2001 Honda Civic SE Executive review from UK and Ireland

Various minor (but annoying problems) :

Noisy brakes

'Squeaking' clutch release mechanism

Poor gear change (weak synchromesh on 5th gear)

Various interior trim rattles (drivers' door, behind the instrument cluster and from behind the radio)

Sticking wind deflector on sunroof (sticking in the down position)

Variable idle speed (on occasion it would try and idle at 300-400rpm, fail dismally, cough splutter and then return to a more sensible idle speed)

In general this has been a very disappointing car to own and spent more time off the road having problems attended to in 9 months than any previous car I have owned in 9 years.

In particular the gearbox could only be described as ‘horrible’, the quality of gear change being directly related to temperature. In temperatures of <10C it needed a good 30 – 45 minutes of driving to get the gearbox warm enough to be able to engage all gears cleanly.

The interior plastics seem to be very susceptible to damage and quickly start to look rather ‘worn’.

Fuel economy was OK around town, (average 40-42 mpg) but rather disappointing on long (faster) motorway journeys. (anywhere from 38mpg to low 40’s)

Road, engine and wind noise are all higher than the average for the class of car (this was not apparent on the test drive as it was raining heavily and blowing a gale!), and the engine which needs to be worked hard if you want any kind of performance is not very refined when you do.

Given the reputation that Honda has for quality I can’t say that this car lived up to expectations. I’m prepared to accept that I was unlucky (and this car was built on a Friday), but I’m not going to buy another Honda to find out!