[Ace F355]

Originally Posted by arvi86

One strange thing that happened was I struggled when moving the car in first gear (even stalled the car for around 5 to 6 times in the trip). This has not happened to me before. Will a full load of 5 people and the gradient in the hills be the reason for this?

Naah, nothing strange there as the Civic's initial throttle response is pretty weak. It feels strange especially when you are used to cars with good initial response and unknowingly open the same amount of throttle while driving the Civic; and you end up with a stalled car!

I keep the throttle in 1000-1100 RPM bandwidth in first gear (the idle sits at ~800). Never stalled my car after getting used to this.

[arvi86]

Originally Posted by thedreamcatcher

This can happen at times. More prone to occur when you are carrying a full load of people and going up a hill. Ideally with two people you should not feel so much of a strain, but with 5 people, boot most probably loaded with luggage, the low GC of the Civic and it can end up being a magnet.
So, nothing to worry at all. Another thing you should be vary of during hill climbs with excess load is proper clutch usage. Excessive / improper use can fry the plates

Maybe thats the reason. Because there were five of us in the car and the boot was fully loaded.

Coming to the point on clutch, I have this doubt for a very long time. While coming downhill what is the best way to drive?
1. Drive in a lower gear even if the revs are high (sort of engine braking) and upshift only when the road is free and visibility is high (or)
2. Drive in a higher gear with constant usage of clutch to prevent knocking and brakes when negotiating traffic and bends
I always do the Option 1 but I see many professional drivers do the Option 2.

Originally Posted by Ace F355

Naah, nothing strange there as the Civic's initial throttle response is pretty weak. It feels strange especially when you are used to cars with good initial response and unknowingly open the same amount of throttle while driving the Civic; and you end up with a stalled car!

Thats also right Ace F355. I am so much used to the throttle response of Santro which moves forward even at the slightest release of clutch pedal. I think I will take a couple of more drives to get completely used to this.

[dot]

Originally Posted by arvi86

While coming downhill what is the best way to drive?
1. Drive in a lower gear even if the revs are high (sort of engine braking) and upshift only when the road is free and visibility is high (or)
2. Drive in a higher gear with constant usage of clutch to prevent knocking and brakes when negotiating traffic and bends
I always do the Option 1 but I see many professional drivers do the Option 2.

Naturally option 1. It is safer and better for the car.

Professional drivers means cab drivers, I guess. Normally they dont have to pay for the clutch and brake pads.

[swiftnfurious]

That's a very clean car there and congrats on your lateral upgrade! A clean report too. The console looks sexy and I hope I can find an equally good looking Civic in a couple of years.

By the way I read that the suspensions were made a bit stiffer after its launch. So which year onwards was it implemented ?

Originally Posted by arvi86

While coming downhill what is the best way to drive?
1. Drive in a lower gear even if the revs are high (sort of engine braking) and upshift only when the road is free and visibility is high (or)
2. Drive in a higher gear with constant usage of clutch to prevent knocking and brakes when negotiating traffic and bends
I always do the Option 1 but I see many professional drivers do the Option 2.

Thumb rule is you drive down a hill in the same gear you used / would have used to go up. The other drivers might have used the higher gear / clutch to probably ease on the FE front. Unless you have a good brake + tire combo, this might prove spoil sport.

Originally Posted by dot

I think he meant windshield polish, which costs about 1800 at HASS. For a picture of that process you may wish to check Scorpo's thread.

Originally Posted by arvi86

As dot said, it was Windshield Polishing and Honda charged 1800 rupees for it.

Is there a visible change in the reflections / clarity on the windshield after this? I want to do some clean up for my Swift's front windshield as it has lots of scratches. Does this help to remove the scratches which the wipers leave ?

[arvi86]

Originally Posted by dot

Naturally option 1. It is safer and better for the car.
Professional drivers means cab drivers, I guess. Normally they dont have to pay for the clutch and brake pads.

. When we don't have to pay for something, we just don't realize it's worth and try to have some fun. So, this is also a part of it eh?

Meanwhile, my Civic got yet another scrape at the bottom yesterday evening in one of Chennai's city roads that got battered with the recent small spells of rains. My heart skipped a beat as I heard the 'thud' sound. And this is the third time this is happening for me in the last one month. I need to do something to prevent this from happening henceforth.

[arvi86]

Originally Posted by swiftnfurious

That's a very clean car there and congrats on your lateral upgrade! A clean report too. The console looks sexy and I hope I can find an equally good looking Civic in a couple of years.
Thanks for your comments swiftnfurious. And, rest assured, all of us in Team-BHP will make sure that you get a Civic in an even better condition when you are out on the market looking for one.


Is there a visible change in the reflections / clarity on the windshield after this? I want to do some clean up for my Swift's front windshield as it has lots of scratches. Does this help to remove the scratches which the wipers leave ?

To be quite frank, there was a slight difference only and not much from driving point of view. But yes, the windshield looked fabulous after the polishing and the small wiper marks, scratches and all were gone.

[dot]

Originally Posted by swiftnfurious

Is there a visible change in the reflections / clarity on the windshield after this? I want to do some clean up for my Swift's front windshield as it has lots of scratches. Does this help to remove the scratches which the wipers leave ?

In my case, night driving improved dramatically as the condition of the windshield at the time of delivery was pretty poor.

Originally Posted by swiftnfurious

I hope I can find an equally good looking Civic in a couple of years.

Hope that endeavor is successful.

[spadix]

Arvi86, first of all hearty congratulations on acquiring your dream car!

Your story is so similar to mine that it bears describing. I fell in love with the Civic when it was launched in 2006 for the exact same reasons as you have mentioned. Till then, the vRS was the stuff of my dreams but simply not affordable on top of the general Skoda A.S.S. nonsense. Along came the Civic at what was then a much lower price point and it was simply a one-horse race as far as I was concerned. Interestingly enough even I was 25 at the time and while I came -><- this close to booking one my parents and friends convinced me otherwise for a number of very logical reasons. For starters it would have been my first car even though I had been driving for 7 years at that point. There were some other factors to be considered and I had to eventually wait 4 years before I could lay my hands on my own dream machine. The two differences are that mine's new and black. So I can totally relate to your sense of elation here. Congrats once again!

Over the past 11 months I've found that every minute, every second of that 4-year wait has been worth it. The Civic checks nearly all the boxes for me, and I'm sure it will for you as well.

I'll now come to some specific issues you have raised -

1. The blame for the hush noise at > 80 kmph can be laid squarely on the stock Goodyear Eagle NCT5s. Given that you're replacing them, this should no longer be a concern. That said, those stock tyres will live for another 10k kms at least.

2. If you do ghats frequently, option #1 is safer and better. However I don't do that 100% of the time. When going downhill I do rely on the brakes a lot at times. When going uphill however I ensure that the engine never struggles in a higher gear. The golden rule is that given any incline, the gear in which you descend should match the gear in which you ascend. The Civic's engine is extremely free of friction and once you're in gear 3 and above, engine braking is minimal, necessitating the use of brakes. This has been my observation compared to the other cars I've driven extensively (M800, Indigo, i10).

On a related note, low-end torque/throttle response is a problem with this car. You will have to gun the throttle - liberally if you're on rough terrain, fully loaded or on a slope - else the engine (and car) will shudder. This behaviour is very similar to what you see with modern turbo-charged common-rail diesels. At lower revs progress is sluggish. Beyond 2.5k rpm the Civic's an absolute rocket.

3. Power and GC issues do exist when fully loaded, but it's just a matter of getting to know the car better. On the Tirumala ghat for instance we once had 6 adults in the car and a boot full of luggage and the car didn't skip a beat. That said, Tirumala ghat is a lot easier and smoother than most other ghats but I'm talking specifically of the hairpin bends, which I was easily able to take in 2nd even with this kind of load. Secondly, the car never scraped even once with 4 adults and boot full of luggage over the absolutely mountainous speed-breakers before and after every village on routes such as Kadapa - Rajampet - Ranipet. On occasions I've heard other cars - including an Innova - scrape on bumps that we sailed over effortlessly. On the other hand, if you aren't careful, you'll scrape over moderately tall humps even if it's just you and you alone in the car. As I said earlier, this car just needs more TLC than most others over bumps. It's not an insurmountable (in more ways than one!) problem.

Originally Posted by arvi86

Meanwhile, my Civic got yet another scrape at the bottom yesterday evening in one of Chennai's city roads that got battered with the recent small spells of rains. My heart skipped a beat as I heard the 'thud' sound. And this is the third time this is happening for me in the last one month. I need to do something to prevent this from happening henceforth.

Don't worry about it. I've scraped my car's underbelly hordes of times - mostly due to my own carelessness. First, take bumps at an angle as long as you don't inconvenience traffic around you. This solves the geometry problem created by the long wheelbase and moderate GC. Second, slow down more than you would. 3-4 kmph is needed, sometimes. This takes care of the soft suspension which will bounce and cause the car to hit if you take a bump at speed.

Yes, there are other cars that can take these bumps straight and at speed, but if your aim is to avoid a scrape let me assure you it can be done with those two bits of care. If you still get a scrape, you can take it for granted that any other car with a similar GC and wheelbase (or similar proportion/geometry) would have scraped too.

Don't worry about it. You'll get better over time on the GC front.

4. I've kept this to the end because at the end of the day, it really doesn't matter so much as the overall experience of owning, driving and maintaining the car. The car's definitely low on features compared to others in its segment (e.g. the Cruze). Honda has been acting, but very slowly and not always in the right direction. One of the better things they did was to get rid of the multi-disc changer and introduce useful, plug-and-play iPod + USB + AUX-IN connectivity in the 2009 facelift. But instances such as this are few and far in-between. Check with @hiren.mistry on how he got USB + AUX-IN capabilities on his 2007 pre-worshipped Civic. A couple of more useful features would be a speed setting on the windshield wiper's intermittent mode, the ability to fold down the rear seats and remote boot-lid opener. Honda cannot be excused for missing out on these basic features on the Civic. But to me at least, it doesn't deter from the day-to-day pleasure I derive out of my car. If it's a question of priority, I would rather see Honda fit the Civic with OEM Koni FSDs than add these "practical" features. On a day-to-day basis, the former is more useful than the latter.

Enjoy your dream run with your new Civic!

Regards,
spadix

[arvi86]

Originally Posted by spadix

Arvi86, first of all hearty congratulations on acquiring your dream car!
Thanks a lot spadix.

Over the past 11 months I've found that every minute, every second of that 4-year wait has been worth it. The Civic checks nearly all the boxes for me, and I'm sure it will for you as well.
Rightly said, the wait was worth every second. And yes, the Civic does check all the right boxes, though I would have preferred a bit more features.

The blame for the hush noise at > 80 kmph can be laid squarely on the stock Goodyear Eagle NCT5s. Given that you're replacing them, this should no longer be a concern.
Yup, since I changed the tires, the noise is gone.

On a related note, low-end torque/throttle response is a problem with this car. You will have to gun the throttle - liberally if you're on rough terrain, fully loaded or on a slope - else the engine (and car) will shudder.
Absolutely. I am still getting used to this phenomenon.

First, take bumps at an angle as long as you don't inconvenience traffic around you. This solves the geometry problem created by the long wheelbase and moderate GC. Second, slow down more than you would. 3-4 kmph is needed, sometimes. This takes care of the soft suspension which will bounce and cause the car to hit if you take a bump at speed.
Thanks for the tips. I am already following the 2nd tip 100%. I take speed breakers and potholes dead slow (sometimes the car behind me honks madly).

Honda has been acting, but very slowly and not always in the right direction.
I would say Honda is not acting at all in this front. How tough it is for the company to train their dealers to fit in a new feature that has been recently introduced in older cars? Apparently, it is very tough for Honda it seems. Though the USB/Aux-In is available in current Civics, the delaer asks me to make do without one.

Check with @hiren.mistry on how he got USB + AUX-IN capabilities on his 2007 pre-worshipped Civic.
Thanks again. Will check it up.

But to me at least, it doesn't deter from the day-to-day pleasure I derive out of my car.
That's true anyway.

Enjoy your dream run with your new Civic!

Thanks again. Taking time for such a long reply shows just how much you love your car and how willing you are in helping others too.

[hdnivara]

Every time I read about a Civvy, it makes me go week on my knees, period. Well written and wishing that I'd own a Civic someday (of course, Cedia first :P)

Congos

[arvi86]

Originally Posted by hdnivara

Every time I read about a Civvy, it makes me go week on my knees, period. Well written and wishing that I'd own a Civic someday (of course, Cedia first :P)

Congos

I can very well understand it hdnivara because I felt the same way for the past couple of years. Wish you all success in your endeavour too.

[arvi86]

As I had already mentioned, I had been to Yelagiri the past weekend. Over the full course of the trip, the Civic was awesome with amazing stability in the straight four-laned highways and superb handling in the hairpin bends in the ghats. Except for the issue of stalling the car many times, which was probably my mistake, there was no other problem with the car. The Civic carried 5 people with luggage with no fuss at all and did not scrape any speed-breaker throughout the trip. Having said that, the Civic gets a little bouncy, especially at the back, if the road becomes uneven and bumpy. My guess is that the soft rear suspension setup of the car is the culprit. Is this normal or should I look out for something problematic here?

As they always say, its better late than never. Though a little late, here are some of the pictures of the car taken during this trip.

[rr_zen]

@arvi86: Great pics and glad to hear that you managed to come unscathed without scraping any speed-breaker. As mentioned by many others in the forum, stalling in first gear is a problem that one has to overcome given the poor low end torque of the Civic. The problem is more persistent when one happens to drive different cars regularly along with the Civic (just like me). Btw, what was the FE that the car returned for this trip? Thanks

[hiren.mistry]

Hey Arvi,
Sorry to be so late in congratulating you. You've got a cars that clearly been well looked after, and I'm sure it will be pampered even more now that you have it.

Honda may not be an aspirational brand anymore but the Civic sure is. I've got my car for a little over a year but I still can't stop and glance admirably at it or any other Civic's on the road.

I've been dormant for the past 30-40 days or so but I hope that changes now.

All the best and have fun.

Regards
Hiren

[arvi86]

Originally Posted by rr_zen

@arvi86: Great pics and glad to hear that you managed to come unscathed without scraping any speed-breaker. As mentioned by many others in the forum, stalling in first gear is a problem that one has to overcome given the poor low end torque of the Civic. The problem is more persistent when one happens to drive different cars regularly along with the Civic (just like me). Btw, what was the FE that the car returned for this trip? Thanks

Even I was surprised that the car did not scrape any speedbreakers. And, regarding the stalling, it just gets accentuated in the Civic because the other car I drive now is my old Santro, both of which are poles apart in steering and pedal feel.

In this trip, I got a mileage of 13 kmpl (12.92 to be precise).

Originally Posted by hiren.mistry

Hey Arvi,
Sorry to be so late in congratulating you. You've got a cars that clearly been well looked after, and I'm sure it will be pampered even more now that you have it.

Honda may not be an aspirational brand anymore but the Civic sure is. I've got my car for a little over a year but I still can't stop and glance admirably at it or any other Civic's on the road.

I've been dormant for the past 30-40 days or so but I hope that changes now.

All the best and have fun.

Regards
Hiren

I was just wondering where did you go as I could not see your posts in the forum. Welcome back, and thanks for your wishes. Ofcourse, the Civic is going to be pampered now. Thats why, not once did I mention that it was pre-worshipped. I really don't know whether it was worshipped or not but now that the car has come to me, I am sure gonna worship it.