Impressions:

-Seeing how the car weighs 2700 lbs but only 128 ft.lbs @4300 rpm,
I originally thought Honda's 205/55R-16's would be overkill for grip and accelerating would feel noticeably muffled... Instead I was pleasantly surprised that the car feels very light and nimble, even though the tires are Goodyear Eagle RS-A's; apparently a high-performance all-season.

-I was also impressed at how much "go" it has with only small throttle openings from 10-40 mph.

-I was stunned that when you put it in reverse, let out the clutch completely and keep your foot off the gas that the Civic wants to go backwards at 8-10 mph, and WILL accelerate to that speed in 1-2 seconds if you let it. (if my idle speed is a little high, I don't want it "fixed", I can work with this and it's probably more fun)

-I learned the Canadian symbol for parking brake is (O) with a "!" in the middle the hard way, driving 3-4 miles at up to 40 mph when I was in a rush to get my insurance all straightened out. I thought I disengaged the brake, but either I forgot or left it partially engaged. (latter theory most likely) It was beeping at me the whole way, but I didn't have time to stop and read the manual. (they asked me to come back a day after for an adjustment) As I exited the car, I smelled a fair bit of smoke. Parking brake still works today. (hopefully) I will never do that again.

-The cupholders in the factory console are a little smaller than I'd prefer, as is the console's rear compartment; too small for a standard-sized box of kleenex (I have allergies, so my nose drips a bit most days of the year)

-The head-restraints, though angled-forwards are not uncomfortable for me like many other new vehicles (ie. Honda Fit, Dodge Caliber, Dodge Ram) where some of them, this new style of head-restraint has given me mild neck-injuries JUST SITTING IN IT. This was one of the few that did not feel bad, so that's one of the reasons I bought it.

-The low beam headlights are the hardest I've ever seen for replacing.
(I swapped out the factory halogens for some Silverstar Ultra halogen bulbs, they work great so far) Got several scrapes to my hands and busted one of the body panel fasteners since you need to open up the fender. The Owner's manual doesn't suggest how to remove them, but it tells you that you do need to remove the fasteners.

-I'm surpised that there is no underhood insulation. (attached to the hood) that will probably make the engine cool down quicker when it's frigid outside. I'm thinking about getting my own fire-retardant insulation and fabricating my own insulation.

-the factory hood strut is a PITA. It goes across the front of the engine bay, rather than the side of the engine bay. I'm hoping to replace it with gas-lifting strut(s)

-there is no underhood lighting.
I hope to install some kind of lighting for the hood and/or engine bay

-after a few days, it is still tricky sometimes to start from a stop.
Once I am rolling at 3 feet per second, no problem mon!

- I do not know the full potential of this motor, since they want you to avoid full throttle openings for the first 600 miles. I'm looking forward to "uncorking it" when the time comes. (so far I've done up to roughly half-throttle openings)

 

how much better do you think the sylvania ultras are comapred to the standard sylvanias that are factory equipped??

 

Noice,

Thanks for sharing man, nice little write up.

 

I have yet to drive with them in my Civic.
But the factory Sylvanias had a dull-yellowish tinge and seemed maybe 2/3'rds to 3/4's as bright as the Silverstar Ultras.
I've only seen them on my garage door so far.

I've had them in an old Grand Caravan since August and I love them.
Though it is a 9007 bulb and not a 9006.
(filament is perpendicular to the glass, rather than "axial", so the beam spread should be less consistant on the old-style bulb)

On my old minivan, I believe I can see almost twice as far down the highway, if you're counting the diffused lighting, rather than the point where the beam focuses.

 

Here's a tip: If you find yourself in a situation where you're on a fairly steep hill or incline going upwards......use the e-brake on the takeoff. It will make life much easier for you. Just crank the e-brake, slowly give it some gas, while letting off the clutch and slowly letting off the e-brake at the same time.

A little confusing, but it's the easiest way to avoid stalling out or rolling backward....instead of trying to speed-switch your foot from the foot brake to the gas.

Congrats on the car and good luck!

 

That sounds like a great idea,
since we all have two feet, not three
yet the parking brake can be operated with the right hand.

I thought I had to rev the snot out of it and drop the clutch fairly quick.
I imagined revving to roughly 4000 rpm should do,
maybe 4300 rpm at the torque peak.
Then I'd be instantly sailing fast like my Black Pearl.
I suppose if someone is in front of me though,
that might not be the greatest idea.

About the minivan and the Silverstar Ultras,
the minivan's not "mine" but my parents' vehicle.
So this is still my first car, first Civic and first stick.
Until now, I don't even think I've ever had a ride in a Civic.

Other impressions/questions:

-The price of insurance is not nice, I may be saving on gas, but having my own new vehicle versus driving other people's, I'll be spending as much on insurance as I would putting gas in at $1.00/Litre and driving 10,000 miles per year. Gas has gone cheap now, so I'm really not saving money. But hopefully it's a car that I will continue to enjoy and last a long time with hopefully, nothing major to fix.

-The front glass is huge, too big for the generic "Jumbo-size" sunshade I bought. (returned it)

-Does anyone know where I can find a proper sized sunshade?

-Does anyone know about underhood insulating liners?

-How about underhood lighting?

-I was thinking about getting winter rims and tires,
anything wrong with getting 15" rims and 195/65R-16 tires?
(approx. the same diameter as 205/55R-16 tires)

-I was also thinking about 185/65R-15 for winter tires, since narrow tires grip better when it's icy.
Would that be a very bad idea to use slightly smaller than stock?
This size is 0.5 inches shorter than stock for diameter, 0.25 inches shorter for radius.
(but the slight loss in ground clearance should be made up for extra grip,
as snow tires that I'm used to can help you ram your way through deep snow when needed.)

 

No they aren't, they are probably the crappiest tires I've ever had on a car. I'll admit the first 5k they did performed well but since then, they are noisy and the handling is quite sloppy now. I can't wait to change these out. Check tirerack.com, you'll see the bad reviews on these tires.

 

Your car will roll backwards in reverse if the engine is cold. If warm, it is unusual.

 

So what should I do with them, they've already got 40 miles on them.
I figured it'd be hard to get them to swap the tires before I bought it but maybe I was wrong.

I only intend to use them when it's not snowy or icy.
Should I still ditch them early?
Is it too late to do something about my factory tires?
Or will I be fine keeping them for a year or so?
I do not like it that they didn't give me quality tires.

I mean, if they asked what kind of tire I wanted, I would paid a little extra to upgrade to BFG G-Force SuperSports or Yokohoma high performance tires. (I've heard they have excellent reviews.

 

You really can't do anything about the factory tires, most tires that cars come with (unless its a sports/high performance car) are poop.

I honestly would advise you to buy some steelies with snow tires for the winter. We only had one day of snow this year in Dallas, and they did ok at best. Since you live in Ontario I highly suggest you change them out. These tires do not perform well in ice/snow & I wouldn't risk it if I were you.

 

I think I'm going to try to sell the tires back to the dealer, get a credit (even if it is small) buy some decent tires, bring them in myself and have them swap them for me.

Hopefully this works because I am now PISSED that I currently own Goodyear Eagle RS-A's.

 

It snows in Texas? I never would have thought. It has not even snowed in MA yet.

 

About the sunshade question, I had the exact same problem when I got the car. I ended up buying the sunshade that are two seperate ovals and they worked great. It didnt cover the whole window but about 97 percent of the sun was blocked. When not in use I would fold them and put them behind the passenger seat. Worked great!!!!

Hope that helps lol's

 

I was hoping to find a sunshade that covers 100% of the glass,
at least all the areas without that mysterious black paint around the edges.

Maybe I can make my own sunshade if I can't buy one.

 

Another Impression I forgot:

I found the fuel gauge hard to decipher.
I thought I had a tank close to empty because of the red dot at "E."
So I went to fill it.
First 3.8 Litres went in, then after that it kept stopping after 0.5 to .75 Litres.
(3.78 L is approx. 1 U.S. gallon)

In the owner's manual it describes this condition about an inability to fill
as the result of a malfunctioning vapour control system.
So before I took it back to the dealer I attempted to fill it again.
Not only did it stop, but some gas actually spilled over the side.

Took it to the dealership and the dealer told me that he sold me a car with a full tank of gas and did not tell me.
They showed me fuel is not measured by the red dot, but the white dots,
however I have never seen a display that didn't have a full tank,
which is why I couldn't recognize low fuel vs. a full tank.
I had spent about 1-1.5 hours at pumping attempts (time bitterly wasted)
as well as an additional $7-9 bucks in gas, of which at least 50 cents worth spilled over the side.

*Why would I get into this predicament?
I am trained as an airplane and helicopter mechanic; (not my current occupation though)
I do not need nor use low fuel "dummy lights"
besides I find it irresponsible to let the tank get down to 1/4 full
so I'm not accustomed to seeing a low fuel indicator warning light.

** Owning a new Civic has been a lot more stressfull than I had imagined.
Hopefully I can simmer down and end up satisfied and happy with my purchase.

 

I don't know what you were expecting from this car, it's a civic. From the looks of your impressions I assume you were expecting German engineering in a compact car costing less than 20k.

The fuel gauge works along the same lines as the engine temperature gauge.

 

I don't get it, you bought one of the most mainstream cars in the industry yet are having trouble with the simplest features of an automobile...

I highly doubt fabricating an insulation pad for the underside of the hood would be worth it. If Honda deemed it was necessary during their cold weather testing, trust me, there would be one there. One of the purposes of those underhood pads is for noise reduction anyway, it won't do much in keeping the engine warm.

Congratulations on the purchase.

 

My Si has underhood insulation.

I looked for the part (on the net) but can't find it.

*Nevermind...found it. It is part 009 (part # 2319378) on this website http://www.hondaautomotiveparts.com/...y5=ENGINE+HOOD. If you get it, you'll need 7 hood insulator clips also. They are number 041 (part # 2875569)*

 

Excellent! Thanks.
Even if it doesn't help much with keeping the engine warm,
it would be nice to make it a little quieter.

 

It looks a lot better than a bare underhood too. I solved the underhood lighting problem by wiring two LEDs into my parking lights. When my parking lights are on, two LEDs mounted in grommets in my hood insulator illuminate the underhood area so I can check my fluids in the dark. They look OEM too. I'll try to get a picture.

 

Awesome! I'd love to see that.

BTW, does anyone know about gas-lifting hood struts?
(hands free & factory strut bar free hood raising)

 

Not quite, but I was expecting at least as much as an equivalent American car.

I was actually looking into buying a Chevy Cobalt Coupe w/manual trans before I changed my mind. The Cobalt comes standard with factory hood insulation, (possibly) gas-lifting hood struts, an instant and average fuel economy display, available in a sweet yellow paint job ("Ralleye Yellow") and Corvette-style tail-lights. A 2.2L motor with 150-152 ft.lbs and 148-155hp that gets similar fuel economy would also have been a plus.

*Actually, I'd already rented an '08 Cobalt coupe with the auto trans this September.
Flooring it, I barked the tires on the 1-2 shift @ 6100 rpm and roughly 30 mph.
Got my first taste of real "torque-steer" as it almost-violently jerked the wheel about 3/4-1"

Why I didn't buy one?
Because I discovered the hard way that I liked the 2008 model the best, but because of the options I wanted it would be near impossible to find a car already built to my tastes. It was driving my nuts. Also, GM put 4-lug hubs on the base trim models, and 5x110 lug hubs on the rest, so not only was wheel swapping impossible without a hub conversion, but the 5x110 hub has very few aftermarket wheel options. A very unpopular bolt pattern size. Also, with the possibility of GM going bust I was originally going to wait until spring or summer to buy either a factory '09 or wait longer to buy a '08 coming off a lease....

But the Civic did impress me with options that GM didn't offer:

1. heated side mirrors
(even the highest priced SS doesn't come with them;
hello, this is CANADA, we get a lot of ice, snow and rain, lol)

2. a sunroof/moonroof option without needing to buy a spoiler that sticks up 4 inches above your trunk. (blocking the rearward view)

3. double wishbone independent rear suspension vs. GM's "semi-independent rear w/torsion bars"
(not sure what the SS had; didn't look much because it's factory lowered)

4. four-wheel disc brakes in a mid-range trim package

5. I got a bit of a deal since they were trying to clear out this '08
and none of the GM dealers had 2008 coupes left with manual transmissions.

*Yes I understand now about the fuel gauge.
I've just never seen one like that and it's a habit of mine that when I think it's getting low,
I go fill up, with or without the low fuel warning.

 

Its alright I guess if you're just learning to drive stick, but its cheating in my eyes, just takes a little practice to take off on hills thats all. Also doesn't help if your driving most standard trucks with a floor pedal parking brake.

You really don't have to rev it anywhere near that high, you'll figure it out pretty quick, I really can't explain it, but once you get it, you get it.

 

What I need this skill for is taking off from a stop, on a hill when there's someone like 3 feet behind me. A lot of city drivers are really impatient and think hugging you bumper is a good idea or something. So I'd really like to perfect the art of starting on a hill that's like a 20% grade and not roll back more than one foot.

I was only talking about that because of the above scenario.
But I understand what you're saying.
However someone still experimenting with starting a manual trans car,
it is quite bewildering to have to start with the front of your car 2 feet higher than the back,
and some yahoo has pulled up within 2-3 feet of your rear bumper
as well as another motorist's car only 6 feet ahead, all at a stoplight.

 

I think your car has hill assist. I'm not sure if the method I'm about to describe is what hill assist is but, this method will work with or without hill assist. When traffic in front of you starts to move, heep your right foot on the brake, and slowly start to lift your left foot off of the clutch, you will feel it grab at a point (the rpms will drop along with this). When this happens, lift your right foot off of the brake and start applying light even pressure on the gas pedal, at the same rate that you lift off of the clutch with your left. Once you're moving, drive as normal. You'll probably have to take your time with this method for a little while, but you will get the feel for it, and not need to use it as aggresively, or at all.

You can't let the clutch out like this, or have it halfway grabbing while the car isn't moving too much because this will burn your clutch out prematurely.

Hope that helps and makes sense lol.