Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 42 total)
  • Honda Civic Owners' experiences
  • leythervegas
    Free Member

    We are thinking of buying a 2008 model diesel and wondered what other owners think and maybe share some mini reviews. We have 3 kids 15, 11 and 4 but usually the 15 year old doesn’t come out on trips with us so just the 4 of us. However we holiday in Wales once a year so need a fairly big boot. Also of importance is fuel economy as the reason we are changing car is because our current Honda CRV is a bit thirsty around town where we do most of our driving. Any advice would be great, cheers.

    spooky_b329
    Full Member

    Boot is fairly big for the size of car.

    Loads of storage under rear seat, but the downside of the clever seats is rear legroom is a bit more limited as there is no space under the front seats for feet. (due to fuel tank location).

    If you drive carefully on a run, the MPG (indicated) will climb steadily past 60mpg.

    The diesels of this age were fitted with ‘weak’ clutches, they can fail prematurely as the pressure plate can warp. The symptom is brief clutch slip under hard acceleration in 5th and 6th, its quite noticeable as if you keep your foot down, the revs will rise suddenly and then drop back, and the car will carry on accelerating as normal. So budget for this, however ours was done for a couple of hours labour after asking Honda UK for some goodwill, which they did due to FSH from the previous owner. (the car was about 7 years old on 80k ish so I was impressed they helped out) I think the later clutches are better so if there is any record of a recent clutch change you’ve probably dodged that one.

    amatuer
    Full Member

    Got a 59 plate model. Gets 50mpg absolute min, good performance, but brakes are sluggish and a bit soft on corners.
    Very comfortable, decent leg room in the back and reasonable boot space. Back seats fold down completely flat, so handy for chucking a bike or two in (front wheel needs to come off though), Honda reliability and full sized spare wheel.

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    spooky_b329
    Full Member

    Edit: spare wheel must be an option, ours has a can of foam. Ours has optional 17″ wheels, don’t fit in the boot wheel well, but a space saver would.

    jambalaya
    Free Member

    They’ve been discussed on other threads. Deadkenny had one. Try a google search like

    Site:singletrackworld.com deadkenny civic

    Been thinking about them myself, petrol though

    deadkenny
    Free Member

    Got an 08 Civ, though can’t comment on the diesel stuff (sure you want to be going diesel now with the tax hikes and extra charges, and that you’re killing kiddies and old folk, and probably kittens, with the emissions? 😛 ).

    Boot space is great on Civs. Capacity with seats down is excellent. Rear seats also fold up which is kind of neat trick. Great leg room front and back. My 1.8 petrol shifts pretty well and the v-tec has a nice kick. Reliable and doesn’t eat brake discs like my old Pug did.

    Space age dash that’s still fairly futuristic compared to some bland modern cars. I prefer it to the newer Civ dash too which is more retro rounded plastic chrome dial stuff.

    08 won’t get you the spare wheel by default but you can add it if you don’t mind losing the boot well. Otherwise it’s a can of jiz.

    Of that age, might find the air con packing in. Mine has and someone else with one that age has also.

    Other than that, my shocks have been needing doing. Rear a few years back and front is well knackered now. But I think that’s more to do with Surrey County Council’s lack of pot hole filling.

    Up until that it’s been going years with nothing but service and MOT doing and the odd tyre. Still on the original exhaust and no hint of blowing.

    Edit: Or as @jambalaya points out, just search as I’ve said all this before I’m sure 😀

    fifeandy
    Free Member

    My experience mirrors that of spooky above except the clutch problem also manifested in 4th gear at around 22k miles – i offloaded it, as at the time honda were pretending the problem didn’t exist.

    Nice to drive, corners well enough, accelerates well enough. Gets unsettled easily on rough surfaces though, and eats front tyres pretty quickly.

    Depending on options fitted, can have a turning circle like a bus.

    Interior is very plush/nice, but a little fragile.

    Rear visibility is non-existant, but never caused me a problem.

    I wouldn’t hesitate to have another now they’ve? resolved the clutch issue.

    leythervegas
    Free Member

    Well 50mpg would be nice! Rear room is the big concern. The youngest is in a car seat so hoping there is till room for the other 1 or 2. Seen a nice one with 75k miles for £3500. Was originally looking at a ford c max but they are a bit dull.

    spooky_b329
    Full Member

    Re: Air con issues…fixed ours for pennies (turned out I didn’t even need to spend the pennies!)

    The air con compressor runs off the aux belt and has a clutch to engage/disengage. The clutch wears until it goes out of tolerance, resulting in air con that only works when it wants to.

    I started off with a KiwkFit aircon recharge (refund promise when it doesn’t work). After this, I left it on full blast for 20 minutes, came back to find water runs from the vents frozen onto the radio facia 🙂 However it still cut out after driving the car.

    Did some Googlage, replaced a cheap relay that is a common failure but turned out not to be the issue, some more googlage, and found info about the compressor clutch.

    Anyway, you remove the engine undertray (and perhaps wheelarch liner), wedge the clutch pulley with a piece of wood, loosen centre bolt, remove shim, and then put back together. Didn’t need the re-shim kit I bought. All fixed!

    Loads of cars of all brands must have this problem, default fix at the garage is a replacement compressor, aircon recharge and labour = £££

    Zed
    Free Member

    2.2 ’07 Diesel here. Great fun, tons of room, avg 45mpg mixed driving, 65mpg on long runs, loads of torque :-), rear visibility is hilariously bad but easily ignored.

    spooky_b329
    Full Member

    The mirrors are pretty good and make up in part for the rear visibility. I don’t notice anyway as almost all my driving is in vans.

    dyls
    Full Member

    My type r gt has done 133,000 and still on the original clutch and exhaust. No major issues with it except for notmal wear and tear (discs etc).

    mattyfez
    Full Member

    I’d go for a petrol personally, unless you are doing crazy miles.

    rockthreegozy
    Free Member

    Civinfo forum is an ace resource. I liked 98% of my 1.8 petrol Civic, in the end local roads and the rear suspension ruined it for me.

    Smudger666
    Full Member

    Not sure I can help with anything relevant but my 16 plate 1.6diesel is **** fantastic!

    austen
    Full Member

    Has non one mentioned soaking yourself with water every time you open the boot!

    Love my 08 Type-R, absolutely massive inside and build quality so much better than friends Fords. Much to recommend…

    superfli
    Free Member

    We have an 08 2.0 CDTI. Had it for about 4 years now. I noticed the clutch started slipping a little about 3 years ago at maybe 80,000 miles. We both drove the car carefully after that because its expensive to replace and we wanted to eek out what was left. Anyway, 3 years later at 116,000 miles, and its still going, no noticeable slippage.
    Thats the only thing wrong. Other than that the car is fantastic. Light bulbs bloody awkward to change though

    mattyfez
    Full Member

    65mpg on long runs,

    My 5cyl petrol p2 Volvo AWD v70 turbo could hit 50mpg avg on a motorway.

    With a back wind.

    Not so good at urban miles though.

    mattyfez
    Full Member

    If I want to ‘make progress’ though, it does about 19mpg avg.

    letmetalktomark
    Full Member

    We have a 57 plate with a good few toys.

    Owned since 2009(?) and have put 100k on it in that time.

    It’s used for 80miles per day commute.

    I hadn’t realised that the surge of revs when accelerating was down to the clutch. Ours sometimes does it but then may have always done it. Ours isn’t ragged but then equally isn’t Molly coddled. Will monitor now though!

    As others have said swallows loads of luggage.

    Often see 60mpg plus.

    Our interior looks brand new even after lugging 2 kids and three dogs about 🙂

    Reasonably quick.

    Would I have another ….. Yes.

    Xylene
    Free Member

    Remap on the 2.2 can make 190+hp, mild remap 150 ish

    br
    Free Member

    tbh having had 3 kids (now grown up) we use to struggle with space with family-sized cars (Mondeos/Vectras/Xantias etc), especially when car seats are involved – can’t imagine going to something Civic-sized.

    weeksy
    Full Member

    HAd a 57 plate 1.8 iShift petrol. Still got 40mpg from it… Which was great. However, the ishift was horrific… the cabin noise was horrendous, road noise type of thing.
    Comfort was good, space was good. Handling was excellent.

    Overall it was a good reliable car… but i wouldn’t want anohter… it’s not a very relaxing drive at all.

    tall_martin
    Full Member

    I’m in a 1.6 diesel 2015 civic.

    30,000 miles and its had oil and fuel.

    Not hugely helpful but its a lovely car

    stevedoc
    Free Member

    Had 3 civics now the 1.4 the type r and the 1.8 ivetec which todate has been nowt shy of faultless able to get close to 51 mpg fully loaded with 2+2 family 3 bike and a boot full of camping stuff on the round trip to Gt Yarmouth from Saddleworth,

    Great cars. And when it’s due a change I will be looking for one of the last fd2 shapes again

    Jamie
    Free Member

    One of the common themes in reviews of the MK8 Civic is the ride is a bit harsh.

    Currently looking at 08/09 Focuseseses and Civics, and it’s the only real negative I’ve seen for the civics.

    chiefgrooveguru
    Full Member

    we use to struggle with space with family-sized cars (Mondeos/Vectras/Xantias etc), especially when car seats are involved – can’t imagine going to something Civic-sized.

    Civics are as big inside as most cars from the next size up – I had a lot of problems trying to find another hatchback to replace my old Civic because Golfs, Focuses and so on were all too cramped for passengers and luggage. Ended up buying another Civic!

    allfankledup
    Full Member

    My folks have the 2.2 CTDI – goes like stink….

    We test drove one locally, but the brakes were rubbish – not a good combination with that much go
    As others have mentioned, no rear visibility – apart from bits of sky now and again

    simon_g
    Full Member

    I liked my 2.2, ride was hard but not too bad (but then I came from a car that was much worse). Massively practical for the size, that space under the rear seats came in handy and if you’re not 4/5-up then flipping a seat up for extra space is really useful. Used to take 3 people and a colossal amount of dive kit away for the weekend.

    Have to say, buying a 7-8 year old one now I’d go for the 1.8 petrol unless I was doing huge miles. Super reliable, no clutch issues, pretty fuel efficient (especially if you take cheaper petrol into account).

    My dad has a couple of years old tourer with the 1.8, he loves it but then it’s his 5th Honda in a row.

    boblo
    Free Member

    We had a Civic of that generation though the 1.8 petrol. The ride was firm but it felt sporty rather than jiggly. Might be that most of the buyers are pensioners (apart from us of course 😉 ) and it was too much for them…

    In 50k, nothing went wrong apart from the aircon compressor clutch as above but was fixed under warranty so no scrabbling about or bits of wood required.

    We bought another if that’s any help.

    stumpy01
    Full Member

    I’ve never owned one, although I think I’ll be looking at them when the time comes.

    A woman at work got rid of hers (diesel 2.2 08 plate) about 2 months ago & is going to a Honda dealer this Friday to see what they have, because she misses it so much…..which says quite a lot, I think.

    br
    Free Member

    However we holiday in Wales once a year so need a fairly big boot[/I]

    tbh Buy the car you need for the other 51 weeks of the year, and worse case rent a bigger one for a week (or rent/borrow rack/box).

    leythervegas
    Free Member

    probably right there b r. Very tempted by one for sale locally. Its a diesel, 08 reg with 77k miles for £3400. Now to sell mine quickly!

    Jamie
    Free Member

    Sorry for being a plank, but:

    because our current Honda CRV is a bit thirsty around town where we do most of our driving.

    Doesn’t common wisdom rule out a diesel for that type of usage, or is that view wrong? I only ask, as have been discounting diesels due to mostly doing similar usage to the above, and being told ‘you want a petrol, mate’ by everyone and their dog.

    leythervegas
    Free Member

    Fair point but the running costs for a diesel are 42.8 urban, 55.4 average and 65.7 extra urban. The petrol is 34.4 urban, 44.1 average and 52.3 extra urban. I know this isn’t a great difference when you take into account the extra cost for diesel but I just have found diesel engines to be better for our families driving. My wife drives our car probably 3/4 of the time and she tends to rev it a bit or stay in 3rd too long and the last time we had a diesel we got a lot more miles per gallon.

    Also to be honest I just prefer driving a diesel but don’t tell her that.

    chiefgrooveguru
    Full Member

    Fair point but the running costs for a diesel are 42.8 urban, 55.4 average and 65.7 extra urban. The petrol is 34.4 urban, 44.1 average and 52.3 extra urban.

    That isn’t the running costs, that’s the official MPG. The actual MPG will be different. And the servicing cost will be different, higher for diesel, particularly if the car rarely gets prolonged use at high revs to stop the DPF from dying prematurely.

    leythervegas
    Free Member

    Higher mpg does mean higher running costs though.

    Are diesels not more reliable than petrols or is that an outdated opinion nowadays?

    Taking what you say into account the petrol is tempting. The tax would be more and the emissions are more though.

    spooky_b329
    Full Member

    Our 2008 CDTi doesn’t have the DPF, but some variants must as its listed in the Halfords flip charts. It does go like stink, and its usable as well, you have to be quite rough to get it to break traction, whereas my 130TDCi Mondeo would wheelspin at the slightest excuse.

    Ours is on 130k now and it doesn’t show it…I’d like to think we’ll see it sail past 200k and more but suspect my wife will want to replace it by then 🙂 (its hers)

    chiefgrooveguru
    Full Member

    Higher mpg does mean higher running costs though.

    Are diesels not more reliable than petrols or is that an outdated opinion nowadays?

    Diesels of that era are more complex, less reliable and cost more to service than petrols of that era. Now petrols are getting more complicated (direct injection, turbos, complex cycle shenanigans etc) petrols may become as expensive as diesels.

    My venerable Civic is the previous 2.0 Type-S. Uses quite a bit of fuel but with the mileage we do that’s pretty irrelevant compared to all the other costs.

    jeffl
    Full Member

    2.2 CDTI engine doesn’t have a DPF. Does however have a DMF. That along with the clutch pressure plate issue would make me look at a petrol, Type-R obviously.

    I know a bit about the diesel engine as I had it in an Accord. The only other thing to note is that it has a cam chain. If people use the incorrect grade of oil it has a habit of snapping. So check for regular oil changes (every 12k from memory) with the correct grade and also listen out for a rattling chain. CivInfo is a mine of useful information.

    Edit: Fuel filter needs changing every other service. Ensure its a genuine Honda one as others can cause fuel starvation at high revs.

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