2006 Civic: my impressions after a test drive

[rancid]

So we stopped by a Honda dealership today cause my gf is in the market for a car.  I couldn't sway her to get a mazda so she's looking for other options!  Just out of curiousity we test drove the new civic so here are my impressions:

The exterior....not anything too eye catching.  The front face looks like something chopped from an accord and tsx.  They had 2 models on there....2 door and the 4 door.  The 2 door model looks better and it is much sleeker than the 4 door.  The model we test drove was a 4 door, 5spd.

The interior:

Well I must say, doesn't really feel as cheap as the previous generation civics.  Definitely an improvement.  The instrument cluster is unique.  You actually look at the speedometer up front....errr....sounds weird but the tach is below the speedometer.  Like a stacking effect....look online for pics if you don't know what i mean.  The seats were comfortable and had lots of leg room!  Even the back.  One funny thing I found was that the e-brake was located right next to the shifter....hehe....lots of fun in the winter!  I actually preferred it being there....as awkward as it may seem but it just feels right to have it sitting there as opposed to the conventional place of....right off to the side.  The glove box....well it's small....tiny...hehe compared to our gigantic one. 

One big thing that I found really annoying and a big safety hazard was that the gas pedal and the brake pedal was way too close together.  It is placed for great heel toe action BUT i kept on stepping on it when I hit the brakes.  Please do note that I've had no troubles like this in any other cars that I have driven.  This includes the previous generations of civics.  Also the shifter....well it's pretty fluid and soft but it felt like I could have just ripped it off any second.  It just felt like it was dangling there....not to mention the fact that I had trouble going into 3rd gear!  It just didn't feel as accurate as the 3's shifter.  The clutch was super easy to use....if you stalled then I'd probably have to slap you a few times.  Reminded me very much like an echo's clutch.

The Drive:

The cabin was relatively quite till you climb on the RPM ranges.  The engine has that signature honda screech to it.  In the city it accelerated well but once I hit the highway....the thing was basically gutless...had no bite to it and it certainly did not have that zoom zoom feeling that I get with the 3.  There's power in the lower to mid range but once the higher RPMs kicked in, the thing just died....and I had my foot to the floor.  We had to do a quick brake at a stop light....NOT IMPRESSED at all!  It took awhile for it to stop and the brake pedal felt very mushy.  Coupled to the fact that the tires that came with the car was not the greatest.  I didn't look to see what make they were but they squealed when we did the sudden stop.  They also lost traction when I accelerated from stop....did it like i would normally do to any car.  Also taking a corner wasn't the greates with the tires as they lost traction very quickly.

Handling was good.  The car's steering responded very well and very quickly.  It has front and rear stablizer bars but I didn't really get a good chance to test it out.  It seems to negotiate corners and turns well despite having some craptacular tires on.  Body roll was fairly minimal and I didn't feel like the car was going to tip over.  What made the car uneasy to drive were the brakes, tires, and the fact that my foot kept hitting the gas pedal when stepping on the brakes.

There weren't really any blind spots in the car.  Everything was in plain view and I had good vision through the windows.  Shoulder checking wasn't an issue.

The sound system....well it sucked big time.  Same crappy oem system.  One thing that got me worked up was that their air condition system worked at heck of a lot better than ours!!!!  And plus the civics have the push button climate controls as opposed to the flip the switch here and there.

Good:

Quieter interior
Good engine pickup while in the city
smooth idling engine
comfortable seats
relatively easy to drive
lots of leg room

Bad:

Brakes
tires
shifter (felt like it was going to fall off soon! and 3rd gear was a pain to get into)
- but it does shift very easily
OEM stereo system....sounded as bad as my tercel's stock system
lack of power on the highway
- engine gives up when you hit the high rpms

Well that's my little rant on the new civic.  All I know is, I would not buy one!  But it would be interesting to see what the SI would behave like when it gets released within the next couple of months.

[arfman]

Good Review!!

But you're better convince your gf to get the 3, or we all know you're not trying hard enough!!

[ZoomZoom]

Sounds like exactly the kind of mediocre impression I've always gotten from Civics.  Granted, I haven't driven a ton of them... but I looked at them in 2000 or 2001.. looked again last year.. both times I was _not_ impressed.

Hope you convince your gf to get something else   cough3cough

[derrick]

All the good points you listed, I don't care for, except engine pickup in the city, and all the bad points I do care for. I didn't even think about the Civic when I was looking for a new car.

[Username]

What model did you drive? DX/EX/LX?

Wait for the SI, better tires, 6 spd trans, 360W stereo, oh, and more power. Right now, without any details about the Mazdaspeed 3, I would be seriously considering the upcoming GTI or the new Civic SI. Mazda, needs a hp & stereo upgrade to compete IMO

  Kev

[rancid]

yeah she's not gettin the civic....anything but the civic!!!  hehe i think she's made up her mind about that.  Yeah I wanna test drive the civic si that's coming out but looking at the numbers....i'm not expecting anything too great from that car. If you look at the specs there is a craptacular amount of power but at really high rpms....rendering it rather useless in city driving.  Also if you look at the torque specs.....my tercel could beat it off the line....but we'll see what it really does when i go in for a test drive.

[Keiichi]

Good review Rancid,

Seems like the 4 doors will never get the "zoom-zoom" for Honda.  But I'm really curious to see how the Si will be, because driving ja 99 Si and a 99 dx 4-door...night and day difference with the acceleration etc.

[M3Adi]

great review Rancid. I never liked civics and after reading your review I like them even less now ... I'm glad I own a 3

[rancid]

i'm gonna go test drive the si when it comes out but i need to find a place where i can rev the crap out of it though.  not many places in richmond but i do know the farm roads are good to be on.  The highway maybe but after 3rd gear....the gun goes away unless i keep it there! hehehe

i'm expecting the si to handle a lot better, more responsive and tighter.  also the throttle response and brakes should be much better too.  who knows my gf could end up getting the si.....LOL

[Inno]

great review indeed!!!

i was actually quite curious about the "push-button" A/c (climate control?)
gotta look at the pics again...

but then again ...haha A/C... i hardly use that at all...so i don't care that civics hv better A/C