I have to say that I am really having a dream run in my dream machine. The last few weeks have been really hectic both for me and my Civic. After my earlier trips to Yelagiri and Mahabalipuram, it was time again for a long drive a couple of weeks back. This time again, it was all planned all of a sudden and after much deliberation and scouting around for accommodation in many places, we again zeroed in on Yelagiri. The trip however, was a revelation of sorts with me getting to know the Civic better. Here are a few updates.
The legendary i-VTEC powertrain remains the most impressive part of the Civic, after it's stunning looks of course. I just love the way in which the car pulls ahead after 2000 rpm on open highways pushing you backwards in your seat. With all this humdrum and build-up of speeds happening under the boot, the occupants remain isolated in an eerie silence and smoothness inside the car. Most importantly, in this drive, I got a mileage of 15.76 km (inclusive of driving in ghats and inside the city), more than what I ever got in 1.5 years of owning the Santro. I am loving the fact that I have so much power and speed on tap and yet I go farther on a liter of gasoline.
Now that the honeymoon period with the car is well and truly over and I have spent enough time to get to know the car's details, I am starting to notice a few minute irregularities.
The Ground Clearance continues to be a problem with 5 or even 4 people on board. I scraped in a couple of places again in this trip. That's a regular occurrence now, so no big issues with that. Now I understand why the car came with this hump in the rear bumper when I bought it. I think, the rear bumper would have scraped a monstrous speed-breaker a little harder than usual and that incident has left this mark in the car. I know a little tinkering job would solve this almost-invisible eyesore. But I need to know whether it will involve removing the bumper completely or is it just a small nip and tuck job.
On even slightly imperfect roads, I get an irritating rattle noise from the dashboard. Its coming from left side of the dashboard, somewhere near, above or behind the glove box. I have tried many things to stop this noise, but in vain. What could this be and what should be done to stop this? Lastly, the dashboard plastic near the instrument cluster does not sit properly in place. I told this to the Service Advisor when I gave the car for its 30K service but he seems to have forgotten this little point.
To be very frank, nobody who sits in the car or who have sat in the car have noticed these small points and people frown when I point these minute imperfections. But we guys have eyes and ears for minutest of details, isn't it? Other than these, the car overall has been doing a phenomeal job and I am loving every bit of owning and drving it.
OT: As usual, I have some nice snaps of the Civic taken in the recent drive to Yelagiri and I will upload a few of them shortly.