Issues regarding ground clearance of CIVIC

[johy]

Originally Posted by RakishRam

I don't know how many of the already replied posters own a Civic, anyway I do have one and I drive it in and around B'lore.
My experience is, the car is perfect when you are driving alone, but the moment you have two/three people on board or a bit of luggage, you will start cursing yourself on the civic purchase decision. It will bottom out on almost every humps when fully loaded and on every small gutters the suspension/whatever will give you a scary noise. I will try to upload some photos of my car's underbelly soon.
I personally regret the purchase, but on the plus side - the wow effect the car gives every time you look at it is still intact!

Thanks Rakish and ImmortalZ!

Rakish, I really liked your balanced view of things. The short TD I took of the Civic, it did not bottom out even once (fully loaded, 4 adults, 2 children), even at the juncture where the seller who was sitting alongside was sure it will scrape/hit. But then again, it was too short a test drive for me to pass any statement.

Well, I look forward to those pictures Rakish. Hope you can post them ASAP. Like everyone said here, it seems to be the humps that cause problems. Bad roads don't seem to be an issue really. Or do you disagree to this Rakish?

[lawdgawd]

Originally Posted by johy

So you can't really take the Civic out to towns and places where you are not quite sure of the roads, can you? I am thinking in terms of a new car (?Civic) primarily as weekend vehicle where I will go to smaller towns, resorts, where the roads would not be good. I would not be taking the WagonR or Swift on those trips. So what do you say?

As others have already said, bad roads are not an issue. Big bumps are. Fast driving over them is a problem too.

Badly maintained roads are not an issue.

But we should understand the core strengths of a car and drive accordingly. Civic is much much better as a fast car on highways and open roads any day. Corolla is much better as a chauffeur driven car and not so great in fast corners. Tall cars with good GC are somewhat better on bumps and bad roads. It does not mean you cannot drive the Civic on bad roads

You would probably feel a taller car would be better, and therefore drive the Civic a bit more carefully. As we cant all buy a separate vehicle for each type of road we use, we adjust.

Again, I drive my Civic everywhere. More carefully on bad roads, slowly over bumps.

I will catch your SUV after the bump is behind me

[reppy]

On really long drives we've noticed that the civic is not as comfortable, especially in the back seat - so if you'll be driving it with just 1 or 2 more on board, its ok.

I think you have a good enough mix of opinions now to make a decision. Its no doubt a really good car and invokes a positive feeling everytime you sit in it. The only negatives are the GC and the suspension, though its not so bad that it spoils the overall package. Infact, if you want to, you can upgrade the car in these areas.

In all the other areas (performance, refinement, next-gen interiors) you won't get a better car.

The grey color looks awesome!

[johy]

Originally Posted by lawdgawd

I will catch your SUV after the bump is behind me

He he , I like that

Originally Posted by reppy

In all the other areas (performance, refinement, next-gen interiors) you won't get a better car.

The grey color looks awesome!

You mean Carbon Bronze Pearl, right?

[reppy]

You mean Carbon Bronze Pearl, right?[/quote]

That's the one!

[ImmortalZ]

Carbon Bronze pearl is an awesome colour. I saw one at the showroom and it looked absolutely mean. It really enhances the lines of the car.

White is also very nice. I don't have much to say about the Silver shades though. It seems common and a bit drab for a car which has such racy lines.

We chose Misty Violet.

[indivic]

Originally Posted by johy

You mean Carbon Bronze Pearl, right?

When I bought it , it was Galaxy Gray, which was I think a lighter gray to Carbon Bronze Pearl.

[indivic]

Originally Posted by johy

So you can't really take the Civic out to towns and places where you are not quite sure of the roads, can you? I am thinking in terms of a new car (?Civic) primarily as weekend vehicle where I will go to smaller towns, resorts, where the roads would not be good. I would not be taking the WagonR or Swift on those trips. So what do you say?

I think in any car except the hardcore SUV we would go slow in total kuccha roads,correct ?

From my experience - when you have a bad bump and you are fully loaded , you can most probably clear it if you don't go straight over it but in a slightly diagonal fashion.

And if you have a pot hole coming up that you cannot avoid, then braking and slowing down will make sure the pillions don't get a jarring sensation. Having said that I have hit such potholes on the Chennai - Kumbakonam route many times , touchwood no damage to suspension, no visible damage to the wheels.

[anindyakdas]

Hi,

I have a 2007 Civic V MT which has done around 27K kilometers till date. My driving has been primarily limited to Mumbai city and the typical weekend run to Lonavla/Pune on the expressway.

I find the suspension of the Civic WAY too low for Mumbai roads. With 4 on board, the suspension bottoms out at almost all but the most insignificant bumps, sometimes alarmingly. It has reached a point where I am almost scared to put people in the car.

Is there a way out of this?



Regards
Anindya

[R2D2]

Originally Posted by anindyakdas

Hi,

I have a 2007 Civic V MT which has done around 27K kilometers till date. My driving has been primarily limited to Mumbai city and the typical weekend run to Lonavla/Pune on the expressway.

I find the suspension of the Civic WAY too low for Mumbai roads. With 4 on board, the suspension bottoms out at almost all but the most insignificant bumps, sometimes alarmingly. It has reached a point where I am almost scared to put people in the car.

Is there a way out of this?



Regards
Anindya

There are aftermarket suspension components/kits and tyre combinations that will raise the car's GC. Search on TBHP and you'll find tons of advice on this.

Rgds,

[Gurpartap Singh]

Only found http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/tyre-a...pgrade-11.html (Civic shoes upgrade.) to talk about suspension in civic. No talk about which spec of them to go for.

Sometimes it's too difficult to search by related keywords like "Ground Clearance", since people would just use "GC" in their posts and then mods put up the wrath that you didn't search. IMO, this deserves a thread of it's own. lol anyways, I'm too interested to learn about civic suspension options to counter the low ground clearance problems.

[goandude]

This explains why the civic which was trying to overtake my innova on the mysore bangy road had to slow down so much on the speed breakers.

[ImmortalZ]

By the suspension bottoming out, do you mean the dampers hit the stops or that the underbody hits the bumps? There are different solutions to these problems. The first one will require a stiffer suspension. If you cannot avoid it hitting the bumps, you'll need to raise the GC. Remember that the latter will spoil some of the dynamics of the car.

[equinox22]

The only time I have had the bottom scrape was on a road under construction. There was literally a step of about 6-8 inches between the main road and the side road under construction. I went very slow and even then heard the horrible grating noise. Other than that I have never had a case of bottoming out.

[arin_12]

Problem with the CIVIC GC is very bad in Indian market. There are many Place you can not cruise/drive with the low GC Vehicle. Even I have seen CIVIC getting Stuck in ITPL(Software Park - Bangalore) Back Gate where as ZEN/i10 is passing very easily
I think Indian Car maker should really cosider a good GC while designing a car for India.

And again this depends on the Road Construction Engineers Many a time they dont have that thinking power while building a Hump/under ground Drain pass. They build the drain at high level but dont raise the road and level it. Same thing happen to me yday in my Fusion in side the City.