THERE is no doubt about it, the Honda CR-V that pioneer of the soft-roaders or sports utility vehicles is a hard act to beat.

Launched at the 1995 Tokyo Motor Show, the original Honda CR-V became a benchmark for this fast-growing segment.

Sales began in Europe in 1997 and the CR-V quickly became a firm favourite with buyers.

This object lesson in how to do it is entering its fourth generation which, I have no doubt will drive home even further the enviable reliability and quality of this car.

It is so dependable that a witty contributor to a mums' blog stated that the only thing that caused fear and worry with a CR-V was when a spider crawled over the rear-view camera lens.

My drive was in one of the outgoing models which are now going to be in high demand in the nearly new market.

This was one of the third generation which was revamped a couple of years ago with enhanced styling and a new powertrain and transmission.

After listening to customer feedback, the CR-V built on the strengths of its predecessor's car-like handling, frugal economy and premium specification.

This car was a 2.0 i-VTEC which proved itself to be rather cushy way of driving a first-class travel vehicle that looks like a hunky 4x4 SUV and is still an ideal solution to everyday transport.

Not cheap at £28,040 the CR-V makes up for this with a quality all the way approach which is very hard to fault.

The car had a seemingly interminable list of standard features including an eight-way power assisted driver's seat with lumbar support, 18-inch alloys,advanced navigation pack including voice recognition, hand-free telephone kit, advanced dial pump four-wheel-drive system, cruise control, panoramic sunroof and a host of other goodies.

Unlike many cars of its type this version features a 1,997cc, four-cylinder 150ps petrol engine which was linked to a six-speed manual gearbox. This provided creditable performance and a refreshing change from the rash of diesels that have flooded the market.

Maximum speed is 118mph and 0-62mph acceleration is 10.2 seconds which gives more than adequate performance. As can be expected, fuel consumption is nowhere near the advanced modern diesels, returning a combined figure of 34.4mpg. Still not bad for a large petrol vehicle such as this.

One feature that caught my eye was the double deck parcels shelf in the boot. This was ideal when separating fragile items which need space to themselves.

All in all a credit to Honda's workforce at Swindon where the CR-V is made.