Honda Civic 1.0 SR - First impressions | Motoring discussion | Back Room Forum

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Wed 8 May 2019 12:04

Honda Civic 1.0 SR - First impressions - catsdad

The trusty 1.8 Civic is in for discs and pads so I have a new model as a courtesy car. Drove home same way I went out so it was a back to back test including urban roads and motorway. Only about 20 miles though.

Its a bit of a mixed bag. The engine is very willing up to 60/65 mph and feels faster than my 1.8 as power is more avaiable without using the revs. It turns over about 2400rpm at 70 where my car runs at 3000. However the 1.0 feels much less responsive when putting the foot down at 65+ in 6th. The 1.8 has a sweet spot at an indicated 70 that the 1.0 does not. So underway the new car takes the prize at lower speeds but the old one seems the better motorway cruiser.

I know the car is equipped with a lot of safety warning gizmos but none of these fired off during a busy traffic trip so hopefully they are not intrusive. The little speed sign recognition display was wrong a couple of times. I am not sure if its GPS based or trying to detect signs but either way it was wrong

Although it is a bigger car the new one feels no bigger to drive. The reversing camera in todays rain was far better on the new car. Rear visibiliity has never been an issue for me but the new car's spoiler is even thinner and the overall glass area is pretty big.

Some of the interior is a step backwards. They've lost the old split dash design that I found easy to use from day one and the new dash is a bit random. There is a cubby in the central binnacle thing that temporarily lost my house keys as they fell through the tiny lip at the back into an awkward little tray beneath. The armrest/storage has an ugly open section at the front that you cant close off. The feature lines of the dashboard bear little relation to the feature lines on the door. They appear as if they are from different cars. The flimsy boot cargo cover is a joke. What most reviewers seem to have missed is that the side sliding bit only covers half the opening over the boot. The rest is covered by a Heath Robinson nylon affair attached to the hatchback lid itself. I cant see it surviving a tall object in the boot. There is no apparent way to take it off.

As for tall objects I happened to buy a tall plant on the way back. I squeezed it in but those magic sears would often be missed I am sure.

The boot floor cover itself is not as smart as the old one which you could flip origami style to make the the spare wheel well part of the boot if you had no spare. The new one is just a simple flap.

The fuel gauge is oddly calibrated. I got a fuel warning light soon after setting out and the electronic display showed the needle at close to empty. So I stuck in £6 worth and the gauge now shows 1/3 full.

Technically I am disappointed that the 1.0 is a cam belt in oil with a 65k change interval.bNo issue to the fleets but a cost for those of us who run to higher miles.

The electronic parking brake is not intuitive in manual mode. You can only apply and release it with the foot brake engaged. So setting off requires you to treat the driver behind to a blast of brake light, and then manually release the button. Luckily there is an auto brake hold function that you can select that seems to get round some of this but it seems to revert to manual mode in some circumstances that would need me to rtfm to understand!

None of these points are the end of the world but its often the trivial niggles in a car that prove annoying over time. As successive Civics have been a recommended choice on this site I felt it was worth a bit of detail. I don't see me replacing my 1.8 with the new model.

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Wed 8 May 2019 14:28

Honda Civic 1.0 SR - First impressions - Chris M

Could you put up with seeing it on your drive though? I'm not a lover of the previous models looks, but the new one is truly hideous from all angles.

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Wed 8 May 2019 15:35

Honda Civic 1.0 SR - First impressions - John F

Technically I am disappointed that the 1.0 is a cam belt in oil with a 65k change interval.

You should be pleased with the BIO design. I suspect this advisory is a cautious precautionary to create work for garages, especially when they cock it up. So far I have read '6yrs and 75,000 miles, whichever first' and, for Finland, '5yrs or 100,000km'. All are a retrograde step compared with our 18yr old Focus - '10yrs and 100,000 miles'. Nowadays these belts should last the life of the engine.

www.ngfeurope.com/~/media/NGF%20Europe/Site%20Cont...x

'Life' is a matter of opinion, but on average I would think around 15 years and 150,000 miles. Ours has already done 15yrs - I'll let you know if it does the remaining 12,000 miles.

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Wed 8 May 2019 16:45

Honda Civic 1.0 SR - First impressions - badbusdriver

Could you put up with seeing it on your drive though? I'm not a lover of the previous models looks, but the new one is truly hideous from all angles.

I'm right with you there Chris!.

I realise that the styling of the previous two generations were divisive (personally, i like them a lot), but at least they were cohesive, and looked like the work of one person or one team. the new one looks like various departments (who were not on speaking terms) designed seperate parts of the car!. It seems to be (f)ugly, just for the sake of being ugly.

It is also a crying shame that Honda have done away with the 'magic seats' in the rear of the car. Pandering to motoring journalists (who don't have to live in the real world) moaning about the drivers seat being too high!.

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Wed 8 May 2019 18:02

Honda Civic 1.0 SR - First impressions - focussed

Two points -

Firstly - what have magic seats to do with the height of the driver's seat?

(had an 07 FN3 Civic with magic seats)

Second - Replacing a cambelt-in-oil will need the engine being opened up, ie front pulley(s) removed, and timing case cover off unless the BigH have engineered some fiendishly ingenious way of not having to do this.

I have a Honda strimmer with the GX35 engine, it has the cambelt in oil, and a plastic camshaft (1.6 Honda HP at 7000 rpm). Seems to work ok after 7 years hard work.

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Wed 8 May 2019 18:19

Honda Civic 1.0 SR - First impressions - bazza

The petrol tank is shifted forward on the mk 9, under the driver's seat essentially. Which allows the use of magic seats together with a deeper floor in the rear and boot .All very practical but as above all eliminated on the mk 10 to improve handling, which to be honest isn't lacking at all in the mk 9. Such is progress and a great review thanks, it won't be on my list either! Agree looks are rather off, but at least it's not a crossover with the amorphous blob shape!

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Wed 8 May 2019 19:45

Honda Civic 1.0 SR - First impressions - catsdad

Thanks for the comments.

Well I've driven the new car back and I still find the EPB awkward, especially in conjunction with auto stop/start. It felt ready to get bogged down when trying to find a gap to join a roundabout for example.
It only happened once so I couldn't work out which system didnt "like" my style.

The touchscreen controls and knobs are a random mix especially the heater and climate. For example temp is a knob but fan and distribution need the touchscreen...except the recirculation which is a button. The radio (no CD) at least can be controlled from the steering wheel so I could ignore the touchscreen for that.

I mentioned the higher speed acceleration between the cars in my first post but I think I was wrong.
Doing some 6th gear acceleration and rough timing I think they are as near on a par as makes no difference. On paper the 1.8 is quicker to 60 but this requires higher revs than would be comfortable. For a 1.0 to be as quick as a 1.8 in normal use is impressive.

So driving back in my old car how did it feel? Well it doesn't drive as if its 7 years and 67000 miles older. Its quiet, quick enough and comfortable. The dash feels dated but easy to use and the radio unit plays CDs. So I still I wont be shelling out £14k on top of the £5k trade-in value to buy a new one.

Edited by catsdad on 08/05/2019 at 19:47

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Thu 9 May 2019 12:39

Honda Civic 1.0 SR - First impressions - SLO76

I’ve every confidence it’ll be reliable but with the belt in bath design it’ll be prohibitively expensive to replace the belt so I’d probably favour the more powerful chain driven 1.5 or the proven 1.6 diesel.

I’m not a big fan of the styling and I found them overpriced new but used examples are falling to more realistic levels quite quickly now.

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Thu 9 May 2019 14:11

Honda Civic 1.0 SR - First impressions - Engineer Andy

I’ve every confidence it’ll be reliable but with the belt in bath design it’ll be prohibitively expensive to replace the belt so I’d probably favour the more powerful chain driven 1.5 or the proven 1.6 diesel. I’m not a big fan of the styling and I found them overpriced new but used examples are falling to more realistic levels quite quickly now.

Not to mention they ain't exactly a mid-sized hatchback any more - essentially as big as the previous generation Accord. Does the car (not sure which engine of the two, or even both) still has that issue with oil dilution (?) when the weather's cold?

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