Hello!

My 2011 Honda Civic LX Sdn has very loose/imprecise steering - I can turn the steering wheel several inches left or right before the car barely changes direction. It feels like a cheap rental car, if you know what I mean. I went to my local Honda dealer, and they told me that the car was fine. They even gave me to try a new 2011 Civic Coupe that had the same soft/muffled feeling to its streering.

I insisted on making the steering tighter (I read about a 40mm power steering adjustment nut somewhere), and the only thing this operation did was to make it harder to move the wheel left/right, but did nothing to improve the responsiveness of the car to the steering wheel's motion. The mechanic told me that I wanted to have a race car's steering precision, and that Honda Civic is not that kind of car.

I leased my Civic a month ago because I read reviews of its nice handling, and because I really liked the precise feeling of a 2008 Civic I drove for a day last summer, and a test drive I did a couple years ago (got another car then). I admit I did not test drive the car I ended up leasing.

So who is right? Should my Honda Civic have precise and relatively firm feel to it's steering, or is the mechanic right and all Honda Civics are not responsive to small movements of the steering wheel?

And if I am right and my Civic should handle better than that, what should I do? The dealer I visited has the highest online rating in my area, so I don't think visiting another dealer and paying another $100 would help.

Thanks,
A.

 

im pretty sure these civics are drive by wire but not 100% sure. you would prolly have to hook a diagnostic divice up to it to tell if there was a problem or irregularity. my wife drives an 06' civic lx and the steering feels amazing compared to my 92' da. but a little better than my 01' crv. but i think you said you test drove an 08' and it felt fine so i dont know if they changed something since then.