By Tim Plouff

Honda now has nine assembly plants spread around the United States employing more than 25,000 Americans. Honda builds Acura and Honda branded cars, SUVs, minivans and trucks here plus motorcycles, ATVs, personal watercraft, marine engines, generators, lawn mowers, Indy-race car engines, and a host of other consumer goods. Honda even owns one of the largest test facilities in all of North America: the Transportation Research Center in Ohio.

Honda now builds 75 percent of the vehicles it sells here in the states, right here in the states. That is more than one million new Acura and Honda vehicles each year.

Following Honda’s lead, Toyota, Nissan, Mazda, Suzuki, Subaru, Mitsubishi, Mercedes, BMW and now Hyundai have developed assembly plants in North America to meet growing demand for import-labeled vehicles.

Surprisingly, the compact class CRV sport wagon, a car expressly designed for the American market, is assembled in Japan and England but not in the U.S.

When it debuted in 1996, the CRV was the first of many car-based designs that would ignite the explosive sales growth in the SUV segment. Based on a Civic platform, with Real-Time all-wheel drive added to certain models, the CRV quickly became the best-selling small crossover wagon/SUV until Ford produced the now class-leading Escape.

Today, nine years later, the second generation CRV is still the number two selling small SUV in a class populated with numerous new rivals wearing recognizable labels such as Toyota RAV4, Pontiac Vibe, Subaru Forester, Hyundai Tucson and Mazda Tribute. In fact, CRV sales are up 6 percent this year despite the new competition plus the arrival of an in-house challenger under the name Element, a boxy, shorter rendition of the CRV using the same mechanicals.

Why would sales increase on a five-year-old design? Honda hasn’t just stood pat with the CRV’s features since its redesign. A leather interior with heated seats has been added on the new SE trim level. Side airbags and electronic stability control are now part of the package, along with standard ABS brakes. A trip computer with outside temperature display is new to the CRV. Steering wheel audio controls are available, too, for the first time. A five-speed automatic transmission replaces the former four-speed gearbox while 16-inch wheels fill the wheelwells instead of smaller 15-inch units. Adding to the new safety gear are optional head protecting airbags for both rows of seats.

The maturation of the CRV reinforces the values that Honda embraces in all of its products: build solid, reliable consumer goods that meet or exceed the customer’s expectations and sales will take care of themselves. Honda offers little, if any, factory price incentives on the CRV, letting the brand’s reputation and high resale values dictate the terms of each sale.

To prove its mettle, the CRV accompanied me for more than 1,100 miles of roaming the state’s byways and highways, in constant motion for work and pleasure.

The small Honda offers more interior room than its exterior dimensions would indicate. Second row riders have ample head and legroom on a seat that reclines for comfort and folds forward to expand the cargo hold. Taller passengers might wish for more thigh support here, and in the front seats, yet the firmly padded seats generally provide good support. Some fidgeting occurred after an hour in the saddle, enough to incite some fiddling with the seat controls. Visibility is very good to all corners.

Entry and exit height is convenient for all through doors sufficiently large enough to handle all physiques. The interior controls layout is intuitive and ergonomically accessible for every driver. I enjoyed the pop-up center console between the front seats; fold it up for a handy lunch station or beverage console, fold it down to store bags and other traveling paraphernalia. I also like the idea of the removable folding table in the rear load floor, even though it may not get used much, and the swing-out rear door proved to be a handier apparatus than a hatchback design.

While the inclusion of an outside temperature gauge is long overdue, the addition of the electronic stability control system is quite timely. Hyundai’s new Tucson and Kia’s Sportage both offer this important safety gear this year, the first small SUVs to so equip their vehicles with this innovative assist. Honda is keeping pace with the market in this regard.

One area where the Honda is behind the pace, however, is the engine room. The CRV’s 2.4-liter DOHC four makes 160 peak horsepower. It’s certainly enough energy to power you around town for whatever errands you contemplate. The new five-speed automatic gives you another gear ratio to smooth the shift points and improve fuel economy, too, yet long grades frequently forced several downshifts to maintain momentum.

My reservations about the power output come as I imagine a family of four headed out for a playful weekend; the cargo bay full of gear, four bikes dangling off of a rear-mounted rack, and the engine working feverishly to keep up with highway traffic. That isn’t a problem for Honda’s powerplants as they seem to relish extra duty work. But much of the competition offers optional V-6 power, or a more powerful engine boosted by turbocharging. More torque and more power would give the CRV another persona for those owners who want or need a boost; just like many buyers choose with the Accord V-6.

I suspect that the next generation CRV, due out in another year, will come with an optional V-6 powerplant or even a more powerful hybrid powertrain that will impress with its efficiency and performance.

Despite my enthusiastic throttle usage, the CRV’s mileage varied from a low of 25 mpg to a high of 27.6 mpg (better than the EPA estimates) after four tanks of regular grade fuel.

Steady, reliable and versatile, the CRV displays a higher level of competence. I would have expected nothing less from Sochiro Honda’s disciples.