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“Had my 1.8EX Petrol Honda Civic for a fortnight now...”

written by KillingJoker on 21/02/2006

Good Points
Styling, Equipment, Engine, Comfort

Bad Points
Also found gas struts don't open boot to full extent, spare (spacesaver) wheel an 'optional extra'

General Comments
Had my 1.8EX Petrol Honda Civic for a fortnight now and really enjoying driving it. Had a couple of niggles to begin with (but could be dealer issues??) i.e. discovered two door 'dings' when I got the car home (and I had driven straight home from the dealer) and the steering wheel had a slight left hand bias when driving straight. Got on to the dealer who had a specialist dent repairer sort the dents the following day, and had the steering sorted the following week (needed a tracking adjustment). The level of equipment on the EX is awesome, comfort is excellent and the engine has a great combination of performance / economy and keeps within a low emissions category for tax (£125 a year at time of writing). I found it a bit weird that a spacesaver spare wheel is a (£100!!) option as according to Honda drivers only have a flat tyre once every 7 years on average, so it makes more sense to give more boot space and provide a can of Tyre Weld instead. The instrumentation is like something from the space shuttle and is great for gadget fans (like me!!). The voice activation takes some getting used to, and using the sat nav I found that asking it to "find the nearest pub" (for testing purposes I might add!!) suggested the nearest being a hotel in Wales as first choice, and several bars in Belgium or France as the other choices - a bit of trek when you live in the Midlands!! I assume this is due to only certain establishments registering with the provider of the sat nav system? I'd be interested to hear from other owners in case it's just an issue with my vehicle.

That 'niggle' aside, it is very clear to follow, and is pretty comprehensive. You do feel a bit of weirdo talking to your car, but I expect once you're used to it, it will be less distracting to "say" your required function than to fiddle with switches. At the moment I haven't seen another new shape Civic on my local roads, and it's quite amazing how many people stare at the car when I'm driving it about - there isn't really anything that looks quite like it on the road at the moment.

I expect it'll take me quite a few more weeks before I absorb everything in the manual, but so far I'm enjoying the car immensely.