8th Gen Issues - Shame on you Honda

[Joele]

I don't so much as feel it through the pedal, but the car itself, kind of feels as if the brake is going on and off quickly (like ABS) and I definately get a strange sound..

[markCivicVti]

^ Could it maybe just be ABS kicking in? Thinking you're close to losing traction?

[chylld]

i get this as well, except it was a REALLY loud sound that sent about 4-5 consecutive "BANG"s through the cabin. scared the crap out of all of my passengers

i complained twice about the ABS prematurely kicking in, but honda service claimed it was normal.

guess a shaking brake pedal is relatively normal for the civic...

[markCivicVti]

Yeah I've only had my car for 1.5 weeks... but have noticed the civic doesn't like braking hard - I've had ABS kicked in once already and I reckon for no reason - I was braking a little harder than normal.. but think there was plenty of traction left till I actually needed it. I'm so used to driving non-ABS cars hard I don't really know how ABS normally works.

[Joele]

^ Could it maybe just be ABS kicking in? Thinking you're close to losing traction?

Yeah I guess it is, but at the time I am doing maybe 40kmh and only very lightly pressing the brake (nowhere near losing traction) but the uneven surface must confuse the ABS system?

[denot]

Yeah I guess it is, but at the time I am doing maybe 40kmh and only very lightly pressing the brake (nowhere near losing traction) but the uneven surface must confuse the ABS system?

i notice this when I start my car for the first time in the morning, the ABS seems to kick in "brutally" whenever i press the brake (yup on 40km/h speed as well)

[markCivicVti]

Guys that really doesn't sound right.

Either
a) The surface your driving on is el crapo (ice?)
b) something is wrong with the brakes!

The fact that you're only "very lightly pressing the brakes" and ABS is kicking in I'd opt for option b.

I don't have that problem. I have to brake reasonably hard for it to kick in - but IMO I can brake a lot harder without losing traction before it should kick in.

[markCivicVti]

When I first start the car (auto transmission) in the morning i reverse out the garage, then roll down the drive away in neutral. At the end of the driveway I put the stick to 'D', if I'm still going forward when I do this I get a slight noise (like forcing a gear in without pressing in neutral on a manual box). It's not very loud but it makes me cringe knowing something sounded like it got grinded on my 1.5 wk old car.

I'm traveling maybe 5-10k/h when I hear this... on my last car I could go from N to D at 50km/h+ and not have any issues - bad habbit I know.. I stopped doing it.

Is this a problem and/or do I need to just not ever go from N->D even if I'm going walking speed?

[Joele]

Is this a problem and/or do I need to just not ever go from N->D even if I'm going walking speed?

I have to be at dead stop to avoid that, my last car was a little less strict on this too..

[denot]

I have to be at dead stop to avoid that, my last car was a little less strict on this too..

agree... I was put from R --> N --> D in one go (while still moving backwards downhill a bit), and the car makes sounds as if she is complaining...

[chylld]

I have to be at dead stop to avoid that, my last car was a little less strict on this too..

same here... i have to sit still for 2 seconds (doesn't sound like a lot, but try it for real and your passengers will think you're spastic/retarded) otherwise i get a really loud CLUNK sound after i reach about 5kph.

little annoyances like this though i didn't even count in my 30 issues lol

[azeon]

you have a point, but still, $30000 is a big investment for a lot of people, and with it comes certain expectations. i've owned 3 new cars before this civic: a $29k corolla, a $28k astra and a $18k getz. none of these cars had more than 2-3 problems in their entire history. then i spend $37k on a honda civic and i get 27 problems (twenty-seven).

my point is that while it is fair to only expect so much given the manufacturer's sale price / build price ratio, there does exist a limit as to how low those expectations have to be.

I thought I'd chip into this thread because it seems to be an interesting topic. I bought a Civic VTi-L about a month ago and I gotta say I'm not entirely happy with it either. I'm having a different problem to most of you whereby the engine struggles to start when the car is warm (http://www.ozhonda.com/forum/showthread.php?t=80538). It's really pissing me off because it's so hard to reproduce the damn problem but it's definitely there.

Yes, I bought a car for less than $30K but should a 21st century car sometimes take 2 key turns to start because it's warm?

I went with buying a Honda because I always thought Honda's quality and reliability was second only to the likes of Toyota. I knew the car was built in Thailand but didn't think that would be a source of problems in this day and age.

Now, I think I'll think twice about buying a Honda.