Team-BHP - New Owners report: Honda Civic MT

Finally, Got my Red Civic MT delivered on this Saturday...
Have been extremely busy and hence didn’t get a chance to go on a long drive, could drive only 70km till now.

I was extremely excited and was in a hurry to take the car, but a quick check on self pre-delivery inspection on this forum, opened my eyes - no hurrying up... I changed my delivery time from 5pm to 3pm and extensively checked each and every detail on my car for 3 hrs using the checklist, including a test drive, before taking delivery...

Thankfully, Honda quality stood up to it's standard and I did not find even a single issue with the car...

Few things which were unexpected, pl confirm if that’s the way it is supposed to be...
1. There was no PUC certificate, just a green sticker on the windscreen (saying this is a non polluting vehicle), Is this enough for cops?
2. Final copy of Insurance will come in few days
3. RC book will come in 20 days
4. They put me on Reliance Insurance - without asking me (I also forgot to tell them my preference) don't know how good they are. But with Reliance there will always be extra fine print to deal with...

The Dealership... 8/10
The sales staff at the dealer (Dakshin Honda, Hosur Rd, Bangalore) was very courteous and extremely helpful throughout the whole transaction of test drive - booking - delivery. Though they were not much knowledgeable about the car. They had the general sales knowledge, but then when I asked them questions in depth no one had a clue - Specs of Audio System & speakers, how to disable the security system, etc could not be answered.

I didn’t get any discount or free accessories, but that was kind of expected at this moment. Though there was a small gift by Honda - a LaOpala Pudding set - good to keep the lady of the house happy :)

The Owners Manual...5/10
Not that I am the one who reads thru the manual, but then it was irritating to find out that Honda did not customize the Manual for Indian Civic. There are so many features ("* in some vehicles") in it, which I don’t even know are there in my car or not... Like there are 6-7 types (A, B, C, D, E, F, G ) of music system shown, which all look alike and I had to do a detail back to the school (find the difference between two pics, and then check with my car) to find out that I have G type music system!
Since all features on Auto and Manual Civic in India are same, it would have been only a minor effort to make an India specific manual.

Other issue was that - it is written for dummies, and only dummies. There are hardly any technical specs for any DIY kind of stuff, or even to know what is the Music system Specs...

The Car... 9/10...
In one statement - Much better than I expected - It’s met and exceeded my expectation so far

Amazing Head turner - In last 2 days, 65% of people passing by were turning their heads, rest were either ladies or senior citizens... lol
Call it the novelty factor, the design, the Color, the whatever... But I really enjoyed it...
Further, in my apartment complex, while I was just exploring the car, lot of people came and appreciated the car. Three questions - which car? How much? What power? Followed by appreciations / envy...

The engine - extremely refined and smooth, it begs to be pushed hard from day 1. I did a 100 in 2nd gear and really enjoyed doing that, not sure if I should push the new engine yet...
But except 2-3 instances where I got an empty stretch, the whole while I was lugging it in 2/3rd gear with RPM between 1000k-3000k. The low end torque is good and you never feel underpowered. But when you cross 4k RPM, it overshadows everything... that’s when you get Pure exhilaration
Seems like someone is pushing you beyond limit... My wife complained that she started feeling scared in the rear seat, as if the car didn’t have breaks... lol

Fuel Economy - Cannot comment much yet, but with the 5 ltr that dealer gave, I easily squeezed 46km before refueling with still some fuel left to 'E', all with full Auto A/C.
If I get a 10 in City, I will be one happy man. Coz then I will have a rocket which performs like RS and sips like City

:Cheering:

Gear Lever - Not as good as expected from Honda. This is one place where the perfection was compromised. Pretty much same refinement as what others offer in the class. Corolla is better.

The Audio - As you can figure out, I am still trying to know what is the stock speaker setup on CIVIC. Because the front ones sound real good there, and I am not sure if that would need a change. Even the bass is respectable for stock setup. But then you feel vibration in door armrest, so the Subwoofer would have to still make way in the boot and rear speakers may also need up gradation.

So far I thought Optra Stock Audio was best, but now I change my opinion. You just need some good CDs to experience it.

(Q. How do I check what Audio output options are available in HU and what speakers are being used. I am scared to remove the panels as the stock fitting is really good and not sure if Audio shops will be able to close it with same finish).

Build quality - Very decent for the range and much much better compared to the Corolla. The eye for detail is there and you find every thing as it should be. The door closing thunk is deep and re-assuring. I would say only next to an Octavia in it's segment.

Alloys - well initially I didn't really like them, they were OK OK types. But slowly I feel they are getting over me and I have kind of started to like them. Really liked the shine of polished portion at night, which made me think good good. As of now I have dropped the idea of replacing it. And this was specific reason for me to include this point.

Looks - enough has bee said already, need I say more. Yes, the red rear, with 4 parking lights glowing at nights looks like a sporty segment somewhere much above.

Seating position - Front seats are very comfortable and I easily manage to get myself a comfortable position. With left arm rest extended - one hand on joy stick and right hand on door arm rest holding the steer stick! Gleam in eyes...
Once I get familiar with the car, I intend to sink that seat down, tried it for a small while, it feels so sporty. But will have to check airbags functioning etc. Safety first.
Ingress and Egress are little issues on drivers seat, if you are not very agile. The left knee tends to search space between steering and the seat.
No issues on head space in either front or rear, I am 5'10", so it should be for 6'.

Of course, lack of leather has sinked in, and soon that deficiency will be removed.
Visibility is good all around except rear. Since I am upgrading from a Hatch, reverse drive is giving me shrills at the moment. Sometimes I also find B pillar obstructing my right side back view - probably would need to adjust the seat position.

A/C - very effective. I love the Auto A/C - just shut the temp - close the fresh air vents (too much pollution in Bangalore) and forget it.
One thing I noticed repeatedly was that my throat started getting dry, guess the A/C dehumidifier is working extra hard. Is it usual? How do I prevent it?

Drive - I was very pleased with the drive. It handles very well and can be considered best in the segment - on par with Octavia. Put an RS footwear and it would do as well as that too...
At slow speeds, my wife did complained of harsh ride in rear seat over the patented potholed Bangalore road.

Other small tid bits which I found so far...
1. New Display panel - has 6 step brightness settings. And you can store 2 different settings - one for day drive (with headlights off) and other for night drive (with Headlights on. Moreover it's as simple as adjust it and it remembers
2. In a specific position (intermittent) - the wiper speed changes along with your speed. So if you are standing it wipes with a delay and if you are driving fast the delay between swipes reduces. Yes, you can also adjust the timings, but I didn’t do it yet.
3. Speed sensitive Audio - with increase in speed the audio volume also adjusts to pump the same level of music in your ears
4. The steering wheel (leather?) is damn good, I do not intend getting a leather cover for it.
5. Two trip meters are good - inclusion of fuel efficiency meter would have been better

Things which I did not like...
0. Nothing much really which I can say I didn’t like, still...
1. Seems like the power windows do not have a pinch rollback (?), i.e. it does not roll back on hitting obstruction. Even City has it. If Civic does not than this is a small but dirty point for Honda to fix.
2. Dryness / Throat drying problem with Auto AC (as discussed above)
3. The Owners Manual (as discussed above)

Hope people find this review helpful...

Cheers