A Thing for CRVs – And Bring Back The Picnic Table Please!

When the first CRV hit the road in 1996 I looked on with awe. I loved it. I used to see the CRV out and about and I just knew I wanted one of them! I didn’t really care what was under the hood – Honda is so reliable and I knew I could take for granted that this latest offering would be yet another mechanical marvel – just like my little Accord hatchback. What I liked was the CRV was a classy RV. It didn’t have all that machismo of the bigger 4WDs and it looked fabulous. 

I took one out for a test run and I fell in love. You sit high enough to see over the traffic. The interior is classy and roomy and different. And YES there is that gorgeous picnic table in the back under the wheel cover – now that was really thoughtful!

I didn’t get to buy my first CRV till 2001 and that was mainly because the Accord I owned, which was already 12 years old, just wouldn’t die despite teenage children learning to drive in it and hooning around the neighbourhood! I remember the day I picked the CRV up. I thought every other driver on the road must have been looking at me green with envy! My first CRV was gold – what other colour could it be? It was like a medal won in a race – my race to own my first brand new car (all others had been second hand). I honestly felt I had put on my best outfit every time I hopped behind the wheel. I knew I was seducing the neighbourhood and out classing all my friends!

My affair with the CRV was consummated with that first purchase and I have never owned another type of car since. In 2004 my dealer rang me to say he had a demonstrator going at the right price. I couldn’t help myself, I had to have it! It was white so I had it classed up a bit with gold trim and finishes and upgraded the wheel cover. A peek in the back and my mind was set at ease – my picnic table! That table had been dragged out for footy matches, picnics, swimming carnivals, golf days, fishing and camping! I had acquired a few fold up chairs and the CRV was our mobile social centre and community networking venue.

In 2006 we decided to move to the United Arab Emirates and we loaned the CRV to our daughter who was studying at university. She still has it and it has seen her almost through her medical degree. It became her portable home on wheels and she has cared for it beautifully.

When we arrived in the Emirates in 2007 we decided we needed to buy a car. Once again we just could not go past the CRV – we tried to – we tested every other similar class vehicle we could! In the end we decided that the CRV could not be topped and we bought another gold one. Imagine my surprise when there was no picnic table in the back! We struggled through days in the desert, camel races, trips to Dubai and Muscat – all without the benefit of that picnic table. Damned inconvenience if you ask me – what is Honda thinking! Every other aspect of this wonderful car is perfect. We know the car now – we love it – we are true devotees – and we want our picnic table back!

On leaving the UAE we sold the CRV to friends who had coveted it the whole time we had it. It is still wandering around the desert and we have moved on to China. We have only been here a few weeks and the traffic is pretty scary, but we are considering getting a Chinese driving licence and we will be looking for a car. It may be we will have to go to a used car – I want my picnic table and (of course) this car will also have to be a CRV – we are total converts. HONDA – Bring back that picnic table for the sake of Mums and picnicker’s all over the world. It must have been a man who made the decision to get rid of it – a woman would have added chairs!