Driving in Some 'Civic' Sense - A Buying and Ownership Review

[Iron Rock]

Very true. The cockpit always amazes me and its like a zen for me..
thankx Iron Rock..

Hey why dont we all civic Owners gather somewhere and have a fun morning/day and share news/food/thoughts/info. We can plan a long drive ... :)
What say??

Its a great idea , but let me highlight a classic problem we have in hand, here are the list of civics in the forum and their locations to the best of my knowledge (someone can correct me) :-

AnshulMadan - Delhi
Singh ji - U.S
Suhail - Hyderabad
Typer - Thailand
Civic-At - Delhi
Iron Rock - Pune

 

[350Z]

Some pics of my civic for all those CIVIC lovers.

That’s a looker. Congrats for a Civic. How about starting up a separate thread highlighting ownership experience rather than hijacking Iron Rock’s thread?

Its a great idea , but let me highlight a classic problem we have in hand, here are the list of civics in the forum and their locations to the best of my knowledge (someone can correct me) :-

Then a Honda Owner’s Meet should help in that case.

Drive Safe,
350Z

 

[TSIVipul]

^^Then what about an all India Civic owners meet?
Simple,do it in Jaipur,or Vadodra.
Meeting in Vadodra will give you guys a chance to drive on NE-1


@350Z:Honda owners's meet must happen,but take care of one Civic owner who can end up bringing an XUV in the meet saying 'When I myself have came then what is the work of Civic'..(you know petrol prices are very high)

 

[Iron Rock]

Unfortunately for me and Uncharacteristically for you Vipul, this time you are right!

Businesses have to be run on economics and P/L and hence a petrol doesnt seem to make sense then - so my civic is limited to city office runs on weekdays while weekend driving (usually around 300kms+ minimum) is taken over by the XUV. But rest assured if its a Honda meet i wouldn't have the audacity nor the heart to turn up with a diesel beast!

Coming back to giving updates on the civic - i am really struggling here, the car has simply no problems whatsoever, drives butter smooth all the time with the limited running - so what do i post !

So let me simply explain my daily office run(lol, read further at your own risk - hopefully the pune guys will relate to it) :-

1) As usual i am late to office every day and walk down(or rather use the lift) in a hurried way to drive. 50% chance i have forgotten the mobile but decided ill not explain that routine.
2) Watch the civic, ahh feel bliss, take a customary walk around the car to ensure all is well, pass a glance at the XUV standing behind like a bodyguard and say all is well, all is well.
3) Unlock the doors and sit inside and again smile, the dashboard feels like from another planet for something which is 6 years old now!
4) Put the key and turn on and a blue feeling sinks you in and the audio starts playing in what i reckon is a very decent quality !
5) Slot in the first gear and you realise wheres the power missing in what is a 1.8 ltr i-vtec, but then you get reminded its the v-tec working for you, limited power in lower revs, move in to the second gear and slowly the silk monster starts awakening. a gentle tap on the pedal and you are flying already. But alas its city driving and the North main road in Koregaon park isnt exactly a place where you can fly. So with a fleet of motorcycles and rickshaws around you start negotiating the traffic towards Mundhwa. Watch out soldiers(sometimes use hindi expletives but rather not mention those) !
6) Mundhwa signal and then you are crawling for the next 10 mins feeling completely hopeless and then suddenly as it clears you see a clean stretch of road and there you footing the civic's throttle and breezing by till Magarpatta arrives - feeling all silky!
7) What next , magarpatta is the city of speed breakers, so all you do is crouch around slowly till you reach parking.

I was about to describe my way back from office, but realise you must have already died of boredom and cursing me for using the civic for such a puny job. So i end here. If anyone is interested in the return journey let me know, there is an exciting part where i negotiate the buffaloes on the road who are returning after a dip in the holy ganges beside kalyani nagar!

@Mukeshus,Vipul, Sclass if you are still reading(and breathing) my deepest sympathies! But hey i did post some updates!

 

[anshulmadan]

@Vipul: I know I didnt stretched the CIVIC in the third and fourth gear.. but since it was my first time so I was little apprehensive abt the roads and safety of my car. The road almost finished at the end and it was a sharp turn which can be seen by the sharp turn i took at around 50Kmph. I have already driven it to 196Kmph on Chandigarh highway.

I will surely come up with a ownership review soon. :)


350Z@Thanks. i will surely do that. :)

@Vipul: You are cent percent true on that but we should organize some meet may be for Honda lovers..or owners but only HONDA's are allowed :P. I think that will be cool.

 

[TSIVipul]

^^Then do it,I can arrange for upto 3 VIP passes for driving on the still to open Yamuna expressway.Drivign on that road is a treat.Its 172 kms of pure joy.I can get any Honda you say weather its City,Civic or the brutal Accord V6.
Don't ask about CR-V because I drive cars.
BTW,can't Corolla or Laura owners join who love Hondas?

@Iron Rock:Your routine is damn boring,still get the bufallo part,I am more interested in that.

 

[anshulmadan]

VipuL that will be awesome.
lets do it. lets make a new thread for HONDA meet.

 

[Iron Rock]

havent posted much on the civic recently as there really hasnt been much, it just keeps doing its job diligently no fuss and butter smooth as ever!

Here is a recent pic sandwiched between the toyota brothers !

 

[Turbo]

HI Iron Rock, Just wanted to have some information from you. Going through various civic's threads, i came to know the problem about engine mounts.
Can you please tell me where are these exactly located, and if buying a second hand civic, how to check whether they are fine or not?

 

[Iron Rock]

Hi Turbo if the engine mounts are bad you will feel it when driving there will be vibration on starting and clunk sound if you carefully hear the engine bay over potholes - especially more so when changing gears/accelerating/braking.
The driver side one is beside the oil level check on the left , there would be metallic part on top and a rubber part below.There might be oil seeping from it - watch out for that. Also the gap between the metallic part and rubber part below should be considerable - if its too close, its bound to have problems.

Sorry i dont have a pic to explain now, but will try to take some.

 

[Iron Rock]

So its been nearly 8 days now that i am on the civic 'high'(i.e xuv standing in the garage for a change ), why ? I was driving to work the other day in the civic (usually use it weekdays for short city rides to office et all ) , the thought of a civic being ripped open on a highway struck me and since then been on the civic non stop, this weekend did a 400 km run on the civic through expressways and loved it, the lack of low end grunt it makes up more than enough at the high end. The civic was anyways screaming "take me to the highways i am bored of the city roads " - so had a stonking ride this weekend. Also i was probably taking more life out of the battery than putting it in with the short infrequent city runs, so it was time for a highway blast!

Stretched it up on the highway and it never felt more happier, keep climbing the rpm and it wont complain. The Yoko C drives weren't really tested since i put them on, but this weekend they were put to some hard work - am simply amazed with the amount of grip they give, while i was pushing in the corners no where was i close to lose the biting point of the tyres , it could comfortably hold its nerve. Even took it off-road at the farm as it wasn't raining and ground wasn't slushy, the civic managed it, off course i was being extremely careful.

Some shots from the weekend follows :-

 

[Akash]

Excellent pics buddy. The Civic, even after so many years of launch is still a looker. Thanks the care you give to your Honda, she is still looking new.
BTW off-roading on a Civic, i cant even think of. Please post of pics of mild boulders you might have had at your farm.

 

[Iron Rock]

Thank you mate you are very right, the eight generation civic is by far the best looking one(better than the ninth in my view), infact dare i say it it puts many of the modern sedans to shame with its clean aero design!

Well at the outset i might sound like a nut to take a civic offroad, but it was well thought process with the roads adapted(grass trimmed and boulders placed at right spots to ensure it meets the gc requirements). Also the passengers were kindly requested to walk the last mile which wasn't exactly taken well but so be it. I need to be inch perfect to ensure it doesnt hit anything.

To get an idea of roads please see this post on the xuv thread

http://www.theautomotiveindia.com/f...experience-20k-kms-crossed-63.html#post211565

Offcourse i wouldnt dare it in the rains,as it would get extremely slushy(and you will get a lot of sideways movement skidding in the mud) and if you get a few inches wrong you are doomed. As it wasnt raining and the ground pretty hard, i decided the civic could do it.

 

[SandeepGarg]

Hi Turbo if the engine mounts are bad you will feel it when driving there will be vibration on starting and clunk sound if you carefully hear the engine bay over potholes - especially more so when changing gears/accelerating/braking.
The driver side one is beside the oil level check on the left , there would be metallic part on top and a rubber part below.There might be oil seeping from it - watch out for that. Also the gap between the metallic part and rubber part below should be considerable - if its too close, its bound to have problems.

Sorry i dont have a pic to explain now, but will try to take some.

I have had my engine mounts replaced by the dealer about a year and a half ago. Paid more than 10K, I think. Can I reclaim this amount from Honda? Do I go to the consumer court?

I feel they should have replaced it free of cost, as they were faulty. They are doing this now. All this was told to me by the workers at the dealership also.

 

[singh890]

Some shots from the weekend follows :-

Really nice pics and your civic is looking like a new one and looking good as usual. Nicely maintained buddy.

Thank you mate you are very right, the eight generation civic is by far the best looking one(better than the ninth in my view), infact dare i say it it puts many of the modern sedans to shame with its clean aero design!

+1000 to that. I also like the eight generation far better than the ninth one as i think that the look was the of the eigth generation was the USP which is now simply gone.