It is rather sad how these days there is a push to phase out these older vehicles when for us auto-enthusiasts they still have so much to offer
BHPian tri_life recently shared this with other enthusiasts:
Summary
TLDR: The car is running perfectly fine. It is still quick, comfortable, beautiful, and is a joy to drive. It is redlined regularly and sounds wonderful in doing so.
Since the past update, I have used the Civic for outstation drives, the usual city travel and did a road trip to Goa from Pune. The car is usually sparsely loaded, and I only fully loaded up the car with 5 people once last year. It felt pretty okay even then, only scraping once when I was careless over a tall speedbreaker thanks to the double rear rogerabs.
For navigation and music, I have an old iPhone attached to a magnetic holder, which does the job. An added advantage or a wired connection with a DAC thrown in is that I can listen to lossless music, however I am still using the stock speakers which sound alright.
The car has served me flawlessly over this time never causing me any concern. It handles the rough patches and potholes perfectly fine. Just a classic fill it, shut it and forget it car.
It feels astonishingly quick everywhere as I find myself sliding in and out in city traffic gracefully which feels wrong to say about this large vehicle, but that’s how it feels. On the highways, it is significantly quicker than the usual traffic. It gulps down large distances quickly and comfortably. Incredibly high speeds feel comfortable, borderline pedestrian.
Gremlins
Over the past year, I only had to replace the front wheel bearings that were only a year old, but they started making that jet whine-like sound. As it turns out my regular garage had used local wheel bearings when I had them replaced last year. This time he put a better one from SKF and remarked sheepishly that the car drives brilliantly now, which it does. I asked him not to pull this stunt again and to refrain from using local parts on my car. Apart from that, I haven’t felt the need to replace anything else. The clutch does feel a little worn out, however with gentle inputs, it drives perfectly fine.
Minor incidents
Recently I had a couple of minor incidents.
1. Running Board Scrape
I was taking a left turn through an unusually crowded road that I travel regularly. Since there were vehicles blocking my usual turn in path, I took a much tighter line and I scraped the raised kerb that I never knew was present over there. Just a very unfortunate incident and the first time I dented my car.
After the hit, I polished the car and made it look a little less noticeable. After a few days when I had the time, I got it fixed via a local garage.
I was advised to repaint the whole door instead of the lower section for the paint to blend in properly and to fix the bad quality orange peel on the paint done previously.
I agreed and unfortunately there was a slight colour mismatch. Initially the garage asked me wait and let it sit for a few days. It still was visible just enough to be annoying, but not outright garbage. I attributed this slight mismatch to the lack of a ceramic coat on the freshly painted door. So I got it coated, but still the difference is present and it still drives me a little crazy whenever I look at it. I spoke with the garage and we did agree to fix it up post monsoon. It is just a bit visible in pictures.
2. Hitting a dog on the highway
Once I was driving on a wide single road highway at good enough speeds, and a dog decided to sprint across the road out of nowhere. Being mindful of my surroundings and the cars around me, I braked and swerved just enough to ensure that the dog was hit just at the edge of the front bumper and it was just just thrown off a bit and not suffer any major injuries. As for my bumper, it just cracked a bit and the bumper locks came loose.
I got it fixed and put off repainting, and re-coating the bumper as the damage was barely perceptible.
The timing of these incidents was rather unfortunate as i had just applied a refresher ceramic coat that was part of my original ceramic coating package a month before.
Closing Thoughts
My acquisition of this Civic has been a brilliant decision. It is so much of a car for such little money. Personally I think it’s the coolest thing ever. It stands out massively in 2025 and has a big personality with its old school dashboard, clean line, open and airy interiors and the high revving NA engine. I expect to hold on to my Civic for the foreseeable future. I have attached
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