Bought a blue hatchback to replace my blue hatchback

Oh crap. What happened? I've got an appointment on Wednesday for the software update.

 

Do you have a copy of your receipt showing the TSB number? My dealer wasn't sure if there is a bulletin for Canadian Civics or not.

 

Never mind, it sounds like they found it and did the update.

 

Yes, it looks like it worked. I get the fuel consumption calculation for the last few trips, and everything else still seems to work normally.

 

I took a drive last month to the west coast of Vancouver Island. I decided to go through Yellowstone Park on the way there and drove through the Beartooth Pass, that section of road was one of the most fun drives I've had in quite a while. Lots of good scenery in Yellowstone and on the west coast, I definitely need to go again. Driving through the mountains is so scenic and enjoyable compared to the endless prairie and farm fields around here.

 

Hi Mike:

Beautiful!!!

Wayne

 

Very nice! Good car for that trip. I've done Yellowstone in an Odyssey, not so much fun, but still fantastic views.

 

Definitely, I'll have to do that!

 

Update two years after purchase: I've averaged 36 mpg since I bought the car. Nothing else in this class seems to be able to match the combination of efficiency and power that this Honda 1.5T provides. I've driven a few other small turbos recently and the Honda seems to act a little differently. It feels like it tries very hard to stay out of boost until it has no option but to spool up to provide the power that the driver is asking for. This may contribute to its efficiency advantage over other small turbo engines, which feel like they are always running a little boost when the driver accelerates.

Aside from the efficiency / power combination, the handling is very good and the hatch is very practical. I'm planning on taking a trip west to Oregon and then south along the coast to Sacramento, and am looking forward to some winding mountain and forest roads.

Unfortunately, this has been the least reliable car that I've owned. Nothing has left me dead on the side of the road yet, but the issues have started to dull some of its appeal. In the past two years it's gone to the dealer for:

• Gear whine from front end. I suspected that it was the transmission or differential, dealer tracked the sound down to the transmission. Dealer contacted Honda, who said that they have replaced transmissions in a few other cars with similar symptoms, but that did not eliminate the sound. Honda does not have a solution right now, so this is being considered as normal operation for now. The sound isn't a big deal to me, my main concern was just to ensure that there wasn't something wrong with the transmission or differential.
• Rain sensing wipers don't wipe consistently. I did three trips to the dealer to look at this and they tried a few things, but nothing seemed to help. I eventually disabled the rain sensing function by unplugging the sensor, now I'm back to variable intermittent wipers. I think I prefer the variable intermittent over rain sensing anyway.
• Clunk from front driver side when driving over rough roads. Six trips to two different dealers now, and this one still hasn't been solved. Most of my front driver's side suspension has been replaced twice, along with a driveshaft. The dealer is stumped and have called Honda to help with diagnosis. Waiting for a reply from Honda to find out what the next steps will be.

I have 5000 miles left before the bumper to bumper warranty expires. I've thought a little about buying an extended warranty, but haven't come to a conclusion on that yet.

 

That's a good idea about the transmission fluid sample. I was actually planning to change the fluid this weekend, I'll have to look into what it costs to send a sample in. I don't see many reports about manual transmission failures on Civics, so I'm not too concerned about it anymore.

I've tried having a few friends bounce the car up and down but haven't been able to recreate the suspension clunk. It only happens on sharper impacts, like expansion joints, potholes, and washboard roads.