By Derek Price
CNHI News Service

The Honda CR-V spawned a revolution when it was released back in the Jurassic period.

It was a time when SUV dinosaurs roamed the Earth. Big, heavy vehicles like the Ford Explorer were the dominant species, shaking the ground and guzzling fuel with their massive, aging, body-on-frame designs. Along came the CR-V as a Darwinian milestone – a mammal in a land of giant reptiles.

Crossovers now dot the landscape – the CR-V isn’t the only mammal out there anymore – but the 2011 model shows the CR-V stays true to its origins and remains competitive.

Unlike true SUVs, the original CR-V was built on a lightweight car chassis but still looked vaguely like the bulky Explorer. The result was a vehicle that gave you the best of both worlds – and a sales hit for Honda.

Since the CR-V was built like a car, it drove like a car. It had a zippy, precise feeling that SUVs couldn’t match. And its efficient, four-cylinder engine got far better gas mileage.

It also retained the best parts of SUVs: their spacious cargo area, high ride height to give drivers a better view of the road, and some styling machismo that plain ol’ family cars lacked.

It was such a success, in fact, that many of today’s most popular vehicles can trace their DNA to the first CR-V. Countless copycats are a great thing for buyers, who have a long list of excellent crossovers to pick from today.

So why should anyone still consider the CR-V in a modern automotive ecosystem that’s overpopulated with crossovers?

The first reason should be obvious. It’s a Honda.

Honda is really the only mainstream company left with a long-term reputation for building bulletproof cars. Toyota has been making headlines for all the wrong reasons since 2008. American and Korean brands have made huge leaps in the last five years – in some ways they feel like they’re built to a more luxurious standard than Honda’s – but that’s a recent development. The world is still waiting to see if they can keep it up.

The second reason is the CR-V remains true to its roots.

Thanks to the competition the CR-V helped create, crossovers come in all sorts of flavors today. You can buy high-performance crossovers, luxury crossovers, efficient crossovers and stripped-down, cheap crossovers.

Honda easily could have made its crossover compete for one of those niches when redesigning the latest CR-V. Instead, Honda preserved the CR-V’s everyman personality, which made it a hit from the beginning.

The latest CR-V has a smooth ride, precise steering and great, grabby brakes. The suspension feeling is almost a carbon copy of the Accord, which is a perfect benchmark. And it’s just sporty enough to be fun without being uncomfortable.

Its downsides are few. You can get better gas mileage and more luxurious cabins in some of its competitors, although Honda tries to rectify the luxury deficit with a new SE model that comes with more upscale equipment for 2011.

The engine is an excellent match for this car. Some crossovers have more power; others give you better mileage. But few hit the sweet spot as perfectly as the CR-V’s 2.4-liter engine, which makes 180 horsepower and is rated for 24 mpg on the highway.

In fact, I’m beginning to wonder if scientists a million years from now will discover a CR-V encrusted in amber that looks just like their futuristic CR-Vs. Like the mosquito, some designs are so well-suited that they can thrive for eons with minimal evolutionary changes.

Derek Price is editor of The Herald-Banner in Grennville, Texas. CNHI News Service distributes his automobile review column. He can be reached at carcolumn@yahoo.com.

The Honda CR-V is now available as an SE model that takes up the luxury a notch. It’s an all-new trim level for 2011.

RATINGS

Style: 8
Performance: 8
Price: 9
Handling: 9
Ride: 9
Comfort: 9
Quality: 10
Overall: 9

What was tested?
2011 Honda CR-V EX-L with Navigation ($28,645). Options: None. Price as tested (including $780 destination charge): $29,425.

Why buy it?
It drives exceptionally well. While it has a high ride that means good visibility, the suspension, steering and brakes all feel remarkably Accord-like. That’s a great thing.

Why avoid it?
Korean and American brands are building crossovers that feel more upscale. There’s an awful lot of competition in this category.