The engines in these Hondas are considered pretty solid and reliable performers. But as with any car now celebrating its 15^th birthday, things can go wrong that can affect performance. With that in mind it could be time to give the engine a comprehensive once-over and a full service. Having the car electronically interrogated would be a good idea, too, as any faults noted by the on-board computer will have been logged and could tell you a lot about that’s going on under the bonnet. Just because the car hasn’t illuminated a dashboard warning light, doesn’t mean that the computer hasn’t noticed something strange going on.

The problem is obviously an intermittent one (or the car would never run properly) and that really does point towards something electronic. That said, a good mechanic will also go back to first principles checking things like fuel delivery, ignition timing and even engine compression.

Any information you can gather when the problem occurs will help enormously, too. For instance, does the engine blow smoke or make any odd noises when it loses power? Does the car shudder or suddenly start using more fuel when the problem occurs? The more observations you can pass on to a mechanic the better idea he or she will have of where to start searching. Fundamentally, you could be looking at anything from a collapsed catalytic converter or muffler, a faulty fuel pump or injector, a damaged spark-plug lead or literally any one of about a thousand other things.

Honda has told us that they have been in contact with you and that you have been advised that oil changes are done on a time basis, and that “scheduled maintenance changes define the maximum time before oil is to be replaced. Where an oil change is required earlier, this remains a maintenance issue. As a gesture of goodwill, Honda covers this oil change if it occurs during the vehicle's warranty period.” We were further told that “the design of the differential on the CRV model incorporates friction plates that require lubrication. The differential oil will deteriorate with use and this can cause the friction plates to stick slightly on full lock/turns or if the front wheels lose traction. The symptom is a vibration in the car, this vibration will certainly not cause any damage however to eliminate the symptom there is a process recommended by the Honda factory that our Dealer network follows. The process requires flushing and replacement of the differential oil particularly between the friction plates.” I would suggest you take this information to your Honda dealer and ask why your car needed the earlier oil changes that were done.

I FEEL dealers are being mischievous in telling customers that they will get these fuel consumption numbers. The explanation given to you about them being achieved on a specific test cycle is correct. It's also correct that they should be used for comparison purposes. All manufacturers test to the same procedure and get results that are comparable so you can use them to compare one make to another, or one model to another. On top of that there are many factors that affect fuel consumption, so it's hard to pin down the actual fuel consumption you could expect in your situation. If you're unhappy with the Honda, contact the company direct and express your displeasure.