2006 Honda Civic Test Drive – Part 3

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I had the opportunity to test drive the 2006 Honda Civic 1.8S and the 2006 Honda Civic 2.0S on a nice Saturday morning thanks to Jeremy and Shannon from the New Straits Times lifestyle section. This is part three of a three part series. Click here to read part 1 and here to read part 2.

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Plastic panels were starting to dislocate themselves after 4000km on the mileage

The exterior build quality was excellent. No unsightly gaps in the fittings anywhere. But the interior was a different story. Like I said a few months back, I still think the glove box is flimsy and can’t be closed easily. There was also this plastic panel near the A pillar which was half way popping out. I did not manage to take a picture as my first reaction was to sigh at the state of Honda’s Malacca plant quality control, and then try to pop the panel back in. I could not manage to pop the panel back in properly. The result is a slight gap. I took a photo of that. This was the 2.0S. Later, I found the same problem in the 1.8S as well.

civicpaddle_left.jpgI also expected more of the feel of the dashboard material. I brought a friend of mine to the test drive, a hot girl who drives a Civic EK with a B16A engine. Fear this girl. She said her 1999 EK’s interior was much better, and the plastics felt better, they weren’t hard and plastic-like, but softer. There were also obvious cost-cutting measures everywhere especially in the thickness of metal they used for panels. Or perhaps this is for weight reduction purposes. There are also no side-sills for the doors. Shoes might scratch the paint. The paddle shifts on the 2.0S are shaped like the letter L. They seem pretty flimsy, so I’d recommend pushing the lower parts of the L. Somehow I think through extended extreme use, the top part would break or disfigure or something. You know how rough you can get during a hard drive.

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If you ask me, the Honda Civic is way ahead of all it’s competitors, helped by the fact that it’s competitors are starting to look very dated – especially the Nissan Sentra. Not just big on the outside but on the insides as well. Comfortable for it’s class. I would definitely fork out more for the 2.0S model. The extra RM11,000 for the 2.0S as compared to the 1.8S is definitely worth it, for the engine and the interior itself. Everything else like the 6-CD changer, the extra airbags, and the HID lamps is a bonus. The 2.0S was positioned as a driver’s car, and the 1.8S as a family car. I think they were positioned well.

The 1.8S has all the necessities one might need as a family car, and has a frugal engine, while the 2.0S has creature comforts and sporty performance. If I were to buy the Civic for myself, I’d take the 2.0S for the engine and the paddle shift. However, if I were to buy it for my wife (not that it’s going to happen anytime soon due to a lack of funds and a wife :P) I’d still get the 2.0S because of the 1.8 model’s interior. I’m sorry, but the beige fabric looks like it’ll dirty really fast, and kids can really make a mess sometimes. I also do not like feeling like I’m driving surrounded by towels.

Video: Funky wiper motion

It’s the Honda Civic 2.0S for me, and what a great car it is. I would still plonk my money on it despite the little problems like dodgy build quality here and there. Though the door panels are abit flimsy, the overall chassis has a very very solid feel to it, and door panels aren’t what protects you during crashes, but the frame does. One thing though. Honda needs to pay more attention to the QC because it’s competitor is the Toyota Corolla Altis – and the Toyota brand is known for build and reliability. You have to show that the Civic is a worthy competitor in that area too.

Also, there is on advantage with the fact that the new Civic looks alot larger than the old one and reaching Accord sizes. There is now no more reason for anyone to consider a brand new Proton Perdana V6.

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The 2006 Honda Civic with it’s older brothers – a green 1992 Honda Civic EG and a championship white 1999 Honda Civic EK

Thanks to Jeremy Mahadevan and Shannon Teoh for the opportunity to test drive both the Honda Civics. You guys are cool. Be sure to check out the New Straits Times on the 21st of June 2006 – that’s today – for their take on the 2006 Honda Civic. There is an online edition here. Please ignore the very poser photo. -_-”

As a recap, the 2006 Honda Civic 2.0S will cost you RM124,800, while the 2006 Honda Civic 1.8S will cost you RM113,800. I hope this review will be able to help your purchase decision somewhat. If you have any questions on the 2006 Honda Civic that I’ve not mentioned in this three part test drive report, feel free to leave a comment and I will reply.

Related Posts:
2006 Honda Civic In-depth Technical Specifications
2006 Honda Civic 1.8 SOHC i-VTEC engine – R18A1
2006 Honda Civic Test Drive – Part 1
2006 Honda Civic Test Drive – Part 2

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Paul Tan

After dabbling for years in the IT industry, Paul Tan initially began this site as a general blog covering various topics of personal interest. With an increasing number of readers paying rapt attention to the motoring stories, one thing led to another and the rest, as they say, is history.

 

Comments

  • KY (Member) on Jun 21, 2006 at 6:40 pm

    Only lack of fund for a wife, or lack of candidate too?

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  • Paul Tan on Jun 21, 2006 at 6:41 pm

    KY: Dunno how to read English is it. Lack of funds for the CAR, and lack of a wife to BUY IT FOR. hahahah.

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  • Luke Ashwin (Member) on Jun 21, 2006 at 6:57 pm

    Cool Review Paul.. Thumbs up!

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  • mits27 (Member) on Jun 21, 2006 at 7:01 pm

    Too bad, the 1.8s use the beige color interior, they should use grey or black color instead. I think the Australia honda civic use grey color, nicer.

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  • aksMs (Member) on Jun 21, 2006 at 7:29 pm

    Paul, good review. I enjoyed reading it. But I too felt let down by the built quality. What is it with Malaysian manufacturer? Can't they just get things right? Someone told me that the reject rate for parts manufactured by certain auto vendor in Malaysia is 60%. Even Mercedes delayed the start of operation of their manufacturing plant in Pekan due to it's QC problem. What is this? Factory problem or the same old attitude problem with the operators/staffs?

    But anyway, I've been drooling over this Civic for a while now. Paul, any idea when Honda will launch the Type R? I don't care if it's a CBU. I bet, the quality is far better than the one we have here.

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  • ceteh (Member) on Jun 21, 2006 at 7:34 pm

    GOOD review!! … Cheers.

    By the way, Paul, do you have the power and curve graph for the 2.0S engine?

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  • jtshin (Member) on Jun 21, 2006 at 7:53 pm

    I think the quality is not about Honda, just local assembly plants problem… cos local plants are maybe run by locals n not from Japan… that's wat i think… If get a Japan made then I think the interior won't hv tat kinda problems..

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  • edneo (Member) on Jun 21, 2006 at 8:17 pm

    Good review Paul.

    Sad to see that Honda Msia QC is so bad. How come Thailand Rayong Plant can meet and surpass Japan Standards until they can export the Fit back to Japan. Is this endemic for all local assembled cars? Are Honda Msia workers slackers..shame on them!

    Get off yr butt Honda! Give us our moneys worth!

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  • Imation (Member) on Jun 21, 2006 at 8:35 pm

    Thanx Paul for the great review. Think I'll go with the 2.0 instead of 1.8. Base on the interior, performance wise, yeah definitely the 2.0. What worry me the most is the build-up quality level. I wonder if the Honda Japs conduct any assembly monitoring in Malacca plant to check on the quality build-up for all their locally assembled models ?

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  • motorhead (Member) on Jun 21, 2006 at 8:40 pm

    Well, they are selling 120k & 113k (plus tax) only.. I am sure they have tried their best to lower down the cost, so it will be more affordable in WonderfulTaxland.. i guess the deal is worth as it has auto 5 speeds… most of the other big brands still offer auto 4 speeds oni…

    Mari ramai2 pakai Honda.. i have honda wave 125.. ok oso, save fuel… RM5 = 140km..

    Want tip top quality, ask for Civic CBUs from Japan.. but may cost up to RM200k, sure onelah.. can afford ka?

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  • Long (Member) on Jun 21, 2006 at 9:55 pm

    Paul, I've read 3 local respected publications written by 3 different journalist mentioning the same thing : The rear of the new Civic tends to twitch/bottom ups if taking corners at highway speed, esp if the corners are not that smooth – something that the new model inherit from the the old ones. You experienced this also? BTW, do you have any inside info when Toyota will introduce new Corolla and Nissan for Sentra/Sunny?

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  • e-nabilll (Member) on Jun 21, 2006 at 10:12 pm

    i oso heard the braking was not great either..paul can confirm this?? wen cornering n braking..does it hav the braking stability to keep the car in line?the car looks nice . i jus dont understand the rationale that this civic actually competes against its big brother,the Accord…i wd have prefered the civic to be abit smaller..n nt bordering the excutive class dimensions…

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  • Mickey (Member) on Jun 21, 2006 at 10:44 pm

    Hmm…seems that from comments today, this new Civic do have some negative points Anyhow, I dun think they are serious and overall, after having test-driven the 1.8L a few times, the car seems great! Have booked a 2.0L and awaiting delivery in a few months time. I do have a question…can I change the original high-beam halogen bulb (HB3) to another halogen HB3 bulb that uses 55W (instead of the original one that uses 60W) but gives out a brighter blue-white light? Will it affect the car's wiring system?

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  • honda_driver (Member) on Jun 21, 2006 at 11:12 pm

    my bro also owns a honda, 2006 honda oydessey 2.4 CBU from japan.

    the plastic quality is the same as in the civic in malaysia.

    design, and choice of plastic is the same for malaysia as in japan as specified by the designers. do you think honda malaysia is run by malaysians? its run by japanese.

    and paul, somehow, i dont agree with your fren who drives the 1999EK.. coz i own a Japan CBU 99 EK as well.. It has more soft plastics la, but i dont think the texture, feel and colour is better than the new car.

    funny thing though, the current model altis is also full of hard plastics, but nobody seems to ever comment on that?

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  • aksMs (Member) on Jun 21, 2006 at 11:43 pm

    Paul,

    "We had to have Malaysia's most popular automotive blogger, Paul……."

    I didn't notice that your blog are actually clocking around 13,000 visitors per day! Wow! Some reputation you got there. That is something, huh? I'm proud of you and proud to be one of them too. =) And Shannon and Jeremy gave you quite a publicity there. A small introductory column eh? Hehe….

    Congrats on this good review. I'm looking forward to read more from your many test drives to come. ;) By the way, Paul, I don't think your url has anything to do with "narcissistic".

    Cheers! =)

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  • Tracks (Member) on Jun 21, 2006 at 11:52 pm

    Great overall review of the New Honda Civic. Personally, if I would also choose the 2.0 over the 1.8 because of the additional power, air-bags and interior trims.

    I agree with you honda_driver that Toyota nowadays has plastic everywhere too. Just look at the new Wish, Yaris, Altis, Vios, Innova & Avanza. All of them have a hard plastic dashboard but people don't complain as much. Fit and finish are also not that good as well. At-least Waja has a soft feeling dashboard surface due to its foam inserts but it has its own problems as well.

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  • V_NoZ (Member) on Jun 22, 2006 at 12:15 am

    i love the black interior. its easy to maintain this type using product available in the market.the towel material will just get worst after a few months. so thos opting for 1.8 make sure u have a some cleanexx or wet towel to clean ur hand before u can touch anything in the car.. for those smoking.. just a bad new for u lah… no choice u have to opt for the 2.0. dont want to make ur burn marks just because of some ash that is still firing up while u drive… lol..

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  • karheng (Member) on Jun 22, 2006 at 12:18 am

    Why am i not surprised? Great bashing on the things which are meant to be bashed. We've gotta convey our messages across to car makers that we demand higher quality. As large corporations, they must try their best to build a car at the lowest cost possible, therefore probably comes with the quality cutting too. I am not surprised that the plastic feeling is starting to feel more lightweight now. However,I guess these are costs for measures of weight reduction and cost cutting. I don't know if this has anything to do with the car being manufactured in Thailand.

    I've not had the chance to fiddle with the civic when i saw it in UK. But i guess it would probably be slightly different as it is meant to compete with the conti-s. Anyways, let's leave it there. I'm not a honda fan but credit is due where it belongs, and i think this car is quite worthy of 100k. Well…take ur pick, perdana or civic?

    Honda_Driver. I understnad ur a honda fan. No one is bashing the altis, simply because…this is a post on the Civic? ;P

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  • chuamike (Member) on Jun 22, 2006 at 12:32 am

    Wonderfully fantastic car 1.8L(A) Civic is, sips petrol like a 1.5L(A).

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  • mystvearn (Member) on Jun 22, 2006 at 1:43 am

    I think the one second from left :D

    Looks like the whole review came out today….

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  • Faizal (Member) on Jun 22, 2006 at 1:58 am

    Just wait for a new generation of Altis :)

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  • stephenstreets (Member) on Jun 22, 2006 at 4:20 am

    Paddle shift , i really really like it .It makes a family sedan car look like a sportscar. Im sure this is a delight on the highway to KLIA. I will definitely get the 2.0 ,more powerful, more quality.

    Now if only i had the money

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  • szw (Member) on Jun 22, 2006 at 4:59 am

    u shud try a shoot out between ford focus , toyota altis , honda civic n others which offer 1.8 l engine cars .

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  • The Omnipotent (Member) on Jun 22, 2006 at 4:02 pm

    Hi Paul,

    This would be my first time leaving a comment on your autoblog. You're only 21? Gee, I didn't realize you're so young. Your words seem to betray your age. I was surprised to know that you're such a big person (saw your pic on the NT yesterday) hahaha. Were you the guy on the pink shirt or the guy standing behind? Either way, you're still huge. Looking forward to leave more comments in the future.

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  • cratzelogy (Member) on Jun 22, 2006 at 10:14 pm

    thanks paul, pls keep us updated if HONDA M comes and solved the interior problem with u. I had a couple of Civics which came up to my factory the other day and I found one out the right side of the front bumpers where out of spec 3MM.

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  • rexis (Member) on Jun 23, 2006 at 1:09 am

    Ahh paul streamyx down again ahh? hehe

    We Sg Long here having streamyx storm again…

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  • alamak (Member) on Jun 23, 2006 at 3:47 am

    There is a shoot out between Ford Focus 2.0 Sports edition vs Honda Civic 2.0S in June EVO Malaysia magazine. Good write up, and the Civic overall achieve higher ranking than Ford. The editor says "if you follow your heart, buy Ford, if you follow your brain buy Civic, as for me, luckily i'm not looking to buy a car anytime soon."

    hahaha

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  • raz_R (Member) on Jun 23, 2006 at 5:45 am

    EK with B16A?

    could it be k@#()@&*()*?

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  • Dest1nY (Member) on Jun 24, 2006 at 12:11 am

    nice review….thx for it =D

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  • holy_cow (Member) on Jun 24, 2006 at 1:13 am

    Nolah raz_R. It's actually k&^%$(#zxym&^.

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  • raybrig85 (Member) on Jun 27, 2006 at 1:24 am

    paul…sori out of topic…can u do a review on honda elysion…same class with toyota alphard and nissan elgrand….that honda really pretty…saw one in bangsar…hhmm…how much it will cost here???

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  • domoteka (Member) on Aug 22, 2006 at 4:33 am

    This is one car I would definitely BUY!!!! Only sad they dont have an offer of Buy 1 Honda Civic get 1 Honda Babe!!! Ha ha ha just joking!!! LOL!!! But Honda do pay a lot to promote their car during their road show with all their scantily clad beautiful Honda Babes! Make you feel you are at the Japan GTs!!!

    Anyway about the car, GREAT design!Great engine, really well thought off design and yeah dig the wipers too!!!

    Also dig the specs!! Electric assisted steering too!!Exactly like my Suzuki ERV!! No steering fluid problems!Maintenance problems Away!

    Man! Who do I need to kill to get one of these babes….the car i mean.

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  • winnie (Member) on Nov 10, 2006 at 7:27 pm

    Paul, the angle dashboard is not the only problem with this car. I have a 1.8 about 2 months old. Discovered water ponding beneath the carpet lining at the driver and the right rear passenger floor. The SC can only guess where the water came from. From what I've been reading about the Civic thus far, guess HM must be having QC problems with their local assembly.

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  • pam313 (Member) on Dec 06, 2006 at 1:09 am

    hey guys..

    im contemplating between a honda city v-tec and a civic 1.8..would love to get the civic 2.0 but my finances do not allow me too..:) I am very very settled on a civic 1.8 but my main concern now is the interior..- beige towel cloth interior and that sucks badly !!..was just wondering if any of the existing 1.8 civic owners changed the interior to black leather seats? and how does it look like im worried that it might come out funny…thnx guys !.

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  • yraj (Member) on Dec 31, 2006 at 9:35 am

    There some Honda dealers who offer packages to upgrade the 1.8 fabric to the 2.0S leather for seats and door panels when you buy the car. Cost: RM2,800. This way, you don't have to spend all 11k just for the sake of the leather seats. I have do not know whether this is still valid now.

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  • newt (Member) on Jan 10, 2007 at 9:18 pm

    Hi Paul,

    with regards to the plastic panel problems and noise from the engine mountings. have these problems been solved by HM yet? any comments from existing 2006 civic owners?

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  • khirul (Member) on Feb 08, 2007 at 10:55 pm

    I'm looking for new owners of Honda Civic 1.8S and 2.0S (The purchase must be made between May to November 06) for a marketing group discussion. The disucssion will be held on next Thursday 15th February 2007. Token will be paid after the discussion. Those who are interested to participate in the group discussion can call or sms me at 012-3761681 before 14th February 2007

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  • SuperBaby (Member) on Aug 05, 2007 at 5:47 pm

    You can change the fabric to leather. Half leather and looks the SAME like the one in 2.0. You can change it at DK at RM1,800.

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  • shianghorng (Member) on Aug 11, 2007 at 1:48 am

    Anyone know’s the 0-100km/h stat for the 2.0S ?

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  • shianghorng (Member) on Sep 19, 2007 at 5:39 pm

    I have tested the 1.8 and it sucks man!
    Lacking of power, the interior stinks & it sounds like someone playing drums when the car is only 80km/h!

    Soon, I’ll be testing the 2.0S & Type-R. Hopefully, they will do better…

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  • agentHunt (Member) on Oct 17, 2007 at 4:59 pm

    i tried 1.8 too, indeed, it sounds bad. but most dealer don have 2.0 for TD.
    too bad

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  • Eugene Liew on Sep 03, 2010 at 9:37 am

    i am planning to purchase a second hand honda civic 2.0 i-vtec. I would like to enquire whether this Civic requires high maintenance and is the fuel efficiency high?

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  • JohnG on May 16, 2015 at 2:44 pm

    Even after 9 years…I still love my 2.0S… clocking 100km everyday!

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  • JohnG on May 16, 2015 at 2:44 pm

    Even after 9 years…I still love my 2.0S… clocking 100km everyday! Cheers.

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