Hi there i'm no expert but my wife has the 1.8 and i have 2.2 personally i prefer the 2.2 for power it has over the 1.8 but i must admet the 1.8 is alot smoother to drive. I have had a slight problem with the clutch on the 2.2 but it was sorted for £65 at the dealer nothing major at all (touch wood) as for the Mrs she has had the car in for the subframe recall and creaking suspension so really its down to personal choice, try them both i love the 2.2 and i do alot of motorway driving and with the ECU chipped i average about 52mpg whilst the petrol lucky if you get 32mpg.

 

Lucky to get 32mpg? are you joking?....Mate, I get 40 all day long, 36 minimum!

 

I would say the diesel.

You will save a lot on fuel and seeing as your doing mostly 70mph A roads you wont be on and off the clutch much anyway.

 

250 miles week its got to be diesel.

 

and dont forget that on the off chance the 2.2 clutch wouldnt be covered its only the same price as a timing belt for a vag.

 

I have the 1.8, my wife has the 2.2. To be honest I enjoy driving the 1.8 more, but that's personal I think. Some prefer the diesel for its wide powerband, the ease of driving and of course the fuel economy, some like the petrol more for the engine characteristic, directer response, the smoother ride, the lighter feel,...

From an economic point of view the diesel would be the best choice for your daily commutes, certainly when you take in account the type of roads you drive. As I said I'm not a diesel fan at all, but there's two diesels worth to drive in this category: the BMW 2.0 and the Honda.

K.

 

Thanks for the feedback, the general opinion seems to be leaning towards diesel, for some reason I thought more people would defend the petrol car. I really didn’t think 250 miles per week was that much, but it is around 12,500 miles annually give or take.

The clutch in the diesel is the major worry for me, should I be looking at history of the clutch being changed recently as a good thing? and will the issue be resolved once Honda has changed the clutch, or will this just be something that I have to live with and change every 30,000??

I was initially thinking of buying an 08 Ford Focus 2.0 tdci, but that is such a common car it's unbelievable and frankly it's not as good looking as the Civic. The BMW 320d was also in the mix, but looking for an equivalent age and mileage to the Civic would be out of my price range.


Cheers

 

i had the focus 2.0 tdci before this one and its not in the same league people talk about class leading handling etc but imo the honda turns in better they both understeer when pushed and the focus has its own clutch problems, in fact all modern diesels fitted with a dual mass flywheel seem to have problems. the bmw has its own catalogue of issues swirl flaps being ingested causing engine failure and turbos being the most common but they are alleged to be fixed although not really recognised by bmw as a common fault..... sounds familiar?

 

I have a 2.2 diesel, owned it for 6 weeks and no clutch issues. It has 50k on the clock so I don't think this clutch issue is as widespread as made out on the forum. As people told me when I joined the forum, you only hear tales of woe on here, people are unlikely to post saying 'my cars driving great'.

Ive said it before and I'll say it again. You have no way of knowing the history of a used car when buying it. It could have been owned by a vicar or a racing driver. Its only when you've owned it for a short while do problems come out of the woodwork.

Mine seems to be behaving itself (touch wood), theres a couple of bits on it that need sorting which indicate possible abuse (scratches etc) but as far as the engine/transmission is concerned it seems fine. Cosmetic things can be sorted in my own time.

 

i did ask if the mods could pull some figures from the clutch failure thread to see how many failures are on there and how many had been fixed foc by honda because to me it seems if it is acknowledged as a faulty clutch it gets done, i only know of one thats had two clutches and the replacement lasted 40k with 197bhp from a remap i dont actually think thats bad as the clutch wasnt designed to take that power

 

Go for the diesel mate yu won't be disappointed. I've had mine since brand new (July 07) done 50K (the last 12 months with a tuning box) and i've no issues with our clutch. Only problem i've had is with the paint quality!!

 

I do 140 miles a day in my civic and wouldn't go near a petrol as i borrowed one for a few days. fuel lasted me allot longer in the 2.2.

Petrol was still smoother to drive though.

 

1.8 with LPG...

 

I am getting in city driving ca. 8,5 l per 100 km which is ca. 33 mpg, but my average from ca. 8000 km is ca. 36 mpg (this included 3 or 4 trips)... I do only 12k km per year (ca. 7400 miles) so diesel will not pay off and still 1,8 got the kick if you want to push it around 4k rpm.... i do not know how much more would you have to pay for the 2.2 but for me the difference in Poland was ca 2400 quid, so taking into consideration the difference in oil/gas and higher servicing costs, I would have to do 500 miles per week in 2.2 to have decent return. If you don't mind the money and the noise at lower speeds go for the diesel.

 

type r with lpg?

 

Any way after resetting the trip computer on the 1.8 i got the miles upto 37.8mpg it must stick or freeze sometimes?? who knows.

However, me being very biast GET THE DIESEL its great

 

1.8 is also great, and even better since: doesn't fail and you don't have to wait for the turbo to warm and chill....I have another diesel from honda (actually its isuzu) as well and dont mind the change somethimes, but still...1.8 just asks to be revved!

 

I think if you go for LPG it will invalidate the warranty! If you are doing that amount of miles then you would have to go for a Diesel and just hope the clutch will be OK?

 

Looks as if diesel is the way to go, there seems to be no shortage of 07 plates that are coming to the end of there warranty this year, strange that.

Like one of the previous posters said, I've just got to bite the bullett and hope for the best, I would be totally gutted if I bought a lesser car that I thought was more reliabe and ended up having problems.

I just need to choose one now..

 

Well good luck they are great cars and a decent engine at least.

 

well, this is some approach i.e. understand the possible faults, agree with them and just hope they won't happen in your diesel. if you fall, do it from a taller horse...

yeah, but who says 2.2 is taller hehehe 1.8 rulez! ;-)

 

Haha like the analogy.

Thanks to everyone for your opinions.

Apologies to the mods for posting this in the wrong section. This is an excellent forum.

Cheers

 

I agree if I wasn't planning on keeping the car until it dies or was doing low mileage then I would have got the Petrol model. I only heard about Clutch Problems on this site so only heard great things about the Diesel when I was looking.

 

The 1.8 seems to be very economical! It really does have some pretty outstanding economy figures especially when considering its power output.

My 2.2 pretty much definitely drinks more fuel, but after test driving both it was pretty clear that I wanted to drive the diesel every day! So much more torque, it feels kinda beasty. Its more fun and more relaxing too - don't have to thrash it to get it to move.

1.8 for Economy, 2.2 for Oomf.

 

I had a 2.2 and now have a 1.8 both CTS. I prefer the 1.8 more, alert lighter better turn in, lighter clutch pedal and far nippier in traffic not having any lag. I dont miss the 1l of Mobil 1 every 1500miles either. I know not all diesels use that much but a lot do. I averaged 39-40mpg now get around 36 in mainly town driving with my petrol. I average 44 at motorway speeds.

The diesel cost more to service, insure (albeit partly redeemed by the road tax) and you have to use the plastic freebie gloves when filling up or you end up with the steering wheel reeking of diesel half the time.

Okay so you get the idea i like the petrol. I dont drive on the same type of roads or as much as you though and provided the difference in price was not vast the 2.2 may suit you better. Shove it in 6th and waft past whatever on the motorway is the 2.2's bet trait.