Well I had another eventful April weekend. This time we drove up from Fredericton NB to Hawkesbury Ontario for my new Civic Si. My wife's new CR-V was supposed to be the first vehicle ready but this came in and they offered it to me. The story was that a customer ordered it and backed out, but I come to find out that the used car sales manager/trade in assessor ordered it for himself as a demo for the summer, but my sales guy sold it out from under him. I would feel bad for the guy, but turns out he's a VW guy (just came over from a VW dealership to be closer to his family) and he was more than happy to drive my GLI for the summer months instead.
So I'll post a couple of pictures of the fuel mileage in the fuel mileage section. Basically the GLI averaged 6.6L/100kms and was just over 100km/hr average speed. The weather wasn't the best, rainy, snow, and cold until Quebec City. I drove 10kms over the speed limit pretty much until the Montreal turn off on the route 30. Then we hit grid lock traffic for over half an hour, so that's why my speed wasn't higher and likely why my mileage wasn't a little bit better.
Coming back in the Civic Si, I averaged 5.6L/100kms and a speed a couple of ticks higher due to less traffic. But what impressed me the most about that number is that we had an extra 300ish lbs coming back in the vehicle between the set of winter tires and rims (black steelies), and 136 beers from Costco in QC. Plus the vehicle only had 12kms on the odometer. So I would imagine if I didn't have those extra pounds, a broke in engine, and drove the speed limit it'd likely be closer to 5L/100kms. Simply amazing fuel economy.
So first impressions was the exterior seems to be nicer in person than I had envisioned. I'm loving the color as it's just a little different. It really sparkles in the sun. I know not everyone likes black wheels but I think it suits this car and the black and orange them. I was saying that it kind of reminds me of Halloween, and in particular a pumpkin, hence the title. I name all my vehicles and this one I decided she will be named Jackie, which is short for Jack-O-Lantern.
The seats are narrower and really hug you, but are quite comfortable. It seems a bit more cramped than the GLI but by no means a huge difference. The steering is very heavy, heavier than my GLI in sport mode or my Golf R in race mode, but I like it as it makes me feel like it's purposeful. There is great feedback from the suspension and steering. The brakes are smaller than my VW's but they get the job done, it is over 300lbs lighter than the VW. The different Dunlop summer performance tires seem decent. We both felt like the Civic is marginally quieter, but not sure if it's the difference in tires, the heavy undercoating on the Civic, or just our hearing going. It rides like my GLI and R when they were in Sport/Race mode, so more firm, but not uncomfortable. The quality of the interior is very good, nice materials on all the touch points. Buttons, nobs, and little scrollers to use the infotainment, which is going to take a little adjustment.
Driving impressions is that this thing handles very well. I would call it darty and gives pretty good feedback to the driver on what the tires are doing. I wanted to break the engine in on my drive back so kept the revs below 3,000rpms and it seemed to do a very good job of picking up speed even at that low of RPM. It's definitely geared much closer to my Golf R than my GLI. I seem to be a gear higher in the Si compared to my GLI, and at highway speeds it is 500rpm's higher, which also kind of makes me wonder how it gets such good mileage. This car is not geared for 0-60 tests, you have to shift twice in order to get to that speed.
So the vehicle has these cool shift lights at the top of the instrument cluster, the start to light up at around 4,000rpms and move from the sides to the center until it beeps at you to shift gears. Now I haven't exactly done that much, actually only twice so far, but I can see this being somewhat entertaining when driving aggressively. I'd like to tell you about the power and acceleration but I really haven't explored that much. I really only gave her the beans once and it was wet so traction was limited. I'll be exploring it a bit more this week, but so far it seems similar to my GLI. Obviously the GLI should be faster, but the perception of speed can be very different between vehicles.
She is at the dealer this morning to get the NB motor vehicle inspection, and then later this week have to take all the paperwork and stuff down to Service NB to get the registration and plate. It'll be nice when all that's done and I can just enjoy the car.
I don't know if it's the honeymoon phase or what but I'm really quite enjoying the car so far. It has a lot more personality than the GLI. Don't get me wrong, the GLI was a great car and I can't say anything bad about it. I just never bonded with her, could be that I went from a Golf R right into a GLI and because they were so similar but also less sporty, I just didn't fall in love with it like I did my Golf R. Wasn't sad at all giving my keys to the dealer.
The only hiccup at the dealer was they couldn't find the second set of keys. They seemed to be a bit concerned but I wasn't really upset. Just told them to get another one cut and I'll pick it up when my wife's CR-V is ready, hopefully in a month or two. Paperwork went smooth, they had all their ducks in a row there. The sales guy was like 75 years old, and it was a little funny when he was trying to show me features and I ended up showing him more than he knew. I didn't take up much of his time as he was delivering 4 vehicles that afternoon.
So a couple of things I like and don't like so far. So I liked that when you input a destination in the Navigation that it doesn't just tell you when to turn, but a little picture comes up on the screen that shows you exactly what the sign will look like and the exit number. Just a little touch. The small little thing that got me excited more than it should was when the clock changed time when we crossed the NB border. Never understood why a navigation system doesn't do that considering the information should be there. What I don't like is the safety systems. Jackie is a lot more cautious (likely because the typical Civic Si drivers are reckless aholes). So the lane keep assist was constantly correcting, she seemed to have a hard time sensing that I had a hand on the steering wheel (I mean I wasn't exactly steering much being on a highway and she was constantly adjusting the steering). I don't like that the adaptive cruise when you pull out to pass it takes what seems like forever to start to pick up speed again, plus if there is a car close in the passing lane the car waits until the distance between you is back up to the set level. Keeping with the cruise, I really disliked that when going down a big hill, if you go over 10kms/hr than you set, it will brake. Which causes wear on the brakes and hurts fuel economy. Maybe I can adjust that in the settings but haven't really got into that much yet.
My GLI when you reached 65kms of range indicated will ask you nicely if she can find you a gas station. Jackie at 100kms of range left says something like "find gas now". She's very demanding. LOL
The stereo system is a Bose 12 speaker deal, coming from a Beats stereo system in the GLI, I think the Civic is better. It just seems to have a bit more range and is more crisp. My wife enjoyed when I let her put on her angry girl music and crank it the last hour of the drive. I think she's more than a bit jealous of my stereo. She missed the Infinity Stereo that she had in her Santa Fe for a decade (even though she did blow a speaker towards the end due to having it too loud listening to a Florence and Machine song).
The shifting is much much shorter and the actual shift knob is tiny compared to the Golf R and GLI I'm used to. It wasn't hard to get acquainted with the shifting. The auto rev match is a little weird because I'm just so used to blipping the throttle on down shifts, but it's pretty much perfect in every down shift so I'll get used to it. First car I've driven that is manual and has stop/start feature. Basically if you come to a stop and it's in neutral with the clutch not engaged it will shut off, the second you push the clutch down it starts right back up. I'm not sure how much I'll use that, if it gets annoying I'll just turn it off. I typically sit at a light with the clutch engaged anyway, so it should only come on when I know I'll be sitting for awhile.
This is the first car I have got with a ceramic coat on the paint. I think they did the full shebang too, inside the door, the windows, everything. The water just beads off. Seemed to be super easy to clean and I like the little mud guards behind the front wheels. The interior is treated also, plus the undercoating. It was part of the Honda ultimate protection plan. I pretty much did this for the 10 year warranty on rust, paint and interior, but the ceramic coating seems to be good, at least so far. I'll probably do a few little undercoating/rust protection spray on my own yearly, and probably get it Krowned (without holes being drilled) at certain intravels just to make sure any spots that are bare get covered again. I'm thinking likely every 3-4 years to get the pros to do it.
The engine sounds inside are decent, I know they are enhanced but not offensive. I'd be okay without them but I also don't dislike them either. I don't think it's an overly loud vehicle outside, at least not any more than my GLI, and likely quieter than my Golf R.
So with it having a 7 year extended warranty (Honda have some of the cheapest extended warranties in the industry) the plan is to pay this off in 3 years, then get a fun RWD vehicle for good weather months (I'm thinking it might have to be a muscle car as they will likely all be turning into EV's soon and V8's will soon be gone). If my driving similar mileage for the next 7 years I will likely only have about 50,000kms by the 7 year mark. If it's been reliable and still in good shape I might keep it longer and swap my summer vehicle instead. If I keep it past the warranty I will 100% be getting a Hondata tune.
For whatever reason the dealer installed the block heater and stuck the cord out the front, plus they zip tied it. I popped the hood (which was fun trying to find the little lever to open it), and there is a bunch of stuff behind the grill so I can't even see the block heater cord from above. I think I'll just leave it where it is for now, but it is kind of an eye sore, but less so than a front plate at least (no front plates in NB now). This is my first vehicle (that's meant for me that is) that I have owned with an actual spare tire and not some repair and inflation kit. Hopefully I won't ever have to use it. This is going to be a great winter vehicle I think, heated steering wheel, heated seats, block heater, and the best winter tires and rims (Bridgestone Blizzaks and black steeelies, I know how much some of you love that, LOL).
I'm trying to gauge the level of care I will have for this vehicle as far as keeping it spotless and what not. It's just a mildly fast Civic, plus it'll will morph into a winter beater/commuter before long. Do I really need to hand wash it often, clean the interior multiple times per year, clay bar it and wax it multiple times per year? That's what I did with my Golf R, less so with the GLI. I'm thinking a once per year clay bar, maybe only one wax, a couple of details, and using a microfiber brush instead. Maybe I'll spend a bit more for a top notch wax for that once per year. I just don't want to sweat the little defects that happen over the 7 years of ownership.
Here's a couple of pictures and I'll post more below.
