Doug reviews an '86 very basic Honda Civic, starts off chuckling, but by the test drive segment he starts warming to it:
i've only driven 2 honda's in my life. a 10 year old civic and accord. i didn't think much of either one of them compared to my 10 year old prius
Ahhh... That takes be back - That's my old college car. I must've had the stepped up one. 1.5L, 5-speed, Tachometer, rear window defroster. I remember installing my own stereo, speakers, and alarm system. Mine got 30 mpg, which helped as a ramen budget student. These cars did get stolen and parted out a lot. Got 6-8 years and 200K+ miles out of it before an uninsured motorist totaled it out. Other than basic maintenance; I think I only lost the radiator fan trip thermostat. No big deal, unless I was sitting in traffic. The engine didn't need the electric radiator fan as long as I was moving. This was a big deal, since cars of that particular age with half those miles was destined for the junk yard. Well the K-car should've been dragged from the dealership directly to the junk yard.
We had an '81 2-door hatch, with the Hondamatic (2 selectable gears IIRC, and no clutch). Love the cabin vent controls of that era: easy to use; no need to take eyes off the road. Like Doug's '86, no passenger side mirror. Silver painted 13" steel rims with centre caps (aka hub caps, the traditional usage). Also had manual choke, never problematic. (Our next car was an '83 Accord, had automatic choke, that would automatically stall the car at the first red light coming out of our subdivision. Dealership was useless; I finally tracked it down to a vacuum check valve. Beginning of my DIY days I guess). What else? Of course no radio, and we never got one. Our little kids brought along a little transistor radio one time, turned it on, pretty loud, as we were rolling out of our apartment complex: playing that infamous stripper theme song...
If you ever get a chance to drive a Gen1 Honda Insight... You'll love it... It's a two seater with an all aluminum chassis and only weighs 1800 pounds. Few other things make a car feel fast than being super lightweight. Also the car isn't very wide at all either, so you can swerve all over the road while texting and not ever go out of your lane.
The Gen1 Honda Insight reminded me of a modern sportier version of Lois Lanes' late 50's Rambler American as seen on the original SuperMan TV shows. I wanted one, if only for the 66 mpg rating at the time, we got a 02 Civic EX instead since the misses wouldn't have that Insight. I'm a LOT happier now with the Prime after our experience with the 06 Civic Hybrid, but that's another story I hope to never have to repeat again in snippets or the whole thing.
I’d pass on the IMA (Integrated Motor Assist?) hybrid system though, had my fill of that with our ‘06 Civic Hybrid.
do you mean the civic hybrid class action in Cali circa 2010 related to the cars EPA estimated mpg and actual mpg obtain in Cali traffic for that model civic and the subsequent update honda released for all it's hybrids after the fact.
My pack lasted 1 month after the update. There was noticeable difference in the IMA charge / regen gauge both during cold weather warmup cycle and amount of IMA assist available at the lightest touch of the GO pedal after that 110k mile service. Not even a hint of the software update or any possible pack change on the Invoice either. Mine went from a decent 50 mpg early model hybrid to a rolling disaster of continual grid charging and switching between 3 different OEM packs. current odo is 198k and needs a newer pack but panasonic stopped producing those NiNH cylinder cells and the higher rated 8Ah cells from china that Hybrid Automotive sold for years didn't last even as long as the panasonic cells bur at least anyone could still get new cell sticks or stick pairs just not new NiMH packs from honda. Refurbished packs sold as new, loved the honda service as repeated in other threads. Bummer all around. Gen 2 Insight hybrid the cheapest hybrid on the market and some sales critters actually used that line in their sales pitch.
@ '86 CVCC..... I've said it before. Nostalgia = History after about 3 drinks - but thanks to American automobile manufacturers and American labour unions - they DID and some people say still do 'suck less.' YMMV. I've owned one Nissan, 4 Toyotas, and 2 Mazda's - but somehow I've been inoculated against the Honda virus. I was intrigued by their hybrid only because a battery failure did not result in a tow truck bill from what I was told. Sadly - they've not scaled up. The one good thing about Hondas is that they do not look like they were designed in a drug rehab facility - for the most part. The Koreans have about the best cars on the planet right now - but like the G4 Prius, this comes with the huge downside of being being seen driving them. More than 60 trips around the sun should make me realize that most cars are 'beautiful on the inside' and for the most part I don't get wrapped around the axle on looks. After all - I drive a bone-stock, base model pickup. Beauty is skin deep, right? However (comma!) UGLY goes all the way to the bone!!! FORTUNATELY - the 'rhymes with Sunday' Korean car manufacturers aren't as silly looking as the KIAs. Speaking of 'Ugly Cars'.... The one really good thing about all of those late 70 and early 80's Hondas, Datsuns, and Yotas is that they made the American automotive industry orders of magnitude BETTER after a couple a decades. The bad thing is that in 2024 the Japanese are being referred to as 'The Lazy Asians' by their neighbors which is why the Koreans are, and (pretty soon) the ChiComms and perhaps the Veetnamese will be giving them the same 'competition' that they gave all of those UAW workers in the 80s. What goes around.....
