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-   -   Honda Civic : Maintenance, Service Costs and Must dos (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/technical-stuff/47997-honda-civic-maintenance-service-costs-must-dos-7.html)

I do not bother to check the mileage really - if you go for civic/AT, no point really. But yes, as the kms mount I do feel it has increased:)

I am surprised they have agreed. AFAIK, Honda will not allow their dealers to use anything other than their specified Honda mineral oil.

It is actually better to use mineral oil with frequent changes than use synthetic with longer interval oil changes. I have used both in my other cars and except for initial slight effect, does not really seem to matter much, since today's mineral oils have become even better than the old ones which were SC/SF classification.

I believe Honda's mineral oil is classified as SL. If I am wrong, please correct.

Hmm, the Honda dealer here has a specific entry in their accessories list for synthetic oil. It's Honda branded and you can ask them to fill it if you need it. If it's on their CRM system, surely it's Honda approved?

Hi,

Honda has started giving the option of sythetic oil - their own branded product. It is 3 times the mineral oil cost and oil change interval is 10000kms instead of the regular 5000kms interval.

It is available for City also.

Good to know. But for the civic in any case oil change is 6 months/10k km. So it translates to 3x the cost for perhaps 1.1x benefit? For regular city, yes since cost becomes only 1.5x.

Well, the benefits are not just a longer change interval. There's a big debate thread about it.

I have been getting ~9.5 kmpl in city and ~15 kmpl in highway (both with AC).

The Indian idea that AT is poor in mileage is wrong, Modern automatics like Civic can beat a manual.
My Civic-AT gives me 16 kmpl if hypermiled clap:. (max speed of 70 kmph, etc). Under normal highway driving the worst I get is 12 kmpl.
Aggressive driving gives me only 8.5 kmpl.

Maybe, but a slush box is a slush box and there are going to be torque converter losses. The modern auto boxes like civic, etc. do reduce the difference however to about 10-15%, unlike earlier autos where difference could be as high as 20-30%.

The Civic AT does seem to enjoy 68-72 kmph - at this speed the engine is barely ticking over at 1500 rpm or so and it is as if the torque converter is simply helping the momentum along, especially without AC. So you would get very good FE at these speeds. But the manual civic would give you 18-19 kmpl under those conditions.

Also the modern ATs do have a lot of engine braking built in as well. The civic AT does not simply go into top gear or neutral if let up on the acc. pedal.

That is true, I know. But it is still debated. Do a google search, there are lots of forums / threads on synthetic vs. mineral. But nothing conclusive in my view. Theoretically synthetic is supposed to be better than mineral, but practically?

I consistently get 9-9.5 in the City (in peak hour traffic) and 14-15 on the highway, in one trip I got 16.72 averageclap:

That's about quite fine and why the civic has become so popular.

Civic A/T has a torque converter lockup clutch, which once engaged, removes the slushbox losses entirely. At highway cruising speeds, it gives you the same mileage as an M/T.

Yes, at steady highway speeds it becomes a same as a MT.
Actually AT is better since the gearing is very tall compared to a MT for the Civic. (Source from old Overdrive mag).
At 74 kmph, engine speed is only 1,500 rpm in fifth gear. Can anyone with an MT please confirm the engine speed at the same speed in fifth gear?

Of course, the problem is that none of our highways allow us continual cruising. I'm guessing A/T Civics will see mileages above 15KMPL only on GQ runs or something. Anyway, I'm not too concerned right now - I've been trying out the paddles on our car after so many months and the feeling is electric. :D