Every so often, you stumble across a car that makes you say, “why are you here?” Perhaps it’s a grey-market Renault Master doing commercial workhorse duty as a mobile cafe, perhaps it’s a Lamborghini Espada in the middle of nowhere, or perhaps it’s something fairly ordinary among stuff less-so. To that last point, a fairly normal 2006 Honda CR-V just sold on Bring A Trailer, the same place you’d go to buy an immaculate air-cooled Porsche 911 or a classic Ferrari.
In some ways, this is like buying Cheetos from Erewhon, not the platform you’d expect for this sort of product. Sure, Bring A Trailer has flirted with normcore cars before, including a freaking Dodge Avenger, but it felt like a shift that happened for the crazy COVID market. That peak came and went, but every so often, a car appears on Bring A Trailer that still makes you go “hunh.”
What we have here is a CR-V from the last year Honda decided a rear-mounted spare tire was the way to go. It’s a late second-generation model, which means yes, it comes with a picnic table. What’s more, it’s the EX trim, netting such nicities as a six-speaker stereo, a six-disc CD changer, alloy wheels, privacy glass, and an exterior temperature gauge. Yeah, talk about middle-class opulence.
Alright, so this CR-V is a fairly high spec, but what makes it Bring A Trailer material? Well, it’s not its odometer reading. While 96,000 miles isn’t exactly high, it’s not the collector-grade sort of low mileage either. A 96,000-mile 2006 CR-V probably wouldn’t be an impossible thing to find another example of, there might even be one in most major metropolitan areas, just not for sale at this time. This particular CR-V is also from Pennsylvania, so its underbody isn’t immaculate. There’s some surface rust, about what you’d expect from a 19-year-old daily driver.
What makes this CR-V a bit more special is that 2006 was the last model year that Honda’s popular crossover offered a manual transmission, and this example is equipped with the row-your-own option. More than that, it pairs the five-speed stick-shift with all-wheel-drive, the ultimate drivetrain combo for North American-market CR-Vs. Sure, you could also get the K24 2.4-liter inline-four with a five-speed manual and all-wheel-drive in an Element, but CR-Vs with that combination fly further under the radar.
So, did the buyer of this CR-V make off or get fleeced? Well, Bring A Trailer charges a five percent buyer’s fee on top of the winning bid, so the buyer of this CR-V’s total pre-tax obligation works out to $7,875 before shipping, if shipping’s necessary. Guess what? That’s actually a pretty good deal.
Looking around on Craigslist, comparable examples are generally more expensive. This 2004 CR-V is both a pre-facelift model and the lower-end LX trim, and although the mileage is slightly lower at a hair under 88,000, the asking price is a whopping $11,995. That’s a lot of cash for a 21-year-old crossover.
Conversely, this 2006 Honda CR-V EX has all-wheel drive, features a driver-operated clutch pedal, and is up for sale in Portland for $7,991. The catch? A whopping 207,000 miles, more than double what the one on Bring A Trailer had. Sure, age kills certain components like bushings just as quickly as mileage, but when you think about having double the mileage on certain ball joints and wheel bearings and the like, wouldn’t you rather own the cheaper, lower-mileage example?
Actually, maybe you should buy your next older but well-kept daily driver off Bring A Trailer, provided the high bid stays below what other sellers want for a comparable vehicle. Because it’s not the obvious venue for well-kept normal cars, you’ll likely be competing with fewer potential buyers, and although caveat emptor applies to sight-unseen purchases, it often also applies to regular used cars, too.
Top graphic image: Bring A Trailer
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Quite well bought I would say. Just more evidence of how almost any Honda with a manual is going up these days.
The HR-V was available with a manual transmission until 2019, and the Forester was available with one until 2018.
If you really need AWD, Subaru’s system is much better. The manual Subaru’s AWD is completely mechanical, no electronics, always 50/50
If you still prefer a Honda with VTEC, the HRV is about the same size as the old CRV the subject of this article, plus it’s much newer.
Either can be had for the cost of the BaT CR-V
The HRV is an utter dog even with a stick and that’s IF you can even find one. A manual CR-V is a much, much better vehicle and will be equally as reliable. These are bulletproof.
Had an ‘02 CR-V EX with a stick until totaled on a snowy PA road in ‘09- The last great Honda we had-seems like after that our Hondas didn’t really seem the same, especially the ‘16 HR-V (6MT). That was a major disappointment-gutless engine, terrible ride and meh handing.