New Honda Civic 1.8 ES i-VTEC

Major safety issues such as hand-break going off all of a sudden and car rolling down the hill.. I know it sounds unbeleivable but It happened to me and 2 other friends here in Cyprus. It is so dangerous, I was shocked when I saw my car rolling down the slope as I was sitting in the living room, luckily no one was injured and there wasnt dramatic damage. It hit a tree. Honda blamed me for not pulling the hand break properly. The thing is these cars do not have the classical P-R-N-D style transmission, you end up leaving it in Neutral, and you only rely on the hand break, which is a dramatic engineering mistake. Im so dissappointed and still trying to let my voice heard...

I have 55 plate honda civic automatic(old style) review good, but this new honda 1.8 automatic(59 plate) fuel performance very, very poor (27mpg in town0, motorway 40mpg. takes too long to warm up, when waiting in traffic with heater on the engine seems to using too much fuel, switch off heat and the revcounter goes down, this happens also when you switch the rear heater.

Have had a number of the "old style" civics-last one the "s" I have had since 2004 and changed to the new Civic GS (1.8) in March this year-it is very disappointing-old civic was a thoroughbread, this car is a carthorse-smooth v-tech engine is ruined by lumpy 6 speed gearbox-visibility is appalling and headroom seems a lot more limited-i negotiated an optional spare wheel-puncture repair kits are for bicycles not cars, and I have noticed hairline cracks appearing in the paintwork, barely noticeable except when you clean the car so I will inform the dealer of this.

Positives are the good fuel economy and reliability but this car seems very much like a cross between the old civic and the accord-think I will go for the Jazz next time.

I have own a 1.8 SE for nearly 3 years and I find it a joy to drive. It is certainly the most comfortable and safe car I have driven(I have owned a Focus, Citron Zara, Mitsubishi Lancer + Carisma .Megam ), While the fords road holding is excellent the overall feel of the Civic is better. The quality of finshed is good . It is a car built to be driven. I am now in the process of buying another The !.8 ES.

The Honda Civic is the best looking car in its class - mean and certainly not boring like the Ford Focus etc. I used to have an older smaller car and although I have only driven this 3 times I cant wait to get back in it tomorrow. It has lots of lovely extras like heated seats and dual climate control. The massive wing mirrors compensate totally for the lack of rear view, but you can always see if there is a car behind you. I quite like not having to watch other drivers pick their noses. Plus the spoiler blocks out irritating glare from headlights. It also turns on a sixpence making the handling much better than any other car I've driven. We will fight over who is going to drive I think! I am scared in case it gets scratched as its lovely shiny black. I am fairly short though (well 5ft5) and find it hard to fill with fuel as the cap is really high compared to other cars. But that's fine. I love it!

I have had a 1.8 petrol model with all the extras as a temporary car for 2 months. On 1st receiving the car I was amazed how bad some cars can be. It looks good but beyond the image there is nothing.

The engine and road noise are comparable with cars from 10 years ago. Below 3000rpm it is very slow [no torque] but at least the engine is acceptably quite. Above 4000rpm the engine becomes much better but is rediculously noisy. I have to say that I found the best way of making progress on is to keep the engine above 6000rpm - 2nd and 3rd gear on UK motorways.

Some of the surpising features are the folding mirrors that work only with the ignition on. The heated rear window with no timer, the complete lack of rear visibility, no rear wiper and a trip computer that is more than 15% optimistic.

Average fuel ecconomy [mixed urban driving and quiet motorway] Tank to Tank measurement 32mpg [trip cumpter reading 38mpg].

Honda problably make good motorcycles engines but they should leave car design to the experts.

I have the Honda Civic on loan while my S2000 is fixed. When I'm too old and sore to get into the S2000, I'll buy a Civic. It has nearly the same speed, is less aggressive, has much more visibility and my only disquiet is that you can reach similar speeds without noticing! I wanted to hate it, it is ugly, but it is a beautiful drive if you don't care about sheer power, noise and mental torque.

I've had a 56 plate 1.8 ex vtec for 8 months and I have to say its not great:

There is basically zero rearward vision, the 'spoiler' presents your from see whats behind you, the lack of a rear wiper is a shame too.

In anything other than 25 degree temperature you have to drive with the de-mister on to keep the screen clear.

The traction control is useless, basically setting off at any sort of pace in the wet is impossible, the traction cuts the power.

The vtec engine is real hard work, you have to throttle the life out of it to make any sort of progress, driving quickly is hard work, in gear acceleration is non existent and you feel like driving on the motorway is hard work. Certainly doesn't feel like 140 bhp.

Honda claim 42 MPG.. yeah right... more like 33! and to add insult to injury they provide a row of economy lights to remind you that every mile in your Honda is costing more than it should!

The bluetooth hands free is voice activated however it never picks you what you are saying 1st time so it take 45 minutes to make a call.

The brakes are adequate.... just.

I wouldn't part with 19k for one !

Purchased the 2006 Honda Civic in Jan 2007. The car has been back to the garage 3 times, with 3 faults, 2 driver door seals and 1 with a grinding fault coming from the rear, this normally happens on cold start. There has been a call back on the rear shocks and they have been changed............. but today June 25 I picked up a courtesy car, while mine was being locked at the 2nd time, and this car also has this grinding noise from the rear. Today the garage tell me that there is no fault after investigating, how unfamiliarly common these faults on both cars seem to be.

A poor mechanical situation with the rear shocks. A fault that has been brought to my attention by 4 different civics.

£18000 of good spec with many gadgets to play with.

This is my second review now I've had the New Honda Civic 1.8 ES i-VTEC for a while. I still love it and the styling. The handling is spot on and the engine is performing great, with 42mpg returned on average, particularly on motorway cruising.

However the niggles:- The fuel cap has been fixed twice as the internal release didn't work. Found out this is a common problem and the garage knew, but waited for me to report it!! Fortunately for me I had enough fuel to get from the petrol station to the dealership (but only just).

The car has low ground clearance, I have scraped the pan a few times on the "sleeping policemen" which are just bumps. Fine if the hump is across the whole road but where they are two bumps, be careful how you position the car.

The car is still fun to drive even after 20K and the little details still impress me.