quite swiftly, too, I should add.