Our paper anniversary

[JB75]

It's been one whole year now, and I'd say the relationship has had its "ups and downs", were it not for the fact that my major bugbear with this car is that it feels as though it has no suspension. Anyway, 5000 mainly motorway miles later, here's what I reckon of the 2006 Honda Civic 1.8 SE.

Good:

• The 1.8 I-VTEC engine, what a star: it pulls, it purrs, and feels as solid as a rock. I'm still only managing 320 miles on a full tank, though appreciate my driving could be a factor there.
• The gearbox: the surest and smoothest gear change of any car I've owned.
• Styling, both inside and out: nothing's changed on this front, I still reckon its a class apart both inside and out, and at least a couple of years ahead of the opposition.
• The excellent heated leather seats I opted for: these make me love the interior as much as the exterior, and really prove their worth through the winter.
• The "start" button. Such a simple concept but a far more satisfying way of bringing a car to life.

Not so good:

• The suspension: It's just too hard; my car really does bang and clatter over bumps in the road, and we have many of those around here. The car returned from its first service recently and the tyre pressures are bang on, so I guess that's just the way it is.
• Build quality: I've had real problems here; the car's been back to the dealer around ten times in total, which is pretty dire by any standard. Nothing has actually broken but I've had two sticking fuel caps, loud noises from the windscreen, grinding windscreen wipers, as well as creaks and rattles just about everywhere at the rear of the car, some of which it took the dealer several attempts to resolve. Perhaps I got a “Friday afternoon” example, but on my experience I now have little respect for the build quality of Honda cars. After a few "creak free" weeks, I now appear to have another squeak from the recalcitrant rear suspension.
• Honda's customer service: when returning the car for faults I haven't felt particularly welcome at the dealerships I've dealt with, nor have I been particularly impressed with their customer interaction skills. I've also had dealings with Honda's customer service centre, where more than one promised call back never materialised. Personally I think Honda have problems here.
• The "high shine" dashboard: Someone really erred with this; even in the showroom you can see fine scratches and masses of dust on these. Anyhow, with the Type-R on the market we can now take action and get one of the far superior "solid" variants installed.

I must admit to having an indifferent opinion of the car after one year: there is good and bad in equal amounts, they feel to have cancelled each other out to a point where I'm fairly neutral about the car. Anyhow, I plan to keep it for another two years, during which time I'm hoping my mind will change for the better: after all, I'm assured that the 2007 spec models onwards have shown far fewer problems.

Happy motoring all.

[waran]

Great review JB75. Think you are spot on! Very well balanced. Only thing I have to say is the mileage per tank seems to be a bit low. I seem to be getting about 400-420 per tank but i usually fill her up with 50-75 miles left.

Thankfully yet to have to deal with the Honda CS! About the little noises, I've decided it cant be dangerous and as such i just turn up my volume and ignore it

P.S. I had very bad grinding noises from my 2nd set of wipers, my dealership changed it for free and (*touch wood*) 1500 miles later still grind free.

[Brodick]

320 miles to a tank !!! that is shocking

can't think exactly what we have been getting but think it is around
the 420 - 450 mark and this is with 2007 I - shift normally fill up around the 10 miles to 0 miles mark - although there is clearly still fuel left in the
tank at 0 miles

[JB75]

I use the term "320 miles" a little loosely to be honest. I use super unleaded and usually fill the car to the brim when I get down to around 40 miles showing on the "miles remaining" display. I then manage around 310 to 330 miles before fillling the car again. I mainly use the car to get to and from work, which is 10 or so miles each way; aside from that, it's just short runs around town of 2 to 5 miles. If I let the car run dry, I'd probably get about 360 to 380 miles from a full tank, which is perhaps all I deserve given how I use the car. I dont get the opportunity for those long runs which push up the mpg all that often.

If I'm being very honest, I probably do boot the car a bit from time to time: I still enjoy the pull of that engine .

[waran]

Well JB75, keep on doing it otherwise what's the point of having that glorious VTEC!