Ownership Verified: My '08 Civic

Polkky

Well-Known Member
Joined
Feb 28, 2012
Messages
757
Location
Finland
Car(s)
Eunos Roadster 1991, Renault Clio 2014
I bought the E34 from public with an intention to drive that for the summer until our Mongolia trip. I soon noticed that the car wasn?t suitable for my driving habits after all: mostly blasting through the highway network on the left lane. Add the salt shit that?s been flying around this ?winter? and the equation sums up that the E34 was just unbearable. If I would live in town much closer to work things would be different, but now the E34 just didn?t meet up with my monthly mileage.

I threw my motorcycle dreams aside and started looking at cars, again. A new car loan would be necessary, but otherwise I wanted the monthly bill to be as low as possible. So, a car under 10 years of age, enough entertaining to drive, cheap to insure and tax and to keep the monthly costs reasonable, under 10k? purchasing price.

I first looked around for 1.6 FSI MK5 Golfs. My fianc? has a Bora from the MK4-range and it?s a really nice car. It?s a humble worker, keeps on going even with a bit lazier maintenance. The 1.6 FSI would have had 116hp which is an OK amount for a car of that size. This plan went down the drain as the first Golf I went to look at was absolutely horrible: with a price tag of 9900? it would have required another 2000? of parts and maintenance. We ran away, fast.

My friend then noticed an add for a particular 2008 Honda Civic. To please him, I arranged a meeting with the seller. I mean what the heck, let?s go check this out. It was the 1.8 petrol version with 140hp i-VTEC and all possible goodies except for navigation (which would be out of date now anyways) and a sunroof (that would have been nice.) The mileage was a bit higher than what I first wanted, but it didn?t show in any way. The ride was very firm, no bumps or rattles, the service history was flawless.. After the test drive I thought that I might have just driven my next car.

I thought about the matter for almost a week and as I couldn?t talk myself out of it, I went and paid for my first Honda today. Here are some crappy and quick cell phone photos, I?ll get better ones tomorrow after I?ve washed and waxed it. It definitely needs love as the PO only took it through machine washes.

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Like already mentioned, it?s the 1.8 petrol version, runs 140hp/175nm and has everything from automatic climate control and wipers to cruise control. It currently has 136500km on the clock. It looks like the mixture of a space ship and a Dyson vacuum cleaner, but I luckily mostly sit inside it.

It?ll be interesting to see the comments about this. :p
 
'grats, as a Civic driver I can say the interior is nothing to shout home about, but the plastics dont feel cheap compared to some other offerings of that period (the Focus at the time was especially disappointing, maybe mid east spec), and every switch is still solid and tight. Ours has only done 100k so far though.

The engine itself has been bulletproof so far, the only notable thing weve had to change often enough to have been noticeable were engine mounts, though that could be our climate. Not sure how much the JDM spec shares with the EU models other than a few of the interior bits.
 
Surprising choice for long distance driving :D Didn't really see this coming. What's the noise level on these?

Congratulations anyway, hope this fits the bill :)
 
Excellent choice. Best-looking Civic in a while, best engine for it, best colour (isn't that gunmetal?) you could get for it even the mileage isn't too bad. They ruined the looks IMO in the latter iterations.
 
Thanks guys :)

The engine itself has been bulletproof so far, the only notable thing weve had to change often enough to have been noticeable were engine mounts, though that could be our climate. Not sure how much the JDM spec shares with the EU models other than a few of the interior bits.

I tried searching for basic things that fail on these and the only thing I found was the rear suspension. No mention of failing engine mounts anywhere, let's hope for the best. To my understanding JDM and European versions of these differ quite alot.

Surprising choice for long distance driving :D Didn't really see this coming. What's the noise level on these?

It's a Japanese car, so it's of course noisier than, say, a BMW. It's also running on studded tires, so they roar alot. I might get them changed for studless in the autumn, we'll see. What comes to driving, the cockipt really is a comfortable place to sit in. The first long road trip of course tells the final truth.

Excellent choice. Best-looking Civic in a while, best engine for it, best colour (isn't that gunmetal?) you could get for it even the mileage isn't too bad. They ruined the looks IMO in the latter iterations.

I like the looks on the newer one, but this drives better. The color is something between gunmetal gray and brown :hmm:
 
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Not talking more about the potential follower, but 140hp, all options from the list and amazing handling...mmm...

and all possible goodies except for navigation (which would be out of date now anyways) and a sunroof (that would have been nice.)

Personally i would have said that e34 would be better for left lane salt shit blasting than 08 civic, but i hope it does the job which it is intended for you.

Should be troublefree motoring ahead with that milage. And I approve the spaceball gearleverbottomthingy....
 
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Congrats on your honda. A good daily driver for sure. :)

Excellent choice. Best-looking Civic in a while, best engine for it, best colour (isn't that gunmetal?) you could get for it even the mileage isn't too bad. They ruined the looks IMO in the latter iterations.
The K-series engine is way better than the R18 in this one. I found this a very un-honda like engine the way it didn't enjoy revving. So e may like this one, but as a long time honda owner I found it dissapointing.
 
Congrats. My Civic is probably even less suited for road trips than yours, but I've never had a problem being perfectly comfortable on long drives.
 
This was ... unexpected. :p Congrats! I'm not a 'japanese car person' but somehow that generation Civic has always had my attention.
 
I'd have bought it just because of that gearshifter.

And this Civic looks way better than the, granted, gobsmacklingly awful new one.
 
I took care of the paperwork this morning, it's now officially mine.

Sitrep after 250km as a Honda-man:
-the car needs an AUX-in.
-cleaned the interior quite thoroughly, the windshield was very dirty from the inside
-the tires were 0,2bar underinflated
-the right headlamp bulb had gone, changing it was a minute job. Not waiting for the left side to go, changing it requires dismantling part of the air intake..
-getting it sideways with the handbrake requires a bit of force and alot of determination. Not going to do that too often, didn't seem like the car was enjoying itself.
-on lower revs the torque is quite nonexistent but the car truly wakes up when tickled
-even though it's FWD, I'm loving it. The onboard computer says that the average consumption is 7,4l/100km at the moment with quite alot of VTEC-zooming, so it counts as economical in my book, it's comfortable, and it's amazing to drive. I'm even growing to like the outlook of it: every time I find a new shape or line from it.

I didn't wash it today after all, because we got snow. That snow will melt soon and make everything brown again. Photos of the dirty car in any case:

The front seat is in my setting, the rear leg room is amazing!
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The driver's quarters:
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I finally have cup holders that work! They're even adjustable, cool!
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Size comparison.
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The boot is huge:
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The other end:
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:jc:
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Other random shots:
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"i-VTEC just kicked in yo" just doesn't have the same ring to it.
 
That gear shifter looks nearly identical to the "spaceball" shifter found in some Volvo S60 (mine had it). I like the colour and the looks. Interesting double-decker effect on the dashboard. Lots of stuff going on there.
 
Clean that engine bay and those interior plastics!

These Civics are my favourite of the recent ones. Way cooler than the newest model. Congrats, I hope it treats you well!
 
Oh no you didn't! It all makes sense now. I enjoy this purchase.

I enjoy it too. What makes sense?

"i-VTEC just kicked in yo" just doesn't have the same ring to it.

I honestly don't have the faintest clue how i-VTEC differs from VTEC.

That gear shifter looks nearly identical to the "spaceball" shifter found in some Volvo S60 (mine had it). I like the colour and the looks. Interesting double-decker effect on the dashboard. Lots of stuff going on there.

Thanks, I also like the feeling that the driver is the commander of a space ship :p

Clean that engine bay and those interior plastics!

What plastics? I cleaned the dash and gear lever yesterday, they were the dirtiest :confused: But yeah, the engine bay needs a wash. I'll get that done later in the spring after the weather has dried up.

Steve Jobs invented iVTEC.

:lol: Haven't found an iPhone dock anywhere yet, luckily.

The windscreen wipers need a change aswell. The wiper legs have been made a bit too fancy so they basically scream broken plastics and head aches in the future. I'll have to treat them nicely. It's just basically stupid how much fun this car is when revved :burnrubber: I'm sure this will be extra fun to throw into corners in the summer with the very firm chassis, 225/45/17 summer rubber and all :cool:
 
With the R18A2 (AFAIK) engine the (i) VTEC is more of a marketing word. The engine has SOHC configuration and doesn't have the high and low cam profiles found in proper performance oriented VTEC-systems (B-series, K-series etc). If I remember correctly the i-VTEC only refers to the way engine can close another intake valve at low rpms to increase the breathing a bit, as speed of the air going into the engine is naturally higher through one valve than through two valves. I guess it also has variable timing on the camshaft. Anyway, it has rather good combination of economy and horsepower considering specs it has.


Anyway, good color and surprisingly fresh looking car for it's age. Definitely much better looking than the current model! :)
 
Great car.
As a fellow first time Honda owner, the things that really don't translate to paper is just how good the little intangibles are like ergonomics, control weights and the general feeling of invincibility that the drive train gives off.
Plus the magic seats in the rear are some of the greatest thing ever.
 
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