1.6 i-DTEC SE Plus 120 5dr

Extremely practical all rounder

Due to average fuel prices, and the desire to try a diesel motor since pretty much always owning petrol motors for a 15-20 mile each way commute, i really wanted to stay with the Japanese Marques, being a massive Toyota man.

Since my early car days ive owned, 1.3 SR Starlet, gen 7 celica 140 vvti, corolla 2.0 d4d, imprezza WRX hatchwagon and lastly lexus IS250 auto.

If efficiency, reliability & practicality weren't the main goals, id love a DC5 Integra ??

These days, im absolutely sick to death of Golfs, BMW'S and now even SEATS, although was considering the leon estate also. Far too common a sight/too cookie cutter lookswise/dull/bland.

So onto the search: had perused the internet to find examples of civic tourers and leon estates. Seat was catching my eye with a few relatively local ecomotive 1.6 diesels for pretty good money with full history/servicing. With the majority of work colleagues owning VAG motors, i asked regarding the 1.6 ecomotive and was told they give a LOT of jip regarding DPF/ignition coil trouble to avoid like the plague ??. Ok no big deal, id still try a leon estate regardless, you never know until you try.

Civic tourer wise, the vast majority of cars found on the net were all mainland based dealship, with very few examples locally. Having never even set eyes on 1 let alone sampled a test drive i saw a jem pop up pretty local, so fresh to the dealer that pictures hadnt even been posted.

Popped down that weekend to try her out. Very deceiving the difference from pictures to real life, i was thinking that maybe the car looked a bit too big/overkill for my needs, but was pleasantly surprised seeing it in person.
nowhere near as intimidating.

Its really a hansome devil (in my opinion), such a breath of fresh air to the humdrum german blandness, id truthfully say its chalk/cheese, you will either love its quirkiness or hate it.

Comming from a 2011 Lexus is250, there is notably a major increase in space/roominess. Everything seems funky and modern. Absolutely love the return to manual gears, easily the best manual box ive ever sampled. The amount of glass/visability all around, with reversing camera/parking sensors a big plus. Pretty decent soundsystem/dab radio. Mine doesnt have satnav so may have to look into using the HDMI with mobile hookup to use Googlemaps via mobile internet or maybe upgrade the headunit, although certainly not a priority.

On first trying out the motor, i instantly feel in love and never bothered sampling a leon estate. Was getting a mega deal, although at the upper limit of my price range, was 2 years fresher, and had 20-25k miles less than mainland honda dealer equivalents scouted out on the net, all with full. Main dealer service history!!! ??

Through viewing many video and auto reviews, the only very minor niggle ive had was the split dash with having to mildly adjust the seat/steering wheel to suit for optimal viewing of the screens, im not an overly tall person 5'10", but the headroom and overall space is pretty darn fantastic. The front pillars are fantastic, especially comming from an IS250, where that was the biggest glaring bugbear that very nearly put me off purchasing completely, but like everything, you soon get used to it.

Surprisingly, the handling is quality, i would go as far to say that it feels very similar to the Impreza WRX Sportwagon, balancewise, though i wouldnt push it anywhere near that end of the performance spectrum, as thats not the intent behind the overall design

Have owned the car for about 3 months and drove 2.5 - 3k miles, and i am completely over the moon with the car.
Im a pretty chilled driver, with a very quiet 20 mile b road commute (each way) so the jump from nannying a 2.5 v6 auto petrol to barely sc***e 30 mpg 380ish mile per tank to 550-600 miles @58-68mpg, has me laughing all the way to the bank, saving me 15 quid per tank and enjoying the lot less frequent trips to the pump. Id say at the limits of my frugalness, 650+ miles could be eeked out of a tank at a real push.

There is a noticeable increase in nvh, but thats to be expected comming from a luxury saloon ala bmw/lexus, but nothing too disconcerting, the spaciousness/ergo and surprising comfort more than make the trade worthwhile. The standard, fabric seats are fantastic, good bolstering and
Very comfortable. ?? Far superior to Toyota standard fare.
Although, not my typical journey, i would love to take on a roadtrip holiday, with phenominal load capacity, totally flat folding of the back seats and the 'magic seat' capabilities, near limitless possibilities add to the practicality.

Im absolutely chuffed to bits with the Civic tourer, to me its 100% no frills motoring, very good economy with quality handling. Another fantastic motor to sample, with, im certain another 60 to 100k miles trouble free motoring ahead for sure.

Not owned long enough to have come across anything untoward maintenance-wise, the most common thing with all previously owned japanese brand motors has been keeping a concious eye/ear on the brakes/pads/calipers, other than that, fluids & filters, with basic wear and tear items and you're golden ??

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