The picture

Steering gaiters and diesel bills define used CRV

77.57% first-time pass from 241,641 tests is a respectable result for a car averaging 94,850 miles at MOT time. Steering rack gaiter deterioration and suspension joint dust covers top the failure list — both wear items that accumulate quietly and are cheap to address before they become a fail. The diesel variants produce the more expensive stories: a 2015 1.6 i-DTEC that needed a new DPF filter at £800 after a failed manual regeneration, and a 2013 2.2 CRDi automatic requiring a replacement high-pressure fuel pump and common rail at £5,290. Honda cited no manufacturing defect in the latter case. Oil consumption on the 2.2 diesel has also been flagged from 50,000 miles. If you're buying a diesel CR-V, the DPF and fuel system history are the questions worth pressing before you look at the MOT sheet.

Top ten reasons for rejection.

01

Steering rack gaiter or ball joint dust cover damaged or deteriorated

18,621 occurrences · 7.7% of tests
02

A suspension joint dust cover severely deteriorated

16,282 occurrences · 6.7% of tests
03

A rear registration plate lamp or light source missing or inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources

10,009 occurrences · 4.1% of tests
04

Headlamp reflector or lens slightly defective

9,199 occurrences · 3.8% of tests
05

Windscreen or window damaged or seriously discoloured but not adversely affecting driver's view

7,032 occurrences · 2.9% of tests
06

Tyre tread depth not in accordance with the requirements

6,444 occurrences · 2.7% of tests
07

a brake lining or pad worn below 1.5mm

4,896 occurrences · 2.0% of tests
08

The aim of a headlamp is not within limits laid down in the requirements

4,770 occurrences · 2.0% of tests
09

A suspension pin, bush or joint excessively worn

4,172 occurrences · 1.7% of tests
10

A lamp missing, inoperative or in the case of a multiple light source more than 1/2 not functioning

4,052 occurrences · 1.7% of tests

Counts cover Major and Dangerous defects logged at test. Advisory items excluded so this shows why a car was rejected, not just what the tester flagged in passing.

Worst-case fix budget · top 4 failures

£178–£595

If every one of this CR V's most-logged Major fails hit at the same MOT, that's the real-world UK garage range. Reality is usually one or two items, not all of them. Open the estimator →

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Tools that pre-empt a retest.

Picked against this car's top failure patterns. Affiliate links to Amazon UK — we earn a small cut at no cost to you. Disclosed up-front, doesn't shape the data.

Item 01 · Amazon UK

H7 / W21W bulb pack

A spare-bulb kit lives in the boot. Test morning is not the time to find your stop-lamp's gone.

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Item 02 · Amazon UK

Headlight restoration kit

Yellowed lenses fail the light-output test. A restoration kit lifts the haze in an afternoon for £20.

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Owner reports · Honest John

What owners actually report.

Verbatim faults logged by owners on honestjohn.co.uk over recent years. We didn't summarise — these are the words people typed in.

Where it falls short

Petrol versions are best avoided, higher trim levels are too expensive when new, no seven-seat option.

Recent owner-reported faults

26 May 2019
Report of DPF light appearing on dash of 2015 Honda CR-V 1.6 i-DTEC manual soon after a Honda service at 59,600 miles. Dealer performed Manual ReGen and Charged £120. Then said that Manual ReGen has failed and needed to change the DPF Filter. This cost £800 and another £50 for an extra oil change. After spending around £970 altogether on the DPF Issue, the DPF light came back on again wthin a 10 days. Dealer asked for time to investigate, suspecting the sensors. Unfortunately where 'diagnistics' rely on data extracted from sensors, it does not allow for the sensors themselves to be faulty.
21 Jan 2019
Report of 2013 Honda CR-V 2.2CRDI auto with 44,865 miles needing a replacement high pressure fuel pump and common rail at a cost of £5,290. Honda says there was no manufacturing defect.
30 Dec 2018
Report of 2014 Honda CR-V 2.2 i-DTEC starting to use a lot of oil at 50,000 miles. Car has always been serviced by franchised Honda dealer.
23 Nov 2018
Report of 22,000 mile 2016 Honda CR-V 1.6 i-DTEC repeatedly yet spasmodically refusing to start. Sometimes after a run. Sometimes after sitting idle for several weeks. Eventually the dealer diagnosed that the 'Honda Connect Unit' (Body Control Module or BCM) was drawing power even when the car was turned off. The dealer has fitted a new battery and has ordered a new 'Honda Commect Unit'.
6 Oct 2018
Report of 2016 Honda CR-V 1.6 i-DTEC 4WD needing new front discs and pads at 18,800 miles.
4 Oct 2018
Report of January 2018 Honda CR-V 1.6iDTEC running normally for 4,000 miles, but in the last 1,700 miles the car has used two litres of oil. The light came on after 750 miles with no oil registering on the dip stick. AA attended, found no leaks, put one litre in the engine and 800 to 900 miles later the light came on again and another litre required. 3 visits to the main dealer 6 calls to Honda UK and owner has been told this is with in the "normal tolerances" of the engine. On the last visit he was told during a DPF regen the oil can be become thinner causing excess burn. It's likely that the owner is doing short journeys that promote active regens and is switching off mid active regen.
31 Aug 2018
Report that shudder from drivetrain of Honda CR-V can often be due to failing engine or transmission mountings that are reasonably cheap to replace.
16 Jul 2018
Report of 83,000 mile Honda CR-V 2.2iDTEC auto being diagnosed with metal swarf in the fuel system by the Honda dealer it was purchased from two years previously. Dealer wants to replace the fuel sender pump, all high pressure pipes, fuel rail, 4 injectors, fuel filter and high pressure valve injection pump at a total cost of £6,000. (Must have misfuelled at some point or filled with low lubricity diesel.)
1 Jun 2018
Report of severe wear to parking brake "shoes" of 2016 Honda CR-V. Not covered under warranty. However has been one previous report of electromechanical parking brake of November 2015 CR-V sticking on and sometimes refusing to release (3-4-2016).
29 May 2018
Report of 2015 Honda CRV 1.6i-DTEC needing a new cylinder head because of a camshaft problem in 2017 and now a problem with the turbocharger.
30 Mar 2018
Further report on 2016 CR-V 1.6iDTEC 120 2WD (18-3-2018). Honda dealer took car due to intermittent cutting out issue, with them for over 2 weeks and they apparently had "intensive" talks with Honda Japan - which resulted in an earthing wire replacement and new battery. Then they road tested it for 181 miles and cutting out fault said to have not occurred again. Vehicle returned to owner and 20 miles later the PGM-FI warning light came on, so back to dealership for diagnosis of glow plug failure. Apparently unrelated to the other electrical issues.
18 Mar 2018
Used 2016 Honda CR-V 1.6iDTEC 120 2WD bought from a Honda dealer. Within 10 minutes, engine management light came on. Buyer returned car and a forced DPF regen was performed. While in the workshop a secondary glow plug issue was advised and owner left the dealer with the engine management light still on and the requirement to go back a second time. Probably due to the way it was driven by the previous owner, but to be safe requires new glowplugs, new EGR and new DPF. If not forthcoming, better to reject the car.

Source: honestjohn.co.uk · 30 reports indexed, top 12 shown

Buying or keeping a CR V?

Use the failure ranking as a pre-test checklist or a haggling lever. Treat the headline pass rate as a fleet-wide trend, not a guarantee on any individual car.

If you own a CR V and your last MOT looked nothing like the ranked failures above, that's normal — individual cars vary widely. The ranking shows the patterns testers flag most often across the country.