The march of the Black Queen (my new Honda Civic 1.8V in Black)

[mkc15]

Spadix, what are your tire pressures? 10+ hits in <2000kms is quite a lot. Pls. refer to http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/2042436-post55.html for my take on GC. I'm wondering if Hyderabad beats B'lore in humps?

Also, for a sedan/saloon, Civic has short overhangs by design, to accommodate a larger cabin and longer wheelbase without increasing the overall length (its shorter than even Linea!).

[jayanth_yk]

Infact the ABHC has only 160mm of GC, there are countless humps on my way to work. This is bangalore the "Humpy Bumpy Capitol of India". I don't hit even a single hump. I have seen that only if the humps are abnormal/un-scientific then ANHC is vulnarable. I will eat all my words back if the car is loaded. Huh, it hits even the regular onee :(

[vnabhi]

Originally Posted by mobike008

Prashant, having read your feedback regarding BQ hitting the bumps 11 times in 1600kms approx. It sounds really bad.

This morning, I made a note of how many speed breakers that i cross each day. You would be shocked to know in my daily route, i cover 14 speed breakers one way. 8 in Rd.No10, 4 in Whisper Valley, 2 at Gachibowli

That's total of 28 speed breakers that i need to cross every single day.

All of them are bad where i slow down to 20-25kmph to cross them. 2-3 are really bad that i drop to 10kmph. Touchwood, till date WA hasnt hit a single bump

I am really glad that even with lower GC on papers but with a stiff suspension, it makes so much of a difference.

The humps closest to Nazim Jn are the worst, especially when you are going back in the evening.

I too go over the same speed-breakers everyday, but haven't scraped any despite my Fiesta having only 165 mm GC. In fact, in my 42 months of ownership, I've scraped the bottom only 3 or 4 times, and that too on full load and at a speed higher than normal.

@spadix---11 times in such a short time really hurts. While on this, my colleague bought at Altis last month because another Civic owner told him that he stopped driving to Spar Stores at Greenlands because his car could not exit without scraping its underbelly.

I wish Honda does something about it---such a lovely car that is let down by this single factor.

[vasoo]

Originally Posted by spadix

Motoringlover, I have two upgrades in mind -

HID headlamps
Tyres (mainly to cut out road noise and get slightly higher GC if I can)

Of course the ICE is a never-ending 3rd upgrade and I have some parts salvaged from my old car, some of which could do duty in BQ.

Right now however I'm too broke. Besides, I'll wait for around 6 months so that if there are any problems with the car that require warranty cover to be invoked I am in the clear.

Regards,
spadix

These are the exactly two upgrades I did for my car. Changed headlight low beam bulbs to Philips Xtreme Power and changed OEM tyres with Michelin PLC 205/65 R15 tires. I can safely say that all my gripes are solved now!

[Motoringlover]

Originally Posted by vasoo

These are the exactly two upgrades I did for my car. Changed headlight low beam bulbs to Philips Xtreme Power and changed OEM tyres with Michelin PLC 205/65 R15 tires. I can safely say that all my gripes are solved now!

Thanks Vasoo for answering something, which has been on my mind, with the change in rubber do you feel you have sid stepped the GC landmine ?

How have been ride quality experience, well i guess i am being oxymoronic with Mich here, but a question ? Also how much incremental gc have you gained ?

What has been the impact on FE, with the new rubber.

[spadix]

Originally Posted by mobike008

This morning, I made a note of how many speed breakers that i cross each day. You would be shocked to know in my daily route, i cover 14 speed breakers one way. 8 in Rd.No10, 4 in Whisper Valley, 2 at Gachibowli

Avi, for what it's worth, BQ has never scraped the Whisper Valley or Gachibowli 'breakers ever. I may not be crossing them at 20-25 kmph - more like 15 kmph - but that perhaps says something about those 'breakers/ditches which BQ has scraped so far? I'll be happy to take you on a tour of those.

By the way, one of these ditches (in KPHB) actually degenerated further and stopped an Innova in its tracks. The Innova driver than had to arrange for some bricks etc. so that he could temporarily "level" the road and drive off.

Originally Posted by mkc15

Spadix, what are your tire pressures? 10+ hits in <2000kms is quite a lot. Pls. refer to http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/2042436-post55.html for my take on GC. I'm wondering if Hyderabad beats B'lore in humps?

Also, for a sedan/saloon, Civic has short overhangs by design, to accommodate a larger cabin and longer wheelbase without increasing the overall length (its shorter than even Linea!).

I read you mkc15! I agree with your assessment as well. It could just be that I'm going faster than I should or that I've encountered some really nasty ones (please read above). I haven't checked the tire pressures in a while - maybe therein lies the problem.

For a sedan, yes, the Civic has relatively shorter overhangs but in that post I was comparing the Civic to most hatches which is what most people (including myself) upgrading to the Civic would be used to.

The roads I used to drive around in in Bengaluru were much much smoother (other than during the time when Dharam Singh was the CM) than the ones I'm seeing here after the rains. It's pretty nasty here right now. Bengaluru in 2004 (Dharam Singh era) was bad but consistently so, which is safe. Here you're doing 80 and then you suddenly hit a series of sharp, deep ruts and eroded roads which actually cause the car to tramline as well!

Originally Posted by vnabhi

I too go over the same speed-breakers everyday, but haven't scraped any despite my Fiesta having only 165 mm GC. In fact, in my 42 months of ownership, I've scraped the bottom only 3 or 4 times, and that too on full load and at a speed higher than normal.

Never had any issues with the old 800 or Dad's Indigo, but they weren't driven as much on these particular roads that BQ regularly sees.

Originally Posted by vnabhi

another Civic owner told him that he stopped driving to Spar Stores at Greenlands because his car could not exit without scraping its underbelly.

I wish Honda does something about it---such a lovely car that is let down by this single factor.

+1 - Honda should schedule a focus group study or something of Civic owners from TBHP and a few other forums.

Also thanks for the update regarding Spar. I'll stay away from that place if I'm inside BQ when I'm there.

Regards,
spadix

[spadix]

AP RTO decided to wake up and processed my permanent registration application (made on August 7, 2010) nearly a month-and-a-half later (on September 17, 2010). We finally received the permanent registration card today, much to our relief.

This is against the RTO's SLA of 2 weeks (soft outer limit) and instruction to the traffic police to acknowledge application receipts for only one month (as mentioned elsewhere on these forums).

Interestingly, the bike's duplicate RC (applied for at end of April 2010) is yet to see the light of day.

Regards,
spadix

[vasoo]

Originally Posted by Motoringlover

Thanks Vasoo for answering something, which has been on my mind, with the change in rubber do you feel you have sid stepped the GC landmine ?

How have been ride quality experience, well i guess i am being oxymoronic with Mich here, but a question ? Also how much incremental gc have you gained ?

What has been the impact on FE, with the new rubber.

GC has certainly improved and I can cruise over many humps where I earlier used to do a 5 kmph maneuver. I think technically the increase is about 7mm when I upsized to 205. I also maintain 32 psi pressure on the new tyres.

Ride quality and road noise is not comparable to what I had earlier. It is in a different level. I will list some instances to prove this. My daughter never used to sleep in the back seat earlier complaining of too much vibration and noise when driving on slightly rough or concrete highways. Now she sleeps within minutes of entering the car! My mom asked me if something has changed in my car recently that it feels much smoother, even though I never mentioned about the tyre change to her. She initially though I am driving very slow these days and hence she was not feeling the noise and vibration. My wife used to complain of uneasiness whenever I go above 120 kmph earlier and now she is quiet at 160 kmph... many such stories..

[mobike008]

Originally Posted by spadix

AP RTO decided to wake up and processed my permanent registration application (made on August 7, 2010) nearly a month-and-a-half later (on September 17, 2010).

Congrats. Going by the timeframe, it will take me couple of weeks more to get my RC as i have applied on Aug 21.

Hope it arrives at my doorstep and i dont have to hanker them personally

[mkc15]

Originally Posted by vasoo

GC has certainly improved and I can cruise over many humps where I earlier used to do a 5 kmph maneuver. I think technically the increase is about 7mm when I upsized to 205. I also maintain 32 psi pressure on the new tyres.

Are the wheel-wells deep enough for the additional 7mm when the suspension sinks to its max? Doesn't it hit the inner walls?

[vasoo]

Originally Posted by mkc15

Are the wheel-wells deep enough for the additional 7mm when the suspension sinks to its max? Doesn't it hit the inner walls?

Never had an issue. I think the difference is too small to make an impact. The only minor issue is the impact on the odo and speedo readings, which shows a 2% lower figure than actual. I think chance of hitting the inner walls are high when we go for different rim with a significantly larger or wider profile tyre or different offset.

[spadix]

Originally Posted by mobike008

Congrats. Going by the timeframe, it will take me couple of weeks more to get my RC as i have applied on Aug 21.

Hope it arrives at my doorstep and i dont have to hanker them personally

Avi you should check out the "Document Delivery Status" link on Welcome To TRANSPORT DEPARTMENT GOVERNMENT OF ANDHRAPRADESH - INDIA

Earlier it never used to show any data for BQ's RC application, but now it does (and so I know that page works, at least). If it does in your case then it means the "shipment" has been created.

By the way, there's no data on that page for the bike's RC.

Originally Posted by mkc15

Are the wheel-wells deep enough for the additional 7mm when the suspension sinks to its max? Doesn't it hit the inner walls?

Even I had the same question. Thanks a ton for answering, vasoo!

Regards,
spadix

[spadix]

I'm still some 40 kms away from the 2k km mark - very bad considering my 20k km/year goal but this has been all in-city driving so there's hope.

I wanted to give the update once BQ touched 2k kms but I can't wait, considering what BQ has gone through yesterday and today.

Yesterday was a 20/30-min 1st gear crawl to cover roughly a half-km stretch. And this is on a Sunday noon! I'm slowly losing hope on our urban traffic. Sometimes I feel I should've bought the AT Civic. There are many other scenarios in our world where we can show our, for lack of a better term, "masculinity". Subjecting our cars through this kind of torture is not my idea of masculinity :(.

Today was only slightly different. I was still held up at a railway gate for half an hour. 4 trains, heavy and insensitive traffic (the usual phenomenon of drivers not wanting to stand in line but using the opposite lane and crowding up the gates) and our brilliant rain-proof roads caused much damage to my morning schedule. The road around the tracks was so bad that even diesel cars with all their low-end torque were struggling to negotiate each line of rail which seemed like climbing a small hillock. On the Civic where it's sometimes necessary to gun the engine to start without shuddering from standstill even on a level road, this was plain misery. One stall and lots of high-revving and slipping the clutch. The wheel spin at one point caused some loose pebbles to kick up and hit the under-body. Perhaps I'm just a bad driver. I really wished today morning that I'd bought the AT Civic.

I wonder how long BQ's clutch will last with this kind of torture. And I feel extremely dejected/depressed to have to drive BQ on such roads despite having paid as lifetime road tax the kind of money that would've fetched me the top-of-the-line Nano .

By the way this is the very stretch where BQ had her last few under-body scrapes over the mountainous 'breakers. These things developed over the last two weeks and weren't there before. And today I found out why. Part of the road at the base of each speed-breaker got washed out to a depth of 2 inches at least, which essentially meant the 'breakers got 2 inches taller almost overnight.

Other than this, BQ has been fabulous as usual. We're holding off on highway driving for a bit. Hopefully there'll be some repair work post-monsoon and then BQ can get to stretch her legs on the highways.

My thanks and apologies to you for having to put up with my Monday morning rant. I just had to let off some steam somewhere.

Regards,
spadix

[Motoringlover]

Originally Posted by spadix

I'm still some 40 kms away from the 2k km mark - very bad considering my 20k km/year goal but this has been all in-city driving so there's hope.

I wanted to give the update once BQ touched 2k kms but I can't wait, considering what BQ has gone through yesterday and today.

Yesterday was a 20/30-min 1st gear crawl to cover roughly a half-km stretch. And this is on a Sunday noon! I'm slowly losing hope on our urban traffic. Sometimes I feel I should've bought the AT Civic. There are many other scenarios in our world where we can show our, for lack of a better term, "masculinity". Subjecting our cars through this kind of torture is not my idea of masculinity :(.

Today was only slightly different. I was still held up at a railway gate for half an hour. 4 trains, heavy and insensitive traffic (the usual phenomenon of drivers not wanting to stand in line but using the opposite lane and crowding up the gates) and our brilliant rain-proof roads caused much damage to my morning schedule. The road around the tracks was so bad that even diesel cars with all their low-end torque were struggling to negotiate each line of rail which seemed like climbing a small hillock. On the Civic where it's sometimes necessary to gun the engine to start without shuddering from standstill even on a level road, this was plain misery. One stall and lots of high-revving and slipping the clutch. The wheel spin at one point caused some loose pebbles to kick up and hit the under-body. Perhaps I'm just a bad driver. I really wished today morning that I'd bought the AT Civic.

I wonder how long BQ's clutch will last with this kind of torture. And I feel extremely dejected/depressed to have to drive BQ on such roads despite having paid as lifetime road tax the kind of money that would've fetched me the top-of-the-line Nano .

By the way this is the very stretch where BQ had her last few under-body scrapes over the mountainous 'breakers. These things developed over the last two weeks and weren't there before. And today I found out why. Part of the road at the base of each speed-breaker got washed out to a depth of 2 inches at least, which essentially meant the 'breakers got 2 inches taller almost overnight.

Other than this, BQ has been fabulous as usual. We're holding off on highway driving for a bit. Hopefully there'll be some repair work post-monsoon and then BQ can get to stretch her legs on the highways.

My thanks and apologies to you for having to put up with my Monday morning rant. I just had to let off some steam somewhere.

Regards,
spadix

Hey Spadix, I can totally understand your feeling, I guess in a place like hyderabad, i have all most made up my mind, you need two cars - A. Weekend car for pleasure (hopefully less trafic) and then a commuter car (Small Hatch).

The commuter car worry a little less, especially when you are in hurry to get to work, worry a little less for the unruly traffic (especially the dare-devil autowalas - boy i hate those guys) and try ejoying the drive only on the weekends.

Hyderabad overall has been a big disappointment and has been the single biggest factor dettering my purchase decision. Sorry if i hurt your sentiments about hyd.

On the A/T front, i dont know, if you can still drive in peace especailly when you know you are driving a car north of 15 lacs. I dont know how the A/T will help you build revs, when you are almost moving in knee deep water.

Hope you have been well, good seeing an update on the BQ.

Best

[spadix]

Hey Motoringlover! Nice to see you back on this thread after a long time!

Originally Posted by Motoringlover

Hey Spadix, I can totally understand your feeling, I guess in a place like hyderabad, i have all most made up my mind, you need two cars - A. Weekend car for pleasure (hopefully less trafic) and then a commuter car (Small Hatch).

I did think of that but I worry about using both vehicles enough. For all my love of riding/driving out, I've managed very little out-of-town weekends over the last many years. In fact, my motorcycle has done only 18100 kms in over 7 years of ownership. The old 800 did around 19k kms in my care in a little less than 4 years. So for such light usage I can't really think of spending a chunk of cash buying/owning two 4-wheelers, even if one of them is a used vehicle :(.

If one can afford it, what you have said is a very wise thing.

Originally Posted by Motoringlover

Hyderabad overall has been a big disappointment and has been the single biggest factor dettering my purchase decision. Sorry if i hurt your sentiments about hyd.

No issues at all. There was a time when I used to get worked up hearing negative stuff about my home town, but that was because I was immature (primarily) and the town was very good (at least compared to now). Now I've become a bit wiser (I hope!) and you know how Hyderabad is.

Originally Posted by Motoringlover

On the A/T front, i dont know, if you can still drive in peace especailly when you know you are driving a car north of 15 lacs. I dont know how the A/T will help you build revs, when you are almost moving in knee deep water.

Hope you have been well, good seeing an update on the BQ.

Good point - I didn't think about that! I mean it can be done on the AT Civic perhaps (slot the selector into 'S', select 1st from the paddle shifts and hope the computer doesn't automatically upshift to 2nd) but on most other AT cars this side of 10 lacs that may not be an option, which means you have to use brake + throttle which is a bit hard if you ask me.

As for BQ, she's like fine wine. Getting better as the days go by, and begging me for that elusive out-of-town trip. The last weekend was particularly bad. The road outside the apartment gate was getting converted to concrete and there's no alternate road so BQ was under forced house arrest for 3 days. We had to miss the TBHP drive meet to Bidar and back because of this.

I've learnt to outgrow the negatives of the car (lack of remote release for boot and other things I've written about earlier) and the positives of the car floor me every time we're out on the road.

Two months and 2000+ kms later the novelty still hasn't worn off. That's enough for me. I hope the ownership experience continues in this same vein forever.

The attachment keeps getting bigger. One of the contributors to that is the fact that we wash and clean the car ourselves. The resident car cleaner was sub-par and we didn't see the point of paying him when we could achieve the same quality ourselves! Of course, time constraints prohibit us from doing this daily. BQ gets a bath around twice a week.

There are two or three minor issues which I'll get fixed during the second free service due at the end of this month.

She took one hit today from a rogue biker who was crossing a median (you know, over the divider). He was stationary and the front of the car cleared him easily, but then he decided to lunge forward and his front wheel caught the rear bumper. The bumper got loose by a millimetre or so on the right-hand side, so nothing major. It could've been much worse (especially for the bike and its rider) so I'm thankful.

Regards,
spadix