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Old 7th December 2016, 14:29   #526
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Re: Got my *pre-worshipped* Honda Civic

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Originally Posted by manim View Post
9.5 years old with 1,55,000+ kms on the odo, it is still 'silky-smooth' as it was when new, with only routine services done, so far. On 4-lane highways, it is still unbeatable
Good to know. I have one from 2007, now at 68 kms. The bad roads of Goa interiors seem to be doing a job on the suspension. Service center just told me there is a bit of play in suspension which is expected. Said may have some replacements by 1 lakh km. But otherwise everything is fine. Small niggles have started creeping up. The armrest lock has loosened and tends to open on its own, driver sun visor is slowly shaking itself loose... But nothing major.
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Old 20th December 2016, 13:17   #527
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Re: Got my *pre-worshipped* Honda Civic

Edit: Make sure the service details are acquired by yourself and not provided by the dealer. Call up or goto the dealer from where the car was bought when new and ask for the details like ODO reading when the last service was done etc.[/quote]

How to get the service details from a HASS?
I am planning to get one 2010 CivicV MT.
Thanks in advance for help.
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Old 21st November 2017, 14:16   #528
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Eight year old Preowned Honda Civic as a second car. Makes Sense?

Hello friends,

I have had the pleasure of owning a Honda City 1.5 MT for six years from 2011 – 2017.

But, as we are a family of six and with the kids growing up fast, we needed a larger car. So, in August this year I sold off my City and bought home a Honda BR-V CVT. I love the new car. It’s smooth, spacious, comfortable, glides over broken roads and the CVT is a boon is the chaotic traffic. It’s clearly better than the City in many aspects and fulfills all the requirements as a family car.

But, the City has left behind a void called ‘Driving Pleasure’ that the BR-V is simply unable to fill. There are times when I badly miss the surge of the VTEC that I used to get when working that slick MT box! And this bought about the idea of getting a pre-owned MT Civic to fulfill that void!

So, I’ve been looking around and came to know that one of my uncles' is keen on selling off his April 2009, Taffeta White, Honda Civic 1.8 S MT. The car has a low mileage of just 39k kms as that have two other cars in the family. Tthe car is in reasonably good condition, no accidents, clean papers, always parked in a covered garage and has very low mileage for its age. It has however, been mostly sitting since the last 6-7months when they had picked up a Mercedes GLC.

The local Honda SA has offered them around 3L for the Civic and I could have it for a similar amount if I was interested.

So, I'm looking for advice from TBHP members in general and from current Civic owners in particular on below points:

What are the maintenance / overhaul expenses that I need to be looking at in the short term if I go for this car?

• Battery
• All Filter & all Lubes
• Tyres (she's wearing original 2009 tires)
• Paint touch up around the bumper corners
• Suspension?
• Underbody Anti rust treatment?
• Brake Discs & Pads?
• Drain radiator & replace Coolant?
• Anything else?

How is the overall reliability of the Civic and availability of OEM parts in the ASCs? Are these difficult to maintain?

As this will be my second car, it will see very little mileage, probably 3-4k kms per year and I intend to keep it for at least 3-4years. I also plan to go for some performance mods as well as small but tasteful customizations to make her more appealing.

Is this a sensible buy? Should I go for her or look for something newer?
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Old 21st November 2017, 14:53   #529
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Re: Eight year old Preowned Honda Civic as a second car. Makes Sense?

For 3 lakhs, it's totally worth it. If you're confident that it hasnt been sitting idle for too long, go ahead and pick it up. Even during the 39k kms, was it run regularly? Or was it parked for months together?

The parts for the Civic are expensive but they are very high quality parts. Many of them come from Japan.

Immediately, if I were you, I would get the follwoing things done:

1. Change battery
2. Change filter and all fluids. Gearbox oil, brake and clutch fluid, engine oil and coolant(after flushing the radiator).
3. Suspension: No need to do anything. Just drive it and see if it's fine. If it requires work, then get something done. If everything is fine, get RogerAB to reduce the sagging of the rear suspension.
4. Underbody Anti Rust treatment isnt really needed I feel. My car was based in Bangalore but made multiple trips to coastal areas and after 7.5 years, I never saw any sign of rust on the under body.

5. Brake Rotors and Pads: Replace if the pads are worn. Rotors can be skimmed. Saves a lot of money. Rotors can easily last 1.0 lakh kms.

6. Change tyres immediately. Upsize to 205/65-15 for better ride comfort and ground clearance.

Apart from this, get the pwoer steering pump checked. A Power Steering leak is a common problem in the Civic.

Engine mounts also wear out fast in the Civic. Get the Engine Mounts changed if required. If they are worn or cut, the ride comfort will be very poor and a lot of engine vibrations will also make their way into the passenger cabin.

Clutch can also easily last 60k kms at the minimum.

The Civic is built to last. There should be minimal rattles and squeaks. The Civic's cabin is pretty well built. There may be some rattles from the doorpads which can be solved easily with some damping material.

Your Civic may also have an airbag inflator recall, so get it checked at the Honda service centre.
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Old 21st November 2017, 15:23   #530
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Re: Eight year old Preowned Honda Civic as a second car. Makes Sense?

I think a 2009 SMT, known seller for 3L is a very good buy as this is an excellent car even in today's world. It looks much more beautiful and performs wonderfully than some cars even today. I recently bought a 2007 VAT for 2.65L in Chennai and it works perfectly as of today. As Nikhil has mentioned, check the service history thoroughly for few things as sometimes, the ASS will make a note, but the owners will not replace stating that they do not use it much. In your case, it would become very valid as it is a low usage car.

Before i bought this, i saw a MT and the car was fantastic, but the service history clearly reminded the owner for a complete Power Steering pump, hose & rack change which he did not do and hence i dropped that car.

Similarly driver side engine mount is crucial and check that. Also check whether the underside of the Doors are good/rusted as I think Civic is prone to rusting at that point due to water clogging inside the door panels. As mentioned, mine is now 10 years and there is absolutely NO RUST in the underbody or on the door, so i should consider myself lucky.

Tires, batteries and other check points as suggested above which needs to be done. For me again, my tires can survive for another 15K and the battery was new. They had also replaced the Powersteering and all front end tie rod joints, CV etc., 20K kms previously and so I hope I can drive it for another 20 odd before I get to that repair.

Hope this gives you some more thoughts before buying that apart from all the other suggestions provided by earliers posters.

To add, after buying i took my car to Honda ASS for a general check and they did recall and replace both my Airbags as the system was alerting them (they cannot close the job or let the car outside after this alert without replacing- nice !)


Swami

Last edited by swami69 : 21st November 2017 at 15:26.
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Old 21st November 2017, 15:42   #531
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Re: Eight year old Preowned Honda Civic as a second car. Makes Sense?

My credentials ->
  • Current owner of 3rd gen City 1.5
  • Current owner of BRV CVT and
  • Ex-owner of Civic V MT

1) Expect the maintenance costs of Civic to be approximately 50% more than your old City.

2) Set aside a budget of Rs. 1 Lakh to fix this car you are looking at. Other than basics like tyres, batteries, part replacements if any & servicing, spend some money on converting the S variant into a V variant (artificial or orignal leather seat covers, door pad covers etc). The S Variant's cloth interiors look bad when old. You will need a modern music player HU too.

3) Moving from City to Civic, you might notice that the latter is quite terrible in moderate to heavy traffic. You also sit a bit too low when compared to the City (bad for your back).

4) As pointed out by Nikhil, check if this particular Civic's airbag inflators have been replaced - both drivers and passengers side. Enter the chassis number here: https://www.hondacarindia.com/forms/customerinfo.aspx

5) Finally, bookmark and subscribe to this thread
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/techni...-must-dos.html

Last edited by SmartCat : 21st November 2017 at 15:51.
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Old 3rd August 2018, 13:33   #532
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Re: Got my *pre-worshipped* Honda Civic

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Originally Posted by GTO View Post
I usually follow an exceedingly organised approach to anything that I do, and the Civic's search was no different.
Hi GTO,

May not be most appropriate place to post this query (though I'd say it's hit and miss).

Anyway, here goes, I absolutely love the 2018 civic that's going to be launched in January 2019. I'm almost certain to buy the car (let's say 95%), barring any drastic change to my projected financial situation in January-March 2019, and / or any glaring deficiencies in the car (including from a VFM perspective).

However, can't help but be inspired by your ownership thread. Mainly in relation to purchasing a pre-worshiped car. So my query is, if I were to employ a similar approach to owning the 2018 civic, long how do you think I'd have to wait for the car to come in to the used car market? Also, how much do you think I'd save? Is employing this strategy on the outset (i.e., before even the car has launched) worthwhile?
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Old 3rd August 2018, 16:52   #533
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Re: Got my *pre-worshipped* Honda Civic

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Originally Posted by Jeevith View Post
So my query is, if I were to employ a similar approach to owning the 2018 civic, long how do you think I'd have to wait for the car to come in to the used car market?
What a question, dude! A pre-worshipped query on a car that hasn't even been launched yet? .

It'll take 1 - 1.5 years before you'll see 2018 Civics hitting the pre-owned market. But real variety & choice after 3 years. Another thing that'll happen after 3 years is the prices will drop as that 'new model' novelty has worn off.

This is applicable to all new car launches. Two of the three used cars that I have bought have been <1.5 years old.
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Old 3rd August 2018, 16:57   #534
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Re: Got my *pre-worshipped* Honda Civic

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Originally Posted by GTO View Post
This is applicable to all new car launches. Two of the three used cars that I have bought have been <1.5 years old.
Very true, even my first pre-worshipped car was just 6 months old (just the 3rd free service done) when I acquired it (chap was posted overseas). This even had extended warranty, 3D maps, other treatments like underbody coating etc
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Old 3rd August 2018, 17:23   #535
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Re: Got my *pre-worshipped* Honda Civic

Quote:
Originally Posted by GTO View Post
What a question, dude! A pre-worshipped query on a car that hasn't even been launched yet? .
Hehe....TBH, I really really want that Civic pretty badly. So much so, that exploring the pre-worshiped route is my way of hedging against a launch price that's out of my budget.
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Old 20th July 2020, 10:50   #536
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Pure teenage love – Honda Civic


How I came to buy one.

This is properly late to write about a car bought about 3 years ago in 2017. But then, I did not have a Team-Bhp membership than. So this is justifiable. The below narrative may be a bit more sentimental than being practical. I was about 27 when I bought the car. I was 2 years into my marriage already. I had married a bit earlier than most my school friends. Still, there was not much need of a car. Like the local is the life-line of people in Mumbai, two-wheelers are the same for most ‘Punekers’. Specifically for people who have been living here before the city turned into an IT hub. Most people I know, have a minimum of 2 two-wheeler at home. Since, it offers so much ease we prefer to use a two-wheeler for most places. Being in Pune, I was using my recently bought Bajaj Dominar for most of my city runs. Office commute was full-filled by the office mini-bus. So the Dominar was only for the weekend use. For occasional trips I relied heavily on self-drive options, mainly Zoomcar. If I needed a car in the city, cabs were the best bet as I needn’t find a parking space. Since I love riding, motorcycling was not much of an issue. The need of a car was never felt. I just wanted one of my own, mainly since I am an automotive enthusiast.

I am a kind of a person who plans for all the larger things in life. So I had started saving a decent share of my salary each month. Further, working in a banking field I had made-up my mind that that if it is a new car, I will make a minimum of 50% of the down-payment and the loan tenure won’t last more than 2 years. If I buy a pre-owned car, I’ll buy it all cash.

My main criteria for a car was, it should be comfortable on road trips with my partner and at times with 2 - 3 friends. It needs to have at-least 2 airbags and ABS as standard. I mostly go on road-trips with a set of friends. I hadn’t decided on petrol or diesel. I hate the diesels’ exhaust smell. It makes me feel nauseated. But what I observed that not all cars gave me that bad feeling. Plus, diesel has that fantastic torque. But at the same time, I also liked the smooth nature of a petrol engine.

I had few cars in my mind. I was mostly looking at pre-owned cars and would have bought a new one if I would not have found a well maintained one.


The cars that were in my head (Not particularly my heart):

Hyundai i20: I loved this cars design. The built quality was real good as well. My elder brother had the older version and the car did not disappoint once. The service costs were reasonable. My inner circle of close people had fantastic experience of Hyundai service. Interior was a good place to be too. Further, my father being a retired Army man, I also had the canteen option as well which would save a massive chunk off the final price. The newer version felt much safer on the highway, compared to the old one. However, the steering just had no feel. As much as I love corners, I like to give my passengers a chauffeur driven feel. I do not like my passengers to feel my enthusiasm. Since my purpose was road trips, a normal steering was just fine for me. I would have bought this car mainly because of the way the car looked but not in the red colour, as it stands out. On multiple road trips in the i20 over broken patches of roads the car was very impressive with its ride quality. It was very comfortable. However, the petrol with 4 on-board and luggage felt seriously under-powered.

VW Polo: The biggest attraction point for this car was its timeless design. It does not look old even today. I test drove the TSi. The power was very likable. Service was a hit or a miss for few of my office mates but was livable. The interior was simple yet felt good. The build quality was mostly German. The door-closure felt satisfying. The steering had much better feel than the i20 but nothing like the Figo. Nevertheless, a real good car it was. The biggest bummer was the back seat. They were too cramped. It did not offer much room for my passengers. For just 2 humans, this car feels perfect.

Ford Figo: I actually preferred the first generation Figo for its simple exterior design. However, its interior did not feel anything special and the petrol engine with 4 on-board was very weak. However, the diesel was a different picture. On a 10-day trip from Chandigarh to Manali, I had rented a Figo from Zoomcar. The car had more than 1.25 lakhs on the odometer and it could be seen that it was abused. Even in that condition the only fault that car had was a loud AC fan. The engine and transmission felt good and didn’t feel they were abused for so long. The car felt so involving in the numerous mountain roads I had encountered. Since, it was only me and my wife in the car, it was also light. I took full advantage of the brilliant handing of the car on the twisties. That trip made Figo special to me. The new model had modern looking interiors but felt unnecessarily busy. The car did not offer any brilliant room in the back but felt slightly better than Polo. But both the Polo and Figo could not seat 3 with the comfort of the i20.


Tata Nexon: I car was new to the market and was a well built Tata. There were points that definitely could have been improved but overall the car felt good. Interior was a good place to be. However, the exterior was confusing. To me, the front looked good but it did not gel with the rear-end. Felt, it was designed by two separate teams.

With the i20 hitting on most points it felt like the most obvious choice. The steering felt bland but was okay to live it.

Then, one fine day on a lazy weekend, I was getting bored and hence planned a visit to the used-car markets of Pune. That place would make an automotive enthusiast excited due to the amount of car offered in comparison to the price. It had cars like the Mitsubishi Outlander (Very very few), Nissan X-Trail (Very few), Chevrolet Cruze, Ford Endeavor, Toyota Corollas, Honda Civics and many more boring ones. Since, I am not the one who is bogged down by the ‘used-car’ tag, I had no problems considering these seriously. Endeavor was a good machine from road-trip point of view. But it was too big for the parking I had at home. So I started looking for Civic, Corolla Altis and Cruze. Out of all these Civic was far more special to me for the way the car looked from the time it was launched in India. The interior needs a mention. It gave a cock-pit like feel. Even newer car felt boring compared to this. Cruze was opted out mainly because the company had almost left India and I did not want any spare parts issue. Corolla Altis felt boring to drive and the suspension was a bit too soft. But the ride quality on our roads was good. Its interior was properly boring though. But the reliability of the car was a big point to consider.

Over all these, the Honda Civic felt a bit too special. The design was really good to look at. I used to call the car world’s cheapest Lamborghini for the extra-swoopy windscreen. The car was expensive when brand new, mostly cause I was a student than. By the time I passed out and started working the car was not available as new. It is not like I would have bought one if it was. Moreover, I was always skeptical of even purchasing a pre-owned model as I always thought it would be pretty expensive to own one. This is when Team-Bhp proved me wrong. I came across the thread of the cars maintenance and read almost all the pages for an entire week. This made me far more comfortable with the thoughts of owning the car even though it was almost 10 years old. The car had few fixed issues but were nothing major that couldn’t be sorted out. I hence, started narrowing down more cars. What attracted me to the car was pure teenage love. I just wanted one. It felt a lot more special to me than the i20, I was planning. Plus, the car was so much less than the price of a brand new i20. Even though the fuel economy was low, the overall cost of the fuel and maintenance was lower than the i20 + interest on the 2 year loan. I was also sure about one thing, I was not going to run the car on any gas. I wanted to keep the car running on petrol only. I wanted to get the feel of the engine. It is no monster by any means but offers good acceleration. Pulls well even when fully loaded. It feels the best with 1 or 2 onboard. Since, the car was not to be my daily drive and was meant only for inter-city trips & occasional road-trips, fuel economy was not much of an issue either. Over the course of a month, I realized that it was actually difficult to find a well maintained model. Most of the Civics I found were visibly abused. Some dealers even refused to have the car checked after hoisting it up. Just buying the car without having a look at its bottom didn’t feel like a good idea. There were many available on the used car market but very few were the ones that I would have liked to own.

One fine weekend, on the way to eat out with my partner, I came across a visibly good Civic parked at a used car showroom. The location where the showroom was had multiple businesses over the decade. It looked like a prime location but nothing worked there for more than a year. My car was the last car that they sold and then closed. This place was close to the office, I was employed with in 2017 but I never paid attention because it mostly had boring cars. I kept a watch on the showroom for three days but it didn’t open. When it finally did open, I missed no opportunity to enquire about the car. It was pretty late (By car showroom standards) when I got there. The sales guy was an elderly gentleman, plausibly Army retired by the way he dressed and communicated. He offered a fairly long test ride. We took the car to a tire station, got the bottom check. My father, a retired Army vehicle mechanic had more than enough knowledge about vehicle maintenance, gave a go ahead for the car’s condition. The interior was properly clean, really well kept and nothing was missing. The car was an automatic. I was not particularly looking for an automatic but didn’t mind one. Only the Honda logo on the steering wheel was faded. The only thing that was left was the discussion about the price. Now, me and my father had checked multiple Civics over the past month and had a fair idea about what the price should be. But when the sales guy gave out a number, it was already pretty good. My father got it down even further using the good old peoples bargaining techniques. That evening changed quickly. From a casual visit to the showroom, to actually buying the car was a bit unnerving. I paid a booking amount. It was after everything was done, I realized that the car was a tiny bit less expensive as it had two previous owners. The condition however, told a different story and I was only bothered with the same. It turned out that the previous owner didn’t really use the car that often. The car had about 45,000 KMs on the ODO, far less than the 70,000 and the 80,000 KMs, I had seen on the other Civics. I booked the car since; I didn’t want to miss such a well maintained car. I was slightly shivering as I was worried if this would turnout to be a nightmare to maintain over the years. It may have been inexpensive to purchase, but for parts and service it would always be at par with other cars which were bought brand new for Rs. 12-15 lakhs, 10 years ago. After few days when the compete payment was made, the car was finally home. Even now, I was still doubtful about the 45,000 figure being genuine, and got the car info verified from a Honda Service Centre. It did turn out to be genuine. That felt even better.



Driving experience

First thing that comes to mind while driving the Civic is that it offers a rather stiff ride. Compared to something like the Hyundai i20, which offers a pretty comfortable ride even over bad terrain, the Civic automatically feels more on the stiffer side. It is not uncomfortable though. The car does soak up bumps pretty nicely. But at the same time you do feel what is happening below. If the road is un-surfaced it can get pretty uncomfortable. More so, on the unfinished roads where tar hasn't been used properly or not used at all. However on most roads the Indian infrastructure offers it isn't bad at all. The uneven-‘ness’ is subtly absorbed. While, I do think that the RogerAB (That I later added) must have helped with the stiffer ride at the rear-end, it only feels planted. The steering feels really good to hold and offers a brilliant feel. One of the first trips I took was to Lavasa, to enjoy those twisty roads. Now, over the years the road to Lavasa has deteriorated. It isn’t what it used to be. Having spent a significant time on these roads on my motorcycles, it just felt like place I had to take my Civic. There are some good patches left so the trip was definitely worthwhile. Since, I knew most corners well and I was a bit more confident here than anywhere else, I chose this place. To avoid the weekend traffic, I took a day off and went. I just wanted to feel what the Civic was known for. And it didn’t disappoint. The Pirelli tires helped too. I didn’t push real hard as that was not the aim but definitely was carrying some speed in corners with no blind spots. It felt awesome. It’s been three years now but I still remember this first (Short) trip more than most of my 500-600 KM trips. The car was able to give me the exhilarating feeling that motorcycles did. Well, almost it did. Mostly since the car feels a lot safer. This isn’t an extremely superb handling car, it weighs a bit more for my liking. But it does the job pretty well of putting a grin on my face. It feels confident enough to push sometimes. Even though, I was not particularly looking for a great corner-handing car, I was happy to have one. It is not often that I get to be on these types of roads, but when I am alone or may be with a friend and no family, the car just feels worthwhile for those moments. The whole point of me buying this car was for moments like these. This was always more of an emotional decision, pure teenage love for a car that was out of production. The teenage love that does not see things from the practical point of view. You just want one.



Ownership Experience
The very first thing I did was to provide the car with a covered parking. The boundary wall in front was taken out, new large folding gate were installed and the parking was covered. Getting the car in and out is still a time-consuming affair as parking space is tight. I still consider myself lucky that I have a parking space for my car and two fairly large motorcycles. Since, the car is not a daily driver this is not an issue for me. Overtime, I gave the car a set of something called a Rogerab in the rear, which helped with the ground clearance and the little bit of sag the car had. Had an under-seat subwoofer from Blaupunkt installed. The car was almost scratch less, when I got it. It had very few marks, only visible when we came closer to a distance of about a foot. I have a bit of an OCD but even to me these were fine. Got the car detailed from AquaTint from Baner, in Pune. That gave the car an even newer look. It had minor scratched, which were removed. Some minor scratches were given by me due to super low visibility in the ‘Konkani’ rains and by a few speed-enthusiasts on Activas and Scootys, flying too close in Mumbai. These were removed few months ago as I got both my bumpers re-painted, and my car feels better than some of the other individuals regularly washed cars in the locality, which were bought few years ago. I am saying this, since this is what they mostly say to me when I am reversing.

It has been three years, I have had the car. And I am fortunate enough to report that I had only two issues, one where my fuel filler cap wasn’t opening and two, the steering pump had a minor leak, which was serviced. I have carried out multiple trips with friends and family in the car. Pune - Mumbai & Pune - Kolhapur are the more regular ones. Apart from these, I have been to Vadodara, Hampi, Dandeli, Dapoli and few more. Now these aren’t far away location but the car served my purpose of a comfortable trip machine. After the Hampi trip, I realized I need a bit more of this ground clearance since with 4 people and their luggage, the car sagged. Rogerab was helping but a bit more would be good. Fortunately, I found about a dealer selling something called a coil-lock ground clearance kit on Amazon. Had it installed at a friendly FNG and since then, had no scrapping issue even when fully loaded. The rear is now up by about 1.8 to 1.9 inches. I still have the original seating which the car offered hen new. Over time, the leather seats have become a bit slippery. I haven’t hid away the seat belts at rear as I do encourage my passengers in the rear to have them on but most of them just refuse. I rarely sit in the back but when I do, I like to wear the seat-belts.

The car is definitely not very expensive to maintain, as I had initially thought. The service costs about Rs.8,000 to Rs.10,000 per year, which IMO is reasonable. I haven’t replaced anything major for the car yet. Since the insulation under the bonnet was in petty bad shape, I got a new one online for about Rs. 7,000. The windshield washer tank cap was also replaced as the old had disintegrated due to heat.



Points, I like about the car.

1. Even though it is more than 10 years old, it doesn’t look or feel old. It is one of the very few cars that do not have any frame, which will make it look bad, asymmetrical or dis-proportionate. Even on the inside. Since, I am not bothered about touch-screens
and something to talk-about-in-a-party-features, this interior feels perfect to me. The buttons are built to last and everything feels just
feels where it should be. I do not need to look at the buttons to change the volume or adjust the air-con.
2. The engine is super-smooth, no two ways to put it. Even at constant triple digit speeds it doesn’t feel out of its comfort zone.
3. Handling is so direct and feels wonderful on the many ghats that Pune offers. I have Pirellis on the car and they offer great grip in the
corners. The raising of the rear hasn’t really messed things up. Plus, I am not doing any timed laps on a track to feel any difference. Yes, it is not exactly a Ford Figo but it really manages to keep its size and weight within the white lines and never loses confidence.
4. The brakes are real good. Plus, with the Pirellis they just stop brilliantly. Often, I do worry if the cars in my rear view mirrors would be able to stop this quick, specially the large SUVs and MUVs.
5. The car offers very comfortable seating for 4, not 5 but 4. I have driven it for more than 11-12 hours/day for few consecutive days and did not feel tired at the end. I was worried initially but this car didn’t give me any backache or neck ache.
6. Spares are not yet an issue. Pasts and spares are available with wait time similar to most new cars on the market today. At least, I haven’t faced
any major issues with the spares. Moreover, my FNG guy informs me that the spares for Civic aren’t a major issue yet.
7. I busted my own myth that a 10 year old car would be a bit difficult to live with. Apart from the mental feeling that, you are driving an old car compared to most other office colleagues in their brand new cars, there isn’t really any different in the actual experience. Plus, this being a Japanese made car with hardly any
electronics to go wrong is definitely helping. I plan to keep the car for another 10 years, hopefully. Since, I am willing to go the extra mile to take care of an old car and enquire for spares, if needed; I really do not feel this is difficult. There is something that makes me feel good on the inside when I see someone driving or owning a well maintained old car. I am a bit of an introvert but I will try and spark up a conversation if I see someone driving a 15 year old 1st gen well-kept Zen or a Pajero.
8. It is quick in everyday traffic and on the highway too. Offers more than enough punch to stay away from most of the traffic. The sheer ability to cover large patches of ground for this old car is just perfect for me. I sometimes, call this is a poor-man’s GT car.
9. The car feels rock solid even at some serious triple digit speeds. I myself feel that for our roads anything between 90-120 is good
enough. It gives plenty of reaction time. However, it is not difficult to go above 150 in this car and stay there for some good amount of
time. It doesn’t feel scary. Many a times, I have crossed 135 with little acceleration while talking to my fellow passengers. I am more
careful not to stray over the speed limit these days with the Pune Mumbai Expressway being more speed vigilant.
10. The driver’s seat is a great place to be. It sits low and the digital speedometer feels like a HUD to me. You never really have to look down
to get an idea about your speed. It is also very comfortable on the long journeys.
11. The air-conditioning is brilliant. I was already happy with it but it seriously out performed my expectations on my trip to Hampi, in summers.
12. The car offers paddle shifters. It lets me live my flappy-paddle gear shifting fantasies on the ghats. It is so much fun with the analog
tachometer. Plus, the automatic offers a better fuel economy on the highway. But it has also made me lazy in the city. I somewhat do not
like to shift gears in other cars, in city traffic now.
13. The boot offers plenty of space for 3 large bags and can still accommodate few other smaller bags, like the medium sized college bag-
packs.
11. The interior offers plenty of storage spaces for wallets, mobile, power-bank, loose cash, chocolates, sunglasses and few more items. The
storage space below the armrest can accommodate few 500 ml water bottles. However, I use it to keep an emergency glass breaker, hand
sanitizer, USB cable and some pre-packed food items. The storage space in each door is good enough for 750 ml water bottles too. All
these help a lot on long journeys.
14. This last positive point is not based on why the car is even better, after 10 years but is more to do with its depreciated value. The low
value of the car has helped me buy a Triumph Tiger 800 XCX instead. As I said earlier, I am more of a motorcycle guy. They just feel far
more exiting and involving. That also doesn’t make me a less of a car guy. I still collect car models, have about 60 of them now and got a
showcase built for them in my bedroom.



Since, the car was more of an emotional decision to buy, guided by how the heart feels when you get in ne and drive, the negatives are just ignored by my mind.

Few points that could have been better though

1. The rear seat offers comfortable seating for only two passengers, instead of three. The bucket like rear seats are not good enough on
long rides.
2. The fuel economy could have been better. At 8 to 9 KM/l it can be a little expensive for daily runs. However, since I use the car mostly for
highway runs this isn’t much of a problem for me.
3. My father needs to put-in efforts to get in or out of this car, due to its low stance. Getting in is still okay, but getting out needs efforts.
4. The extra-swoopy windscreen is so large that it also lets a lot of sunlight. This is not particularly good in the summers.
5. Ground clearance was a serious issue. This was sorted with the help of the RogerAB and the ground clearance kit. I am happy to report, this isn’t an issue any more.


Getting a new car that depreciates from the moment you buy one, just doesn’t fit in my mind. The new car feel doesn’t last long too. So getting a well-maintained pre-owned car offers so much better economic value. But this isn’t for everyone, I have to accept. The used car tag is by far the biggest stigma people feel while getting a car in India. Social status is still a great deal here. But it is good to see the used car market has flourished so much in the past decade. A used car dealer’s parking lot still excites me. Used Jettas and Pajeros offer so many great stories to my mind to play with. But finding a well-kept car in our conditions can be pretty tricky and time consuming. Getting the right color and the right variants is never easy too. Then, there is the task of getting the car up to the level you would like, which needs great patience. It can be fun and frustrating at the same time. Living with a 10 year-old car isn’t for everyone in India. I was very surprised on my Europe trip last year by the sheer number of 15 to 20 year old cars the Europeans use. It was not difficult to spot even a 25 year old Mercedes Benz running smoothly and shinning brighter than most 2 year old cars in India.

I had few trips planned this year. But this is the year to rest and be ultra-careful. Further, it only makes me sad that the government is trying to implement the 15-year-old vehicle scrap policy. I would like to keep my car for even longer. It hasn’t lived to the fullest. It sure can go more. It has done only about 65,000 KMs as of today. I just hope I get to keep my car for much longer and do a few more road trips.

STAY SAFE.
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AmarFlying is offline   (13) Thanks
Old 8th September 2022, 20:05   #537
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Re: Got my *pre-worshipped* Honda Civic

I just bought a 2007 S MT 25k on the odo, thinking about getting a stage 1 tune done. Please recommend a good tuner and mod suggestions, Thanks!
Kusjp is offline  
Old 14th November 2023, 04:53   #538
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Re: Got my *pre-worshipped* Honda Civic

Excellent review @AmarFlying. What did you make of the road noise? Civic owners in North America say that it's a loud car on the highways. Could be bad tires or bad tarmacs, but how would you rate it when compared to some of the upmarket cars you've driven? Any other owners would like to comment?
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