What's outside today 29 - Honda CR-V

This is broadly comparable with the Chevrolet Captiva and the Land Rover Freelander 2 which have featured on the Verdict over the last few months.


The Freelander represents a particularly interesting comparison. The first Freelander and the first CR-V had fairly similar styling, which was hardly surprising given that Honda and Rover would still have been close partners during the early part of the two cars' development, although AFAIK they never actually shared any parts.


Honda has just launched the third generation of CR-V - the car tested here - while the Freelander is just into its second model generation, which gives you some idea of the funds available to the two manufacturers for new development.


The two cars are now very different in appearance; Land Rover has very successfully kept the best elements of the first Freelander's styling while at the same time linking its smallest 4x4 more directly in visual terms to its more expensive models such as the Range Rover. Honda's car looks good but a bit anonymous given that it doesn't have sixty years of 4x4 design heritage to tap and therefore has to do its own thing. The Freelander's interior is a lot classier as well, in my opinion.

The CR-V is very car-like to drive - there's very little roll on corners for example - although I'm not especially keen on the steering. Diesels work best in something like this, and Honda's petrol engines, which tend to be revvy with a strong top end would normally be the exact opposite of what you'd want, but the petrol unit in our test car worked reasonably well.

What's outside today 11 - Land Rover Freelander 2

This is the new Freelander. What's interesting is that this latest version looks very similar to the original, but is in fact much larger.

When I took it out for a short spin earlier on, I was surprised to discover that it sometimes feels more like the big Land Rovers such the Discovery and RR than a Toyota RAV-4 or Honda CR-V. That's because of the commanding high driving position (good) but also the difficulty of judging the position of the front nearside corner due to the car's surprising bulk (not so good).


My immediate thought was that this probably leaves room in the Land Rover range for a smaller soft-roader to slot in below the Freelander - occasionally there are rumours of plans for such a car in the motoring press.


I know Land Rover are facing an uncertain future at the moment but you have to admire the company's ability to come up with one hit model after another. I think the last new Landy that met with a less than rapturous response from journalists and the motoring public was the short-lived 2.0 litre four cylinder petrol version of the first Discovery. I never drove one but if I remember correctly it used the 'O' series engine and it was very slooooow. The Freelander 2 (our test car is the 2.2 litre diesel) is anything but.