[indivic]

Sorry, its going to be a long post. Please bear with me.

Think of it as after 5K-8k of running because there is a bit of discrepancy - the owner's manual says service once every 6 months or 10K running. The dealer says a check up every 3 months or after 5K running, in order to maintain warranty(to make money I would say), but I didnt mind since it would cost less than 1000 Rs and I did it only for the first 2 services .My monthly running was just about 800 - 1000 km a month so I hit 5k in about 6 months.

The engine becomes more and more silent as you put in more mileage. Check out the manual for the optimum speeds to change gears, if you stick to that you would ensure that the running in is really good.

The Civic is useless below 1.5k rpm, the iVTEC implementation in Civic is in such a way that VTEC on would mean running in economy mode and VTEC off is power mode. I remember that iVTEC is off above 3.5K , that would mean that 1.5K - 3.5K is the sweet spot for economy. This range is sufficient in the city to keep up with the traffic. I remember once that I forgot to change gears for about 5km and was driving in second gear (when I was newbie with the car), didnt notice the difference

If you are technically oriented , then check out these links

http://asia.vtec.net/Engines/R18A/index.html
Technical Overview of Honda's new R18 i-VTEC Implementation

Just get the running in done (shift up at 2.5-3K) and have a blast. I think at each service they check and tighten the engine mount, this is one part that is known to fail and FOC replacement(under warranty) is promised to last quite long. I don't know if they have corrected it in the facelift, but I never had this issue in mine, but Immortalz had.

If you are looking at speed, this car won't disappoint. Enjoy !

[penpavan]

Initial experience and questions

1. I am feeling the cluth is a bit hard, is it going to get easy after few 1000 kms or so ?
2. The HU becomes mildy hot after the car is running in for a while, can feel the heat when i use the audio controls - is this known already ?
3. Overall ride quality is excellent so far.
4. Braking is good too, no issues so far.
5. Some MP3 songs don't play in HU, says unrecognized format, no idea why ? but same songs play well in my laptop.
6. Getting 10.1kmpl so far.
7. For rev in period is it only that RPM needs to be under 3K or is there a cap in speed as well ?
8. Even when engine is idle the RPM counter is still 1K and doesnot come down, is this expected ?

[indivic]

Originally Posted by penpavan

Initial experience and questions

1. I am feeling the cluth is a bit hard, is it going to get easy after few 1000 kms or so ?

2. The HU becomes mildy hot after the car is running in for a while, can feel the heat when i use the audio controls - is this known already ?

3. Overall ride quality is excellent so far.

4. Braking is good too, no issues so far.

5. Some MP3 songs don't play in HU, says unrecognized format, no idea why ? but same songs play well in my laptop.

6. Getting 10.1kmpl so far.

7. For rev in period is it only that RPM needs to be under 3K or is there a cap in speed as well ?

8. Even when engine is idle the RPM counter is still 1K and doesnot come down, is this expected ?

1) Is the clutch hard or heavy ? My feeling was that the clutch is kinda weighted. If you feel it is heavy , it is not going to change much. If you think it is hard, get it checked at the service center

2) Yes it becomes hot, I thought it was because of the backlit buttons, never bothered to check it out.

3) You can take the corners quite aggressively, a stiffer rear would only improve the overall experience

4) If you are not used ABS before, test it out on an empty stretch of road outside the city. ABS kicks in on gravel or uneven surfaces if one wheel starts to slip, happened several times even at 30-40 km/hr speeds so incase you are not used to it, test it out.

5) No idea, never had this issue, but I dont know if the system was upgraded

6) Quite good

7) I think it would be safe not to exceed the speed at 3K rpm in the highest gear - i.e around 80-90km/hr in 5th gear. Go by the manual for the running in period, the better you break the engine in, the smoother it will become. You can go beyond 3k rpm for a small burst like overtaking a bike or a car, but dont floor it. After the running in , rev beyond 4k and above (pure music)

8) Is it on a cold start ? Or always ? I remember that the car starts off at around 1000-1200 rpm in the morning and then if you let it idle for a minute or so would slowly come down to around 800-900 rpm. I remember that it idles at 800 rpm but I dont recollect what it was during the running in period.

[iTNerd]

The Civic is useless below 1.5k rpm, the iVTEC implementation in Civic is in such a way that VTEC on would mean running in economy mode and VTEC off is power mode. I remember that iVTEC is off above 3.5K , that would mean that 1.5K - 3.5K is the sweet spot for economy. This range is sufficient in the city to keep up with the traffic. I remember once that I forgot to change gears for about 5km and was driving in second gear (when I was newbie with the car), didnt notice the difference

Spot on! R18 VTEC cam remains closed between 1500 - 3500K. After 3.5k, VTEC (fuel economy) is OFF.... it goes into REGULAR MODE :=) , and that's when you hear the awesome node.. for me, even in VTEC mode (around 3-3.5K RPM), it does 125-130 kmph easily.. so fuel economy at higher speed too..

[indivic]

Originally Posted by iTNerd

Spot on! R18 VTEC cam remains closed between 1500 - 3500K. After 3.5k, VTEC (fuel economy) is OFF.... it goes into REGULAR MODE :=) , and that's when you hear the awesome node.. for me, even in VTEC mode (around 3-3.5K RPM), it does 125-130 kmph easily.. so fuel economy at higher speed too..

Looks like you are enjoying it to the hilt, damn am I going to miss this car
Hypermiling will get you maximum FE, but you would never want to do it, simply because ripping it does not cause the FE to plummet.

On one trip, I was constantly in 120km/hr and above, but still got 13kmpl overall. A few weeks later I did the same run in my cousin's Logan 1.4 , was only doing 80-100 km/hr, got only 12kmpl, not to mention the poor NVH.

[motor_breathing]

Originally Posted by indivic

8) Is it on a cold start ? Or always ? I remember that the car starts off at around 1000-1200 rpm in the morning and then if you let it idle for a minute or so would slowly come down to around 800-900 rpm. I remember that it idles at 800 rpm but I dont recollect what it was during the running in period.

Yep that is right. On cold start it idles at 1200 RPM and goes down to 800 when the engine is heated up (3-5 min)

[penpavan]

Civic owners in bangalore - please suggest me where i can get good rubber mats for my civic , thanks in advance

[penpavan]

I did a travel of nearly 300+kms between Bangalore-Mysore last weekend and here are my thoughts

1. Kissed the earth twice one on Bangalore Mysore highway on a rather very high bump and one inside bangalore ring road, there was a decent thud noise, i was not speeding on the hump,infact tried going on the hump pretty slow, but it still happened... there were only 2 adults in the car, i doubt if the stiffened suspension has helped anything at all for GC for Civic....
looked on side skirts and did not notice any damage on side skirts luckily at the least. Plan to be very carefull next time on humps in bangalore.

2. Kept below 3K RPM and around 80-100kmph almost all throughout, the car doesnot shake even at 110kmph, no change in driving dynamics due to speed. Drived almost thorugh out with AC on.

3. Nearly got 13.6kmpl on highway.

4. Barring 2 hump incidents, had a enjoyable ride...

[vijaythacker]

pavan, congratulations on your civic.Superb choice of colour too.Enjoy your ride and keep updating on your ownership.Yes one of the problems with Civic is its GC, and your report says that stiffer suspention Honda was saying hasent made much difference to this area.

[raghu230506]

Pavan,

Congratulations on your ride, it's a great car to own. good choice of colour.

Be careful with the humps,

Drive safe.

Cheers
Raghu

[penpavan]

After long drive in weekend to Mysore and back

My FE Meter is stunning me at 13.1kmpl in city driving from last 1 week
Is average of kmpl counted every litre of fuel burnt ? i drive around 30kms on every weekdays.

[mkc15]

Originally Posted by penpavan

After long drive in weekend to Mysore and back

My FE Meter is stunning me at 13.1kmpl in city driving from last 1 week
Is average of kmpl counted every litre of fuel burnt ? i drive around 30kms on every weekdays.

If you maintain a constant speed and if you can engage cruise control, you will be stunned even more. IIRC, I have seen it showing upto 17.4kmpl on my AT during my trip to Vellore on GQ.

[penpavan]

Originally Posted by mkc15

If you maintain a constant speed and if you can engage cruise control, you will be stunned even more. IIRC, I have seen it showing upto 17.4kmpl on my AT during my trip to Vellore on GQ.

thats impressive figures for AT even on a highway
well its difficult to maintain constant speed and deploy Cruise control in mad bangalore city traffic for sure, Did you experience FE increasing with ODO moving, when i started out of showroom it was 9kmpl and gradually its moving up as ODO is moving, currently ODO is at 700 due for 1st service shortly

[penpavan]

Originally Posted by rr_zen

I booked my car today and the dealer said it was next to impossible to go anything below 39K for Honda Assure. I managed to get accessories worth Rs 10K after a bit of haggling in addition to the corporate discount and the discount of 9K on insurance.

@penpavan: By the way, when I showed the type of side step garnish you have, I was told that it was not Honda OE and the only OE is what is shown on the website. But I somehow like the one that you have. Not sure where I can source it though.

rr_zen : I spoke with my dealer, he is qouting 11.4K for side step garnish, i know it may not be the right price, but thats what he is quoting and cant argue much with him, did not find the same in external shops yet, those which are available outside in shops have some kind of honeycomb material which has LEDs in them.

[mkc15]

Originally Posted by penpavan

Is average of kmpl counted every litre of fuel burnt ?

Its computed every 10secs. I think I read it from the manual itself.