1998 Honda Civic LS review from British Virgin Islands

I agree with some of what you've said. But in reality the civic does in no way compare to its German rivals. I downsized from a Bmw 318is to a Civic ls 1.5vtec and have been regretting it ever since.

The chassis is not stiff, making handing at speed, like driving a canal boat on the roads. This is not helped by being front wheel drive. When you approach a bend you get loads of understear then the chassis flexes and wobbles, making it really, really unsafe to be driven at speed. I admit the economy is good when at low revs but the vtec won't kick in untill 4000revs - so you have no power, no power, lots of power for a millisecond and then you have to change gear again and your back where you started. On hondas website it states that the engine in this vehicle is capable of 135mph. I can only laugh at this statement. The 1.5vtec I have won't do more than 100 and that's pushing it to f##k. You talk of the little green light on your dash. This is honda 's brilliant idea of an automatic economy setting (ECONO) that switches off nearly all the power to the engine. This is awful and dangerous. When you change lane on the motorway and have cars approaching at speed there is just no power to increase speed and get out of the way of upcoming traffic. I have to drop down to sometimes 3rd just to get the thing to accelerate. The driving position is terrible giving me chronic back ache on long journeys. The ride is bumpy and noisey. The gear change isn't smoothe at all, due to an extremely springy clutch with a very odd biting point.

I'm sure your now thinking that the one I bought must be a banger. Not true. It had only done 40k miles, full service history and had 1 previous owner (a lil old lady). In contrast to the BMW: the ride was smooth, quiet, the handling was pin point accurate, it was comfortable, you put your foot down slightly in 5th and your off. However, admittably the economy is much better in the civic. One can get 45mpg out of the civic and I was getting little over 30mpg in the BMW.

The only good points I would say there are with this car are:

>Economical

>Reliable

>Lots of toys (air con, elec windows, sunroof etc)

However, I would give caution to anyone expecting anything else from this vehicle because it simply won't perform.