Long-term report: Racking up the miles in our Honda Civic
When it comes to testing cars, it’s often extended, long-distance runs when spending multiple hours behind the wheel that expose any weaknesses or problems with a vehicle.
But it also reveals when a car excels, and for ‘my’ long-term Civic, that’s most certainly what’s been happening. I received the keys to RG22 TGY in the middle of January and it was thrown into the deep end from the start when it came to its usage.
In preparation for the upcoming journeys, I thought it was a good idea to take off the roof bars that have been on the car for as long as I’ve had it. They’re brilliant for making it so much easier when going biking without having to worry about putting dust sheets in the back of the car – or even trying to squeeze in a bike in the first place – but on a longer journey, the whistling from them can become tiring. I was also interested to see if it brought any improvements in fuel economy.
The good news is that it has, as while previously the Civic seemed to be averaging high-40s in terms of miles per gallon, it’s now getting just north of 50mpg, which is pretty close to Honda’s claimed 56.5mpg. While I like the look of roof bars on a car, removing them has given the Civic a much lower and sportier look, too. I’ve also been opening the panoramic sunroof more without having to deal with the monotonous whistling from the bars…
Any minor irritants? Well, it’s not so much a complaint, but I’ve found the adaptive cruise control doesn’t work quite as well as other cars I’ve previously run, including Volvo and Cupra models. It’s not as smooth when it comes to overtaking slower-moving vehicles, while it occasionally brakes for vehicles in other lanes, which is particularly annoying.
On one journey, in the rain and when salt had been spread on the road, the adaptive cruise was disabled altogether due to visibility issues from the cameras and radars which are needed for this feature to be able to work. Oddly I’ve driven in torrential rain again and the system worked faultlessly, so it might just have been a small blip.
When driving in the wet, I’ve also noticed the outsides of the door mirrors get especially caked in dirt. On a recent return from Portsmouth, I even had to go to a hand car wash as I realised that I couldn’t particularly see what was happening behind me. Of course, all car door mirrors can quickly become blathered in poor weather, but the Civic seems to be especially affected.
But these are very small complaints in what is otherwise a car that’s been almost impossible to fault. With only a few weeks left with the Civic, that’s unlikely to change either.