Thanks to Ashley who invited us to check on her car, here we got a chance to write a detail used car reviews on her 2007 Honda Civic. Ashley bought the Honda Civic back in February 2007. It is just about a year after the eighth generation of the Civic has been introduced. The model year is 2007 and it is an Asian model which also known as Civic FD.

The reason why Ashley invited us to review on her car is because the mileage is going to hit 99999 km today. And yes, we are the lucky one who rides in the car with her from 99999 km to 100000 km. We drive the car up hill, down hill and also try some corners with higher speed. We also test the car at speedway up to 170 km/h and the result is really impressive. The car feels stable at 165 km/h and started to feel a little “windy” when the speed hit 170 km/h. Boy, don’t try this at normal way.

How the car was taken care? The car we are reviewing is owned by a single lady at 30 years old. She bought the car when she was 26 years old. 100,000 km for 5 years is quite an average based on our study. Each year runs 20,000 km is somehow average for a car that travel roughly 50 km a day. The owner maintains the car follow the basic car maintenance schedule as suggested in the owner’s manual. Engine oil get changed every 5,000 to 10,000 depending on the oil grade. Brake fluid, auto transmission fluid, and oil filter was changed on time too. According to the owner, spark plug only changed twice since new and the brake pad was replaced when the car hit 70,000 km. Four tires were replaced when 80,000 km when the thread almost finish. We noticed that the only thing didn’t change on time is the air filter. It is dirty and not really in good condition. The car also went to car wash every two weeks and interior gets polished every three months with cheap polish kits purchased from Tesco.

Total maintenance cost over ~5 years

For the first few times, Ashley brought the car back to Honda for maintenance and services because it is free and under warranty. After that she feels it is unnecessary to have a nice café to sit while waiting for the car so she brought to a trusted mechanic for cheaper labor cost. This is the rough estimation of what she has spent for the car over ~5 years.

• Engine oil, oil filter, and services: RM220 x 10 times = RM2,200. Each time for 10,000 km.
• Car Tires: RM1,200 for four
• Spark plug: RM60
• Transmission fluid: RM80
• Brake Fluid: RM50
• Air-cond fan and AC gas: RM380
• Total: RM3,970. The amount is really amazing.

Update: At the ninth years, the owner, Ashley contacted us saying the car has reached 117,000 km (72,700 miles) and she has replaced the engine motor mount.

What is good about this car? It tastes like a new car. The 1.8-liter 16 valve chain-driven SOHC i-VTEC engine gives the maximum 140 hp @ 6,300 rpm and maximum torque 174 Nm @ 4,300 rpm. As we mentioned above, the car is still stable at 160 km/h after putting 100,000 km on it. Cornering, up hill, and braking is pretty good too. The 1.8-liter has enough power for us although there are rumors said that it is under power. May be the rumors were compared to the 2.0S model.

What isn’t so good about this car? The color of the rubber surrounding the car window at four doors is faded and need replacement. It has never been changed before. According to the owner, the air-condition start giving problems when the car runs 80,000 km. The air-condition fan was spoilt and it was replaced. At the moment we test drive the car, the AC pulley is seems not in good condition too. It causes the AC not cold enough when the car stuck in traffic jam.

What about the look? As for the exterior, the car still looks brand new. The headlights didn’t become yellow like some of the cheap cars do. The rear lights, exterior logo, grill, bumper, and windscreen are still in good condition. For the interior, dashboard did not have any crack although it often park under hot sun. The only thing spoilt is the Honda logo at the steering wheel which is a little odd.

What about the safety features? The car has a good braking system with ABS assisted. Front is using ventilated disc and rear is using solid disc. It also comes with dual SRS airbags, security alarm system.

Any extra point for it? Yes the car boot is big enough for few large luggages and the fuel consumption is low.

Price: There are three models available from Honda, the Civic 1.8S, Civic 1.8S-L, and the hotter model Civic 2.0S. 1.8S is basic model without leather seat from the price of RM114,980, 1.8S-L is RM119,980 and the hotter 2.0S is from RM130,980.

Honda Civic’s competitor or similar car: Toyota Corolla, Nissan Sylphy, Mazda3, Peugeot 308, Kia Forte, Chevrolet Cruze, Volkswagen Polo, Ford Focus, Mitsubishi Lancer, and Proton Inspira.

In conclusion, the Honda Civic is definitely still smells as good as new car after almost 5 years of driving with 100,000 km run.