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Honda Civic Tourer - CVT or Torque auto box on civic tourer - daveycooper
Hello all

I’m looking to buy a honda civic tourer built between 2014 and 2017. I want the 1.8 petrol and preferably with an auto box.

Does anyone know if the 5 speed auto on the civic tourers is torque or cvt? I’m hoping the more reliable old fashioned torque!

Cheers
David
Honda Civic Tourer - CVT or Torque auto box on civic tourer - Will deBeast

I have one. Great car, if a little sluggish. Torque convertor.

Try to get the sport navi - the blind spot monitoring etc works well.

There's room under the floor for a space saver wheel. I picked one up fairly cheaply.

Had ours for 2 years now. The only problem was the tyre pressure warning complaining when I'd pumped the rears up to take a load. It just needed a reset and was all OK again.

Edited by Will deBeast on 24/02/2021 at 12:24

Honda Civic Tourer - CVT or Torque auto box on civic tourer - daveycooper
Thanks for the superb, informative response. Much appreciated.
Cheers
David
Honda Civic Tourer - CVT or Torque auto box on civic tourer - Falkirk Bairn

Honda Civic Tourer - 5 speed TQ

Latest Civics, post 2018, petrol models are CVT, the diesels which were 9 speed TQ

Honda Civic Tourer - CVT or Torque auto box on civic tourer - daveycooper
Thank you, very useful to know as I had flirted with the idea of a newer civic hatchback.
Cheers
David
Honda Civic Tourer - CVT or Torque auto box on civic tourer - badbusdriver
Thank you, very useful to know as I had flirted with the idea of a newer civic hatchback. Cheers David

No reason at all to worry about the reliability of a CVT, certainly not on current/recent Honda's or Toyota's.

Honda Civic Tourer - CVT or Torque auto box on civic tourer - daveycooper
Thanks: an interesting point. To be fair, I hadn’t heard of specific problems with honda cvt’s, I was more aware of vw/audi cvt problems.

That said, I wasn’t sure if cvt’s were relatively new to honda and perhaps problems had yet to surface in the medium/long term. I’m sure I read somewhere that some honda models (possibly crv if my memory is correct???) had had cvt boxes for a few years longer and that one or two problems had occurred.

I may be only 37 and a car nut, but my knowledge of cars is very much 80’s and 90’s. Late noughties to date is a blank unknown for me. I’ve always had older autos and I’m a little hesitant about newer cvt transmissions. Really appreciate all the advice!
Cheers
David
Honda Civic Tourer - CVT or Torque auto box on civic tourer - badbusdriver

Not sure about the Audi CVT with regards to reliability, but I know the Nissan CVT doesn't have a great reputation.

I have read on the forum before that older Honda CVT's can cause problems if the transmission fluid isn't changed as and when it should but they are very reliable otherwise. We got a new Jazz CVT in 2017, it had a stepped CVT transmission. This was done electronically to mimic a more conventional auto box, because people didn't like the 'mooing' effect of a 'true' CVT with no set gears. So when you drive the stepped CVT it sounds and feels like it is going through gears even though it isn't!. But that does mean you can also take control of it via paddles the steering wheel and drive it like a DCT. I didn't do that very often myself as I was happy enough with how the transmission dealt with things itself, but it was handy in icy conditions to help keep the speed under control going downhill. We came to the Jazz from a Hyundai i30 turbo diesel auto with T/C auto, which was fine most of the time, but driving hard or full throttle overtakes showed it to be dim witted under such circumstances. But the CVT in the Jazz was a revelation by comparison, putting your foot down (hard) to overtake in the jazz resulted in pretty much instant reaction, putting you straight to where the power was (high up the rev range). Of course the current shape Civic is turbo, so it will have plenty of torque to call upon, but the Jazz had very little torque to call upon, so the CVT being so 'in tune' with what I wanted as a driver, was great. I can't praise them enough!.

Have to say though, I'm not a huge fan of the current Civic's looks........!

Edited by badbusdriver on 24/02/2021 at 20:04

Honda Civic Tourer - CVT or Torque auto box on civic tourer - daveyjp

Honda has similar system to the current Subaru CVT, 7 stepped 'changes' with paddles.

I've driven one and it works well. I quickly got to know the 'change' points when accelerating, so its like having a multi stage kickdown. Take off from standstill with 4wd was instant.

Testers always comment on the noise when accelerating with CVTs, but I have found most petrol cars have engine noise once you get to 4,000+ revs!

Honda Civic Tourer - CVT or Torque auto box on civic tourer - daveycooper
One further question, I presume the civic tourer has stop/start technology: can this be switched off? And if so do you have to do this every journey or can you switch it off permanently, so to speak?
Honda Civic Tourer - CVT or Torque auto box on civic tourer - badbusdriver
One further question, I presume the civic tourer has stop/start technology: can this be switched off? And if so do you have to do this every journey or can you switch it off permanently, so to speak?

Not sure about the Civic Tourer specifically, but I'd imagine the same system as our Jazz. In which case, yes, you would need to switch off stop/start every journey. But, in all honesty, you don't actually need to. When you come to a stop, just slip it into neutral as stop/start on the auto only works if you are in 'drive' and holding it on the brakes. Also, even in drive (with the Jazz anyway), there was a point where you had enough brake pressure to hold the car stationary, but not enough to trigger the stop/start.

Honda Civic Tourer - CVT or Torque auto box on civic tourer - catsdad
Assuming it's the same as the 1.8 petrol hatchback yes you can switch it off. It resets after the engine is turned off but it's a prominent easy accessible button. I used to turn mine off but leave it operating in the Golf I have now.

It just didn't feel very mechically sympathetic in the Civic. I don't know why, just of thise things.
Honda Civic Tourer - CVT or Torque auto box on civic tourer - Will deBeast
One further question, I presume the civic tourer has stop/start technology: can this be switched off? And if so do you have to do this every journey or can you switch it off permanently, so to speak?

There is no stop/start on the petrol auto of the age you're considering (2014-17).

Mine's a 67-reg and doesn't have it.

Edited by Will deBeast on 25/02/2021 at 07:04

Honda Civic Tourer - CVT or Torque auto box on civic tourer - Bolt
One further question, I presume the civic tourer has stop/start technology: can this be switched off? And if so do you have to do this every journey or can you switch it off permanently, so to speak?

There is no stop/start on the petrol auto of the age you're considering (2014-17).

Mine's a 67-reg and doesn't have it.

If it has it will be on dash in front of gear lever, I used to flick it off ie push in as I put into first gear, if I forgot to press it before, and if it does it needs pressing on every start, which is ok as its in front of gear lever and no hassle to do imo

I would suggest not looking at the diesel 1.6 as reliable as they are, my one picked up diesel with too much sulphur in which wrecked the engine and would have cost me between 6k and 8k to have repaired, I gather this happened on US CRVs so was surprised it happened to mine but did

Honda say it has happened to an odd few here so gone back to petrol

Edited by bolt on 26/02/2021 at 10:44

Honda Civic Tourer - CVT or Torque auto box on civic tourer - Sulphur Man

We have an FR-V 1.8 auto - 5 speed TQ. Unless I'm very much mistaken, it will be the same setup as the Civic Tourer you're interested in.

Pros.

Utterly reliable. We've had ours 10 years this year, putting on 70K miles. Not one single non wear and tear issue has occurred.

Reasonable fuel economy. Without a heavy load, in summer, expect to get 35mpg. Sub-30 though on the coldest days and shorter journeys.

Any competent mechanic can service these. No need for Honda main dealer rates.

The gearing is well thought out, especially 5th, which is leggy and means it cruises comfortably at 70 at about 2250rpm.

The VTEC is not tuned for revs, its tuned for torque, and is well matched to the auto box.

Cons

It's no ball of fire. But it's not slow either. Considering the driving environment of the UK in 2021, that is no issue whatsoever.

I'd snap up a good one quickly, before they get really sought after. Could be a friend for life.

Honda Civic Tourer - CVT or Torque auto box on civic tourer - RJ414i

I'd snap up a good one quickly, before they get really sought after. Could be a friend for life.

Was thinking along the same lines when I purchased a manual 67 reg 1.8 Tourer Navi just a couple of days into 2020.

Must admit that it's done very few miles in the last 10 months [on 17k] but hope it gets me through to retirement in 13 1/2 years!!

I don't change cars often.

Edited by RJ414i on 27/02/2021 at 21:28