I have already mentioned somewhere that I have a new HRV also.
I went with my family to Dilkusha hotel in August and there it stopped on the slope of Dilkusha Hotel and I had to disembark 4 persons from my car and then HRV slowly climbed the rest of the way.
The reason was the overheating of the cvt. I had driven my car for around 5.5 hours with a/c on and also after Chitar park (half way point) I had shifted to S mode in my car.
But when I went to Murree in December (again with all my family) with the same situation, my HRV climbed from a standing start at the gate of Dilkusha Hotel like a missile with full speed, because I had not used the a/c anywhere due to the cold.
So our understanding is that the cvt had overheated during my August visit , and now that I know this , I am ready to take my HRV even to Hunza because if my car bogs down , I will just give it a rest of 20 minutes and I am definite that my car will then become okay.
HRV has a lot of space for front and rear passengers especially leg space. More space than what the rear passengers have of city even (which I have now sold off due to steering problem) Leg space is more than sportage or tucson even, even though head room is a little bit less for the mid passenger.
But for long routes, for a family of 5 persons, Manual BRV is the king. It will climb everywhere. 2 persons can sit in the middle row and the third person can easily relax in the third row. Easy accessibility to the last row which is better than all the cross overs which I have checked (7 seaters, But I haven't till now checked cherry tigo).
Yes it is true that you sometimes wish for a 4 wheel drive in the northern areas on rough gravel roads or when there is snow.
I travelled from Chilas to Dasu and thakot (when babusar pass was closed due to landslide), a distance of just 100 km in 11 hours in my BRV. Never did the BRV hit the underside anywhere. The plus point of a Manual BRV overcomes its negative points very easily. But it is suitable to a person which has a family of 5 persons. A person with a small family can choose any other car other than the brv.
Regarding your joke of " supernatural powers" it is quite clear to me that you have never had to face any such situation and you should pray that it remains so.
Regarding underpowered cars, yes if one wants to buy a cvt, it should be 1.5 and not less than that . City 1.5 cvt driven carefully will give better mileage than city 1.2 cvt.
And yes for your information (as it seems that you don't believe in such things) about 16 years back I had visited murree and as it was quite late, we decided to stay the night in one of the hotels at the ADDA point. And at night something happened and me and my kids saw the same dream with no difference which they told me in the morning.
So to all people (other than Mgalaxy3) I would suggest to not to stay in the hotels at the Adda point, stay at Murree and to be doubly sure , choose new hotels.
But please note that nothing of this sort happened to us neither at Kaghan, Naraan, Jaglot, Gilgit , Hunza , Bahrain or Kalam hotels with us, but only at the hotel in ADDA area of Murree.