Can a Civic make it to the Himalayas?

[anupmathur]

Originally Posted by ST7677

Since you don't own a Civic, it is better that you do not comment about it's capabilities!

ST7677, that's quite uncalled for!

People discuss all sorts of cars here, without owning any of them.

I'd imagine there are nicer ways to disagree.

[laluks]

Originally Posted by Torqy

I'm surprised that your Civics have escaped all the monstrous humps / pot-holes here in Bangalore. I've seen many Civic owners driving over them VERY VERY carefully or stopping to assess the situation.

Where do you live? Which roads do you take?

I stay in Ramamurthy Nagar and i'm more than thankful to the Bolero's GC. Couple that with a spine-chilling 63 bhp engine and i can conquer the mountains everyday.

Oops. Off-topic again.

Torqy, I normally take the outer ring road and hosur road. Monster humps are there, now I am used to taking them by experience. Me too do some assessment . But Civic aint that bad as you think.

Bolero is a wonderful vehicle, but since I have an affinity to sedan have one.


Guys this is getting way offtopic. Lets get back to the thread.

[Taz-On-The-Road]

Well, I do not own a Civic so please excuse me if my comments are unwanted!!! But having driven my cousin's Civic over quite a distance and that too many times over I am of the opinion that the Civic is one of the most brilliant cars available in India. The low GC is what gives the Civic its mighty attractive ground-hugging sleek look. It might not be able to take some of the bigger humps that some mindless road engineer has put up to suit his fancy. However, that does not detract from the Civic's brilliance, does it??cheers:
Ladakh and Leh, Omigosh!!! I have not even dreamt of driving all the way from Bangalore to there
@laluks your experiences would make for a lovely read if and when you get there.

[Jammy70]

Hi Torqy,

Instead of blaming Honda for not taking Indian road conditions into account while designing the Civic, shouldn't we be taking the authorities to task for not providing real 'motorable roads', considering that latest vehicle models are now available/will be available in the country?

Cheers,

[sonaljain71]

This monsoon I drove to Kausani via Corbett in my Qualis thinking my Civic woud'nt handle the hill roads, however, as luck would force me to trail a Civic after Corbett, magnificently and deliciously scaling the huge landslides levelled by locals which even buses as well as my qualis were wobbling on!

and surprisingly I checked myself once if there is any scraping sound from beneath civic while the guy crossd one huge pile of rubble and grit while climibing to ranikhet but none and thereafter i,ve taken my civic to most of the hills i go to.

[anupmathur]

Originally Posted by Jammy70

, shouldn't we be taking the authorities to task for not providing real 'motorable roads',

You have a point there.
However what you see all too often are kudos for the 'road' building orgs and a lot of self congratulatory sign posts all along those routes.
There is no effort at all to benchmark against the Chinese side of the same himalayas!

[hyper123]

As mentioned by others, use high-profile tyres, less weight in the car and learn some driving skills needed for the run in the mountains from someone who has driven that route before. A proper tool-kit and spares in the car are obvious needs.

If and when you drive to the Himalayas in your Civic, do let us know if the car is still alive.

[sanket12]

a sump guard & high profile tyres is all you will need..... the roads are not as bad as the were before.... and not to forget carefully manovering your car across water crossings,
i was on those roads recently i happened to see a maruti 800 with 5 aboard + their luggage on the carrier near sarchu :-)

[androdev]

every time i thought my car would clear a bad patch, i have been punished suitably for my over confidence. fortunately no serious damage happened except few broken under body plastic pieces because these are mild terrains in and around bangalore. sometimes i got away by just jacking the car to clear the obstacles and other times few good people had to "lift and push the car out."

i don't know about this particular route, but it is an extremely unpleasant thing to be stuck in a ditch with sedans which are oh-so-delicate!

Edit: my car is Laura but should apply to all passenger cars.

[abhinethra]

Originally Posted by laluks

I too after driving 20K km in my Civic, feels the GC as an overhyped issue. Maybe since we were careful, nothing offending has happened. I also have overloaded the car quite often 5 adults and comparable luggage in the boot.

Preparation and Caution - that's the key.

Would definitely like to know what the proffessional rallysts do before they take off for such adventures.

Driving all the way from Bangalore - well if at all I do this it would be that way. Want to join?

I am planning to do this trip in my OHC type 2 sometime september next year. I have slowly started the preps

I have decided to give it atleast 25mm spacers both front and back to increase the GC. I am planning to cover Srinagar to leh in ongoing and leh manali while returning.
If it really seems tough I am planning to park it smwhere in Srinagar or manali and hire a 4x4 for couple of days over there... Driving from BLR to Srinagar/manali should not be a problem I guess.

[laluks]

Originally Posted by androdev

every time i thought my car would clear a bad patch, i have been punished suitably for my over confidence. fortunately no serious damage happened except few broken under body plastic pieces because these are mild terrains in and around bangalore. sometimes i got away by just jacking the car to clear the obstacles and other times few good people had to "lift and push the car out."

i don't know about this particular route, but it is an extremely unpleasant thing to be stuck in a ditch with sedans which are oh-so-delicate!

Edit: my car is Laura but should apply to all passenger cars.

Appreciate your views. Same was the case with me in my Esteem. After that I have become very careful these days.

Main reason why we are discussing is to see if we get into such situations, and how we can be prepared.

May be finally it becomes obvious that cars in and above D segment cannot do this. But let that be, we are just looking at all angles in doing such a trip.

What best than that to try imagining it with a Civic

[laluks]

Originally Posted by abhinethra

I am planning to do this trip in my OHC type 2 sometime september next year. I have slowly started the preps

I have decided to give it atleast 25mm spacers both front and back to increase the GC. I am planning to cover Srinagar to leh in ongoing and leh manali while returning.
If it really seems tough I am planning to park it smwhere in Srinagar or manali and hire a 4x4 for couple of days over there... Driving from BLR to Srinagar/manali should not be a problem I guess.

PM me, we need to talk
Please look at this thread
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/team-b...nterested.html (Team Bhp At Leh. Anyone Interested?)

Originally Posted by hyper123

As mentioned by others, use high-profile tyres, less weight in the car and learn some driving skills needed for the run in the mountains from someone who has driven that route before. A proper tool-kit and spares in the car are obvious needs.

If and when you drive to the Himalayas in your Civic, do let us know if the car is still alive.

Come on yaar, dont scare my civic

Originally Posted by Taz-On-The-Road

However, that does not detract from the Civic's brilliance, does it??cheers:
Ladakh and Leh, Omigosh!!! I have not even dreamt of driving all the way from Bangalore to there
@laluks your experiences would make for a lovely read if and when you get there.

lovely read Join me!!

Originally Posted by sonaljain71

This monsoon I drove to Kausani via Corbett in my Qualis thinking my Civic woud'nt handle the hill roads, however, as luck would force me to trail a Civic after Corbett, magnificently and deliciously scaling the huge landslides levelled by locals which even buses as well as my qualis were wobbling on!

and surprisingly I checked myself once if there is any scraping sound from beneath civic while the guy crossd one huge pile of rubble and grit while climibing to ranikhet but none and thereafter i,ve taken my civic to most of the hills i go to.

You are improving our confidence.

[Locomotive]

There is another aspect that needs to be considered in this decision. If your car breaks down in the Manali Leh road would you be able to get it repaired? Most probably the older (and mechanically simpler) cars can be repaired by the army mechanics. But they might not be able to fix the more hi tech cars like the civic. then enev if the car gets towed to Leh are there service centers available to repair the car.

For example in my case the Maruti service centers are everywhere. I found them till as far as keylong while going to Leh. Also Leh has got plenty of maruti service stations. although I was not sure if they would have any spares for the SX4 ( as I did not come across any SX4s in Leh). Civic would be even rarer there :-)

I think the more experienced members like Sudev could throw some more light on this aspect.

[Locomotive]

but if you do take the Civic you would still be as fresh as a daisy when you reach Manali. Bangalore - Manali would be a breeze.

[mjothi]

Originally Posted by Locomotive

There is another aspect that needs to be considered in this decision. If your car breaks down in the Manali Leh road would you be able to get it repaired? Most probably the older (and mechanically simpler) cars can be repaired by the army mechanics. But they might not be able to fix the more hi tech cars like the civic. then enev if the car gets towed to Leh are there service centers available to repair the car.

For example in my case the Maruti service centers are everywhere. I found them till as far as keylong while going to Leh. Also Leh has got plenty of maruti service stations. although I was not sure if they would have any spares for the SX4 ( as I did not come across any SX4s in Leh). Civic would be even rarer there :-)

This is a very valid point. Its known fact that Maruti is available every nook & corner of India. The best we can do is, know about the most needed spares and have them handy. This should help.