[devarshi84]

I dont really own the Honda civic maual, but I drive it more than my friend who owns it.

I find the hand brake really irritating, but the nice to grip steering makes up for it.

audio controls at rear are handy. CLimate control gets noisy at max but cools effectively.

[rdas45]

The civic is an awsome car.. But my question, since its a Drive by wire throttle.. Doesnt the car feel sluggish? I mean its not very very responsive car.. The car is just smooth.

I am waiting for the TYPE R civic to come. But this time HONDA should bring in the DOHC engine. Sohc is SLOW and you cant do anything to it.

TYPE - R will be funnnn...!!!!

[vasudeva]

Originally Posted by coolmastdude

It is but obvious that the build quality of European cars is much better than Japanese cars... but among Japanese cars, the Civic has a much better build quality & fit n finish than any other Jap car... if you compare it's build quality with cars like the Corolla... the Civic is miles ahead! In fact, the build quality of Civic is even better than Accord...

This is subjective and based on different perceptions. There are 2 reputed organisations that rate different cars on various parameters:

JD Power: Corolla scores over Civic in overall quality-manufacturing, mechanical quality-manufacturing, body and interior quality-manufacturing, feature and accessory quality-manufacturing, mechanical quality-design. Civic does score over Corolla in quality-design. In fact even Elantra scores over Civic in overall quality-manufacturing, mechanical quality-manufacturing, body and interior quality-manufacturing, mechanical quality-design.

Consumer Reports: For 2007 model year, both Corolla and Civic equal, except Corolla has an excellent suspension quality, while Civic has much better than average suspension. Overall new car prediction is excellent for Corolla, and much better than average for Civic.

[csentil]

Originally Posted by rdas45

The civic is an awsome car.. But my question, since its a Drive by wire throttle.. Doesnt the car feel sluggish? I mean its not very very responsive car.. The car is just smooth.

I am waiting for the TYPE R civic to come. But this time HONDA should bring in the DOHC engine. Sohc is SLOW and you cant do anything to it.

TYPE - R will be funnnn...!!!!

Except for the RS, I didn't feel any other car in THIS segment had better pickup, handling and response. Compared to which car did you find the Civic sluggish?

[BUSA]

Originally Posted by csentil

Except for the RS, I didn't feel any other car in THIS segment had better pickup, handling and response. Compared to which car did you find the Civic sluggish?

I think he must be comparing with his Honda B16

[GTO]

Except for the RS, I didn't feel any other car in THIS segment had better pickup, handling and response. Compared to which car did you find the Civic sluggish?

What he meant to ask was; do you find a lag in throttle response due to the drive-by-wire?

[csentil]

Originally Posted by GTO

What he meant to ask was; do you find a lag in throttle response due to the drive-by-wire?

No, I didn't feel any lag.

The only lag I felt in my automatic was the normal one for any automatic when it upshifts or downshifts.

[ST7677]

I did not find any lag in the response on my MT. Though you need to keep the engine in the right RPM range to get the thrust.

I was talking to Honda technicians long time back and as per them, the engine is tuned to play economically below 3k RPM and become live beyond 4k RPM, this is keeping in mind the Indian mileage sensitivity.

Not sure how Drive by Wire helps, but I guess it may be giving better economy by controlling the throttle via the ECU.

Recently I decided to check what happens to the car mileage if I drive with a really heavy foot.
So on my regular way to office, I started playing sporty, which included some totally stupid accelerations, touching speeds like 150-170 kmph* and also at times revving while standing on the Red light

Result on a full tank I got a mileage of 9 kmpl with full a/c & ICE
the regular mileage I get is 10kmpl with full a/c & ICE

(I say ICE because my ICE is 1300W RMS, though I do not blow it but still I guess it must be putting more electrical load than the AC, which can't be ignored. And yes it weighs >100 kgs)

I was expecting much worse figures, but I guess it can be attributed to the drive by wire throttle...



* My office route 16 km - (avg speed 20)
6 km Toll road (100)
6 km bumper to bumper traffic (10)
4 km Avg City traffic (25)

[GTO]

I was talking to Honda technicians long time back and as per them, the engine is tuned to play economically below 3k RPM and become live beyond 4k RPM, this is keeping in mind the Indian mileage sensitivity.

Umm......Vtec anyone?

[ST7677]

Yes CIVIC is a VTec engine.

I forgot mentioning doing 0-100 in a single gear (2nd), I am getting addicted to it...

Best part is that it reaches 170 seamlessely and there is still more grunt in the engine. On some longer highway roads I have once touched 200 but didn't dare to go beyond that.

I know that speed is killing. Mostly I tend to play safe and do not go beyond 140 even on empty tempting roads.

Also done couple of solid break tests (150-0) to get comfortable with the breaks potential.

[ST7677]

Originally Posted by ST7677

I was talking to Honda technicians long time back and as per them, the engine is tuned to play economically below 3k RPM and become live beyond 4k RPM, this is keeping in mind the Indian mileage sensitivity.

Here is more info on the same and the drive by wire stuff...
Source: 2006 Honda Civic 1.8 SOHC i-VTEC engine


This is for those who appreciate the technology that goes into a powertrain. How does the new 1.8 liter SOHC i-VTEC engine in the new 2006 Honda Civic achieve good fuel mileage (Honda claims 1.5 liter fuel economy during cruising) while producing a respectable 140 horsepower and 174 Nm of torque? Let’s have a look at some of the technologies that went into this new engine - the R18A1.

According to Honda, during low load driving conditions like highway cruising where the driver would be pressing the accelerator pedal only slightly, the engine experiences pumping losses due to the restricted air flow created by a throttle butterfly that is almost closed. Pumping losses and air resistance result in a negative impact to fuel economy Using a conventional mechanical throttle this cannot be avoided. Low speed = small throttle butterfly opening. Pedal to the metal = big throttle butterfly opening.

Honda got around this using Drive-by-wire and a fuel-economy optimized i-VTEC system. The i-VTEC system for the 1.8 liter SOHC engine has 2 sets of cam lobes, one for high output and one for low load conditions. During low load conditions, the pumping losses are avoided by letting the throttle butterfly open wider than it normally would. To offset the larger amount of air coming in, the intake valve timing is delayed. This reduces pumping losses up to 16 percent.






To increase fuel economy, Honda has also taken steps to reduce friction in the engine. Piston skirts are coated with Molybdenum disulfide, and oil rings are ion-plated to ensure reduced friction. This provides a 10% reduction in friction.

Other technologies include a variable-length intake manifold using longer manifolds at low RPMs and shorter manifolds at high RPMs for an optimum ram effect and piston oil jets which cool down pistons to avoid engine knocking. As a result of these technologies and a compression ratio of 10.5:1, this 1.8 liter SOHC i-VTEC engine makes 140hp at 6300rpm and 174Nm of torque at 4300rpm.

[Dhar's]

Originally Posted by ST7677

Result on a full tank I got a mileage of 9 kmpl with full a/c & ICE
the regular mileage I get is 10kmpl with full a/c & ICE

(I say ICE because my ICE is 1300W RMS, though I do not blow it but still I guess it must be putting more electrical load than the AC, which can't be ignored. And yes it weighs >100 kgs)

Do ICE take a toll on FE? If yes at what percentage? Thats an additional cost!

[ST7677]

Do ICE take a toll on FE? If yes at what percentage? Thats an additional cost!

Well there is no single answer to that question.
Anything that consumes power and has weight will reduce your FE!
By how much will depend on how much of power and weight you add...

Of course having said that most NORMAL ICE would not impact your mileage perceptibly...

[crkishore]

Over the last weekend, i did a 1800 kms trip with atleast 1200 kms of it on the NH-5. on the onward trip, i limited myself to smooth accelerations and a top speed of 140kmph. this resulted in a mileage of 14 !!! thats the best i got till date. on the return trip, i consistently hit speeds of 170kmph and stayed at those speeds for considerable times, thanks to the empty NH-5 on a quite hot day with the car's outside temperature sensor reading out 49degrees. the return trip mileage was around 9kmpl.

as ST7677 pointed out the car changes its profiles somewhere between 3k to 4k rpm, and you get into a true sporty mode at that point. the engine, the exhaust all seem to change colors like a chameleon

btw, though i have done some 15k kms on this car, i still havent "felt" that the car's music changes its profile for different speeds. does it so ?

[ST7677]

btw, though i have done some 15k kms on this car, i still havent "felt" that the car's music changes its profile for different speeds. does it so ?

When you press left knob of your stereo to change Bass > Treble > Balance > Fader >SVC, Select this option called SVC (Speed level Volume Control) -and set this to medium or high and you can feel the sound level change along with speed of the car.


Personally I find Medium or Low good for me depending on the road conditions.