[hserus]

http://www.wsj.com/articles/consumer...ity-1477331492

The influential product-review magazine pointed to several problems on the redesigned Civic—ranging from electronics failures to entire dashboard consoles needing replacement—as reasons for withdrawing its coveted stamp of approval for the second time in five years.

...

Honda made extensive design changes when it overhauled the Civic for the 2016 model year, increasing the chances of problems occurring, he added.

Whereas Honda once took a more conservative approach to model redesigns—phasing in major changes over several years rather than all at once—it has become more aggressive in recent years in moving quickly to introduce new technology, Mr. Fisher said.

In 2011, Consumer Reports dropped its recommendation for the 2012 Honda Civic, citing “lower interior quality” and “a choppy ride, long-stopping distances and pronounced road noise.”

[sumeethaldankar]

The link is asking for a sign-in. Does the article say that the new Honda Civic has reliability issues?

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by sumeethaldankar

The link is asking for a sign-in. Does the article say that the new Honda Civic has reliability issues?

"The influential product-review magazine pointed to several problems on the redesigned Civic—ranging from electronics failures to entire dashboard consoles needing replacement—as reasons for withdrawing its coveted stamp of approval for the second time in five years."

This is a big disappointment. Last time they did this, Honda Civic as a brand went very low and they also decided not to launch the car in many markets including India, till the redesign was made available.

Not sure about the future of this new civic now.

It was looking good for Honda with the design being a huge hit and the 1.5L turbo petrol being equally good as well. Plus the coupe and the hatchback models were also well received in many markets.

Edit - Previously this happened in 2011 for the earlier generation and was discussed here - http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/intern...rts-tests.html

[reignofchaos]

Anything CR publishes should be taken with a pinch of salt.

[SmartCat]

Issues don't seem to be very serious

Consumer Reports dinged the Civic for its "infuriating" touch-screen radio, lack of driver lumbar adjustability, the limited selection of cars on dealer lots fitted with Honda's popular Sensing system, and the company's decision to offer LaneWatch instead of a full-tilt blind-spot monitoring system. Its score? A lowly 58.

http://www.autoblog.com/2016/10/24/c...s-honda-civic/

Originally Posted by reignofchaos

Anything CR publishes should be taken with a pinch of salt.

Oh, why?

[vineethvazhayil]

Originally Posted by reignofchaos

Anything CR publishes should be taken with a pinch of salt.

Sweeping statement, that one. They publish the reliability rating based on surveys of their readers. So the fact that the car hasn't been reliable is not something they made up - people who bought the new Civic have told them that the car hasn't been reliable - and if the percentage of such people is higher than the survey average overall, they drop the recommendation. Now, the problems could be for infotainment systems (Honda has made some big changes on that), or many things non drivetrain related, but yet that is also part of the ownership experience. If you have to leave your brand new car at the dealer because the HVAC controls are not working (because it is all hidden behind the touchscreen), that is a problem, isn't it? The car is still in its first model year, there are likely kinks that Honda will have to iron out, and maybe next year, the reliability will be better and they will start recommending the car again. That is just normal for any brand.

[hserus]

Cribs about Honda not providing feature X or feature Y aren't as much of an irritant.

This quote from the WSJ article is a lot scarier and would definitely be a dealbreaker for anyone considering a new 2016 Civic.

ranging from electronics failures to entire dashboard consoles needing replacement

[reignofchaos]

Originally Posted by vineethvazhayil

Sweeping statement, that one. They publish the reliability rating based on surveys of their readers. So the fact that the car hasn't been reliable is not something they made up - people who bought the new Civic have told them that the car hasn't been reliable - and if the percentage of such people is higher than the survey average overall, they drop the recommendation.

This is what they claim and they also claim they take reader feedback without root causing it themselves - I.e. take every reader's opinion verbatim. The reader might be whining about the system without knowing how to use it. This is exactly what happened with the xc90. The system had a learning curve which people assumed was just faulty and caused Volvo to drop 7 places in reliability this year. This is exactly why their ratings must be taken with a pinch of salt.

[vineethvazhayil]

Originally Posted by reignofchaos

This is what they claim and they also claim they take reader feedback without root causing it themselves - I.e. take every reader's opinion verbatim. The reader might be whining about the system without knowing how to use it. This is exactly what happened with the xc90. The system had a learning curve which people assumed was just faulty and caused Volvo to drop 7 places in reliability this year. This was not because he car was unreliable but rather the owner didn't know how to use something and assumed it was broken.

I have been personally responding to their surveys for the last 5 years. The questions are very targeted and there is no guesswork. I don't know how you could come to conclusions like "The reader might be whining about the system".

[desdemona]

Survey based, rather than thorough-research and contextualisation/ethnography-based, methodologies are necessarily problematic, being riddled with unintended biases and selection/sampling errors, and that is: at best.

A sounder measure, albeit one that's retrospective rather than pseudo-prospective, are warranty repair-rates and warranty total-costs for particular brands/sub-brands/nameplates.

The warranty statistics+costs databases yield results often at great variance to the claims made by the survey-based JD Power or CR.

It is sad that in India we have (wide) access neither to sound (such as they may be) survey-based studies NOR relatively honest and accurate warranty-cost-incidence data or indeed motor insurance data, either, for different brands and models.

[RajaTaurus]

"Electronic failures and dashboard replacement?" That's scary. I was awaiting for Civic to replace my Cedia and definitely I wouldn't have been a happy man if Civic had been launched here this year. Thank God I bought a Tank instead (read Jetta).

[GTO]

That's a big blow to Honda! Who would've ever thought that Hondas will have niggles. But then, we've seen them on the Indian City too.

Originally Posted by reignofchaos

Anything CR publishes should be taken with a pinch of salt.

You can rubbish them all you want, but I can tell you a majority of folk (myself included) deeply respect Consumer Reports. In the USA, Consumer Reports can make or break a car's reputation. Even manufacturers don't rubbish Consumer Reports. Many of them actually visit their test facilities to understand the reported problems and improve their products.

Originally Posted by reignofchaos

This is what they claim and they also claim they take reader feedback without root causing it themselves - I.e. take every reader's opinion verbatim.

Then you shouldn't believe the good ratings either? Consumer Reports does find other Hondas reliable.

Check out this thread on a Civic forum, and just how many owners are complaining about the Civic's build.

As a proud & happy ex-owner of the 8th-gen Civic, I am disappointed at the direction in which Honda is moving. My 2007 Civic felt just awesome in terms of quality.

[hserus]

I'm seeing quite a few niggles on the 2014 Amaze myself - creaking noises in SOMETHING on the front passenger side when driving at speeds, poor ergonomics, occasional complaints from various people about the cooling coil getting dirt clogged and AC not functional because Honda is too cheap to include a Rs.300 cabin air filter, just leaving the filter box dummied ..

Not sure what is up with Honda. Cost saving tactics?

[vineethvazhayil]

Originally Posted by GTO

As a proud & happy ex-owner of the 8th-gen Civic, I am disappointed at the direction in which Honda is moving. My 2007 Civic felt just awesome in terms of quality.

I definitely believe these are first model year problems, keep in mind this generation of Civic was hurriedly put together after the rather disappointing last generation was universally panned (no sales impact though). Honda definitely went chasing a higher segment - the look, the feel, the tech available, the ride and handling etc of the new Civic are all befitting higher segments. I think they will work on the niggles in the second and third year. By the time the car gets to India, I'm sure it'd be a lot better.

[vineethvazhayil]

Here is a great review of the Civic (the coupe)

savagegeese - 2017 Civic Coupe review

. It touches upon the great positives and the negatives. Touches upon the horrible infotainment gremlins that have been cited as a reason by CR to pull the recommended ratings. The interior review is at about the 24-minute mark.