Honda Civic Hatchback (2006 - 2011) 1.8 i-VTEC Sport 5d (2008/08) Owner Review

What does this car say about you?

Doesnt this question depend on what you think as a purchaser, rather than me?

What do your friends / family / neighbours think of the car?

Oh, come on. What matters is what you think about it, not what I or my family think.

Would you buy this car again and why?

In this shape - no, because I know its flaws and I couldnt put up with the faffy engine.

What are you likely to buy next?

We've traded this in for.............another Civic. The 2008 car we're trading in is a great looking car with some questionable build (in my opinion) and a bad engine / gearbox combination. If finances were an issue though, we would have kept it. It's felt naff in some ways (rear lights for instance) and required improvement in others (engine / gearbox) buts its been totally dependable. The new Civic may not look as funky, but I had it for a full day and tested it every way I thought we would possibly use it. Every comment I've made bad about our 2008 model has been rectified in the more recent model. Honda clearly listens and improves as they say they do.

Type of dealer you bought from?

Franchised

Did you buy this car new?

Yes

What price did you pay?

£15,500

When did you buy the car?

June 2008

Did you get a good deal and why?

Not sure exactly...searched for the best deal on Autotrader for pre-regs, then told our local dealer that's what we would pay and eventually managed to get that price with them.

Is there any special reason why you bought this car?

Medium sized family car with good looks, reliability reputation and a huge boot.

What was the dealer like?

They did the deal........but closed down soon after we purchased, so other than the initial purchase we had no contact.

What's it like to drive?

The engine and gearbox combination is not the best. Its a fast and fun engine for a 1.8. I've not looked into why, but I think the economy in constant driving (we've had 40 mpg on long runs) comes from 8 valves running. Upon hard acceleration it feels like the second set of valves open. Whatever the reason for this anyhow, the point is that theres a jerking sensation upon acceleration and it feels a bit of a faffy engine. Also the gearbox often feels like its not well matched to the engine - you need to be precise with your gearchanges or progress in it can be cumbersome.

What's it like to park?

The bar across the back of the rear window can block vision as you may expect, but its livable with. The car does look good - we still think this now we're trading it in. But parking isnt helped by this bar and the rear window's size and shape in general isnt great. But - the wing mirrors are reasonable to say the least and make up for this to some extent. Parking sensors would help - we have nudged the rear bumper on a couple of occasions.

Have you had any problems with the car?

Yes, but the only things that went wrong were due to a crash. Everything else on this car has been bulletproof otherwise.

What's most practical about your car?

The boot. This car has been with us before and during the birth of our baby; its swallowed all the luggage we've asked of it, and will take a mountain bike (minus front wheel) with a baby seat still in - thanks to a 60/40 split foldable rear seat. The flat loadbay also comes in very handy, and the loadbay is wide when all rear seats are down.

Favourite gadget, option or accessory?

The Sport trim is a basic trim level - but the only thing we missed is the lack of cruise control. The Sport has better wheels than the other lesser (cheaper) trim levels; but in hindsight we should have chose one with this. Theres a single CD and climate control; xenon headlamps give a good view of the road so the latter is probably the favorite thing this car has to us.