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-   -   My Grey Shark: Honda Civic V-MT. 142,500 kms crunched. EDIT: Sold! (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/long-term-ownership-reviews/96910-my-grey-shark-honda-civic-v-mt-142-500-kms-crunched-edit-sold.html)

Hello my fellow Team bhp-ians,

I bought myself a pre-owned Honda Civic (nicknamed – Grey Shark) on 18th January 2011. I know it is a bit late but better late than never! lol. This is my first thread on Team BHP, I will make sure I update it with tons of info and pictures! ;)

Anyway, details of my Shark:
Year of make/Model – September 2007, Honda Civic V/MT
Color – Carbon Bronze Pearl
Date bought – 18/01/2011
Time taken to search ‘my’ car – 3 days
Mileage on the odometer when bought – 34,900 kms
Odometer reading as of today – 40,350 kms :D
Single owner and Haryana registered

Personalization done –
1. Smoked tail lights installed
2. Angel eyes with Bi-Xenon HIDs fitted into projector headlights
3. Honda rear spoiler installed

Moolah spent so far – 6.5 Lacs (car itself) + 13,000 (Refurbishing the exterior/interior) + 26,000 (head/tail lights ~ bought from fellow bhp-ian pranav7) + 6,000 (Rear Spoiler) = 7.0 Lacs

So, how does my Shark look? See it for yourself...

Whoa that's one sweet looker. Congrats Ace! Those smoked lamps really give it a sinister character that completely rounds off the look.

Congrats on you new civic ACE.It surely looks HOT from both front and rear!Looks real classy.The smoked lamps add a lot of OOMPH !
Did you buy the car from a dealer or from the owner ?

I will approach towards this review in typical Team BHP style! Therefore summarizing the facts first, although they are told repeatedly on Team BHP -

What makes me smile:

1. Aggressive styling inside out!
2. Huge glass area and the amount of space inside
3. Gem of an engine – one of the most reliable units in the country
4. A car that is heavily driver oriented – jet fighter inspired cockpit, small and chunky steering, beautiful gearshifts, great handling and low/mean looking body profile
5. Safety features – SRS airbags, all wheel disk brakes, ABS, EBD and Brake Assist
6. Decent stock ICE – but I generally keep it off to listen to that sweet sound of high revving engine
7. Proven low maintenance costs
8. Feel good factor of the car

What does not:

1. Soft rear suspension – my heart skips a beat everytime I drive my car over those notorious speed breakers in Haryana
2. Squeaks from LHS rear door
3. Boot space of very limited use
4. Steering wheel vibrations while braking at high speeds
5. Very poor Honda A.S.S. in my area – grrrrrrrrrrr! :deadhorse


A few things in our lives leave impression that lasts forever! As kids, we are always impressed by anything on wheels. No matter if it is a toy car, or a toy aeroplane, or our 1st motorbike ride, or getting into driver’s seat of our favorite car and feel that steering and touch that gear lever!

My love for wheels is well known in my family. Reminds me of time when I used to be a pillion on our KBajaj KB100 motorbike with my father, and when I sat into a Premier Padmini for the 1st time in mid 90’s. Fast forwarding things to year 2004 when my father bought me a Pulsar 180 DTSi for my college which used to be my ride throughout my college years. Yet, my heart used to skip a beat everytime I used to see a Skoda Octavia on road. That car looked so elegant IMHO and I used to dream about buying one as soon as I can (with my own money of course… lol). And there came an Octavia killer in form of Honda Civic in July 2006. Like most people, when I saw Civic first hand, I fell head over heels for its aggressive looks and that awesome cockpit! Got a chance to drive my uncle’s Civic once and what a thrill it was! Video already posted on Team BHP.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/long-t...ml#post1623209

I was so seduced that I could never wait to buy this thing with my own money, tried hard to convince my father to buy a Honda Civic for himself but never got through. For him a) Car was just a medium for reaching Point A to Point B, so it never mattered for him if he was in a Alto or in a Swift! And, b) He could never justify buying a car for 14 lacs

In 2007, I was awarded scholarship to complete my post graduate studies in Canada and I moved to S’toon. Here came true my ever dream of buying a car with my own pocket! And what did I get? A 2001 Mazda Millenia S and I was spoilt for almost everything that I had never experienced in India. 210 horses to play with, 2.3 litre Miller Cycle V6 sweet sounding engine, Bose premium music system and luxury everywhere. Only grouse was its ‘much’ higher than expected maintenance (I will keep the Millenia story for another day).

As the time for my return to homeland was approaching, pre-worshipped Civic ownership threads from GTO, SmartCat, hiren.mistry, dvprasad and threads from other Civic owners ImmortalZ, m4ugr8, iTNerd, shuvc, spadix, sgiitk, navpreet318, Cyborg etc. gave me a good idea of what to expect from this impeccable automobile from Honda. I already knew what is going to be my drive once I am in India. Thanks so much you guys, I really appreciate your help!

Anyway, I returned to India on January 14th and started the search for my type of Civic. Search lasted 3 days and I test drove 11 cars in total and finally found my car. Negotiated with the previous owner hard who was asking 7.3 lacs initially and sealed the deal @ 6.5 Lacs.

A brief report on what has happened since the car has come into my life –


Total kms covered with me – 5450 kms

Travelled between – Gurgaon, Hisar, Bhiwani, Jind, Karnal, Kurukshetra, Ambala, Chandigarh, Delhi, Noida, Jaipur and Udaipur

Fuel efficiency – in City (11.5 kms/litre maximum, 8.3 kms/litre minimum), on Highways (15.8 kms/litre maximum, 11.2 kms/litre minimum). Method used – tankful to tankful, so far 12 tankfulls are gone! :D

To give you an idea – at current fuel price of INR 58.51/litre in Haryana, Civic’s fuel tank gets 42.7 litres of fuel with a little force filling (from no fuel on gauge to full) which gives me a range of 500+/- 50 kms with mixed driving. With brutal driving, I have wrapped a full tank within 360 kms and with light foot driving, I was able to drive upto 670 kms. So, what really matters is how I drive to get what kind of fuel efficiency!

Money spent on regular services –

35,000 kms service: INR 1144
40,000 kms service: INR 7014 including fuel filter change (for INR 3236)


Others have already summed up all important points so well. Here are a couple of my observations –

1. The car has unreal acceleration for its engine size. Even though my Mazda was quick too, I never had wheels spinning, partially due to my Mazda being AT. My Shark can spin its wheels every single time. I try to keep maximum traction to get the most out of acceleration pleasure! Performance mods were planned but will not be executed in near future since my parents will be using the car once I am going back to Canada.

2. The OEM leather seats are firm and supportive. I have driven my car for 9 hours straight without any fatigue. Same was the case with my fellow passengers.

3. Engine is butter smooth all the way to redline. 2nd gear tops out at 106 kms/hours. Love that engine sound @ 7000 rpm.

4. I have managed to scrap the bottom of my car 5-6 times on a couple of unavoidably huge bumps. Car was loaded with 5 people and luggage however! Got the underbelly checked, not a thing to worry, however the sound of car bottoming out is heart breaking!

5. Car has amazing driving dynamics and handling characteristics. I love that slight understeer. However, put in 4 people or more in the car and the handling goes completely out of the window!

6. My father thinks it as a gas-guzzler (mainly due to recent hike in gasoline prices) but sheepingly admits that he loves the comfort inside and the way the car looks and drives! So for me, it is money well spent!!!

That is all for now! I will add more info to this thread as I recall more points and clock more miles on my i-vtec Shark. This is a long post I know and I will be happy to hear any comments and questions that you may have. Thank you.

Yummy ,congrats on the shark.Looks hot.I especially love the combo of projector head lamps ,LED tails and gray paint.Get some cool alloys also.
Drive her Safe
SHK

WoW your Civic looks hot!! Especially those headlights and tailights are damn sexy! Quite different from the usual aftermarket projectors I have seen. Congratulations you got an awesome deal! I think getting new wheels should be the next thing on your list :)

And some interior pictures including happy me taming my beast! :uncontrol

A suggestion change your number plater to IND ones will complete the look of your car.
The slight understeer which you feel is partially due to B250 Bridgestones that you have on your car.
Even my civic was running on the same and i also had the same issue but when i upgraded to Michellin Primacy LC understeer was reduced considerably with increased driving comfort and grip levels during braking and wet roads increased too.

Grey Shark.. Well things getting funnier if not interesting at t-bhp.

anyways the car looks good.

Thanks noopster. I myself think smoked tail lights make the car look like a bad boy! Pranav7 was using these tail lights on his black Civic and the moment I saw them, I knew they will look very mean on grey shade too!

Thanks for the wishes sagarpadaki. I bought the car from the owner himself!

Thanks SHK. I have BBS LM replica alloys in mind but the problem is, the kind of roads my car drives on, with 17" alloys, I will loose all the comfort. I want to get those alloys but I can't! :Frustrati

:) Thanks theragingbull. I bought the headlights since I felt stock headlights were not sufficient enough. All credit for headlights goes to Pranav7. He did a great job on them!

Thanks Jatinpatel. You are right about tyres. The car is still running on stock OEM tyres it came with! Tyre upgrade is on the cards. I am myself thing of getting Michelin PLC or Yoko C Drives. Lets see when do I find some time for that! And I would love to get HS number plates very soon! Good suggestion.

One of the few Civics that look good and mature even after a make over. It thankfully does not have a ricer look to it. I strongly suggest that you change the rubber and alloys to something more alluring and fill the wheel arches. The alloys should be contrasting to the black by which I mean a bright silver or bronze finish. Do a photoshop session before putting your money into it.

lol:... I will accept your sarcasm! It is just a nickname allright! ;)

Thanks for the wishes!

car looks great. love the rear lights. congratulations on the sweet ride.

The smoked headlamps and tailights are just smoking hot. Completely changes the look of the car and with so many Civic's on the roads, some kind of personalisation is needed to make your Civic stand out. Congratulations mate. Have fun with your Grey Shark !!

The headlamps and tail lamps do look good. In my opinion the red color in headlamps (parking lights) could be mistaken for tail lamps and hence be dangerous.