I spoke with the local non franchise Honda specialist

A specialist advising you to use cheaper fluids?

Avoid said person like the plague.

Get yourself down to a proper Honda dealership - pay the extra if need be and then you'll have years of trouble free motoring. Scrimping on price is a fools errand. With regard to updates, any Honda dealer can punch in your vehicle reg and check what, if any updates are needed.

Also, dont forget, your car is a diesel - diesels take a while to warm up. Sounds like you might be driving a little aggressively if theres no "change" in the CVT "gears". Keep it in "D" and be a little bit lighter on the accelerator

 

Hi, thanks for your thoughts on this. The local chap uses only Honda fluids. He worked at a main dealer for years before going it alone. But he was surprised at the cost of the fluid for the 9 speed CVT. He was gracious enough to phone me before I set off and ask if I still wanted to go ahead with the fluid change. He doesn't think the oil needs to be changed until the car has done about 70,000 miles. So I didn't have it changed. But I've seen posts on this group where people have changed it after 30,000 miles and say their car changes gear more smoothly afterwards.
I live in an apartment in the city centre so park in the basement and all the roads around me are 20mph. The lunges between gear changes are happening at low speed and low revs. The gear changes do get smoother as the car warms up. This is why I wanted to change the transmission oil. But if it's more a software issue I'll have it updated at the main dealer. Curiously, if I've left it elsewhere for a few hours and am able to be slightly heavier on the throttle it is a bit smoother.
I'll phone the local main dealer tomorrow and ask if it needs any updates. I spoke to them before I bought the car as they had sold it originally and serviced it. They were really helpful and told me it had been serviced according to the schedule and there weren't any concerns about it. 😊
I just think it's typical I buy a car that requires oil that's four times the price of the oil for the other Honda gearboxes - I once bought an Audi that cost more in repairs over its lifetime than I paid for the car (£2000+ for a clutch, etc.) and it looks like I've done the same with the CRV! 😂
If people on the forum think, from experience, that it would be worth changing the transmission fluid now I'll have it done regardless of the cost. 😊

 

Go for the software updates. And make sure that you get the car up to date as the cover a lot of aspects from fuel efficiency to handling etc.
A whole transmission oi change is around 200-300 excluding labor, as it involves specific oil filter, screws, oil pan change etc.
80-100 000km is the mileage to normally change it.

What I remember from the sales person of our CRV is that he instructed us to properly engage the gears from stand still is to fully press the brake pedal.

Sent from my BBD100-1 using Tapatalk

 

Hi, Thanks for this. I will ask the main dealer to update the software tomorrow.
I don't mind paying the money for the oil change but to find out the specific model I bought requires oil that costs four times as much as the oil for other Honda gearboxes is one of those eye rolling moments. 😃
I'll try pressing the brake pedal hard before I start off too. 😊

 

My apologies... my eyes saw 9 speed and CVT in the same sentence.... Unless I am mistaken, the Earth Dreams based CR-Vs in all countries is a CVT transmission and doesn't have typical gear shifts... it has 'G Design Shift Logic'... which is supposed to kick down ratios to deliver a more 'sporty feel'. It definitely needs to be serviced! If it did manage to receive an automatic instead of a CVT, then the vehicle computer would not have that correct programming... but that is a bit of a stretch. There is a software update for the 2015-2016 CV transmission based on TSBs, but I have never heard this!

 

Hi, Thanks for this. It definitely doesn't feel sporty when it's cold - it's anything but sporty! 😄 But once it's warmer up it's not sporty either. In fact, when trying to overtake and hoping for some kickdown it just doesn't appear and you overtake slowly with the engine screaming like a banshee! 😳 I will get it serviced regardless of the cost but it's interesting that the garage said it doesn't need the fluid changing until it's done another 40,000 miles.

 

And deselect the flower "power" button. You see fuel efficiency only on motorways.

Sent from my BBD100-1 using Tapatalk

 

I tried the green option for a day. It was unbearably slow to change gear so I switched it off and will never use it again. 😄 I found that I was actually having to rev the car more so it defeated the purpose. 🙄

 

#WorstButtonEver