Team-BHP > Team-BHP Reviews > Test-Drives & Initial Ownership Reports


Reply
  Search this Thread
18,583 views
Old 12th July 2014, 08:37   #1
BHPian
 
Join Date: Jun 2014
Location: Thiruvananthapu
Posts: 65
Thanked: 67 Times
Got a used Honda Civic. Installed LPG kit

Was planning on getting a new Honda city, the mid-range variant, my mom really wanted a brand new car. After much convincing she agreed for a used one and as i will be using it she told the choice was upto me. Performance was on top of my checklist and my budget was set to 5L, flexible. My search for a good car begin. I had a lot of freedom here as i could buy which ever car i want but i will also have to live with it as mom told me she was only buying me the car and wouldn't be funding for fuel and maintenance, which i had to take care of. So, it was a tough choice for me and this meant i had to omit the heavy-maintenance brands such as BMW, Mercs etc (Older models were available for under 8-9 lacs and my budget was kind of flexible). I wanted to select a brand of the car i was buying first, I value the brands more, its a whole package, their quality, service, reliability of parts etc. They strive to keep up their brand name and this means its a much more pleasurable experience for the customer. So, Maruti was out, IMO their engines aren't meant for performance (Except few ever-green cars like the Baleno and esteem but i also needed good comfort and ergonomics). After going through http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/buying...pees-less.html and similar threads on this and other forums, I zeroed in on:

-Honda
-Skoda
-Volkswagen

Honda:
Their products are always good, never compromise on quality which meant expensive spares. It was not really a deal-breaker for me as they had better quality, they would be more reliable and the car will need spares less often. I have read about their engines which have done a million miles on the ODO and still breathing. So, reliability was not an issue here. After having had so many problems with the indica i owned i know first-hand how horrible it is when cars break-down unexpectedly and its a huge head-ache. Also their engines are really famous for their performance and they are mod-friendly. Lot of aftermarket support too. Who can forget the stir it made in the performance-community when the first i-vtec was introduced through the city.

The Accord, with its sweet V6 engine and a manual variant in it would be any enthusiast's choice. But what concerned me was its fuel-economy. It was too bad, especially the older ones which have munched more than 50000 Kms. Also the car being very big will pose to be a problem in traffic conditions. If FE and size doesn't matter to you, this is the car to buy!

The City was a decent car and was an all-rounder but the civic is a bit more than the City but less than the Accord. Its not as huge as the Accord but more powerful than the city and better mod options. So, this car was a really good option for me.

Skoda:
I really love the design of these cars, simple, elegant and timeless. From what i read, they handle very well and also have good engines. The octavia and Laura were really good cars but the after-sales service and their stories made me take a step back. I was in a dilemma, i could have compromised on the service as my car would have already been out of warranty and i would goto a good mechanic for my car needs but the spares were also a bit of a problem and they did not have as many centers as the other brands. I was still thinking.

Volkswagen:
Being a late comer in our market there are not many older models in this brand so couldn't exploit depreciation as much as i could with the others. I really liked the Jetta and for me, the Polo was a bit under-powered for my taste ( The TDI and TSI models were considered, but i was kind of reluctant, DSG was a risk for me.) The three models mentioned were also considered. Vento was also a good car but again, the car is still new, prices are higher.


So, my search for began and very soon i got a good deal in bangalore on a Honda Civic 2007 S variant, the car was in good condition and there were no complaints, had a service history and i closed the deal at 3.9L, which i think was a very good price for the car. Tried searching other cars but most good cars were out of my budget and the Civic owner wanted to sell his car very soon so i couldn't get more time and i decided to buy this one. As i was still a student with no steady income, i planned to fit a LPG kit in the car to reduce my costs. Got all the fluids replaced as soon as i got the delivery, the brake fluid, the clutch fluid, engine oil was replaced recently so did not bother about it, want to upgrade to synthetic in the next service. The clutch system had a lot of dust in it and took 6 hours to bleed it! (they had to wait for a pump of some sort to clear the blocking dirt). The radiator coolant also was okay and did not need replacing. Tyre rotation, balancing and alignment taken care of. The AC gas was filled up, made sure i got everything done before i left. The mechanic was Naveen in Kormanagala, really nice guy and knows what he's talking. Got his contact from Team-BHP directory. Drove it to Bellary, then all the way to thiruvananthapuram. Absolutely love the car! There was no noticeable drop in the performance while running on LPG. As of today i have covered around 5000 Kms. I never really calculated the mileage yet, I emptied the LPG in the tank completely today and went the the Gas-station on petrol and filled INR 1000 (21.2 Liters) of LPG and set the trip-meter to 0 and will finish the gas completely again and will calculate mileage. Right now i use the car just for commuting but will be doing a big trip once every month at least.

Likes:

-This car shouts refinement.
-Power, though i'm happy with the 130 bhp, i'm pretty sure it has lost some power through the years, will me planning to add some performance mods to negate that.
-Simple and clean lines, love the design.
-The growl after you cross the 4-5k RPM is addictive.
-The car has two sides to it, one is a very refined, smooth and very silent city commuter keeping the RPM under 2-3k.Once you cross the 4-5k barrier its a different car altogether!
-The suspension setup is just as i like it, its stiff enough to be nimble and handle well without much roll, but plush enough to take care of some rough terrain.
-The steering feedback is really good, especially at high speeds, unlike some of the cars i have driven like the swift and the verna.
-The interiors are driver oriented, the car cries for you to drive it, i have still not yet had my go in the rear seats Love the dash, the way Honda has integrated the speedometer and also the tachometer looks good with the blue back-light. I'm sure a lot of time has been put into designing this, being seven-years old it doesn't feel outdated at all.
-The cabin cools very fast.
-The gearshifts are slick.
-High speed stability is really great, its really hard to get carried away on the highways enjoying the drive until you see triple digits and you have to slow down.

Dislikes:

-Low GC, but not something you cant manage.
-Due to the steep rake angle of the A-pillar there are some blind spots and you need to wriggle to have a good look around. Must be careful while negotiating turns, especially in the ghats.
-Low end torque isn't great. City driving not as great as highway.
-Headlights needs upgrading as they are not bright enough for me.
-The music system doesn't have AUX or USB input!
-You need to get familiar with the four corners of your car as you cannot see the bonnet.

Coming to the LPG kit installed, i spent 30,000 on the entire kit including the installation charges. It takes up half the boot space. Has a fuel-gauge with a button to switch from LPG-Petrol and vice versa fitted beside the steering wheel just beside the fog-lamps button.

Pros:
-Save money spent on fuel, for the same price you get almost 60% more fuel and mileage of the car is not affected.
-There is not much drop in power. (max 10%)
-You will not feel any difference in ride quality.

Cons:

-The slight drop in power.
-Had a small problem with the kit after around 2500 kms, i started smelling LPG in the cabin and got freaked out, called the person who fitted it and he said the lines might be a bit loose after sometime and he wanted me to goto a mechanic here as i did not know many in TVM and its hard to communicate here if you do not know the native language, i tried fixing it myself, just tightened all the clamps in the system and the smell was gone.
-When i am in 1-2k RPM range and i floor the pedal, there is a small lag (misfire?) its a small one, i'm thinking this might be something to do with the ECU of the LPG kit, as this is a sequential kit. Can LPG ECU's be remapped? Any suggestion as to what i can do?

Planned mods :

-Considering 17" 15 spoke matte black alloys, i can survive with the stiffer ride quality but will there be any other problems with upsizing? I hear there will be some problem with the axles or something? (I do not remember exactly what it was, read it on some other forum and not able to find it now).
-Paint the calipers yellow.
-Upgrade brake pads to a better after-market ones.
-Change the intake system.
-Replace the exhaust system with a FFE.
-ECU remap.


Here are some pictures of the car, I want to take her on a shoot someday soon and get some nice pictures.
Attached Thumbnails
Got a used Honda Civic. Installed LPG kit-img_3418001.jpg  

Got a used Honda Civic. Installed LPG kit-img_3433001.jpg  

Got a used Honda Civic. Installed LPG kit-img_3425.jpg  

Got a used Honda Civic. Installed LPG kit-img_3567.jpg  

Got a used Honda Civic. Installed LPG kit-img_35802.jpg  


Last edited by thetinywanderer : 16th July 2014 at 22:19. Reason: Few corrections to be made.
thetinywanderer is offline   (4) Thanks
Old 17th July 2014, 18:06   #2
GTO
Team-BHP Support
 
GTO's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Bombay
Posts: 70,336
Thanked: 298,735 Times
Re: Got a used Honda Civic. Installed LPG kit

Thread moved from the Assembly Line to the Initial Ownership Section. Thanks for sharing!
GTO is offline  
Old 17th July 2014, 18:52   #3
Distinguished - BHPian
 
Mr.Boss's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: GPS signal lost
Posts: 2,810
Thanked: 7,452 Times
Re: Got a used Honda Civic. Installed LPG kit

Congrats on the Civic buddy. It is a no non-sense car of this segment.

We do have a 2007 Civic SMT at home (my brother's ride) clocked a little over 1.5L km with LPG kit. We have a normal kit (not the sequential one) with 60L tank. Delivers 10~11kmpl in LPG and very much satisfied with it.

OE HU doesn't come with USB, but I could find "AUX" written over the HU, not sure if we get a unique AUX port (at the rear) and cable. Someone please throw some light here.

EDIT: Forgot to mention, nice set of snaps.
Mr.Boss is offline   (2) Thanks
Old 17th July 2014, 18:58   #4
BHPian
 
Join Date: Dec 2012
Location: Chennai
Posts: 261
Thanked: 416 Times
Re: Got a used Honda Civic. Installed LPG kit

Lovely car..

take care of that fog lamp will ya
TorqMaster is offline   (1) Thanks
Old 17th July 2014, 19:37   #5
BHPian
 
rock18's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: Chennai
Posts: 310
Thanked: 55 Times
Re: Got a used Honda Civic. Installed LPG kit

Congrats..Its looking awesome. Especially in the first black and white picture.
I was also planning to buy an Used Civic but the low ground clearance put me off.

I also have a LPG sequential kit in my S10 and it has run 35000kms without any issues.
In my case, the LPG tuner did all the tuning,We did a fast and long drive and he calibrated the settings on the go in his laptop.

Wish you a trouble free driving experience.
rock18 is offline   (1) Thanks
Old 18th July 2014, 19:56   #6
BHPian
 
Join Date: Jun 2014
Location: Thiruvananthapu
Posts: 65
Thanked: 67 Times
Re: Got a used Honda Civic. Installed LPG kit

Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr.Boss View Post
Congrats on the Civic buddy. It is a no non-sense car of this segment.

We do have a 2007 Civic SMT at home (my brother's ride) clocked a little over 1.5L km with LPG kit. We have a normal kit (not the sequential one) with 60L tank. Delivers 10~11kmpl in LPG and very much satisfied with it.

OE HU doesn't come with USB, but I could find "AUX" written over the HU, not sure if we get a unique AUX port (at the rear) and cable. Someone please throw some light here.

EDIT: Forgot to mention, nice set of snaps.
Thanks. I checked with Honda, 2007 Civic doesn't support USB/AUX. Dunno why they gave the option in HU.

Quote:
Originally Posted by TorqMaster View Post
Lovely car..

take care of that fog lamp will ya
Yes, the bulb in the other fog lamp was missing, realised it only after i went through the pictures. Will replace soon.

Quote:
Originally Posted by rock18 View Post
Congrats..Its looking awesome. Especially in the first black and white picture.
I was also planning to buy an Used Civic but the low ground clearance put me off.

I also have a LPG sequential kit in my S10 and it has run 35000kms without any issues.
In my case, the LPG tuner did all the tuning,We did a fast and long drive and he calibrated the settings on the go in his laptop.

Wish you a trouble free driving experience.
Thank you
thetinywanderer is offline  
Old 19th July 2014, 19:19   #7
Senior - BHPian
 
sumeethaldankar's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2007
Location: Mumbai
Posts: 3,928
Thanked: 3,302 Times
Re: Got a used Honda Civic. Installed LPG kit

Congrats on the car.The civic looks best in white.The audio system has a aux port at the back of the system and its possible to add a aux wire but the dash has to openend i think.There is a DIY on the civic maintenence thread you can look it up.
sumeethaldankar is online now   (1) Thanks
Old 22nd July 2014, 15:37   #8
BHPian
 
Join Date: Jun 2014
Location: Thiruvananthapu
Posts: 65
Thanked: 67 Times
Re: Got a used Honda Civic. Installed LPG kit

Quote:
Originally Posted by sumeethaldankar View Post
Congrats on the car.The civic looks best in white.The audio system has a aux port at the back of the system and its possible to add a aux wire but the dash has to openend i think.There is a DIY on the civic maintenence thread you can look it up.
Did not know this, thanks a lot
thetinywanderer is offline  
Old 23rd July 2014, 21:06   #9
Distinguished - BHPian
 
Mr.Boss's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: GPS signal lost
Posts: 2,810
Thanked: 7,452 Times
Re: Got a used Honda Civic. Installed LPG kit

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/techni...ml#post2976035

Link from "Honda Civic- Tips/Tricks/Hacks" for adding AUX
Mr.Boss is offline  
Old 4th January 2015, 19:49   #10
BHPian
 
Join Date: Apr 2014
Location: BLR | COK
Posts: 28
Thanked: 29 Times
Re: Got a used Honda Civic. Installed LPG kit

I saw your car on campus, in front of the Mech department the other day. The car looks really good in white!
Arvi95 is offline  
Old 5th January 2016, 15:24   #11
BHPian
 
Join Date: Apr 2015
Location: Bangalore,Paris
Posts: 28
Thanked: 5 Times
Re: Got a used Honda Civic. Installed LPG kit

I wanted to know how the car is performing now on LPG. I have an accord v6 and was thinking of going for a LPG kit.

Since they are similar honda engines, i would appreciate your opinion.
MrIncredible is offline  
Reply

Most Viewed
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search

Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Team-BHP.com
Proudly powered by E2E Networks