1998 Honda Civic 1.4i review from UK and Ireland

Nothing has gone wrong in 30,000 miles of driving!

Having previously always owned performance cars, I guess I was expecting too much from this 1.4 engine. But when I first took to the driving seat, I was pleasantly suprised by the town driving experience as engine provided a enough power to potter around below 40mph. On the motorways however, this is car totally under powered (what do you expect from a 1.4!) and struggles on the slightest incline or when overtaking.

On the plus side, this car is VERY easy to drive and has an excellent turning circle (great for those U-turns in narrow roads). The MPG is *okay*, although I expected to be better then 35mpg of mostly motorway driving. And considering that my fathers 1.4 manual Vauxhall Astra did around 45mpg and a friends 1.6 Astra managed 40mpg on similar journeys, I would have hoped the Civic could have done better.

Handling is good despite having such skinny tyres and suspension is also good for a standard car. So unless pushed hard in to a corner, the Civic was always neutral (never over or under steering) and handled bumpy roads better then most cars in class I have driven.

Overall, I'd say that the 30,000 odd miles I have covered in the past year have been totally faultless. Not bad really considering it's been racked up in such a short amount of time.