Hawkins115

Hey everyone, just joined today, Drive a 2000 F-350 Diesel, power's good, but umm, I just put $123 in the tank and get at best 16 mpg, its time for a daily driver. I've been looking into the 08 civic EX's, my question is, can you guys offer me some reviews, whats your average mpg, hows the EX stereo (only test driven an LX) And are there any problems or good surprises that you've found since buying? Thanks a million everyone

CMV

I just got out of an 05 explorer & an 06 expedition and replaced them with a pair of Civics (06 & 08).

The 06 is an EX and the radio is pretty decent for a stock unit. 6 speakers plus a small subwoofer. Sounds as good as what was in the Expedition XLT.

Gas mileage is pretty impressive - which is why we down-sized. We took the 06 on an 800 mile trip over Thanksgiving holiday. 95% of the trip was interstate, but we crossed a lot of big mountains. I typically drive about 80 - 85 & as long as traffic & road conditions allowed, that was our speed. It was cold & rainy, so the defroster (so by default the A/C too) was on most of the time. Got 36.2 MPG. The Expedition usually got about 13.8 driving that same route the same way. I wouldn't be surprised to see 40 MPG driving speed limits. Ours are both manual transmissions - don't know if the autos are much better/worse.

Some obvious things you notice right away moving from a larger vehicle:

Everyone's headlights hit your mirrors at night. Rearview & both side mirrors - very annoying.

Your own headlights don't seem to illuminate as well or as far ahead.

The engine stays at 3,000+ rpm at highway speeds. In 5th gear, you're looking for a non-existent 6th.

Your seat and "personal space" are much smaller than what you're used to. You go from having to lean and reach to touch a passenger to fighting for the center armrest.

You can't turn the climate controls "off". You will always have some air blowing thru the vents somewhere. I find I'm continually adjusting the temp setting because of this. You're also heating/cooling a much smaller space so you really notice a 1-click change in temp setting about a minute later.

Also with the smaller cabin space, the windows fog up quickly if it's wet outside.

The pep & acceleration are surprising. Don't need to drop out of 5th gear on the highway for passing or big hills- it just pulls. Going from a 5.4L V8 to a 1.8L I4 wasn't a huge performance shock. 0-60 feels faster - might actually be - might just be my perception from being closer to the road.

Interior/wind/engine noise are about what you'd expect. I'd say they're similar to the Explorer. I notice the engine's pitch since it's usually at higher RPMs but it's not louder.

Seats are comfortable. That was a surprise going from the La-Z-Boy Expedition seats with leather, lumbar, tilt, etc I was expecting these to be a big change. After 400 miles, I wasn't squirming any more than normal. Not bad at all for a small car.

The steering wheel adjustments are nice too. You can't adjust the pedals - they are where they are - but you can move the driver's seat up & down and tilt/telescope the wheel enough that just about any size driver can fit the car well.

The standard safety features are nice too - ABS, dual SRS front airbags, & side curtain airbags. We compared to Corolla, Versa, etc & found that many of Honda's *standard* safety features are extra $$$ or in some cases not available on other brands.

Same with the standard creature comforts - Honda doesn't nickel & dime you with upgrades. The LX has what most people want standard as far as creature comforts & the EX adds a few more. You don't pay extra for cruise control, keyless entry, etc - you just get all the buttons you want & don't have to wander around the dealer's lot trying to figure out which specific vehicle has the options you do & don't want. Pick the xX model you want & then just decide on # of doors, transmission type, & color. The only thing lacking on our LX that our EX has (and that i wish the LX had too) is the outside air temperature display. Otherwise, there aren't that many differences I've noticed. The EX has everything the LX does plus the sunroof, outside temp, radio controls on steering wheel, upgraded radio, LED interior light (faint cup holder light), & nicer wheels. I don't really care about any of those features & wouldn't care much if the EX were an LX. They perform, ride, & handle the same & from the driver's seat I don't feel like I'm missing anything really important in the LX.

The keyless entry remote is on the key itself - not a separate gadget on your keychain like the Fords. What a neat idea.

The dashboard layout in tiers is really nice. You can't help but to see your speedometer - no need to glance down to check. There aren't battery & oil pressure gauges. the tach is huge and seems out of place as an analog gauge placed below 3 digital ones. All the controls are an easy reach & after a few hours of getting familiarized, I didn't have to look for anything. Very intuitive cockpit layout overall.

If you don't turn the brightness way down, your radio display and digital guages put a distracting reflection at the top of your windshield at night. Combine that with the underpowered headlights & all the headlights in your mirrors and night driving isn't as pleasant. I felt much less eye strain driving the larger vehicles at night.

The windshield is very large and is set at a steep angle. this has good & bad points. It's great when it's raining as a lot of water doesn't even hit the windshield at highway speeds - it just blows over. It also gives a very wide angle view of the road and the A-pillars are barely noticeable. It's a very easy car to see out of without much to interrupt your field of view. the bad about the windshield is that it's so big, the sun gets aggravating in your face and really heats up the car's interior. Haven't had the cars in summer months yet, but I'd imagine a sunny 95+ deg day & the sunroof cover open would leave the A/C having a hard time keeping up.

All in all, I'm glad with my decision to downsize. There's a lot of things i can't do with the Civics like put 8 people in the vehicle, tow a trailer, go off-road, haul large items/lots of items, but other than beach driving (where 4x4 is absolutely necessary) I don't think we're going to miss any of those capabilities. $30 to fill vs $100 to fill is huge - esp when I can drive 50 more miles on the $30 tank.

TemjinX2

iTrader: (11)

^^^^
good review on the 8th gen ex.

as for the head lights you might want to look into doing a hid retrofit in your civic head lights. I have a tsx retrofit on my integra and its like a night and day comparison.

To the poster, if your looking into a ex. THen you should also look at the si as well. You get more power and better handling for a little more money and still average around 25mpg.

if you dont need the power or handling, the lx is probably a better buy unless you really want the navi.

Hawkins115

Yeah, I thought about an SI because they do seem like a nicer car, but I don't really need the extra power, all I need is better milage. And I like the features like wheels, steering wheel controls, moonroof and upgraded stereo that the EX comes with.

GDOG5149

An Si will hold it's value better....so I am told
G

Kup4036

yea, but remember, if mileage is the key factor, remember that u have to use 93 oct in the si. that's killing me right now as its around $3.40 in my parts of the country

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

if you want to turn off all air blowing from the vents, turn on the RECIRC (recirculate) button with the fan off. the only reason is still blows air with fan off in fresh air mode is when you drive, air is being forced through the front intake and into the cabin.

if you want brighter headlights, goto ebay and search for catz zeta. it comes with two ballasts that boost the headlight output as much as 75%, typically increasing brightness by 500 lumen per side.

M_Mullins

Excellent review - thanks

lordhelmet

iTrader: (3)

Did you not know this happens when you were driving the fords?

Connie

iTrader: (3)

The Si also has a 6th gear so you can lessen the RPM for highway driving. I would recommend an Si as my brother has an 07 Si and my mom just got an 08 Si and they are both wonderful cars. I had an 02 EX and never had a single problem in the 5 years I owned it.

CMV

Yes, but it isn't a problem when you're driving an Explorer or Expedition (or F350 in OP's case). Unless you had your mirrors angled way down, headlights of those behind you weren't being reflected back into your face - at least not very intensly. They both had electrochromatic (I think that's what it was called) rearview mirrors that automatically tilted when lights hit them. The back glass was factory tinted pretty dark too, so any light coming to the rearview was already softened. Your passenger-side mirror is farther away, so one vehicle behind you would rarely hit all 3 of your mirrors art once.

Lots of other variables in that mix too - like now my eyes & mirrors are much closer to the height of the other cars' headlights where as before they were a few feet higher than typical headlights. The rear hatch (under the glass) and 3rd row seat on an SUV work like cutoffs too. Since it's higher than most headlights, the closer a vehicle gets to your rear, the more their headlights are blocked by it. As their lights are becoming more intense because they're getting closer to you, they are being blocked by your truck's body so less of that light can reach your rearview mirror & get reflected back in your face. In the Civic, it's the exact opposite - many other cars' headlights are inline with your rearview mirror and the closer they get to your rear, the more intensely they are reflected into your face. So your eyes adjust for all that extra light hitting them. You perceive the mirror glare to be as bright (or brighter) as your own headlights and your eyes are strained more as you're trying to focus on what's in front of you.

So yes, i knew it happens, just after 10+ years of SUV & pickup driving I'd kinda forgotten about it. I was used to NOT having the focused beam pattern of every pair of headlights behind me hit my mirrors, so it was a very noticeable difference.

CMV

Thanks for the recirc tip - I'll try that tonight!

Is the catz zeta an HID package or just a ballast to up the juice to the stock headlights?

I think I'll look around around for an HID upgrade. All I've read about so far seem to have mixed reviews, but there are some in the 4300k-5000k range with lots of positives. I don't want to do too much to change out the lights, so i want a fairly PnP kit - mount ballasts & swap bulbs. Anything else is more involved than i want to get.

TemjinX2

iTrader: (11)

i dont think its that big of a difference since the mileage on the ex and si are similar.

Also the difference between 87 and 91 (91 for the western states) is usually only $.20.

Based on 10 gallons gas and assume you fill up once a week on average that equals .20 x 10 = $2.00 x 4 = $8 more per month. Just skip one Mcdonalds meal and that'll make up the difference.

We're paying $3.50 in california for 91 and $3.30 for 87.

ericsd

I own a honda civic ex 2006 auto, after 900 miles and installing a K&N short ram intake, I get 38 miles a gallon without running AC and driving mostly city.

Hawkins115

Wow, thats amazing, what are you manual guys getting?

CMV

36.2 highway, 5 speed, stock, 06 EX

Haven't calculated city/combined yet.