Great video, but another important feature of these vehicles is that the boxy, utilitarian design still holds up really well. It's one of the best looking cars of its vintage on the road.
Very underrated comment ... crvs are great cause of the huge performance aftermarket that Honda has ... all the civics of same years .. ie. This year would be the b series motors and the 3rd gen an newer ones have the k series motors where many of same options from civics to make power can be used for crvs
Nice work mate! This is a tidy rig and I can tell you take pride in your vehicle. So many people get stuck in the “what should I buy for overlanding” when you can get something like this and modify as needed. Perfect! Mark from 🇦🇺
I love when people fall in love with somthing they own, I have felt it and seen people look at me in awe like I wish I felt that way mean while what they have is 5 times more expensive. I love what you've done. I loved my old tracker, many fond memories off roading and all I ever did was put used 265/75's on and drive the hell out of it
Love your channel, I have a 2000 Honda CRV trying to do some things to it so I can take it on longer trips & I have a question: I like the tires you got on your rig, are those tires fitting on your CRV because you put a lift kit on it or would I be able to get tires like that on my 4 x 4 CRV without a lift? 🌟 If so, could you tell me what kind of tires you have on there & what tire company did you buy them through, eventually I might put a lift kit on it. We’ll see how it goes. Thanks a lot appreciate your help…!!
We drove a 2001 for 17 years. We took it all over the back roads of Oregon and Alaska. The car was way better in the snow in Alaska than our F250, with even weight in the back of the truck. The high clearance was great as we could get down really rough roads. We loved the flat cargo area and the fact we could get a large dog crate into the back (Rave4 and Outback couldn't compete, nor with the clearance). It also has one of the highest safety records for small SUVs. Anyhoo, we are on gen 5 now. Not quite as tough as Honda changed the car to appeal to suburban moms vs off-roaders. But, it is still a great car.
I love my crv. I have thousands of miles of off road driving and over landing. Mine is a little different set up if you want to check out my set up I do have a video on it. Nice video 👍
If I was to get a crv this is the exact spec I would get, looks really good. I’ll stick with my rwd/4x4 Mazda MPVs though for now, can’t beat a 4x4 drift van lol
I just got one. It's CLEAN 0 rust. For 1400 mine has a DVD player in it too. It's a 1997. I'm in love....can't wait to bedline the outside and deep clean the inside.
I had a 98' 4WD manual 5 speed that I gave my brother, it really is a good rig for light overlanding. However I will say the Honda Element is a better upgrade, I now own a 05' 4WD Manual 5 speed with JDM K24A swap and just love it, more power, and more room, better overlanding rig with same aftermarket. CR-V has better clearance, I'll give it that though 🤘
I love my CRV and its 1st car i bought and the most reliable car that I have driven and still driving it. I bought 1999 crv from arkansas in 2014 and shipped it to Nigeria and since then it has been the best for me so far. Its 9 years on my end and it still runs good. Am still driving it though cos its cheaper to maintain and its fuel efficient. Its rugged and feels handy when cruising within town. Omoo honda crv sweet die especially the 1st gen
Bought a 2000 for my son with 150k on it. Gold. Leather seats. Awd. The fancy one. He didn't like it. Not big enough. He wanted a truck. Knowing nothing other than seeing a lot of them around,... I was instantly amazed by it and wound up borrowing it all the time for my mountain biking till he recently bought a truck and gave it to me. It wasn't without it's problems. The known oil leaks. The door wiring. Distributor bearing failure. A biggie - it was carbon'ed up something awful because the lady who bought it new,...only drove it around town. No extended freeway trips to blow it out. Huge back pressure. Tip. Get the valves adjusted if you never have. Huge power boost. Second. Run fuel treatment every so often. Reverse the order of that however. I ran two treatments of techron, (high mileage version),...and it feels like a rocket in comparison. Like a new engine. Lower fuel consumption, way more power. It needed internal cleaning bad. Climbed a very rough fire road the other day to 6000 ft on the west coast. Grapefruit/watermelon sized river stones and sand washes in places. It climbed like a little tank with no lack of power anywhere. I used to ride dirt bikes up the same road and this was luxury in comparison. Then cruise in comfort all day at 70/75 down the freeway. I love it and my son still borrows it because he doesn't care for the rough ride of his ford ranger. Also, his truck gets stuck in places while the little crv floats over things, lol. Cheers. 👍
My current daily driver is a 2001 CR-V SE with 310,000 miles. Great car, very capable in slick conditions and handles easily 10 inches of snow. The suspension components wear out about every 100,000 miles, but it isn’t that bad to replace them-it sure beats buying a $50Knew car!
Not sure how they even sell cars now with these high prices. I found a CRV in mint condition last summer and love it. 118K miles garage kept no dents and very clean iterior.
Is yours automatic or manual? Mines a White 2001 AWD 5 Speed manual doing it up100 amp hr agm battery in ampowered battery box a 16 L carfridge freezer I'm gonna make a roof rack & fit a 100 watt solar panel on the front on an angle. Already have a light bar on the front foot rail. And side awning, a bike rack for my Kawasaki Z125 Pro.a foam mattress for sleeping in the back. I'm Australian.
I just picked up a awd green 98 with 112k miles mint condition for 3,800. I grew up with my mom having a 2001 white awd model and didn’t know how much I missed that thing.
Criminally underrated. I just started to look for a car to have a nice roadtrip in and trip around Norway etc. this thing is a sick solution AND a cool looking one too. (Plus jdm bonus LUL) damn man, any recommendations on engine and something we need to know? You said 5 speed manual? Why exactly? I really hope you‘ll be able to reply :D
I've heard that the "4wd" doesn't actually work and the only thing it really does is make fuel economy worse. If I can score one of these for less than $3k, I'm just going to use it as a beach vehicle while still dailying my GE Fit. Why do I do this to myself???
What the hell SUV comes with a pull out removable rear table, passenger side foldable bed seats, foldable "every seat down" queen sized bed and motel room like accommodations. Well thats easy folks, the first gen CR-V, thats what. Super Uber Vacation.
Have you had the chance to compare it to the competitor Suzuki Grand Vitara 4x4? Also a lot of car per dollar. Not sure of the model name in the US though...
I have a '98 with 293k on the clock. Still running strong! And hey! I think I'm in your area because I have coworkers who go out to hidden falls adventure park.
Hey man, great video. I bought one in Thailand and I love it but I gotta say it doesn't do well going up steep roads. That 4 cylinder engine really shows its weakness pulling such a heavy car up hill. What is your experience in this case ?
I got one for my daughter and I love it, I love it so much i am jealous, I am currently trying to sell off some of my other cars so I can get one that is a standard, hers is an automatic 99 ex model. seriously, every single thing I ave done working on this car is awesomely easy for me, it;s like it was completely designed with my capabilities of mechanics, it is almost like the damned thing loves me back. you know how you start working on some thing and it takes forever because it;s always some crazy crap you have track down or that you have contemplate for a day or two because no one has ever had that problem before? OMG I hate that crap. this thing is not the same, it's like a bad ass go cart with a/c. LOL I want to get one asap. a standard for under 3 grand just like I got this one. the one I got her is white and it looks like a million bucks from 15 feet away LOL, it was towed though behind an rv, so even though the miles are the things got hardly any driven miles on it! but it;s chipped up because the 100K or more towing miles. no joke it has a little half the miles on towed! soon i am going to work on the alignment it pulls a little to the right,
I’ve known about the rd1 crv for a long time, but you still showed me a few new features. The “lounge mode” with the rear seats folding back flat was awesome. I need to find one like that! My 4runner is heavy and slow without AC. A crv would fix that gap in my useage
I purchased a 5 speed 2000 Honda CRV from a friend of minds for $1,500. Its a pretty reliable vehicle's. I drive the piss out of it. Power shifts & all. The only parts that have failed on me is the A/C compressor, Main Relay & the ICM in the distributor. Im a Mechanic/ Honda Enthusiasts so i figured out all the issues with ease. I highly recommend solid motor mounts. The Driver side motor mounts are prone to fail...... Also another hidden gem is if you flip up the bottom or the rear seat, remove rear head rested then flip the back seat down you can create more rear storages.
@@TheOfficialCaseMade It's my vehicle I can do whatever I desire with it.... It's still in great condition after I drove this Sh!t out of it. I bet you if you powershift that Fake Ass WS6 you got that transmission will fall to pieces.
Does the rear hatch/boot open only in 2 parts? You have to raise the glass hatch and then open the tailgate or does the glass open along with the tailgate if it isn't raised?
I just bought my third 1st Gen. CRV. I am about to build out a simple camper overlander! Got the 2001 this time for the boxier shape, and I am with you-These are the BEST vehicles if you like to enjoy the outdoors! Thanks and subscribed!
I drive our 98 CRV as my daily driver. Bought it new. Only 144k original miles. Was my wife’s daily driver, then our son’s high school and college car now back to me. We also have a new CRV Touring. Beautiful.
Much less of a problem than you would think. The RD1 auto transmission actually has an extra-low first gear, so when locked in first, combined with the very low weight and near perfect balance, the vehicle can do some very impressive things.
Sick ride man. I have an RD1 I imported from Japan. The fold down bed is awesome. I've used it for camping a few times and I'm driving cross country in 2 days with one side in bed mode.
A good off roader is good bc of the lockers. This Honda is as much of a offroader as literally any regular bubble suv with all wheel drive. I can guarentee you don't off road in this vehicle. And I say offroad as an actual trail, not the muds and gravel near the metroparks or park. I literally had a jeep patriot I thought was the shit only to find out how shitty these actual cars are in real offroading without lockers and diffs until I got a ram with actual lockers and 4x4 crawling with low and highs
You are in fact wrong. There are many factors which go into making off road capability, including weight, weight distribution, ground clearance, approach and departure angles just to name a few. The rd1 is not as capable as a jeep wrangler, but it wasnt designed to be. Despite that, it is impressively capable off road, especially with some minor mods like a lift and bigger tires. I drove mine to up jeep trails to the top of mountains countless times. If I had a dollar for every time some jeep dude told me I wouldn't make it over this or that obstacle, only to have his jaw drop as I easily got over it, I would be a rich man.
@WhiteCavendish I don't think you understand. Again, this CRV is as much of a off roader as any bubble suv. The difference between a real off roader and a bubble suv But for sake of argument, you're not wrong. Ground clearance and turning radius amongst other things do all play a part, correct, it is the obvious. But again, lockers and diffs and true 4x4 systems make or break a off roader. On top of this crv being a unibody , it's only But so much ground clearance you can add and even than, you are compromising parts underneath with a unibody bc they just are not made to lift. I'm only saying this after owning vehicles when I got into offroading and realizing what actually matters. As I've said this crv is good for dirts and small light trails, like every other modern bubble suv with AWD. Not true offroading. The line between hobbyist light trails vs offroading is becoming to thin.
@@killertofu You prove yourself wrong again by bringing up unibody. Jeep Cherokee XJ is considered one of the best off roaders of all time, and it is also a unibody. Unibody or ladder frame is essentially irrelevant - clearly, either can be lifted and wheeled, as proven by history. Modern bubble SUVs virtually without exception have horrible clearance, horrible geometry, often CTV transmissions, large wheels with low profile tires, etc etc. all of which are major hindrances the RD1 does not share (you mention another point in the Rd1's favour, turning radius, which is extremely tight, and again we can add the 60 inch track width, same as a SxS). Nobody, including me, would argue that lockers are not an advantage off road. Clearly they are a huge advantage, however your argument once again fails because even the Jeep Wrangler, arguably the best off roader available in the market today, has only two models that include lockers. Apparently the Jeep wrangler sport is a "bubble SUV" by your criteria. Lets also consider low range. Advantage? Unquestionably, yes. But why? Because of torque/leverage. In essence, all that low range actually does is give the engine a much bigger lever to push the wheels forward with - in practice, this allows the vehicle to be propelled up far steeper slopes and slower speeds, and conversely descend slopes at slower speeds by multiplying the engine braking effect by the same leverage. All of these effects depend heavily on multiple factors such as power to weight ratio, available traction, etc. and so the effect of low range can be more or less necessary depending on the vehicle and the wheel placement etc. As already mentioned, while the RD1 does not have low range, it does have an extra low first gear, combined with a very low curb weight and a 4wheel independent suspension with fairly decent articulation. Because of this, it manages to navigate many obstacles that most bubble suvs would have zero chance of passing. I know this because I've done it many, many times. I have driven dozens of jeep and ATV trails in my CRV and driven the same places as the jeepers. I would challenge you to find any jeep trail in NA I wouldn't happily drive in my RD1 with the exception of heavy rock crawling, which, btw, stock jeeps don't do either.
Having both a auto and a 5speed awd 99-00, i recommend the auto if your going to get one. It handled better at below 10mph activities as the engine is easy to stall in the manual when trying to crawl along slow paths or even parking lots when behind other people doing less then 5mph. Everything else the 5speed dose quite well
I have been overlanding with my 2001 CRV RD1 EX for five years and have taken it through some wild offroading and backcountry adventures.....Incredibly reliable and easy to work on and upgrade. Have replaced all of the running gear and did a complete suspension replacement last year.....250, 000 miles and going strong. Next is an engine upgrade....I love this little wheeler and I've had plenty of Jeeps, Chevys, Fords ect....and this is waaay better and i can get in ,and out of tight spots with ease. I'm headed up to Oregon this month to do more back country exploring.....Honda CRV RD1s are awsome! 👈💯😎
Hey man great video thank you for making it. Do you know what trim your crv is? Did you put the racing stripe decal on the sides or did it come with it? Also what is the amazon roof thing?
I've got a 98 5-speed AWD CR-V that I've lifted 2 inches, installed 15x7 Rota Grids and 215/75R15 tires. A grill/brush guard, roof basket, and light bar and pods, all from Amazon, and it's great for the sugar sand trails of NW Florida!
i was inbetween getting one of these or a 4x4 ranger (older model) for a daily. i think i’m pretty set on getting a crv now. nice and compact but roomy and i need the AWD for winter as i travel 35min to the city everyday. right now i do it in a 91 miata which is fun but also getting old packing everything in there
