honda civic tourer 1.6dtec

recently bought this after seeing a few and joining the usual forums, Facebook groups to see what they were like. reliability seemed very good and i maybe in the minority but i prefer the tourer body shape over the hatch, the additional boot space is a bonus.
this was back at end of June when purchased so this update will be a little long winded but I'm finally happy and at a point where i feel i can share my progress with you





so i bought a 2015 '65' Honda civic tourer in se plus trim spec with the 1.6dtec 118hp diesel
103k miles
12m mot (that was a joke)
no service history (more on that later)
free road tax which after running my a45 and Passat over the last year has saved me £80 a month alone
looking on the forums owners regularly see over 60mpg sometimes 70+ on a good run

now this car was cheap but it was cheap for a reason i had noticed a few issues whilst looking over it
service history??
needed brakes all round
tyres weren't great
aircon not blowing cold
just generally not been kept well but nothing a good clean wouldn't sort
dealer wasn't interested in prepping, just said it'll get a wash and 12m mot and a 30 day warranty

now for those of you that have read my readers ride stuff i cant leave anything alone at all, before id bought the car I had plans of how i was going to make it better in my opinion

first thing was to order a genuine full service kit off cox Honda these seem to be the go to guys for Honda parts, knowledge is spot on and delivery is very quick most of the time next day if ordered before 3pm
the kit arrived and swapped out the air filter and pollen filter as they are seconds to do, both past there best and definitely overdue service



there the old items black sludgy mess, new items were white for reference

the oil and fuel filter change were left to PCH automotive in hazel grove a Honda specialist really good place my first time using them and well impressed with service received. the fuel filter is right up the back of the block above driveshaft didn't fancy that one and they did the oil change whilst it was there using genuine Honda oil filter and earth dreams oil which seems to free up some mpgs according to owners

anyone who has owned/heard a 1.6dtec will know the engine sound is not the quietest at idle above 1.5k revs it smooths out its taken me a few months to get used to this and long term plans will be thicker insulation under the bonnet and some sound proofing up behind the dash

second day of purchase............. first time i used the car at night and couldn't see anything aims were all over the place, just assumed bulbs weren't in properly as it seems to be tricky to get dip bulbs in without losing the headlight clips. so next morning i went to check the bulbs and soon realised we had bigger problems there were two pieces of sponge holding the bulbs in against the dust covers, clips nowhere to be seen! a quick phone call to cox Honda and it soon dawned on me we were in trouble dip bulb retaining clips are NOT available separately and each headlight would be £385 EACH!
so i bought assortment of retaining clips off eBay for £6.......

third day of purchase resulted in front end strip down bumper off, headlights out more in vein of trying to recover headlight clips nowhere to be seen



















everything came apart really easily to be honest and the generic clips although not same fitment as oem do fit well and hold bulbs in perfectly. one thing I have done is upgraded the dip beam bulbs to Philips 9100 led bulbs, the facelift model uses projector headlight lenses so beam pattern is spot on and not blinding to oncoming vehicles





not cheap but now fitted I'm really happy with visibility at night

and as a brucey bonus we got to see first hand why the aircon was blowing warm air



new condenser needed

also identified oil residue which will get rectified



my plan was always to get it looking nicer (in my opinion anyway)

the car was too high, the wheels sat in the arches too far and the oem 16" wheels didn't do the car any favours apart from a great ride

i bought a set of 5 fn2 type r 18" wheels and sent them away for powder coating these were done in gloss black with sapphire blue sparkle in lacquer
also purchased a set of kumho 225 40 18 tyres which were fitted to the wheels
eibach pro lowering springs and some freaky parts 17mm/20mm wheel spacers
oem black Honda wheel nuts
oem centre caps rubbed down, painted and blue H decals added

the springs were fitted at PCH again along with a gearbox oil change using genuine Honda service kit from cox





















pictures of the wheels, springs, spacers all fitted

new front brakes were also fitted, the rears had new pads fitted when purchased and will get around to doing rears and painting calipers black at some point

so whilst it was on the drive getting its new brakes, wheels, spacers etc.... the condenser had since arrived and now it was time to pull the front end apart again that's twice now id not even had the car a month!



all refitted and now regassed all good i do occasionally spray the pipes to check the seals but all seems good no dye or air bubbles yet

whilst the first was apart again i fitted some ali express specials to front fogs these are a dual bulb turn on front fogs its 6k led turn it off and back on they are 3k yellow for foggy weather, really impressed with quality tbh for around £16 delivered. time will tell if my car burns down to the ground!

at some point i had my windows tinted and wind deflectors yes a bit chav and not to everyone's taste but the windows keep the car cool for the kids in the back and me and my lad want to try car camping after watching a few YouTube vids, the deflectors will help with ventilation in the night

this is the no service history that was mentioned when i purchased and although overdue this service which i did at 103k miles it does seem to be full



found in a hidden cubby hole

extras included a space saver spare in the lower section of the boot floor

last part of the car was trying to make the interior a nicer lace to be, there is a lot of grey/black which I'm not a fan of with random bits of silver trim dotted around the interior

i set about looking into why the rear 12v socket wasn't working checked fuse all good, the actual socket was broken so stripped the centre console one out as i was fitting fast charging usb sockets there for the kids stuff all good and everything working

there is a blank for the stop start button on top models, mine doesn't have stop start but the hole left when blank removed was same diameter to fit a fast charging usb socket with voltage read out





quite a lot of the dash had to be disassembled to get the trim out and I thought whilst I'm halfway there would be a good time to remove everything i wanted to brighten up





gone for a blue/purple pearlescent paint which has turned out rather well, i know it wont be to everyone's taste but brightens up a otherwise dull interior

lastly cox Honda had a deal on the dashboard trim off a fk2 type r this is red strip with the fake carbon design trim. id initially ruled this out as it was stupid money but dropped below £20 so snatched it i already had the strip painted in my choice of colour so disassembled again and rebuilt back up with the carbon piece and painted strip





lastly a pic of the trim fitted and you can see a few other pieces to brighten everything up



there's still more to do interior wise a retrim of the steering wheel and a decent gearknob is on the list, possibly fn2 type r seats retrimmed in a grey with blue stitching

this is the picture that persuaded me now is the time to start this thread as it really brings it home how much the car has changed




always comments welcome good or bad!

thanks ste

yeah very practical and im hoping reliable aswell! price wise pretty much trade price plus a few hundred quid. this was in no worse condition than others i saw and test drove for retail money so a calculated gamble if there is such a thing

Thanks! Much appreciated

Looks wise colour coded arch trims and it'll be pretty much done. There is the odd ding and scratch but it's a well used 100k+ mile family car.

Nice!

Makes me miss my 9th Gen

If you have the front off again, ClassiccarLED's make some indicators with inbuilt resistors that work nicely:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojJdi1-AoIw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JoWd_14u4c

Massive PITA to do whilst the headlights are in place though.

Also worth having a look at rear ARB's - The ones from the FK2 fit; I had a Cusco which I sold on to someone with a tourer - It did knock the exhaust a little but was solved by cutting down one of the mounting bolts slightly.

Makes a nice improvement to the handling balance / reduces pitch quite a bit, without adversely impacting the ride.

Cox did have body colour arches for these too...
https://www.coxmotorparts.co.uk/honda-shop/honda-c...

They used to be much cheaper and sold as full kits, so probably worth spraying up the ones you have instead.

Rob.E has a nice example on Civinfo.

These really are fantastic family cars.

Averaged 67mpg from my hatch with 80+ on a good run.

Braver man than me with all the disassembly

Noticed the hatch but could never get on with the looks then found the tourer and thought yeah that works well.

Typical jap stuff. Everything is held together with plastic clips and the occasional 10mm!

Looking good OP, I do love the FN2 wheels.

That looks a lot better than I thought when I read through initially, the FN2 wheels work well, and the overall stance looks great.

I had an MC2 Aerodeck a few years back, that was similar, except for the economy, and the practicality, but the seats were really quite uncomfortable. The B18 and Torsen diff did make it rather fun to drive though, especially when I added the ZS 180 rear anti-roll bar, Honda omitted a rare anti-roll bar for reasons only known to themselves, but were kind enough to leave all the mounting points in place.

Keep up the good work

That’s amazing economy! These are supposed to be good cars!

Seem to be pretty bulletproof. As with every modern car. They really need servicing correctly and on time.

Mine wanted tyres, brakes, service, aircon repairs but all on all it's nothing out of the ordinary for a 100k+ mile car