12th May 2009, 12:10
I guess another thing that scares me about the Civic's flimsy construction is how these things react in crashes. Year before last a magazine did an article on the safety of small cars and featured a picture of a Civic that an older-model Explorer had literally driven THROUGH. The Civic was barely recognizable but the Explorer didn't even have a cracked windshield.
A year before that a very dear friend of ours had been killed in her brand new Acura RSX (a Civic with $10,000 tacked on) when she rear-ended another vehicle. The Acura crumpled all the way back into the passenger compartment, crushing her. The Ford she hit was driven home, and its driver was unhurt. As poorly built as our '90 Civic was, I'd never want a loved one of mine even riding in one again.
21st May 2009, 22:16
That is true of virtually ALL small cars. They are at a disadvantage when they are in an accident with a larger one. Manufacturers attempt to mitigate it by using crumple zones, air bags, safety cages, and other similar devices but a larger and/or heavier vehicle forces a smaller one to decelerate quicker in a wreck. The Ford would have been unlikely to drive home if it had rear-ended a Thompson bus at speed either.
Sorry about your friend.
3rd Mar 2010, 14:15
My family has owned 8 Hondas over the last 12 years. Only had minor problems with all. Why did we own so many? They have been redistributed through my family, and some of my family members aren't great drivers and total them.
My sister was in a HEAD ON COLLISION with a commercial truck at 70 mph on I-5 and flipped her Accord ('99) 3 times. Walked away (shaking) with a scratch and a bruise.
She also totaled our first Honda Accord ('91) VS. a taxi, it was a good test of the crumple zones, which worked brilliantly. Good thing she takes public transportation now!
I've noticed that some people who drove ONE CAR, come to reviews of other cars of different years, just to bad mouth a manufacturer. This is ridiculous and defies the point of this website.
9th May 2009, 20:33
"The brakes on my Civic were TINY."
I'm not sure what year your Civic was, but I just sold mine. It was a 2004 and had 66,000 miles on it with no brake issues or replacements. There was no rotor warp and the pads looked as though they still had half of their life left. The pads were small, but seemed more than adequate to stop the car quickly.
Parts on smaller vehicles DO tend to be thinner and lighter than larger ones, but it really comes down to need. If it doesn't need to be thicker, making it that way only adds weight.
I've owned 3 Civics. An 85; 94; and 04. All were adequate performers. Sometimes there was a part or two that seemed like it should be made of something better, but all-in-all, I really can't complain. They were very good cars. Almost completely trouble free.