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2008 Honda Civic
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Comments
But,
My folks have a 2007 Civic EX Sedan, early build probably (Jan 2007 purchase). Would it possibly be included?
Thanks
The Sandman
My 07 gets 41 hwy loaded with the air on. I asked the salesman why that is and he told me the gov't just changed how they rate the MPG's on new cars.
That doesn't explain the actual numbers you and I are coming up with on the road.
Jack
Gas millage of this car is overall a DISASTER: 260 miles so far, 20.8 MPG, city ride mostly. I was not pushing the gas pedal to hard, neither was accelerating to fast, never went over 2300 RPM. With my old Honda Civic 1994 I managed to get 32-35 MPG pure city drive and 41 MPG mostly highway. I understand that the car is new I that the MPG might get better after couple hundred or thousands miles, but I don’t believe it’s going to get so much better than this. If I was not careful enough I am quite sure the millage would be 18 MPG or lest, which is the millage of a middle size SUV.
Did you have any experience like this with your brand new car or you had good millage straight from the dealer's lot.
Thanks
Also, I'm not sure where your comment about Honda's "liars," but if it is with regards to advertised fuel economy, take note that the EPA is the one with the testing procedures - not Honda.
Best of luck, and keep us posted!
I am sorry for my typos or spelling/grammar mistakes, I hope you'll understand what I want to say. In my understanding, EPA assigns the regulations, does not perform tests, but I might be wrong.
I live in Pittsburgh, PA the area is far from being flat (don't know if you are familiar with this part of the States), but still I think I am far bellow what I was supposed to get of a gallon of gas.
As I said, I always try to get as much as possible from the gallon, I do not accelerate a lot, never went over 2300 rpm.
I am now at my second tank of gas, so I'll keep you informed if the gpm is going to improve over next couple hundred miles
Again, thanks a lot for finding time to reply on my post.
Cheers
I think part of the reason for the great gas mileage is the fact that the car is so light..........light cars, however, do not do well in snow when they have wide, low profile tires.
If you look back into earlier entries on this blog there was discussion about the Civic in snow and tires were a factor. There was even a recommendation as to a replacement tire that works great in snow on the Civic.
Isn't that a product of the tires, not the car?
Also, you referenced how light the car is; I'd like to point out that it weighs about as much as my '96 Accord, thanks to extra airbags, safety systems, and overall size compared to previous Civics
"Isn't that a product of the tires, not the car?"
It's mostly a combination of the tires and the driver. Here's a short list of things that will increase the likelihood of hydroplaning:
1) Underinflated tires. This allows the center of the tire to run slightly concave, and this entraps a small pocket of water which prevents a significant portion of the tread from contacting the road.
2) Worn tires, of course. That's what the grooves are for.
3) Excessive speed through standing water, especially if the road is not grooved. (And doing this while traveling downhill will make the situation much worse if you do end up hydroplaning.)
4) It's true that wider tires will hydroplane sooner than narrow tires, and the Civic tires are definitely a bit on the wide side.
I haven't noticed any hydroplaning tendencies in my 2008 Civic LX Sedan, but maybe that's because I tend to play it safe in the rain. About 30 years ago I had a major hydroplaning incident in a VW Beetle and it scared the living cr*p out of me, so now when it rains heavily I slow down, especially if there's any standing water on the road.
During a full hydroplane there is a complete loss of control. The car becomes completely unresponsive to steering and brake inputs and goes wherever it wants, generally at high speed. When it happened to me I almost ran smack into a rock wall on the side of the highway, but luckily there was a grassy strip fronting the wall that allowed two of my tires to get some much-needed traction so I could turn away.
I live in AL, and we've already had some mornings in the upper teens and low 20s. I crank the car, then put on my seatbelt, find Rick and Bubba on the radio, lock my doors, and go... in that order. Gives the car a sec or two to get the oil moving.
Good luck!
The Sandman
I believe there is something wrong with the car. I need something safe living in WI. If anyone has any suggestions please let me know.
Summer24
I had zero control over that car and then I slowed to about 30mph and it was the same thing. Every time I hit some slippery roadway the car (front and back) would move from side to side like the wind was blowing it and it was going to fishtail and then go in circles. I was scared to death. The same thing happened to me last summer in Florida when it rained hard. I love the car and don't want to part with it but if it means being safe and not scared to drive it then i will have to trade it in I guess. I thought the new tired would help.
I have a friend who owned a 2008 Civic and he just traded it a few weeks ago for a Jetta wagon. What a great little car with lots of room. It does'nt slide all over when it snows. I am going to test drive one and then buy it.
I once had an old Chevy Vega (ugh!) that was low to the ground. I remember having to navigate some deeper snow that the plows left by driveway. Embedded in that snow was a packed block of ice which promptly tore off a stainless steel pipe that went from my muffler to the catalytic converter.
Now if it looks like we are getting more than 4 inches of snow, I'll opt to drive our CRV and leave the Civic in the drive.
Jack
My 2008 Civic LX four-door has much too much wind (and/or road) noise with the front windows rolled down (and I enjoy driving with the windows down quite a bit, here in San Diego). Has anyone had experience with side window deflectors? If yes:
1. Do they reduce wind noise? Significantly?
2. Do they also reduce wind noise when the window is closed (rolled up)?
3. Do they have any drawbacks? (Do they come off? Do they inhibit the view?...)
4. What brand(s) are best?
Thanks greatly for your advice.
1. No, not at all, in fact I'd say they increase wind noise.
2. Noisier with the window down slightly.
3. Mine have come off in one of those automatic car washes and I had to reinstall them. They have not inhibited the view at all.
4. Not sure what brands are best as I bought them on ebay.
I went to the dealer as a result of a discussion in another blog about handling problems on slippery pavement. Mine was so bad I had started looking at buying a new//different car.
The dealer will replace the rear upper control arms which (originally) were designed to "tilt" the wheels allowing for better handling. Only problem with this great idea is that it causes uneven tire wear (a prerequisite to having the dealer replace the parts and to do an alignment on Honda) and lack of control on slippery pavement.
Mine was fixed yesterday. My fingers and toes are crossed cause I love this little car and want to keep it.
1. Has anyone had such excessive brake pad wear in a Civic? At what mileage do front brake pads usually need to be replaced in the new Civics?
2. I'd like to upgrade: What brake pads do you recommend? What rotors?
Thanks greatly for the advice.
The high carbon content OEM pads on our 1994 Volvo wear out in ~ 10,000 mi - we've replaced them with Raybestos pads and do much better.
I had the parts replaced about 2 months ago and we've had lots of snow since then and the car handles perfectly every time now. (same tires, they did an all wheel alignment but the alignment wasn't far off at all either).
I highly recommend the procedure and Honda pays for it if the service department determines excessive tire wear due to the original parts that were tilting the wheels inard.
What ever happened to your civic, was your dealer ever able to resolve the issue or did you just let it be and deal with it. I wish they could put some heavy duty cement on the edges to hold it down
thanks, Bobby
The position of the wiper blades when shut off is below the area on the windshield that heats up from the defroster blowing. When there has been ice and/or snow and the car has been shut off. The only way to get the wiper blades free is to "chisel" them loose. There I am chopping at the delicate rubber with a giant, hard ice scrapper. There is no way for the car to heat them up so they just come loose by themselves without suffering any damage.
I cannot believe that someone who has been designing and manufacturing cars for as many years as Honda has would create such a huge problem and be o.k. with it.
These are basics people. As they say, "not rocket science".
It's not rocket science.
Mr. Alabama, obviously you don't have a clue what I"m talking about.
You cannot leave the wipers in the up position. If you do, when you start the car to warm the windshield up the wipers will try to go thier resting position and you wiill ruin the wiper blades and maybe even the motor because they will not move.
So you see, one can either bust them free in the resting place or up further on the windshield.
You have to run the engine to warm the windshild to free the wipers.
???????????????????
And I didn't know about the aerodynamic thing. Thanks for the info.
You're the one without a clue. Maybe when someone is giving you advice you could actually listen to what they're saying instead of acting like you're a know it all.
thegraduate said:
leaving their wipers up after you arrive at home as if you were cleaning the windshield to prevent this from happening.
Have you ever cleaned your windshield? If not, you may not know that the wiper blades, have a pivot joint that permit the blade to be lifted off of the windshield. The advice is, with the wipers off and in the resting position, you grip the wiper and raise it on the pivot joint.
When you start the car in the morning, it will not try to get the blades into the resting position as you claim because as far as the car knows, the blades ARE in the resting position. It has no sensor to know that the blades have been bent upwards on the pivot joint. If you don't believe me, put the blades in the cleaning position and start the car. You'll see no movement.
Anyway, you warm up your windshield, clean off your glass, and then lower the blades back into position.
It's simple, it's not rocket science---at least to most people.