The new toy

Freefaller

Freefaller

Freefaller

Man of Honour
Joined
5 Jun 2003
Posts
91,787
Location
Falling...
I took delivery of this now rather dirty (I haven't cleaned it yet!) Honda Civic ES. It's the 2.2i CTDI. It's got all the toys I'm interested in, relatively nippy, though it's still bedding in - I got it with around 600 miles on the clock (now with 1200 odd). My favourite bit of kit is the USB interface for plugging my iphone in (ergo ipod) it makes getting stuck in the blackwall tunnel much more agreeable! :D

It's comfortable, though the seat doesn't go any lower, and I like to sit low in the car, but other than that the seating position/driving position is fine, visibility is good. It's rather quiet for a tractor too. The boot is massive for the size of the car. Even sat behind me someone could sit relatively comfortably for a long journey, but since I seldom have more than 1 person in the car it's not going to be an issue. It's rather nice to have the roof "screen" to get more light in the car - it's nice to be able to look up and see the sky! :)

It cruises along the motorway at 70mph below 2000rpm off the top of my head. It probably needs a bit more time to bed in properly, but on a long motorway run at around 80mph it sustains low 40mpgs - which is way over 10 more than my Alfa (28ish).

It's not exciting per se, but it doess handle the road pretty well, the 17s and/or with the suspension makes the bumps a little tough, but it gives confidence round corners - though I've honestly not pushed it hard yet. IT's not as exciting as the Alfa, but it's a nice place to be. Still, I'll be saving myself a fair bit of money for servicing, tax and insurance costs.

Clearly I'd prefer the petrol version, but for what I need this is clearly the good choice. I'm not lucky enough to have had a chance to choose an Alfa like DRZ! :p The tax bracket this falls in makes it far more affordable than the other choices I was offered, and I'm not important enough for an A5 or something similar :p

Anyway a few pics with the gratuitous reg pimping ;)





 
It's a shame that diesels are so economical as a company car.

I like that at least other company doesn't think aux. in is good way to plug in an mp3 player.

So is the promotion going to open the possibility of an actual toy?
 
It does have an aux in as well, but then you don't get the controls on the steering wheel or on the stereo itself.

Well I'm being sensible at the moment, and putting money aside, but we'll see. For the moment, no... but give me a year or so to review ;)
 
I like the one I borrowed. Dunno where the ES lies but basically I got to borrow an all options ticked fleet demo car, one was the Civic and the other was the Accord.

It's very easy to fall out with the seat height, I had the same issue as I also like it low, but the EP3 I owned at the time was the same and had no height adjustment. Also the dashboard instruments are overwhelming at first. It was a nice place to be though and the engine wasn't bad, but I was stepping out of a CTR to drive it.

Gotta say I really preferred the Accord considering saloons and whatnot aren't my thing. I did drive both cars like I did my CTR, just habit, but they did handle it well albeint very quietly. I'm not used to so many toys in a car too, but I'm sure that novelty can wear off after a while.

Anyway, hope you enjoy it. I don't think I could live with the rear window "visibility" of the FN shape Civic. Then again, I had to sell my CTR for a sheddy MX5 with a cracked and cloudy PVC window.
 
That's why my MX5 had the glass window ;)

The view isn't too much of an issue for me, but it is distracting. I did put an order for the Accord which I agree, after test driving it it just felt like a better place to be, but the fleet manager couldn't get it in for me for another 6 months and they didn't have any spare cars to offer me in the mean time so thought sod it. I could have had an Insigna or Mondeo, but I wanted something different/new (to me) and the tax for BIK is very low which is more important to me really.

It's not going to set my pants on fire, or anyone else's, but I have my Triumph for my thrills for the moment. It's the first time I've "owned" a car from brand new - I kinda get the appeal though.
 
Hang on, you already have a toy, I've seen it.

2405-1.jpg


?

Edit: And I'm three minutes too late, my search skills are slipping.
 
Come on Will, you're more fun than this :(

I'm disappointed! At least you've still got the bike. Tell me you've still got the bike.

(my main beef with these is that they look the same from the back as from the front. Also they look like a crap spaceship)
 
Its no Alfa but its certainly a decent place to be! How long will you have it for?

Welcome to the world of "I had to get a Diesel because the tax made sense" :( :D
 
Ultra_Extreme said:
im interested in one of these for work, is it comfortable on the twistys?
Click to expand...

It's a little nose heavy, but it does handle well from what I've seen so far - haven't really had the chance to push it much yet.

DRZ said:
Its no Alfa but its certainly a decent place to be! How long will you have it for?

Welcome to the world of "I had to get a Diesel because the tax made sense" :( :D
Click to expand...

Tell me about it! Bloody tax.
 
So it was you parked across the road the other day, get it cleaned. I like the shape of this latest incarnation of the Civic, enjoy. :)
 
Sorry mate, I drove one of these once and hated it! Now it was New Years day, I did have an EPIC hangover and it was a friends car and she was too ill to drive it, but I hated the thing with a passion. The windscreen was 20ft away and worse, the crappy Tijuana Christmas CD wouldn't turn off no matter what I did. However, enjoy it! :D ;)
 
No need to apologies! It's not going to be to everyone's taste! It's not best thing in the world ever but it's not bad for a "free" car. :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom