[csentil]

Good writeup. I'm happy you get mileage like that. Maybe Tvm has better roads and lesser traffic. I get 8 in my Civic AT. Period. Highways its been between 10 to 12.5. 10 if I'm on the GQ with speeds over 140kmph and 12+ if its between 100-120.

Keep her safe and drive hard. :-) I'll also writeup my 20K ownership review next month when I hit it.

[ImmortalZ]

Yeah, I would assume 8KMPL being expected in Bangalore. Looking forward to your writeup!

[ImmortalZ]

So yeah, it finally happened.

My little cousin was sitting on the passenger seat while I was reversing the car into their parking lot. While I was maneuvering the car into the lot, he obscured my left ORVM for 3-4 seconds and I missed a telephone pole coming into my line. Another four seconds later while I was looking at the other side, I had a fist sized dent on the car. The pole pressed into the front quarter panel (which includes the wheel well and such).

Entirely my fault for losing spacial awareness. Oh well, live and learn I guess.

The damage is around Rs. 4000/- for reshaping and repainting. I'm wondering if I should just use insurance and replace the whole panel. Three days will be required for the job. It will be done this weekend, probably.

Positive news is that I got around 13.8KMPL for the full tank of petrol used in the trip. 100% AC, a 30KM stretch of spirited driving in S mode, a rain lashed return trip with the car loaded with 6 people and luggage. I'm pretty thrilled. The S mode of the auto 'box even without the paddle shifters is dollops of fun. The car is always in the meaty 3k+ rev band and there are plenty Japanese horses raring to go at a moment's notice, barely restrained by the accelerator. The lightest of touches and the car pulls away. I felt that the normal quarter second lag that is present between a throttle input and response disappeared in S mode. We were late for a function and I had to step on it to get there. Some twisty B-roads with light traffic made for fifteen minutes of Pure Exhilaration. Even my dad who regularly chastises me for driving over 70KMPH was grinning from ear to ear. Trust me when I say this, but this car can and will corrupt your family with it's infectious attitude.

There were quite a few suspension hits during our return trip due to heavy loading and some really pathetic sections where entire layers of surface was missing, making for a very torturous time for the poor car. That and the incessant rain regularly had me sweating and swearing. On a positive note, the roads near Attingal have been resurfaced, making for a great drive in that section. Four laning is also steadily progressing at Ernakulam and surrounding regions.

Odo stands at 1920KM. I might be imagining this, but there seems to be a very light tappety sound coming from the engine which wasn't there before. I'll have to have another listen today evening. Meanwhile, I have a bad cold and fever to sleep off, so, until next time ladies and gents.

[csentil]

13.8 kmpl is a really good mileage for the Civic AT. I get max of 12 kmpl. Maybe I drive too fast.. dunno.

Hard luck with the dent. Happens. I reversed into a two wheeler which some idiot had parked in my parking space. Got the rear sensors done after that.

[Mysticeyes]

nice review, Immortalz. great to know that you are enjoying the 'exhilaration' to the max. meanwhile, it's sad to note that the dents have appeared. talking aout the raods (if you can call it so), the less said, the better. I got so much fed up with the daily roads i take, that i've reduced the usage of my baby. To be precise, in the last 14 days, i've taken it only 5 times. You can see the pathetic condition if you have come around the Ambalamukku-Perurakada-Vazhayila stretch

Plus, your car's mileage is outstandingcheers:

[swageo]

Originally Posted by ImmortalZ

So yeah, it finally happened.

My little cousin was sitting on the passenger seat while I was reversing
<snip>
.

Out of topic, did you check whether your civic has this issue

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/techni...rds-right.html

[ImmortalZ]

I just went downstairs and checked all around with a measuring tape.

I found that when measured at the middle, both sides are dead even. The front driver side is up by an mm or two and the rear is also dead even.

Seems like it is within tolerance. The front right tyre is probably slightly over inflated.

Originally Posted by Mysticeyes

Plus, your car's mileage is outstandingcheers:

Thanks. A 3 dot to 3 dot check with 19L of part highway and part city run just returned a healthy 12.1KMPL. Once again, 100% AC, 70% highway, 30% city. It seems the fuel guage goes bonkers as soon as it goes below 3 dots. It loses and gains dots and is plain unreliable. Very hard to do full tank to full tank tests with my running.

About the roads, it's the same everywhere. Very few roads remain with any kind of surface.

[rshiv]

Originally Posted by ImmortalZ

[url=http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-drives-initial-ownership-reports/45554-newbie-tds-civic-edit-now-takes-her-home.html]

1) The paint is a pain to maintain. Get the white if you want a load off your mind.

That's right.I've got a Civic MT. I regret for not buying a silver or white, which is easy to spot on and has a specific color charecter

[ImmortalZ]

A minor update at ~2500KM.

The dent referred to in the earlier post has been fixed.

Sort of.

Peninsular charged 3350/- + tax on the job. The result was plainly atrocious. They didn't get the curves back right, the putty job made the panel gaps huge with the front bumper and the paint had FLIES stuck into it. And they had the audacity to deliver the car to me in that condition. The accident repair guy who took my car, one Mr. Shafik, didn't even come to meet me at delivery, for obvious reasons.

I told the guy who actually did the delivery, Mr. Aravind that this is completely unacceptable. A paint job for INR 4K that looks like a school kid's afternoon job with watercolour is not gonna do it. They told me that they could fix it. Because we had a long-planned drive to go on, we couldn't get it fixed on the spot and we couldn't refuse it outright either.

Four days later, the car went back to them and after three hours, they managed to get rid of the spots on the paint, but it looked significantly duller. I suspect they had to get rid of one or two coats of paint to get it right. I still insisted on a repaint, but my dad not wanting any hassle asked me to just get the car and come back home.

Chatting with Mr. Aravind a bit, I came to know that they outsource their paint jobs to some place near Injakkal and problems such as these were common. I believe one of the TVM BHPians mentioned that place in a very positive manner. So it begs to question how low Peninsular must be paying for them to return such disastrous results.

Oh yeah, they added a legion of scratches to the rear fender as well. Aravid did manage to get rid of them and along with a couple others my service manager said was impossible to remove, on the plus side.

In the end, with a coat or two of Silicon glaze, the front fender does look okay. A paint booth is in the process of being installed at Peninsular, supposed to come into full operation by January. Even so, I warn any TVM BHPian with a Honda to stay away from the A.S.S for a paint job. Go straight to the dudes at Injakkal and get it done. It'll probably be cheaper and will involve less mental agony for yourself. And insist on Aravind instead of Shafik. He seems like an honest chap.

The great news is that I managed to get hit by a biker on the back bumper on the very next day while stopped at a red light. Result is a bulge at the top surface, in front of the boot lid's edge. Absolutely no idea how it got deformed like that. And two days later, I reversed into a kerb and took a lot of paint off the rear right mudguard. Hard to see from any angle, but some paint off my heart either way.

I haven't had a good week. Hell, this entire month has been one catastrophe after another.

The only positive thing has been the sunfilm install. Got V-Kool VK-70 done all around for 36500/-. A team of dudes from Cochin along with their Manager came to TVM/Motor Plaza and spent around six hours fixing the thing. Extremely professional installation involving seat covers, dash covers, the whole shebang. If one wishes to bypass the whole accessories shop loop and go straight to the supplier, they are based near the Toyota showroom in Cochin and have a clean room like facility to do the install for you. I shall update with the exact address if anyone requires it.

Five years warranty against anything except intentional destruction. Is it worth it? Oh yes, definitely. Wind the window down a bit and let the sun fall on the dash. The light through the tints, a slightly green shade, but bright. The direct light, normal. The part of the dash with the tinted light stays absolutely cool while the rest starts heating up. Front film reduces flares from oncoming headlights. It'll still hurt your eyes because its letting most of the light through. But one can see better. Works as advertised, I'd say.

Do not expect a dark coloured car parked in direct sunlight for 6 hours to feel cool when you get back though - that's too much to expect. Radiated heat will overwhelm the sunfilm's advantage in such conditions. The biggest change has been driving on crispy mornings and afternoons - you aren't being roasted by all the light - you are simply being lighted by it. And the Civic's airy interior feel is intact.

Motor Plaza is unable to source Stebel Nautilus for me. Looks like I'll have to get it from Emperor and get it fixed here. Second service is due by the end of this month. Maybe another update after that.

So far, the car hasn't let me down. The A.S.S has.

[karthik247]

@ImmortalZ
The place Peninsular get the paint job done is Colour Wheels opposite Pallava Bar on the Enchakkal Chacka bypass road. Its better if you go there directly and talk to Mr.Ashraf and he would probably get the job done in much better quality and for a lesser price. Ive got a few paint jobs done from there and its not bad at all. Actually its one of the best paintshops in the city.. The reason for the shoddy paintjobs is because they get too many cars for the work than they can handle. Plus its like a contract between the dealers so probably they'll try to get max profit by using a bit lower quality stuff. Like i said, next time just go directly, the place may be small but the work is pretty good.

As a note.. this place does ALL denting and painting work for Honda and Chevrolet in TVM. And if anyone needs an urgent paintjob they do it over night as well.. Pretty good!

[greenhorn]

Immortalz, just got off the phone from emperor, they dont have stebel nautiluses at the moment

[trrk]

Hi,

Originally Posted by ImmortalZ

The great news is that I managed to get hit by a biker on the back bumper on the very next day while stopped at a red light. Result is a bulge at the top surface, in front of the boot lid's edge.

I have got used to the dents and scratches in my CVT. Just two days back it got a new one on the left door.

My car has been hit by a biker who never saw the car slowing with a right indicator to trun into my house. In spit of the effort of my driver moving forward (instead of turning) after seeing this mad man coming at him through the reverse mirror, he managed to go bang in the centre of the rear bumper. Thankfully he was not injured.

I have decided not to get these dents repaired in the near future.

[ImmortalZ]

@karthik :

They do dent repair as well? Hmm. Maybe they'll be able to get my panel done properly next time. I'll think about going there when I have funds again. Thanks for the info.

@greenie :

That is disappointing. Will they be getting any anytime soon? I need a better horn to blast these stupid autowallahs with. One just turned straight into my lane opposite PRS today. A long honk and he's like "Njaan ithethra kandirikkunnu..." (Meh, how many times have I seen this).

@trrk :

It seems like one needs to stop fretting about small bumps, dents and scratches, consider it part of daily life and fix all of them up every year or so. Better for your mind I guess.

[karthik247]

Originally Posted by ImmortalZ

@karthik :
They do dent repair as well? Hmm. Maybe they'll be able to get my panel done properly next time. I'll think about going there when I have funds again. Thanks for the info.

Yes, they do both the jobs. You can always give it to him in the morning and take delivery in the evening.

[jeetu4444]

hey bro i think u should install parking sensors, front and back, it really helps parking the car in tight spots, my civic auto , in bombay i got max 10.2 kmpl . enjoy your ride, u can check my car in my profile.