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My Review of the 1.6 i-DTEC EX Civic

30K views 45 replies 18 participants last post by  JamesII 
#1 ·
I have had my 9th gen 1.6 i-DTEC for 7 weeks now and am very pleased.

I had a 2.2 i-CTDI ES before so there is a lot more kit on this one and it's also more refined, quieter and smoother.

The driving experience is definitely more leaned towards comfort driving than driving feel, it's a much easier car to drive but the steering lacks the feel on the 8th gen. My wife didn't enjoy driving my old Civic but it's a different story with this one.

The parking camera and all round parking sensors really do help out when getting into tight parking spaces.

The Sat Nav seems pretty good, though does seem to treat some mini roundabouts like they are not there, having it always there and having traffic info is really handy. The bluetooth streaming audio and USB interface are good, though bizarrely while my old ES stereo handled all the files in the root folder, for this one I have had to put them all in folders as there appears to be a 255 file per folder limit with this stereo.

Gear change is much slicker than the old Civic, the start stop works well too, clutch I have found is similar to the old one, no problems there.

Fuel economy as mentioned in another post is below what I had expected, am getting 60-63mpg on mixed driving routes, I reckon 70mpg is probably achievable on a motorway run but given Honda say 78.5mpg for mixed driving it's a little disappointing.

I have found the performance of the 1.6 to be above what I had expected, it feels as sprightly as our 1.6 petrol Astra (115bhp) on general town driving and definitely has more grunt for overtaking/motorway use.

One thing you can't do is pull off in 2nd, used to be able to do that with the 2.2....the 1.6 does not like it, it will do it but will grumble and barely accelerate, this is to be expected from the smaller engine I guess.

The leather seats are nice enough, the boot space is huge once again (though is 18 litres smaller than my old one, 10 litres of which is the subwoofer....which adds a bit of bass without vibrating the rear wiper off).

They have changed the wipes from the wipe to the edegs ones to the more traditional style, which is a shame....have also lost the panoramic glass roof and the start button....no major issues there really but the glass roof was nice in the summer.

The glove box has gotten a lot smaller, this is quite disappointing, though the door storage has improved particularly on the back doors.

The centre console bin now has a "gas lift" type operation, they must have seen the lifting of the old one to be just too much effort.

I haven't tried the video input or playing a DVD on it yet, seems crazy, but why not eh!

Took a little while to get used to putting the clutch down on starting, now I end up doing it in our Astra too, my wife instead gets in and presses the eco button expecting it to start like the old one ha ha.

I love the Aero alloys, I definitely prefer them over the standard ES/EX alloys.

I test drove the 2.2 and I thought it was good but didn't blow me away, it was similar to my old 2.2.....I do feel the lighter 1.6 engine has improved the handling quite a bit.

I don't think this engine has the same friction as a petrol, it's getting there, but you still know there is a diesel up front, it's noticeably quieter than the old 2.2 and worlds apart from the chugging 1.7 CTDI engine we had in our previous Corsa.

You can upload a wallpaper onto the upper screen, though it's a bit hit and miss, it's quite fussy even if you get the resolution right, good for a laugh though.

I find resetting the trip computer very painful compared to the previous model, you have to navigate around menus rather than just hold down a reset....since my trip computer lies about the mpg, giving me inflated figures so far, I am not monitoring it so much.

The climate controls are much better than the previous model, there is a straightforward on/off and it tells you which vent you have selected when it's off. On the old model I found that if you didn't want to use Auto, when you set it up and then turned it off you couldn't just turn it back on with those settings if you know what I mean.

You can also voice control the Climate Control with the usual world of voice control success....."Set Temperature 19 degrees" ...... Car replies "Set Temperature 26 degrees".

Am loving the new Benefit in Kind value as it's a company car, even though the value of the car is nearly £4k higher than my old one, thanks to it's 13% BIK value (old one is 22% in this tax year) I am paying about 25% less each month in tax on it.

If i think of any more noteworthy points will post them.
 
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#8 ·
Both of these have the same Audio system and it does play DVD's, I haven't tried it yet though, plus you do also have the 3x RCA Phono inputs too.

It supports DTS but only 2 channel, shame they can't do some form of proper surround, that would be quite cool....it has a sub and 4 speakers (well 6 but 2 are the tweeters...so it's just missing the centre so guess it would have to be 4.1)
 
#12 ·
I collect Civic 1.6EX on Monday

My garage is receiving it today I think and I will collect it on Monday 22nd. I have ordered a Brodit proclip so I can mount either my old HTC HD2 or iphone. I am keeping my late 2008 Honda Jazz, so this car will get a rest and a service. I was going to stick a registration plate on I bought for my wife Eva with has EVA in the make up but decided against it. It can always be added after though. In the test drive covering 30 or so miles on dual carriage way and rubbish country lanes trying to hit every bump and still a smooth I left it back at the deal garage with 78mpg which I purposely rest when I left them. I overtook cars on the A14 and the A6 then 'nursed' the car elsewhere. I can't wait to get it to see if I can import Points Of Interest (POI) into their navigator once I see the manual. I want to import Honda garages, Asda fuel, courts and speed cameras etc like I can with my favourite navigation (IGO8). I had a quick look on PocketGPSworld but searching Honda Civic yields nothing. In my Nissan Qashqai in use a USB stick and download camera site for UK OR Europe then stick it in the car and update the camera sites, I was hoping the Civic is similar. I will let you know if I can or if you can give instruction or link to. I am waiting in the car for my wife and it is 30c here already at only 0938.
 
#16 ·
When I had a 'play' in it at the shop I did do some pretend findings of police stations, courts and hospitals and it did work successfully. I will still be relying on PGPSW which on my IGO8 and Iphone announces and shows upcoming camera types and speeds. Hence the ordering or the Brodit proclips, which arrived on Friday (hurray!).
 
#17 ·
update

I collected the 1.6EX up today ( went to Scotland for 2 days previously). Trying to get an electronic version of the manuals (nav and owners) to make it easier to read on big screen and to be able to word search. No luck on Honda web site and call customer services, who said no! So I asked them to escalate the request or pass on to engineers. It has to exist as it is what is needed by the publishers. Unless someone can point me to it. Thanks!
 
#18 ·
Some info is after first tank full of fuel used the computer said 70.1mpg average and my calculated consumption was 69.5mpg. Very acceptable. I have found that the car has a HDD with a 10gb capacity, I assume that the total is 16Gb and that 6Gb is reserved for the navigation maps and memory etc. It is capable of ripping CD's into this HDD, this was a pleasant surprise to me. It even names the album and tracks etc. via Gracenote (not sure what that is but will look up soon). If you do not want CD's to be ripped automatically you need to turn it off in The Hdd audio setting? I am getting used to using voice control for many functions
Honda UK are unable to provide electronic (PDF) versions of either the Owners or Navigation/Audio manuals. Also unwilling and incapable to pursue the matter. Letter to be sent in due course when I get home later this week. I can get manuals for my previous cars and even the current US versions, but they didn't even want to try to get these ( they would obviously cost less then sending out a printed paper brochure).:facepalm:
 
#19 ·
Just had my first decent motorway run in my 1.6 idtec, leeds to Liverpool, 70-75mph most of the way, 4 people in the car, Eco mode on, a/c off most of the way and no cruise control, 73mpg achieved. I'm happy enough with that, compared to max 35mpg in my old 2 litre petrol focus! Loving this car so far, bought it 2 weeks ago ex demo, only 7000 miles on the clock so still some running in to be done to get the best mpg.
 
#22 ·
I got a better day average going up the A1 toward Scotland 200 miles all the way averaged 91.1mpg. But..... The speed was truck speed, approx 56mph, wife and 2 children and luggage the road was empty. Also dippingbthe clutch (cheating) on long downward stretches like at M62 junction, Durham and Newcastle etc.. Eco on (always) No A/C except if wind screen misted. The worst I have had is 64mpg for a tank full but the engine had some stick then. Previous car was a Qashqai +2 1.5dCI (1451cc). This Civic 1.6 it much more economical, slightly faster, quicker and handles water on the road better. But I cannot compare the QQ with this so no need to slag further please. The previous car was great for what we needed then. I am we'll pleased, let down by limited or differcult navigation capability. Current average over last 24 hours is 70.4. Had 4 tank fills already.
By the way realise the in poor road conditions the there are no rear lights until you turn them side lights at least. Daylight Running lights are only on the front and turn off when normal side and main lights are turned on. I seen many cars the other day in terrible wet conditions with no tail or fog lights on.
 
#25 ·
I have to admit it is a struggle for me to go 'slow' , but for that day I tried exceedingly hard. Today over 330 odd miles I got 75.5mpg doing 60 indicated, but my GPS's says 56. That was Corby to Colchester then up to Huddersfield. With quite a few bursts of speed to get past or out of trouble and a lot of start stop traffic early on A14 to M11 until past Cambridge.
The speedo is out by approx 6% ( a legal requirement I believe. This is so that even with wrong wheels, tyres or a flat you can never speed by 'mistake'). For example speedo reading of 107MPH is actually 100MPH.
By the way I am sure that the HDD is actually SSD (solid state drive), nowone would make a 16gb HDD today, unless someone knows different. I have ripped loads of old albums (CD's) into the car..... Beatles, Beach Boys, Deep Purple, The Sweet, Pet Shop Boys, entire Motown back catalogue, 100 Disco hits, 12" 70's, 80's and 90's hits, best punk, best country, rock and roll hits etc etc.. And still gigs worth of space left. Covering all them tracks on that new Eddy Stobbart CD just out, ' you ain't seen nothing yet ...., pop pickers hahaha!:D
 
#26 ·
had my type r in for service yesterday and I had a 1.6 d courtesy car, v impressed with it, great gear change, good smooth ride, light steering, rev camera great, it pulls really well when u floor it in 2nd/3rd, plus the great economy so think its on my list for next car in a few years time :)
forgot about the stop/start, thought it had conked out lol!
 
#29 ·
I am we'll pleased with mine. Previous was Qashqai+2. Currently in Romania ( Cluj-Napoca). Driven through France, Belgium, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Slovakia, Romania. Italy and Switzerland on way back. Navigator has located all places even track to a fishing lake and on an unmade road to be made with 'Euro money'. Car has been excellent. Fuel here about £1.13/ litre. I have obeyed all the speed requests.... 50, 60 100, 120 and 130 (hahaha!) been overtaken by nothing oddly enough. At the boarder they had me empty the car because they didn't 'recognise the documents' bull. The autobahn figures have been impressive about 68 at worst to 84. The Civic needed a serious pressure wash and got one here (£3.50) and looks like the new car it is again. Looking forward to the drive home, wishing for slightly warmer weather though. The wife will be flying home though with gran as the car is now full of 'stuff'. The car accelerates from stops and junctions fantastic, I am completely across junction while the next car has only just got over the white line. I think the battery and starter must work together in idle start to help you pull off during a start and pull off. It handles good in dry and wet. Handles good too, I had to swerve at speed around debris on motorways ( shredded tyres and beacon off a break-down truck roof) . There are also unmade roads and massive deep pot holes drugs, dogs, unlit horses and carts, horses, cattle, goats and sheep. Also a sleeping hog on the side ( I had to stop and take a few pictures) I was actually off to a barbecue but was unlikely to get the pig in the car at that size/weight. I don't know how to add pictures here of some of the scenes in future. So from the heart of Transylvania I bid you good day and safe driving! I have seen bats here.
 
#31 ·
Hi Guys - First post so please treat me gently :)

Very interested to hear peoples varying mpg figures from the 1.6iDtec, had an SR for just over a month and whilst I love it I am absolutely convinced it is not acheiving 'normal' mpg figures.

1,600 miles, 5 fills, max is 458 miles from a tank. Worst 47mpg best 52mpg per tank.

Drove first 1,000 miles steadier than anyone in the history of Honda ownership, changed on shift indicator, start/stop off (kind on new engine), free wheeled down all hills. Started stretching it's legs since then but mpg has never really changed.

Had three very long runs of approx 200 miles each, 55 mpg ave on each some cruise, some coasting.
 
#32 ·
All depends on the type of miles you do - don't despair yet, diesel mileage improves with age. will keep improving up to 20K+
 
#33 ·
Prob 20% m'way, rest A&B roads, don't do city centres Ave speed prob 35-40mph

Cheers slider, I have found your link to SpritMonitor very useful, your statement has always been my experience and belief but looking at yours (and others) fuel plots there is little (if any difference as it gains miles)

Done a global search on there and their is no other 1.6 doing anywhere near as bad as mine, car is actually eggagerating MPG too, having done the sums I'm actually averaging 48mpg :( or 5.86 L/km
 
#34 ·
If viewing my Sprintmonitor stats remember that I am driving the car harder now that it has some miles below its belt.

Also switch off econ mode unless you are cruising on a motorway. In my experience it actually increases fuel consumption. Econ mode deaden throttle response and you end up working the car harder to keep pace with the traffic.
 
#35 ·
I'm averaging 64 mpg for the first 2500 miles I've had my 1.6 diesel.

This is based on calculations, and show's the fuel computer to overread by about 8%.

I've achieved between 562 and 680 miles on a full tank so far.

Mostly driving 30 miles each way to work, 60% motorway sat with cruise at an indicated 66ish.

Even short journeys I'd struggle to get as low as 47 mpg.

Drove into Birmingham in rush hour with lots of stop start driving and it still said 62 mpg on the computer.
 
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