Having recently had a journey in a petrol-engined Civic, I was very impressed. Beautifully made, comfortable, spacious and pretty refined.
But I don't like the thirst of petrol engines or the revviness of Honda's engines, so I was wondering was the diesel any good.
HJ's review at www.honestjohn.co.uk/road_tests/?id=55 indicates that he wasn't very impressed, and other reviewers describe the engine as boomy and suggest that it is one of those ones which does nothing at low revs and then has a surge of power.
So I was wondering whether anyone else had driven the Civic diesel, and what they thought of it?
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If you have a local Honda dealer I would think they would let you have a test drive? Honda have been doing a lot of advertising, on TV at least, about their diesel engines. My cycical thought is that if they were any good they wouldn't need to advertise them. If you are going to spend that much money on a car I suggest that is your opinion that will really count so better try one for yourself!
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I don`t know how much money you are looking to spend, but it would be prudent to wait for the new model Civic due out in January with the 2.2 litre diesel engine.
I have driven the new Accord with this engine and I don`t think you will be disappointed with the performance, which can only be better in the lighter bodied Civic.
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I have been a passenger in (not driven) the 1.7 diesel Civic, was ok, but on balance I think I prefer the petrol 1.6 vtec from comfort/noise point of view. Honda engines are renowned for their quality but the 1.7 unit is imported from Isuzu I believe, as Honda did not have a diesel engine in production. Wait until next year and you can have Honda's 2.2 iCTDi diesel, which by all accounts is up there with BMW/Merc etc.
Ed.
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Try the hybrid Civic - brilliant little motor.
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If it's the same diesel as the one in the mid-1990s Astra Vans, it is lousy. We had one which was barely eighteen months old, when it suddenly dumped all the oil out on the road (in France!), because some pipe or other had corroded. We were used to the 200,000+ mile bulletproof reliability of Cavaliers, so this came as something of a shock.
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I'd agree about the build quality, but the Isuzu engine isn't up to much.
I had one as courtesy car while my Accord was serviced, very noisy compared to the Accord and a comparatively narrow power band.
Accord diesel in a Civic - sounds like a lot of fun, bit like the
Fabia VRS but with Honda build quality.
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Thanks all for your replies. I know there is a new Civic on the way with the new engine, but I don't like the look of the new one (too contrived) and it doesn't look likely to be as roomy as the very spacious current model -- I don't think I've found so much rear legroom in anything other than a London taxi.
Anyway, I couldn't afford a new one, and even if I could, I think I'd be rather averse to throwing away money on depreciation -- I was thinking of a two-year old version.
I'm not really too fussed about the ultimate power of the engine (I'm sure it has more than I need), more about driveability and noise. It doesn't sound good on that front, tho I'll try a test-drive, but the reliability issues are alarming.
I suppose I should check prices of 2nd-hand versions, cos it seems that sometimes the petrol version is sufficiently cheaper to offset the higher fuel costs. Does anyone know how prices for petrol and diesel Civics compare at two or three years old?
Otherwise I guess I'll be looking at a Corolla, which does have a decent diesel.
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NoWheels - have you seen HJ's review of the Kia Rio and the thread here?
Review here:
www.honestjohn.co.uk/road_tests/index.htm?id=189
Thread here:
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=34934
Follow up thread here:
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=35092
Seems like very much your sort of car. Brand new (no used ones yet) it's £8k + metallic, 109 bhp and 60 mpg.
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I suppose it's probably a bit more agricultural than some other modern diesels found in cars of it's class, but I personally always quite liked the diesel Civic, reasonable economy, quite driveable, in fact I enjoyed driving it more than the 1.6 petrol version.
Whilst I prefer the way that the Focus TDCi looks and drives, I certainly wouldn't be averse to buying a Civic diesel if I was in the market for a car like it.
I'd definately recommend a test drive No Wheels, if you're just after something that does the job well without too much fuss, it'll probably fit the bill perfectly, I also can't remember us having too many problems with them to be honest...
Blue
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I know, I know, someone posts a query about one type of car and then people start suggesting other alternatives ... well I'm going to do it anyway!
NoWheels, if you're after Asian reliability then you might want to look at the Mazda3 with the 1.6 litre 110 PS diesel. Been around for over a year now so should be reasonably available used. Another alternative could be a used Seat Leon TDi 110 or 130 (I still love my 110 after nearly 4 years of ownership), although rear legroom won't be as generous as in the Civic. Good car to drive though.
--
andymc
Vroom, vroom - mmm, doughnuts ...
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I've looked at one of these, wasn't convinced. The Mazda3 suggestion is a very good one....
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