Honda Civic - Two Year - 20000 km report My Civic (technically its in my wife's name) is going to celebrate her one year birthday come Jan 5th. Since I had some lag time now, I thought I'll do a long-term ownership review now.
Model : Civic 1.8S AT
Paid through the nose: 13.42 lakhs (12K discount coz my wife worked for an MNC)
Wife picked the Colour: Alabaster Silver
Doomsday: 5-Jan-2007
Chauffeured people around: 10980+ kms
Kilometrage: 8 in city, 11-12 on highway. Fitted her with:
Fog Lamps from Honda itself. (Cost 15K)
Nappa Leather Seats from Ovion (Cost 33K)
V-kool sunfilms all around. (Cost 30K) Want to fit her with:
A nice rear spoiler & a reverse sensor. Some Before & AfterThoughts:
I wanted a car which could be dependable, fun to drive and with safety features. Budget was 7 - 9 lakhs. I wanted it primarily for long distance driving.
However Fiesta/Aveo/City disappointed me for various reasons.
In the next higher segment Skoda & Corolla were passe. I liked the Optra but it just didn't give me a single wet dream to substantially hike my budget. ;-)
Then the Civic was launched. Here was the car for which the only compromise I had to make was with the budget !! Fell in love with the car the day it was launched. Ooh La La !!
Anyways I had to wait 6 months to save some moolah. Pros & Cons
I think this has been flogged to death in this forum.
From a personal standpoint: (in no particular order)
1. Awesome design and interiors.
2. Extremely good driveability and excellent cornering.
3. Very very stable at high speeds and in braking.
4. Maintenance? What maintenance? Except for 800 bucks odd for oil change and 550 for the service I haven't paid anything. No major complaints except a little squeak considering the roads I drive in.
5. Automatic is peaceful to drive in the city. The paddle shifts are real fun on the highway. I love the rev noise when it holds on to the same gear.
6. Good seating space in the back as well.
7. I do like the audio system though everyone in the forum wants to change it. A lot of people who've travelled with me have liked the audio system.
Negatives for me would be:
1.Getting in or out of the car ain't easy for elderly people.
2.Will scrape few speedbreakers if fully loaded (4 people + luggage)
3. Had to replace bumper. Cost of bumper was 3.3K. Labour cost was 4.5K (painting and fixing)
4. Suspension is firm. Not exactly a negative coz it smooths out rough roads. But will go thud if you hit big potholes at speed.
5. No lumbar support on driver's seat. Can feel the effect at times.
6. Little bit of road noise seeps into the car.
7. Doesn't get automatically locked after I switch her on. Bit of a irritant. Accidents had:
1.Stone hit front windshield. Have a star crack on it. Have not replaced the windshield and the crack has not extended even after 8K of driving. Have a small circular sticker from Windshield experts stuck on top of the crack.
2. Dog committed suicide on my bumper at 4.30 am. The dog's ghost lives inside my car. Cost of the dog: 8K though I got some % back from insurance!!
3. Pushed into a death-hole-pot-hole by oncoming traffic. Slashed my left front tyre wide open.
3. Some nice guy tried to do graffiti on my car. Minute scratches.
4. Wayanad Monkey on my car's roof. Couldn't get through the window, so tried digging through the roof to get inside !! Trips done:
5 or 6 trips to Chennai
2 trips to Coimbatore.
1 trip to Top Slip, Wayanad, Mudumalai, Hogenakkal & Salem.
Trips to be done:
North & West Karnataka, South TN & Kerala. However till road conditions improve in West Karnataka & Kerala I'll have to put these off.
80% or above of the Civic's 11000kms has been on these trips. I still drive my Matiz in town.
Well thats the long and short of it. Dunno if I missed something. |