Honda Forum

[Scorrybreck]

Hello all, FR-V virgin here! Have just traded in my 6-year-old Renault Scenic for a 2006 FR-V 2.2 iCTD-i Sport, and very happy so far . Having been forced to refer many times in the past to the Renault Forum in order to sort out various problems with the Scenic, and finding many, many pages of forum material on the subject, it was actually a pleasant surprise to find hardly any Forum entries referring to the FR-V! I take this as a good sign for reliability.... (although I admit that there are a few less FR-Vs than Scenics around)!

To be fair to Renault, our original Clio was a good little car, and we were also very happy with our original Scenic which took us to Switzerland and back twice, as well as much travelling within the UK. Unfortunately our second (Mk2 model) Scenic was memorable more for silly problems, mainly electrical - sun-roof, boot lock, heater fan, flat battery (not our fault), instrument panel, persistent rear brake squeal, the list goes on.... and both Renault dealers that I dealt with were quite shockingly bad for customer service, the worst I have ever encountered in my 34 years of car ownership!! So time to change, and the FR-V (which I'd never actually heard of before I started lookimg!) caught my eye. My short-list was the FR-V and the Ford C-Max, but the Honda was just that bit different (I have a history of 'different' cars, look here http://www.photobox.co.uk/album/21014060 if you're interested!). I've been very happy with several previous Fords, but was also very impressed with my wee 1989 Honda CRX, so the FR-V won the day.

Having now scoured the forum for FR-V weaknesses and typical faults, I can't find any - yippee! Couple of questions for you experts out there though - our car is described as a 'Sport' (at least on the paperwork, if not the car badging), does anyone know what this actually means? Is it just the alloys, or do I have anything else that a 'non-Sport' doesn't?! Also, the security alarm has gone off twice for no apparent reason during my 2 weeks of ownership so far - no windows left open, car parked in exactly the same place (on driveway) both times, not windy weather or anything - has anyone else experienced alarm problems I wonder? Can the sensitivity perhaps be adjusted?

[Jok]

Hi Scorrybreck,
Welcome to FR-V ownership. I've had mine over 3 years now and currently looking for it's replacement - I only discovered this forum a few weeks ago though. I doubt you will regret buying an FR-V - they are great cars.

Mine is a '2.2 iCTD-i Sport' too - registered September 2005, but I read somewhere that it's a 2006 model (not sure if that's correct or not) - I have a pdf copy of the brochure from that year and, according to that, the difference between the 'SE' and 'Sport' is :-
16" alloys (SE has steel wheels)
Cruise Control
Front Fog Lights
Body coloured side protection strips
Electric retractable door mirrors
A cost option to add either 'sunroof + privacy glass', 'leather + privacy glass' or 'satnav + privacy glass' (you couldn't add these options to an 'SE' apparently)
Hope this helps !

Can't offer any advice re. the alarm I'm afraid - never had any bother with mine. Have you checked the owners manual to see if it suggests anything ?

[Scorrybreck]

Thanks for the response Jok! Your description of the Sport sounds spot-on as my car does indeed have these specific items (but none of the 3 options you mention). Regarding the alarm, I did check the handbook but it didn't really help.

Cheers anyway!

[Scorrybreck]

Jok, would you mind emailing me a copy of the pdf brochure if I PM you my email address? I have a brochure from the Honda website but its the 2009 model, your brochure will be more appropriate to my 2006 model. Thanks!

[gchild]

are you still having alarm problems?

[Scorrybreck]

The alarm does still very occasionally trigger itself for no apparent reason - probably less than once a month. I actually thought I'd sorted it, because one day the car electrics were totally dead, but I found that the earth connection from the battery to the chassis was very poor. Fixing that got the car started, and it occurred to me that the poor connection could well have caused the alarm to go off. However, it has happenned once since then, so maybe not. I also cannot find any common circumstances when the alarm triggers e.g. not windy, car parked in our driveway sometimes forwards, sometimes backwards, no windows left slightly open, etc etc.

Its not annoying enough to take the car to the dealer, but I will mention it at service time!

[sohell]

Hi Scorrybreck

Great to have you on the forum - not had nor heard anything about the alarm issue, hope you get it sorted though

[stavross]

The alarm does still very occasionally trigger itself for no apparent reason - probably less than once a month. I actually thought I'd sorted it, because one day the car electrics were totally dead, but I found that the earth connection from the battery to the chassis was very poor. Fixing that got the car started, and it occurred to me that the poor connection could well have caused the alarm to go off. However, it has happenned once since then, so maybe not. I also cannot find any common circumstances when the alarm triggers e.g. not windy, car parked in our driveway sometimes forwards, sometimes backwards, no windows left slightly open, etc etc.

Its not annoying enough to take the car to the dealer, but I will mention it at service time!

Hi to all just found this forum and we to are pround owners of a frv 1.7 with alloys not sports unfortunutly but very happy with it so far.
Getting back to your alarm problem I have noticed they have ultrasonic sensors at the front and maybe over sesitive or maybe something is moving in the vehicle ie fluffly dice,window suckers, or nodding dog moving after alarm is set as ultrasonics take a few seconds or so after alarm is activated to trigger them.
I will try to find out if there is an ajusment for them normally there is? incase your wondering I have been an auto electrician for many years and fitted loads of alarms any info I will post here.
Hope this helps you

Stavross

[sohell]

Hi Stavross

Welcome aboard - thanks for your offer of help, it will be very much appreciated!

[Scorrybreck]

Hi Stavross, thanks for your reply. I can assure you that there are no fluffy dice (or any other loose objects!) anywhere near the roof sensors, as I have a strong personal aversion to such things!! However, if you know of a way of decreasing the sensitivity of the sensors then I'd be very interested! I had considered just sticking some black tape or something over both sensors temporarily as an experiment just to see if the alarm still triggered, however I'm not sure if it would prove anything - the alarm had not gone off for quite a few weeks now, then suddenly it did twice last week! I'm beginning to wonder if its next door's cat walking over the car in the middle of the night...
I'll look out for any more info from you. Enjoy your FR-V!