Nothing yet, and I am hopeful it will remain that way.
I used CarSurvey.org extensively when shopping for a new vehicle, so I wanted to share my experiences with this Honda Civic so far. We have only owned it for two weeks now, but after driving it over 600 miles in the last two days, I thought a review would be in order.
I also apologize for my verbosity, but I know that when I was shopping I wanted all the information I could get, so I hope this is helpful for people.
First, let me state up front that we only have around 1000 miles on the car, so it's too soon to tell how it will hold up in the long run. We're banking on the Honda name and reliability, and we've had several friends who owned Hondas and liked them. I was fairly nervous about buying a new car for this reason -- no history of reliability, so who knows what will really happen -- but we bought new anyways.
The first thing I noticed was that the car handles and drives very well. The tires and shocks were going out on our Ford Taurus, so it wouldn't be hard to be better, but I've also driven a lot of different vehicles over the years and the Civic is the most fun I've had driving. I don't look for sports cars, but I like a somewhat sporty feel, I prefer automatic transmissions so I don't have to deal with shifting or clutch problems, and I don't expect a 4-cylinder to perform like a V8. For me, the Civic has been a great drive, and my wife and I consistently fight over who gets to drive (in a good way). We have been finding excuses to drive more (which sort of counterbalances the great gas mileage) and I'm a little disappointed when its her turn to drive because I want to.
That being said, though the Civic is smaller than the Taurus by probably 1-2 feet, it has way more leg room on the passenger side. I'm 6'2" and fit very comfortably in this car. The only other car I have been so comfortable in was a Chevy Malibu (driving, not passenger). It seems like most cars have much shorter passenger legroom areas, but you can really stretch out in the Civic.
The headrests took some getting use to, as I was used to them essentially acting as pillows in the Taurus. When we first bought the Civic I was having neck pain and headaches because it required sitting a bit differently -- I couldn't just recline and lean my head back. After spending some time reading about headrests and their intended purpose/use, I raised them all the way up, sat up a bit straighter, and relaxed. When I let my body sit a bit more relaxed and natural instead of trying to lean my head back against the headrest, it became much more comfortable and my neck pain went away. After eleven hours of driving in the last two days, I had no real car fatigue and feel just fine.
Trunk space is smaller, but the back seat is rather comfortable, and we have no complaints. We're not the type to go camping or need to haul a bunch of stuff, so it works for us. We checked out the Honda Fit as well because we were enamored with the storage space, but it wasn't nearly as comfortable. The first time we sat in the Civic we just said, "Ahh..." it was that great. Really comfortable seats, and comfort was our #1 priority.
The EX has a sliding center arm rest, sun roof, rear drum brakes, intermittent windshield wipers, and a USB plug for MP3 devices (or jump drives).
First, I really appreciate the arm rests in this car. We test drove a Scion and it was terrible with no good way to rest your arm. As I have a broken collarbone right now, I really need an arm rest, and I had never missed it so much as when it was gone. The sliding arm rest is a nice feature, which extends the rest under your forearm on the right side.
Braking is smooth and firm, but not as jerky as some other cars. I really like the feel of it and feel quite secure.
Being used to the Taurus, which has the windshield wipers that just go right to left (up left, back down to the right), I had never driven a car with wipers that both come up from the center, each to their side. I have found them to be far less distracting and really like this simplistic difference.
On a sidenote, we drove for many hours in the rain and the car felt and handled a lot better than the Taurus did in those conditions. I felt a lot safer.
In regards to the stereo and USB connectivity, we really like the way the console is laid out, but scrolling through artists/albums/songs can be a pain. With over 20Gb of music, if you want to listen to a specific song it can take a very long time. If you just go by artist or album and don't mind listening straight through, it's fine, but browsing is time consuming. I still prefer it over swapping CDs, but it has its downsides.
There are a lot of minor things about this car that all come together to make it really great. The attention to detail is refreshing. For instance, you can only open the trunk with the keychain clicker or with a lever inside the car. You can lock the lever with your car key, so if someone breaks into the car they can't get into the trunk. To lay the seats down, there are levers in the trunk, which again means someone can't reach the trunk (easily) from inside the car. Valuables can be locked away.
When you have your windshield wipers on and come to a stop, say at a stop light, they slow down or turn off, and start again immediately upon acceleration.
We wanted a vehicle that would be easily recognizable in a crowded parking lot (take note some time of how many white Ford Tauruses are out there--it's easy to lose one!), and the unique hubcaps really do the trick. We have seen one or two Civics the same colour as ours, but the EX has a different hubcap and we don't see many of those. It's easy to find our new car.
I'll end on gas mileage. So far, we are averaging around 29 MPG in the city and 38 on the highway.
We are extremely happy with this purchase and feel confident in both the car and the dealership we worked with, whose service prices seem lower than the mechanics I had been frequenting before. If things keep up like this, we will definitely return to the dealership for service and will continue to buy Honda.
I will update more as the miles add up.
This was a great decision on your part. I own a 2008 Honda Civic LX with 25,000 miles. It's very durable. My mother borrowed it one day and ran it into a curb at 20 MPH. It gouged the tire, but did no damage to the frame (I'm a mechanic and inspected it myself.) It didn't even throw the alignment off! We also took a 400 mile trip back home from Maine with 4 people, all of their things, and 2 bicycles. It still rode comfortably and managed to get 36 MPG all the way home even with all the extra weight. I average about 45 MPG myself. It was also in an accident with a Ford Escape that hit it at around 15-20 MPH. It did no damage to the frame or steering components, it just dented the front fender and bumper. It's been very reliable so far, and obviously it always will be. It's a Honda.
I recently purchased a 2009 Civic Hybrid. The headrests push my head forward which is uncomfortable, but nearly as bad as the 2010 Ford Fusion which I also looked at. I do not want to do anything that would take away from the safety. The manual says not to even use something on behind your back. But the diagrams in the manual do not look like the headrests should be that far forward. In fact the position of the headrests are more like they are supposed to be after you get rear-ended and they move forward. I think I need to take some pictures and send to Honda. Maybe they were all assembled incorrectly.
They weren't assembled incorrectly. They're supposed to be that way. The only thing I don't like about my '08 Civic is those annoying headrests. But it's only one small flaw on an otherwise excellent vehicle.
Original author here.
It took a couple of weeks of actively trying to get used to the headrests and now they don't bother me at all. I found that I needed to have the seat fairly upright to encourage good posture, let my shoulders/torso relax and be supported by the seat, and not TRY to use the headrest as an actual head rest -- I kept unconsciously trying to force my head back to rest against it when I didn't need to.
Once I relaxed and just sat naturally upright, it became far more comfortable and the pain went away.
On an unrelated note, about 1500 miles and the car's running great. Maintenance Minder shows the oil is still at 90% last I checked and I'm might impressed with the car's get-up-and-go at stop lights. Only complaint so far is that it's dirty, and you can't even tell that from a distance XD Taking it this weekend to get washed and all shiny again.
I have driven many cars over my lifetime. This one is one of the best. It has comfort, style, and is peppy. One feature that I think is tops and is not mentioned too often is the digital speedometer. I find it hard to exceed the posted speed limit with the in-your-face readout. Good thinking Honda!
"Maintenance Minder shows the oil is still at 90%"
Yeah, I wouldn't trust that too much. I checked the oil in my Accord at 2,500 miles when it said it had 70% life left and it was down over a quart. It doesn't tell you that now does it? You should always change your oil between 3K and 5K depending on your driving style. Don't go by Honda's computer to tell you when to do this. I let the oil go to around 7,000 miles before the first change in my Accord and it was like black mud... even with the added oil. It still had 30% left on it according to the computer. Yeah, that's good for the engine!! Never again...
I know really great mechanics that have told me it is better to change often and spend a little more than replace your engine down the road... you know, after the warranty expires. These mechanics are relatives and not looking to cash in on me... just offering real world advice based on experience.
Those "annoying " headrests that so many people are complaining about are designed to save your neck in a rear-end collision. It's about time they actually were useful and not just an aesthetic addition to make the seat look better. Volvo has had headrests that functioned for years. I like mine as you can lean back and be supported for long drives taking the tension off of your neck. It took awhile to get used to something touching my head, but it wasn't annoying and I got used to it quickly. It beats having your head snap back 6-8 inches before contacting anything when you get rear-ended.
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