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Dear all,

I have driven a 800 for the last 14 years.I always equated the car to the term "freedom".For me that car meant freedom to go where i want to.I never owned it.It's still my dad's car just driven by me all the time.

Well after freedom comes Independence.Yes, i have purchased my first car and am being a car owner for the first time in my life.For me that's called "Independence". So here's the story of the begining of my Independence or the 2007 S M/T Honda Civic 2007 Independence or "Indy" :-)

(Please pardon my write up.It's not as polished as some of the other members of the forum)

The reason for going for a another car

My 800 had become 14 years old.Parts and bits were failing and falling apart.I was spending on a average 2-3k a month on just repairs.The
ultimate one was when the driver's seat partially collapsed due to loose nut.That was it.Driver's seat failing while driving was not good thing from a safety perspective what if i had lost control while driving if the seat had failed completely.That was the sign from God.Time to change the car.

The Choice of car.

Well i had just one thing on my mind "HONDA".I simply love Honda's tag line 'Power Of Dreams".Been fan of Honda's for the last decade or so.Don't know why i am so smitten by the brand but i guess you can blame it on the OHC's which i used to like. 1.5 litre 100 BHP, FE close to a M800, rocket like performance,bullet prooof reliablilty , i am mean what else would i need in a car.

The brand was already decided.Had to be a Honda.Then within the same i narrowed down to two choices. The City and the Civic.The Jazz even with price cut is not to my taste as i did not wanted to have a hatch again.Now i always thought that i would buy a City given it was much within reach than the Civic's astronomical price tag.But like many of us team-bhpians i simply got GTO'ed :-).

GTO's amazing write up of his purchase of the Pre-Worshipped Civic for a amazing ~8 lacs was enough to convince me to consider the Civic
as my next ride for the next 8-10 years atleast.The futristic dashboard,the smallish steering, the high speed poise, the amazing & sweeping lines,the I am a Driver's car image of the civic simply did me in.

The Hunt:

Beauty 1

1st place i looked for used Civic was the T-bhp classified.Saw a Civic going in for around 6.9 lacs and color was maroon/red.Sent a request to the seller asking for details etc and whether i could come to see the car.Turns out this bhpian is the same person whom i had got racing vinyl stripes done for my M800.He gives me his contact details and i decide to come to his house over at Bandra to take a look at the car.

So hopped over to the Bhpians home one saturday morning.I had already discussed with him that i wanted to show the car to my trusted mechanic ,Joe from Nakita motors who incidentaly was located at Bandra West near jogger's park just a few kms from the Bhpian's home.I have known Joe for several months and i had grown to trust his judgement and honesty.Here again Tbhp played a role as Joe is one of the listed garages from the Tbhp directory.

We took the car for spin with Joe.He took the wheel and put the car through it's paces.He looked under the hood,did a wheel joint test , the kind where you take a full right and left turns and listen for any clicking noise etc,checked the car for signs for any accidental damages by looking at the pillar joints and the at the pasenger door area etc.

After the inspection Joe concluded that the car is a quite good shape but he mentioned that the clutch was a little weak but "It will do".When i asked him if i could go for the car, he gave me a hearty yes.

After that i took the wheel for the Civic.I had never driven a car bigger than the 800 in the last 10 years and everything about the car seemed huge and big in comparision.The car felt smooth and light at the steering and i was able to drive it fairly well.

Ok i was totaly smitten by Beauty 1 but there were some issues .

1)The car was not registered in the bhpians name.(raised a few eyebrows at home)

2)The insurance had expired(additional cost)

3)The car was resgistered at Thane(more additional cost if i were to get the car transferred in my name in mumbai means paying a hefty octroi to tune of 20-25k depending on the value of the car)

So told the bhpian that i won't be considering his car.

Decided to look up other choices.Called Mahindra first choice.They had one with more than 50K on the odo that too in black.So that went off the list.Called up almost all dealers of Honda in Mumbai.Most of them didn't have civics with them.Shaman cars called back saying they had a 2006 model with more than 50 K on the odo.Decided to chuck that as well.

Beauty 2:

Came accross a ad by Sai Motors Andheri for a Silver Civic for 6.75 with just ~26k on the odometer.Decided to take a look.The car was in good condition and even had the new car smell to it.It was a 2007 model SMT.The clutch felt better than beauty 1's and the dashboard did not had fade marks like car 1 did.The car has new tyres , i could smell the fresh rubber , was mumbai registered and was owned by a indidvidual

Asked the dealer if i could take a test drive.He flat out refused.He said that they do not allow the cars to be taken out for test drives and that i could bring in a mechanic and had the car inspected.No way i could make Joe my mechanic,leave his work and come pay visit to the dealer to check out the vehicle.The dealer also mentioned if i were to pay a token amount i could take the car for spin then.Also i forgot to mention the asking price by the dealer was quoted at 7.2 while the ad on the net mentioned 6.75.Decided not to go ahead with the same.

Beauty 3:

My dad knows someone at Sai Service (MASS).He directed us to Maruti's used car outlet at Lower Parel which had a used Civic that was co owned.We promptly approach them for a test drive.Now i managed to request mr Vivek Bhatt from Automech who has a workshop close to the outlet (phonexi mills) and he agreed to take a test drive.

The car is again a silver '07 model with around ~30k on the odo.I notice the tyres have cracks on them and would not last more than 1k.We take the car and reach Automech's workshop where i hand over the car to Vivek.Mr Bhatt drives the car enthusiatically giving me some shivering moments as we swerve around traffic and dodge vehicles.

After coming back he notes the follow-
1)The car was rattling a bit.Could be in for some suspension work
2)The car was also hesitating a bit while accelerating
3)Tyres would last only around 1-2 kms

I was sort of ok with the above and after thanking mr Bhatt for his assitance we had back to the dealer for negotiations.

The asking price was 7.39 thousand.Dealer was ready for a discount of measly 9k.I argued the car also needed insurance and new tyres and they should further reduce the price.But the dealer wouldn't budge.We had brought our oldie 800 which i thought we could evaluate and sell to the dealer to get a further price reduction.

The dealer quoted 30K for the 800.So total was coimg to 7lacs after selling the 800.I decided to think over it for a day and head back home.The very thought of sellin the long held 800 started to bug me.And without the 30K discount i felt it would be expensive since i would need new tyres and possible some suspension work.So decided not to go with this one either.

The purchase :

A couple of days later i get a call from the owner of beauty 1.The bhpian offers to pay for the octroi for passing the car from thane to mumbai thus lowering the total cost of the car by a further 13K.
I mention this to my dad and he agrees if the owner is ok with a signing a agreement for the sale of car .I am attaching a rough draft with this post.It's not the original but was similar to this.My dad's used to deal with such legal stuff and he just wanted to be play it safe since the car was not transferred in the owner's name and we didn't want any legal hassles i mean what if the car was hypotheticated to a bank etc.

Please note the attached is just a rough draft not meant to be a legal document.Some of the clauses were amended as the owner did not want his relatives etc to be burdened by any legal issues.Some of the clauses were only added because
a) the car was not in the owner's name
b)the car had to be trasferred from thane to mumabi thus needing a NOC.

The document contents were typed out on a stamp paper of around 200 rs i think.The entire transaction was depending upon the obtaining of the NOC for registration from Thane.Also the document served as a safe way to transact in case of some complications were to arise.

After the bhpian agreed to do sign the agreement we went ahead and paid the token amount.The rest of the money was paid in 2 parts with the last 50K to be paid as DD on the delivery of the car.Insurance was done from Future generali for 16K and i all the registration including the NOC and the octroi etc was done within 10 working days.Took delivery after handing over the DD and also the agreement to the bhpian on 14 july.

Delivery day

Delivery was on 14th july 2011.As the old owner was going through the various features of the car the hand-brake cover came off much to his embarassment and my amusement.Great way to get a car delievered i must say.

I didn't mind that much and we managed to fix it back in place.After our goodbyes i requested the old owner's driver to kindly park the oustide their driveway onto the road as i was finding it a bit tedious to do so.Hey i am graduating from a 800 to a civic ..that's like riding a elephant after riding a horse..:-)

Now comes the funny part.The driver pulls the car out of the driveway and yanks up the hand-brake.After thanking him i slid behind the wheel very happy to driving with my new beloved only to find i am unable to disable the parking brake.Try as i might the brake wouldn't budge.On top of it a car comes from behind and starts honking.

Then i started honking the horn of the civic so that the driver who just went inside the bhpians home could come and assist me.Thankfully he does.I say sorry to the car behind as the driver disengages the brake for me.I guess the top button was stuck or something hence i was not able to disengage the gear.

The Initial report

Coming from a 800 i find the car to be gigantic in size.The steering is light and repsonsive.I have found the steering to be a little floaty.I am can't find the right kind of word or may be i am just imagining things since i have never driven a power steering car but at slow speeds i find the steering to be very quick and kind of slippery.But , as the speed builds up i can find the steering to be a much better and the car seems to be well controlled.

The car grips and corners well.The tyres have a decent 4-5K life in them and with my kind of moderate driving per month will last me almost the entire of the remaining part of the year.

The gears are very short and i am frankly unable to tell which gear i am in as the engine is silent.Revv the engine and you can hear the vtec beast growl.I am amazed to see the tacho jumping so much in earnest at the slightest touch of the pedal.

The brake pedals are ultra soft.I mean just touch the pedal and the brakes are engaged.Do this in my 800 and even the brake light won't enage.I am so used to the hard brakes of the 800 where i have to use a heavy foot to stop the car i am finding it a bit diffcult to refrain from braking hard in the civic.Every time i use the brakes the 800 style i end up halting the car abruptly with a slight dive.Not good in case some fella is not able to stop in time from behind.Am working on this problem and am slowly learining to stop by just touching the brake pedal softly.Wonder if any of the civic owners have faced the same problem

I have driven the car for aound 50 kms.I have managed to stall it on a couple of occassions.Even had a slight altercation with a indica cab driver but there were no issues as such.Reversing the car is a bit difficult becase of the high and long boot.

Drove the car over speed breakers.There is was no legendary bottoming out i guess it is because there were just 2 occupants in the car.But still i don't think that it's going to be a problem for me.I can manage.Also thankfully there is no jumping of the engine while going over pot holes etc because of the dreaded mounts as well.I hope they hold for atleast a year or two.

If you have read my prev posts you must know the hand-brake cover had come off on the day of the delivery.I used fevi-kwik glue to stick the cover together and also used up a t-bhp sticker as glue-tape to hold the thing from falling part.You can see the same in one of the pics below.

Now the best parts of the car.
1-The old owner had already done a oil change and service so most probably won't be getting that done soon.Maybe at the end of the rainy season when i will need to get the car washed anyways as i always do with the 800 at the end of every rainy season.
2-The brake pads were already changed recently by the old owner so won't be needing to do that as well.
3-The car seems to have done genuinely 36k on the odo.How can i tell, well the tyres are dec 06 (car is feb 07) and have atleasr 3-4k life in them
4-The body has been polished and well maintained by the old owner.

I am quite happy with the purchase and am looking forward to thousands of happy motoring miles.I am not planning to modify the car in anyway as of now will keep her stock including the ICE.Quite ok the 6 cd changer.The only gripe is it does not have aux in outlet though it does have a switch to change to aux.Wonder what that is for?

Here are some pics that i have taken.Notice the t-bhp sticker on the e-brake which i used to secure the cover from falling off apart from using the fevi-kwik

I would like to thank dot,jatinpatel,shuvc,arvi86 whose ownership reports helped me in putting my faith in the Civic.Thank you all of you
and others who helped me in making my choice.A special thanks to GTO who seem to have start the pre-worshipped Civic mania on t-bhp

thanks

Congrats on the ride mate, A preworshipped Civic makes an exceptional value proposition. All the best and Drive safe.

Best - ML.

Hearty Congratulations, Sumeet!

You now own one of the best (and biggest) stunners on our roads today. The red color looks unique as well. It should serve you well for many, many miles. You got a wonderful VFM deal as well. Considering the fact that you were faithful to your old 800 for all these years, it can be safely deduced that your Civic will be wonderfully maintained in the years to come.

As a current 800 owner, I can only imagine how it must be feeling to move straight into the Civic. It's like jumping to the Ph.D. degree right after completing 10th Board!

Hope you enjoy a stress-free ownership of the wonderful car. Keep us updated!

Again wishing you hearty congratulations for your new purchase.
your 1.8S logo is missing above the ivtec logo other than that all is good and complete,
I got your point of floaty steering as I too drive civic and 800 and the way 800 responds back each and every thing she does and the road throws at you, same is not experienced in civic.

One word of caution with civic, She is loaded with blind spots especially at A pillars it can hide a biker coming your way. Also did you fix parking sensors ? If not i would recommend you fitting the same.
You can get xenos parking sensors for like 3.5k, thats the price i paid for fitting them on my silver rocket.

Congrats, that is a big upgrade from an 800. And I found it very interesting reading how different the Civic was to drive from the 800. After you get used to the size you will enjoy it a lot.

A few things you may want to do -
1) Get parking sensors, the car is big and visibility behind not that great. It will help a lot since you had a hatch before.
2) Go to an independent painter and get the interior bits painted silver again if any of them have lost paint.
3) Take the car to Honda and have them check it up, see the service history also. They will tell you if any part needs changing.
4) Maybe the pics havent come out well, but I think that beautiful red colour could do with a detailing job, it looks slightly dull.

After these your car will be better than new.

BTW - I don't know what purpose that steering lock (?) serves, because the car comes with an inbuilt immobiliser so it cannot be started from any other key besides its own.

Congrats Sumeet, thats a MASSIVE upgrade. Civic is one heck of a car. Enjoy.

I could so much relate to your experience of driving civic after the little 800.

Typical 800 upgrade problem. The steering in 800 is still delight to use. Not that hydraulics are not good, they are much better than the current Electric ones on many cars, but direct is direct..:)

Piece of advise, either stick to nominal speed limits or upgrade the tyres right now. Why? because civic is a much powerful car than 800 and then as you said its gigantic too. You wont even know when you reach good speeds and controlling the car at high speed on tyres that have minimal life can be difficult/unsafe. Please get good hang of the car, atleast 1000+ kms before you stretch her legs..Try to be extra caucious during rainy season.

This is one problem anyone will face upgrading from a car without brake booster to one with it. The good part here is that the car will not skid even if you brake in 800 style. If you would have upgraded to a car with out ABS, you would have had more problem as the car would have skid, if you brake 800 style. In fact, I still have problem driving polo/swift at high speeds compared to civic/cedia, because I too am used to 800 kinda braking and swift/polo skid and the latter doesnt...Dont worry, you will get hang of it with time.

Wish you miles of happiness, take care and drive safe..

Gaurav

Hearty congrats sumeethaldankar. Now, that's an upgrade, from the humble Maruti 800 to the stunning Honda Civic. Wishing you miles and miles of happy motoring in the Civic. Once you have decided on the brand (Honda), the Civic (even though pre-owned) just easily comes out on top when compared to a new City for many prospective buyers like us.

Thanks again, glad to know that we all were able to help you in realizing your dream.

I second jatinpatel. The Civic is loaded with blind spots both front and back and it becomes really tough to drive in bumper to bumper traffic and when parking in congested areas, more so if we upgrade from small cars (800, Santro, etc.) directly to the Civic. Even I am finding it very difficult when parking. So, get your parking sensors fixed immediately.

Congratulations sumeet on your Honda Civic. Now this is some nice upgrade from Maruti 800 to Honda Civic.

The car looks awesome in this shade.

Please do share more snaps and keep the thread updated regularly.

Wishing you happy and safe driving.

Congratulations one more time!. We need to see more pictures of Indy!

Ah, the nicest part of driving a Civic. Indy, being an MT, will probably give you better enjoyment on this department.

As many folks here have noted, careful handling and good strategy of crossing bumpers can virtually eliminate the bottoming out. BHPian are going all around south, east, west, north India on their Civics without any issues.

Thats a shame, hopefully the feviquick will cure it. You may want to take off the sticker and see if the part is now cured completely.

Service records should confirm it. The first owner and the "second" owner had taken Indy to Honda A.S.S.?

Aux-in is possible from back side of the HU. Fellow BHPian Hiren Mistry had done a DIY to get a aux-in connection. Another alternate is using an FM transmitter.

Congratulations once more, hope the Indy gives you many miles and years of driving pleasure.