One of the bigger regrets I had with my Subaru Forester was that it was silver. This is not Subaru’s fault. This was my fault. I’d not given it much thought, to be honest, and thought it might end up looking more blue because that’s what the name implied (I think the color name is “Odin’s Bathwater”). It didn’t, and then I feel like everyone in my community bought the identical car, making it impossible to find in parking lots.
When it was time to replace the Subaru, I knew I wasn’t going to make this mistake. I was going to get a bold and exciting color. Since I eventually came around to buying a CR-V Hybrid, this left me with two good options: Radiant Red Metallic or Canyon River Blue Metallic.
I always try to be avant-garde, and I knew people with blue CR-Vs, but no one with a new red CR-V. This would be the solution to my parking lot woes! There was only one red CR-V in my neighborhood that I would regularly see, and there was no way people would confuse the two vehicles.
I have a deep respect for this first-generation CR-V, which has added every factory option imaginable to the little crossover and then created some that Honda never imagined possible. It’s a truly spectacular car with a level of CR-V love and attention to unnecessary detail I could never hope to attain with my own car.
The CR-V debuted around 1995 as the company’s attempt at building a crossover/SUV-type thing for an American market that all of a sudden was way more interested in boxier vehicles. This vehicle has now been around for 30 years and six generations, and it’s remarkable how good the first generation still looks. An AWD one of these with a manual has to be a great car if you can still find one in decent shape (it’s a Honda, so it’s possible). Also, you might get a bonus picnic table.
A CR-V expert might be able to tell you exactly which year CR-V this one is, but it is definitely a first-generation vehicle.
I sort of remember seeing these spare tire carriers when this vehicle debuted, though maybe only Japanese models? Either way, the color-matched color with the white Honda letters and black-outlined model name is spectacular. I sort of want a full-sized spare tire carrier for my own CR-V, as it doesn’t come with another tire due to the hybrid battery.
I’m guessing the mirror shade and the little wide-angle insert are not stock. Also, the CR-V feels roughly four feet long, so I’m not sure how helpful the insert is. The CR-V also has a giant greenhouse, so visibility is probably great (front nose visibility in my car is wanting, but it’s good in every other direction).
Those are definitely the stock five-spoke Honda wheels, but I can’t find any image of these with the red stud cover, red lugs, or anything else that’s going on here. I’d love to think of the Honda CR-V as being the progenitor of painted brakes, though you don’t see a lot of painted drums these days.
The front disc brakes are the correct color, but they have red calipers, which is hilarious. There’s also a bit of rocker protection that seems to be a Honda accessory piece that looks perfect here, filling in the gap between the wheels. The little pinstriping on the bumper is also pretty obviously aftermarket. The spoiler might be a JDM piece, but I don’t think it’s a USDM option.
Given that the taillights are baked into the D-pillar, the blacked-out treatment here works really well, I think.
Again, the sub-bumper protection looks like a real Honda CR-V accessory, albeit one that seems more popular with Japanese tuners.
The push bar, smoked headlights, and blacked-out grille feel very NOPI catalogue, which is appropriate for the era, if not 100% my taste. The addition of an LED light strip is the one big anachronism here, as this wasn’t a real option when this car debuted. Again, it’s not my car, so whatever the driver wants to do is his or her business.
I love it, though, and I’d have been happy to be the only two red CR-Vs in town. That didn’t happen. Sometimes you’re the avant-garde, and sometimes you’re just a dude who keeps buying the same car as everyone else because, in contrast to your self-image of being an iconoclast, you’re just a regular dad consumer like everyone else. They’re everywhere. My babysitter’s mom just bought an identical one. Do you remember my friend, the Grand Highlander-owning professor? The same day I finally caught this car sitting still, he texted me a photo of his mom’s new car.
It’s a red, AWD Sport-trim CR-V Hybrid, basically an identical car to mine. Maybe 100% identical. So perhaps my making light of his purchasing a Grand Highlander like everyone else is just projection on my part, since anyone who didn’t need the third row seems to have bought the red Honda.
Oh well, maybe when it’s out of warranty, I can discreetly start modifying it. These Hondas tend to last forever, so I’ve got time.
All photos by the Author
My dad had a 1st gen CRV in green, and 2nd gen in blue, both with manual transmissions and both great cars. I wish I had bought his 2nd gen when I had the chance but $2,500 seemed like a lot for an extra car at the time (I just bought my first house) and I would still need a trailer for most hauling. We actually used the picnic table a handful of times, is there a reason that manufactures have eschewed rear door spare tire carriers? They would be a hit with the current crop of macho soft roaders, and are legitimately a good way to carry a spare. Is it cost cutting, or safety that makes them so unappealing to OEMs?
It’s probably cost cutting and weight saving. As spare tires become less common you’ll see fewer people who would even know how to swap one out, which means the demand for even a compact spare tire will keep dwindling. I would still want one in my next car but I get why they are going the way of the dodo besides true off-road vehicles.
I know I am in the minority now, but I will be spare tire holdout as long as I can. Modern vehicles are pretty reliable so I don’t feel its necessary to drive around with many spares/tools, but a flat tire is so easy to address and I am frequently driving across state lines on Holidays when it would be a huge PITA to find a tow truck/ tire repair shop.
Its largely because in a minor rear ender, that spare basically destroys the whole rear hatch. IIHS had a video iirc, showing this with several suvs, and i believe was a 5 mph impact, everyone of them blew out the hatch.
Second likely being the hardware being a bother to keep working long after launch, and rusting off, like mine, or not working anymore, like my other one.
First gen CR-Vs and RAV4s are what the Aztek could have been.
The CRV wasn’t designed for the US, it was a JDM car that American Honda had to beg/plead/demand Honda send over to the US, and I’m pretty sure it was 1997 not 1995 like you say above.
Also, while indestructible they are the MOST uncomfortable driving position of any Honda ever made (if you are a normal sized American adult male). Leased a 2000 for my ex wife and had to manipulate the seat in really odd ways just to get comfortable, as the steering wheel top rim was really far forward and the seat back had a crease in it right at your shoulder blades.2nd gen and later was much better, but never recaptured that 1st gen looks.
And yes, newer red CRVs are everywhere. Source: own a 2019 EX
Yeah, it was 1997 as the first year for the RD1 crv for the u.s.
When I next shop for another used car, that generation CRV with a manual transmission is probably at the top of my list.
Long live the manual!
I get than Autopianists would want the manual, but I find it cool (or anti-cool?) that the automatics are on the column.
I have – and love – a 2000 CR-V SE that we bought in 2003. It took a 3″ crease dent in the right rear corner 10 years ago and the paint is starting to fade on top. That’s it. It’s a sweet little suv that will probably be with us to the end. Some years ago when the drivers seat leather was failing badly I got a good passenger seat from a salvage yard and swapped the upholstery so that has been remedied. As a bonus I was able to get an armrest as well that I added to the passenger seat. That frame is the same as the drivers side so the attachment point is there just waiting.
All this said, a few weeks ago at Costco we saw a white Gen One that was dang near perfect. So sweet.
I would not change a thing. Except if the headlight covers didn’t pop off easily for night driving (which I barely do anymore anyway), I’d add velcro or something.
If they didn’t smoke the headlights, they wouldn’t need that stupid light bar. I hate those things in urban environments.
Headlights should never be black!
Just mirrored:
https://aphyr.com/data/photographs/168/medium.jpg
That is not a damage multiplier, not a push bar.
That thing is excellent
Orange wrap. Do it.
I prefer the 80 CRX Hot Hatch
There was no CRX in 1980.
The Honda CR-X the CRX in some markets was produced from 1983 thru 1991. Sold 400,000 of them. Also marketed as the Honda Civic CRX. In the US marketed as a Kammback with room for 2. It was later replaced by the Del Sol
So…exactly what Bill C said, no CRX in 1980.
did we find a AI bot?
(an ineffective one)
Sorry I forgot the S in 1980s
There are still 4 or 5 of these first-gen CR-Vs in my town – they must be absolute tanks!
We had ’98 for twenty years. Best car I’ve ever owned (not withstanding the Miata).
Green, auto, with AWD. My only regret was not getting the optional antilock brakes – had I known we were going to own it that long, I’d have sprung for the I want to say $800 option.
11/10 no notes
My parents have two red CR-Vs, of different model years.
That generation of CR-V has a fold-away armrest/tray between the front seats. Once folded away, you can actually walk between the front seats to the back. This walk-through feature is something they really need to bring back in new cars.
Define “walk”
Well, like a duck maybe. Or if you’re naturally just very very short.
well, more like scoot
The second gen had it too, as well as various minivans of that era. Better than a massive unremovable center console that reduces legroom IMO.
You know you have cool taste in cars when you choose the same car as a college professor’s mom.
My neighbor still has one, in FWD/automatic, in a lovely baby blue.
My M&F I-L have a CRV, their third one. I’ve ridden in the back seat on several road trips down to Ladd for the best chicken in the world.
I’ve heard the tire noise, or roar is more like it. Are they all this loud in back?
Sadly yes, ALOT of hondas in this era were quite loud on the inside, from civics, accords, and crvs
Does it drive in the left lane going 10 under?
Headlights baked into the D-pillar huh?
Oops, fixed!
red painted drums 🙁
Otherwise, I appreciate the effort. Now all it needs is a B18C swap 😉
I didn’t like them as much as the second gen. The fold back bed seats like a lot of japanese cars had in that era is interesting but they had some weird problems. I know specifically brakes were at least sometimes problematic. People I know that had the first gen parted with them. The 2nd gen is a cockroach of a vehicle. My sister still has one she bought new she just get a new one when many people say she drives an old Honda. I see many of them around still. The 2nd gen has that table too I’m not sure how many people used them but something weird. Brakes are great on those I think the only thing I ever had to do hers were pads once and cvs because the boots were tore.
I had a red Corrado that had plastic center caps on alloy wheels. The plastic didn’t make it to year 3, and looked like crap. I painted them red. This owner may not have had as much inspiration as I did, but it’s the cheesiest of their “upgrades.”
A very high effort CR-V to say the least.
I personally prefer the 2nd generation over the first, as those tend to be borderline indestructible. I know a number of people who claim that to be “the best car they’ve ever had”. Along with a couple who still have theirs 20 years on.
I like the first gen well enough though, even if it never reached the levels of rad that the first gen RAV4 did.
Agreed on all points. Second gen better, and neither can compete with the sheer charm and moxie of a first gen Rav4. Especially if you can find a convertible!
The CR-V had a one-off convertible show car, in purple with a gray interior, if I remember correctly. It would have predated the Murano droptop, and probably would have sold many more units, but so few that the Murano may have never become a reality.