2012 Honda Civic LX

I'm still attempting to update this blog as often as I can. I think I'm doing a better job than I did last year where I went months without an update. Here's a common car that's been updated.

Introduction: The Honda Civic was introduced in 1973 as Honda's first true attempt at making cars. Before the Civic, Honda was only known for making motorcycles and little did anyone know that the Civic would become one of the most important car names several years later. The timing of the Civic couldn't have been better due to the 1973 oil crisis where demand for small and light cars were in higher demand in North America. For its entire history the Honda Civic has popularized front wheel drive back during a time when the Corolla was rear wheel drive. It also popularized the use of multi-link suspension and eventually double wishbone suspension. Honda removed the double wishbone suspension from the 7th generation Civic due to its cost. The Civic now in its 9th generation has still retained its lead as top selling compact car in North America

Normally this car isn't very interesting to review but lately this car has been getting a lot of criticism starting with Consumer Reports. The majority of them criticized the cost cutting and the rather tepid improvements made to this car. This has provoked a response from Honda saying that a new refresh will be on the way sooner than normal and will address some of the criticisms. Now, I'm part of no publication nor do I get any form of sponsorship, I want to get to the bottom of this to see whether this car is actually bad or not.

Performance: The new Honda Civic is given a new 1.8L engine to replace the old 1.8L engine. When it comes to the raw numbers, the performance figures don't really change. You get the same 140 hp and 128 lb.ft of torque you got from the old car. The acceleration figure is still exactly the same at 9.2 seconds to get to 100 km/h from a dead stop. The car is no heavier and no lighter still being roughly 1200 kg. You're still given a choice between a 5-speed manual or automatic, not the 6-speeds other new cars are given. The only benefit you're given for going with this model over the old one is the fuel economy is a bit better on the highway. However judging from what most people have managed, its only marginally better. Frankly at the end of the day this is pretty much the exact same 2006 you're given with no real reason to switch. Its 6 years later and frankly its too slow now and there are more fuel efficient vehicles out there.

My Score: 4/10 - 2006 performance from a vehicle in 2012, I scored the car 6/10 3 years ago its no better today.

Handling: This new car also doesn't bring back the double wishbone suspension Honda fans absolutely love. You still have multi-link rear suspension fortunately, which means no terrible torsion bar to deal with but I can't see any real changes to the car either. The steering is even lighter than last time which annoyed me already. Honda has tweaked this suspension further in the range of comfort rather than performance, as a result this is the least bone jarring Civic I've been in...but the limit to when this car understeers is much easier to reach than it used to be. Driving a car that is capable of understeer at 40 km/h is disappointing to say the least. This car has gotten more boring.

My Score: 5/10 - Understeer limit is easier to reach, boring to drive, however comfortable for a Civic.

Interior: One of the things I loved about the previous Civic was the rather advanced looking dials and gauges you were given. This car didn't really chance much of that, however they added something which I annoyed me to no end. The speedometer is no longer separate and now part of a large dash readout. Most of the information is easy to read. What I hated however was the bar lights that surround the dash. Its the most distracting thing I've found in a car dash readout, it turns blue and green with what seems to be no real reason and because its in your line of sight your eye starts to become curious at why its changing colours. Sadly I haven't found way to turn off this frankly stupid feature. I turned off eco-mode which doesn't seem to do anything with that and remained annoyed as I drove this car. The interior quality of the car remains much the same as last time...lots of very cheap plastic which isn't very nice. They still angled the dash which damages my knee in the old car, this new car does it the same way, you won't notice if your tall, but if you're short this is a problem. The stereo is a better unit this time around, much easier to use than the somewhat messy one from the old car. This being the LX model it will have A/C, power locks and other features you'd expect a car of this level to have the cheapo DX model doesn't. The visibility remains much the same, the C-pillars are still fairly large on a car this size. The build quality on this car is much the same as last time as well. This car is built in two plants in North America, its either going to be made in Greensburg, Indiana, United States or Alliston, Ontario, Canada.

My Score: 4/10 - Not a whole lot different from last time, however the utterly annoying bar lighting is terrible and its still lacking standard features like power locks even 6 years later.

Exterior: From the front, this car is exactly the same as the old one. Apart from the slightly different grille there's just no difference from the old car. The rear has changed a bit, but this look is the same boring look people criticized Toyota for the 5th gen Camry and the 1st gen Prius. There's not much to say, they didn't bother styling this car.

My Score: 1/10 - No effort into styling this into a "new" car. All styling changes have actually made the car more dull than before.

Value for money: Now starting with the base car its under 15K. However this is the model most people will buy and this car is about 18K. Why? Its simple if you want A/C, power locks, split folding rear seats, the base DX is no good. The cheapo Corolla has split folding rears as standard, the Mazda3 goes further by having power windows and locks and standard rear disc brakes. This car is also only offered in sedan or coupe form, no hatchback or wagon is available, if you wanted a hatch the Civic has been no good since 2002. The driving impressions on this new Civic is just downright dull, you're just better off with a Kia Forte, Mazda3, Mitsubishi Lancer and the VW Golf. The interior appointments are of low quality, you'll find the Ford Focus, VW Golf, any maybe the Chevrolet Cruze to be better appointed. Want the more fuel efficient car? Mazda3, Hyundai Elantra, Ford Focus and Chevrolet Cruze are your best choices. So you're just essentially riding on the Honda Civic badging, overall this car would be great as a 2006 model...but its 2012 and the Civic from 2006 is pretty much the same...I mean it can't even beat competition from itself from 6 years ago. All new is totally wrong, this is still that same 2006 car now competing against cars that feel post-2010. As a result its terrible value, and if you like this car here's my suggestion, buy a used Civic from 2006-2011, they're exactly the same and you save money in the process.

My Score: 3/10 - Against actual new cars, this car is outdated simply by the fact its really no better than it was 6 years ago. Its not even good value or reduced in price like most other outdated cars. You could get worse cars but this is simply unacceptable for a 18K car.

Overall: 17/50 - For a "all-new" car, this has one of the laziest efforts ever made by an automaker. I can't think of a worse reason for giving money to a company that just doesn't try. It'd get less criticism if they called this car the 8.5th generation Civic, its definitely not a real 9th gen but that's Honda's own fault.

2009 Honda Fit

I'm trying to make up for the lack of a single review last month. This time a Honda.


Introduction: The Honda Fit has been around in the North American market since 2006. The first generation despite being outdated when it was first introduced ended up being one of the most popular subcompact cars. Doing well against its competition the Nissan Versa, the Toyota Yaris, the Hyundai Accent, and Kia Rio. In 2009 a brand new version was introduced, being larger than the outgoing model. Honda hopes to continue its success with this new Fit that the old one managed to accomplish.

I was eager to try this car out as I quite liked the older Fit. The older one was easily my favourite among the subcompact cars so I was holding this car up to that standard.


Performance: The Fit gets a newer 1.5L engine that comes with i-VTEC which boosts its power now to 117 hp and 106 lb.ft of torque. Since the car gained a bit of weight due to its increased size this power increase does not translate into a quicker car. It takes about 10.7 seconds to accelerate from 0-100 km/h which is about a second slower than the older car. Fuel economy is still very good and due to how few changes were made to the engine overall over the old one not all that different.

My Score: 7/10 - Has the same good points as the old engine...unfortunately its a bit slower this time.

Handling: I absolutely enjoyed how sharp the old Fit handled in corners despite its so so ride comfort. In this car, I believe the weight has changed the way this car handles. The steering feel is somehow not as capable of producing feel like the old one. Both are electric power steering systems, but somehow this new Fit doesn't seemed tuned to the level of sharpness the old one had. Taking this into corners, because of the larger size I started to feel the high center of gravity and the added bulk. It corners somewhat flat, but definitely not to the standards of the older one. This one had the same feeling of driving a minivan I'm afraid. This car does ride a bit better than the older car, but I feel in this case it doesn't justify losing what I felt made the Fit a good car.

My Score: 6/10 - Disappointing, the Fit lost its nimbleness in favour of becoming a tiny van.


Interior: I had no qualms about the older car's interior despite being mostly plastic. All cars in this segment will have mostly plastic interiors. In the case of the new Fit, unfortunately its a bit easy to see that Honda cut items. The carpet for instance is very thin, the door pouches are made of thin plastic and the wheel is much like the cheap Civic wheel where if you don't buy the options you get very thin plastic with enough holes to be a cheese grater. Honda advertises this car has 8 cup holders...but I don't care, plus how many drinks do you need for a car that carries only 5 passengers? A few of them were cheaply thrown in making them unpleasant. Honda placed the climate controls in a fashion closer to the steering wheel...but filled the center of the console with a ugly stereo. As it is with Honda, this stereo doesn't redeem itself being a low quality sounding system. The good news is due to the Fit's larger size, head room isn't much of an issue for a smaller car and the seats fold flat better allowing a decent amount of cargo room. Fortunately it doesn't have any build quality issues, the Honda Fit is built in Suzuka, Mie, Japan.

My Score: 6/10 - Lots of room considering its size, but it shows a lot more cheapness than before and has a ugly stereo.

Styling: I always thought the old Fit was a rather conservative looking car for Honda. This new one doesn't really change this, the rear is a tad bit different but overall it doesn't look all that different from the old one. Its more round and bigger for certain but no other noticeable changes. It still looks like a pretty decent hatchback.

My Score: 7/10 - Much like the old one not much has changed.

Value for money: This issue was the biggest failing of the older car. I scored the older car a 4 due to its price. This new one sadly does not change this at all. I consider this car to be worse than the older one and due to the changes particularly to the interior is not even justified. Worse yet, it no longer has an outdated Toyota Yaris to push around now with the new Ford Fiesta and Mazda2 arriving. I'm interested in seeing how the Mazda2 fares, it may take the mantle of most fun subcompact that I believed was true of the old Fit. Already the Mazda2 is cheaper, but this Fit at a disadvantage. The cheap interior is not going to help against a re-energized Ford, Hyundai is coming with a new Accent which is certain to have a better interior.

My Score: 2/10 - Even worse value than the old car as its still expensive but feels much cheaper, its competition is better too.

Overall: 28/50 - A disappointment, one of my favourite Hondas has become soft and driver unfriendly vehicle full of nasty cheapness.

2006-2009 Honda Civic

Despite being Christmas holiday I seemed to have found not nearly enough time to write a review and do all the things I wanted to do on this holiday. Here goes a common car...


Introduction: The Honda Civic was introduced in 1973 as Honda's first true attempt at making cars. Before the Civic, Honda was only known for making motorcycles and little did anyone know that the Civic would become one of the most important car names several years later. The timing of the Civic couldn't have been better due to the 1973 oil crisis where demand for small and light cars were in higher demand in North America. The Civic now in its 8th generation is often a sales leader in its segment in many markets.

The Civic is one of the most well known cars on the planet along with the Toyota Corolla. There isn't a continent that doesn't have a modest presence of Honda Civics, more often than not there is a pretty large presence of this car. When I got the chance to drive these cars I always wondered what the hype was about, since at least around here this car is the choice of many young drivers.


Performance: The standard Civic has a 1.8L engine that produces 140 hp and 128 lb.ft of torque, this is actually quite impressive for an engine this size and despite being close to 4 years old is still more powerful than the 2009 Toyota Corolla. However this engine despite the power has disappointing acceleration partly down to the lower torque number. To accelerate from 0-100 km/h it takes about 9.2 seconds meaning this is not the quickest car in the segment, it actually loses to the old Mazda3 and the Mitsubishi Lancer. You notice the lack of torque the moment you need to go to highway speeds, it goes slower...eerily similar to how a Toyota Prius starts to slows down, the exception however is the Civic makes a lot more noise and its not very pleasant. The good news though is the fuel economy is quite good.

My Score: 6/10 - Lacking torque causing disappointing acceleration , noisy at the top end, however its still a decent engine with good fuel economy...its just not very exciting.

Handling: This is where I usually hear of the Civic's party piece over the likes of the Toyota Corolla and pretty much everything else. My impressions of this car...is not the same, I actually disagree with most auto reviewers about this car. I found this car when it came to corners to be pretty...boring. The steering is quite light and unfortunately it really lacks the feel that I get from a Mitsubishi or a Mazda. The cornering itself is actually quite alright, you will notice some of the roll when you push it but its not nearly up to that level. This is one of the more comfortable Hondas I had a ride in which is a plus, I remember my ride in a RSX and my bottom was very sore. If Honda actually made this car feel like the old Fit, I'd have a much more different feeling about its handling but I actually feel pleased to say Honda has sacrificed fun in favour of comfort.

My Score: 6/10 - Its got alright handling, but its not an exciting car to take to a corner if this is what you want in a car...buy a Mitsubishi or a Mazda.


Interior: Features with the interior will depend entirely on which of the trim levels you bought the Civic in. The base DX for instance will have no power locks, in all honesty Honda intended you to buy power locks because the Civic is one of the least manual lock friendly vehicles out there. The LX is fitted with a few more options while the EX has all the interior toys. The interior itself has been styled...quite well, Honda clearly went with a more futuristic theme with the way all the plastics are styled to look. I really like the addition of the digital dash, most of the important information from the dash is located above the wheel where its most effective to be viewed. The stereo despite its size is disappointing, its not as intuitive as the rest of the interior. The most worrying thing for me however is the plastic quality most noticeable with the doors, its very thin and flimsy. The Civic is not the cheapest car and seeing such flimsy plastic is not something I like when cheaper and frankly worse cars use thicker materials. Build quality however is very good, I haven't seen one issue with trim from any Civic. Canadian Civics are all made in Alliston, Ontario, Canada.

My Score: 7/10 - Kudos to Honda for the digital dash for trying something Toyota and Nissan used to do but chickened out, good styling theme, well built, but disappointing materials.

Styling: Honda went through a bit of a compromise with the styling. Its clear Honda wanted to go with the futuristic theme, but for all markets except Europe they held back and decided to go with a mix of future styling and conventional styling. Europe on the other hand truly went beyond to make the Civic like no other car. The Civic those of us who aren't from Europe is not a bad looking car...but if really fails to distinguish itself from newer cars. Its sad they held back because if this was the Euro Civic I'd easily give it a 10. Everything is different on the Euro Civic, from the door handles to the exhausts(triangle shaped), nothing is all that different with the one we have. Add that the LX gets some terrible rims.

My Score: 6/10 - Honda held back, compared to the Euro Civic we got the less interesting and therefore less attractive version.

Value for money: The Civic has some very fierce competition, this segment is by far the largest and has the most competitors. In terms of pricing its defeated by the American and Korean entrees. In performance and fun its defeated by the Suzuki, Mitsubishi and Mazda. Its extremely conventional unlike the Sentra which opted for CVT. Its not as fuel efficient as Toyota's Corolla, and its quality and reputation are very closely equaled by the Toyota. Considering the Civic started at $17,000 initially it was the second most expensive vehicle in the segment. If it had the Euro styling I can see why one would pay more, but it doesn't. As a result its not a particularly great value down to the fact it just doesn't do anything better than anyone, someone has beaten it somewhere.

My Score: 5/10 - Fair value overall due to being average or good in most fields, not a great value however as it doesn't push far enough in any category to be great at something.

Overall: 30/50 - Its an average car, its a pity it doesn't do anything particularly well in its own segment. I wonder if I scored the Civic the worst on the internet who isn't a anti-Honda lunatic? That said I feel the Lancer and Mazda3 are much better cars overall, I may love the digital dash but that just isn't enough to make it a good car.

2007-2008 Honda Fit

I don't know why small cars often get a bad rep in North America, it seems bigger cars are always seen in a better light. If it weren't for the safety issues associated with small cars I don't think they look that bad considering they're light, efficient, affordable(within reason) and can be good to drive. Maybe its because American car companies in the past made a huge mess with their small cars attempting to encourage car buyers to pay more for bigger cars.


Introduction: The Honda Fit is a relatively new addition to Honda's lineup for North America. Previously Honda has never competed in this subcompact segment leaving it up to Toyota and its Tercel against mainly Korean competition which back then was really weak. In 2006 Honda decided to bring over the Fit over even though its been in production since 2001, likely due to the fact fuel prices were soaring. Unknown to North America, Honda has actually been in the subcompact market for a long time with cars like the City, the Logo, and my favourite of the bunch the Beat(a rare layout being a mid-engined kei car) however they were mostly available only in Japan. The Fit has had quite a success in the European markets where its known as the Jazz. This version of the Honda Fit would have a short North American lifespan due to the fact Honda already planned the new Fit to be introduced by 2009.

I must be honest, I actually did want to try this little car out to see if it was better than Toyota's entry the Yaris. I've already driven the Civic from before and I didn't really think it was all too deserving of its praise, but I knew that this Fit should suit my tastes a lot more due to it being geared for Europe and Japan instead of America.


Performance: The 1.5L 4-cylinder engine Honda has equipped the Fit produces 109 hp and 105 lb.ft of torque which so far is the lowest powered engine of all the cars I've reviewed. This engine does have Honda's famed VTEC system in it and actually is a reasonable engine for this sort of car. The goal was not power but rather adequate power and fuel efficiency, this engine is considered large for Europe and Japan which both allow the use of 660 cc engines(basically 0.6L) but is considered very small for North America. Having driven this car with this engine, it actually was pretty peppy and doesn't have the drone of say the awful Magnum with its V6. All things considered this is actually a good engine so long as power is not a huge requirement. Its not brilliant for highway driving but it can actually do it, I cannot say the same for some cars with bigger and more powerful engines.

My Score: 8/10 - It doesn't have much power, but it doesn't really need to. Great fuel efficiency, reasonable performance and not much noise is all that's needed for a city car.

Handling: The Fit has to be one of Honda's best efforts when it comes to making a car handle. This is precisely why I like small cars, the low amount of weight equipped with a suspension that is geared to handle well makes these cars quite fun. The steering wheel was weighted correctly, the handling is very good and the car remained rather stable in the corners. I cannot say the same for Honda's other cars but for the Fit, I enjoyed its cornering ability and thus will give it top marks.

My Score: 10/10 - Great handling, properly weighted steering wheel and the ride quality doesn't really suffer. All in all this is why the car is called Fit, weight is actually not a problem for this car.


Interior: The Fit is one of the best of the subcompacts today to feature an interior worthy of being in a larger more expensive car. The layout of the dashboard is very simple and not very complicated and despite being an interior designed in 2001...it looks better than several cars with interiors designed from 2007 to now. It actually fits neatly with Honda's current more advanced styling of their new interiors. The plastics on the Fit are of reasonable quality which is hard to say these days. The seats in the Fit are quite comfortable and due to the way the car is shaped even a fairly tall person can drive a Fit without major issues so its reasonably spacious. Lastly they're built in Japan, I have yet to see a Fit that was built incorrectly, the fit and finish were good.

My Score: 9/10 - A very good, spacious interior for a small car. I would have liked to see more aluminum instead of plastic but there's little to complain about this car's interior.

Styling: The Honda Fit is not one of Honda's more revolutionary styling cases. Its rather similar to what Honda was doing in the early portion of 2000 and thus its not all that interesting to look at. The head lights are are more aggressive but from the rear its pretty plain. All in all the Fit is pretty modest, it looks pretty good for a modest looking car but its certainly not something significant or even interesting.

My Score: 7/10 - A reasonable looking 5-door hatchback, no real interesting styling cues unfortunately.

Value for money: Everything is looking great so far, you got a good interior for a fun but fuel efficient vehicle. Sadly the Fit does have a problem, its quite expensive. Every single car it competes against is cheaper and every time you go up a trim level for a Fit it starts looking very expensive even more so than the next level up compacts. You can easily spend more than 20K on a Honda Fit but you don't get a bigger engine or a excellent package to make it a car worth more than 20K. The Honda Fit also is stuck with only a hatchback version, compared to its rivals its very limited in versatile options. With this high cost, you need to hope the car lasts for a very long time to make it all worth biting the high initial costs.

My Score: 4/10 - Very expensive subcompact car, surprisingly poor value versus its rivals and not very flexible with options.

Overall: 38/50 - A great small car, clearly my favourite of all the subcompacts. Its only truly hindered by being expensive. You need to convince yourself that it truly is worth the money to suffer the high initial costs. If you can, you get a very good car in the end.