Civic FK 2006-2011 Opinions
Discussion
Hi all!
Just thinking about one of these as a possible next car and would like opinions of these please.
I've very limited experience of the 2.2 diesel, drove one many years ago at work, just the once, but i remember it was quite punchy and smooth for a diesel. Can't really remember much else about it.
However, just the other day, i drove a 2011 1.4 and thought it was excellent! It felt a bit low powered (although adequate bearing in mind what it is). I just found the car really good to drive with sharp steering, great gearchange and i really liked the dashboard and space in the car + boot (we have a 5 year old and another child on way so will need a bit of space)
I've not tested the 1.8 so wondered what this was like?
Having done some reading up the general consensus of the drive is - not great refinement, firm ride on the bigger alloys especially + squeaky clutch pedal (which both of the cars i drove did have!)
I was thinking the 1.8 might be the best balance of something fun to drive with manageable running costs. I'm not sure we'd be doing enough miles to warrant the diesel - but i'm not averse to diesel at all.
So....would appreciate peoples thoughts and experience of them, thank you.
Just thinking about one of these as a possible next car and would like opinions of these please.
I've very limited experience of the 2.2 diesel, drove one many years ago at work, just the once, but i remember it was quite punchy and smooth for a diesel. Can't really remember much else about it.
However, just the other day, i drove a 2011 1.4 and thought it was excellent! It felt a bit low powered (although adequate bearing in mind what it is). I just found the car really good to drive with sharp steering, great gearchange and i really liked the dashboard and space in the car + boot (we have a 5 year old and another child on way so will need a bit of space)
I've not tested the 1.8 so wondered what this was like?
Having done some reading up the general consensus of the drive is - not great refinement, firm ride on the bigger alloys especially + squeaky clutch pedal (which both of the cars i drove did have!)
I was thinking the 1.8 might be the best balance of something fun to drive with manageable running costs. I'm not sure we'd be doing enough miles to warrant the diesel - but i'm not averse to diesel at all.
So....would appreciate peoples thoughts and experience of them, thank you.
I owned a 2006 2.2 Diesel EX for 4 years. in that time I put 110k miles on it and other than the usual consumables it cost me a clutch. It had 170k on it when I sold it and it still looked great and hid it's mileage really well. I had an issues with the clutch squeak but there's a forum called Civinfo who are really knowledgeable and have a few fixes posted up for it.
The rear seat design is absolute brilliance and the rear doors open out to almost 90 degrees which meant I could get my bike in the back upright with the wheels in the rear footwells. the rear windscreen design doe limit visibility a little but I stopped noticing it after a few weeks, never missed having a rear wiper, and found the design actually prevented me from being dazzled by headlights behind me.
On a run it would do 55 - 60 MPG and around the doors it would do 40 - 45 MPG. It was quick enough and handled really well on the Dunlop Sportmaxx tyres I used to put on mine. The engine was distinctly un-dieselly and on more than one occasion people thought it was a petrol when they were passengers in the car. The dash layout and toys are great. My tip would be to find one with built in Nav. It makes the Dash even more impressive and better to interact with if you like buttons and toys.
The ride was a little choppy and crashy on pot holed roads but it never caused any damage and was just something I learned to live with. I once did Newcastle Upon Tyne to London to Manchester and back to Newcastle in a day and felt fine at the end of it. Only reason I sold it was because I came into a bit of cash and so bought a Focus ST instead. If I didn't need an estate car now then I would have another one in a heartbeat. It remains the only car I never got bored of.
The rear seat design is absolute brilliance and the rear doors open out to almost 90 degrees which meant I could get my bike in the back upright with the wheels in the rear footwells. the rear windscreen design doe limit visibility a little but I stopped noticing it after a few weeks, never missed having a rear wiper, and found the design actually prevented me from being dazzled by headlights behind me.
On a run it would do 55 - 60 MPG and around the doors it would do 40 - 45 MPG. It was quick enough and handled really well on the Dunlop Sportmaxx tyres I used to put on mine. The engine was distinctly un-dieselly and on more than one occasion people thought it was a petrol when they were passengers in the car. The dash layout and toys are great. My tip would be to find one with built in Nav. It makes the Dash even more impressive and better to interact with if you like buttons and toys.
The ride was a little choppy and crashy on pot holed roads but it never caused any damage and was just something I learned to live with. I once did Newcastle Upon Tyne to London to Manchester and back to Newcastle in a day and felt fine at the end of it. Only reason I sold it was because I came into a bit of cash and so bought a Focus ST instead. If I didn't need an estate car now then I would have another one in a heartbeat. It remains the only car I never got bored of.
Had my 2009 2.2 CDTI since October 2011 and honestly have no desire to swap it for anything. I'm hoping to take it to at least 200,000 miles :-)
It's been super reliable, only needing serving, tyres, brake pad/discs with the exception of the Air-Con relay packing up and draining the battery, but that was sorted under warranty without issue (even had a brand new Insignia from Europcar for a couple of days as a courtesy car whilst it was in the garage under the Honda Used Car Warranty). Also like the fact that the DPF i believe was an option in the UK and most cars don't have it, mine certainly doesn't.
Love the economy of it and the performance, on a good run it's so easy to see 60mpg on the trip computer. I even managed that figure after a 4 day, 1,000 mile trip to the Isle of Skye last March and that wasn't driving like a snail either. Big thumbs up from me!
Edit - Yes, mine has the squeaky clutch pedal too, but touch wood it isn't slipping or displaying any other issues and it's coming up to 80,000 miles on the clock now.
It's been super reliable, only needing serving, tyres, brake pad/discs with the exception of the Air-Con relay packing up and draining the battery, but that was sorted under warranty without issue (even had a brand new Insignia from Europcar for a couple of days as a courtesy car whilst it was in the garage under the Honda Used Car Warranty). Also like the fact that the DPF i believe was an option in the UK and most cars don't have it, mine certainly doesn't.
Love the economy of it and the performance, on a good run it's so easy to see 60mpg on the trip computer. I even managed that figure after a 4 day, 1,000 mile trip to the Isle of Skye last March and that wasn't driving like a snail either. Big thumbs up from me!
Edit - Yes, mine has the squeaky clutch pedal too, but touch wood it isn't slipping or displaying any other issues and it's coming up to 80,000 miles on the clock now.
Edited by towser44 on Thursday 2nd February 22:39
I was at looking at buying one but decided against... and bought an FN2 Type-R instead 
Similar running costs and reliability, suspension's a bit stiffer and seats only four (only two seatbelts in the rear), but otherwise every bit as practical and much better fun when you want it. Had it for for over 3 years now, bought at 60k kilometres, now over 100k and wife's been driving it since 2015. Not much had gone wrong apart from the service items.
ETA: Returns 30 mpg around town and around 35 up to 40 on a run.
Similar running costs and reliability, suspension's a bit stiffer and seats only four (only two seatbelts in the rear), but otherwise every bit as practical and much better fun when you want it. Had it for for over 3 years now, bought at 60k kilometres, now over 100k and wife's been driving it since 2015. Not much had gone wrong apart from the service items.ETA: Returns 30 mpg around town and around 35 up to 40 on a run.
Edited by dmitry on Friday 3rd February 20:47
Edited by dmitry on Friday 3rd February 20:49
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