Buying a used Honda Civic (2006-2012)

Honda's original Civic was the car that ended the era of the original BMC Mini. Appearing in 1971, the hatchback Honda Civic adopted the Mini's classic two-box outline and front-wheel drive, but was a considerably larger car with more emphasis on occupant comfort.

Entering its eighth incarnation in 2006, the mainstream Honda Civic was offered initially to Australia only as a conventionally booted, four door sedan. Sitting on a 2700mm wheelbase and weighing 1200kg the Civic became a solid and roomy car that would never again be described as 'small'.

The restyled Honda was available here in three levels of trim. Most basic, but still offering plenty of features, was the VTi. At $21,490 this was a Honda very keen to compete on price and issue a challenge to the likes of Corolla Ascent and Mazda 3 Neo.

In VTi spec the Honda Civic came with a CD player, power windows front and rear, insulated side glass, air-conditioning and remote central locking. The only options were metallic paint and ($2000) four-speed automatic transmission. From 2008 the VTi-L, already fitted with climate-control, was supplied with 16-inch wheels.

Beyond that was the Honda Civic Sport. Priced at $30,000 with manual transmission when new, the Civic Sport would have been a revelation for buyers lucky enough to find a dealer with one on the demo fleet.  The 2.0-litre twin-cam engine developed only 11kW more power than the 1.8-litre, but produced significantly more torque.

In typically Honda fashion, not much occurred until the engine revved past 4000rpm, but then the hotter version bared its fangs. In automatic form the Sport provided wheel-mounted paddle shifts to further encourage driver involvement.

A step above the Sport in price was its performance antithesis; the petrol-electric Honda Civic Hybrid. From 1.3 litres it produced just 69kW and drove through a stepless CVT transmission, but it used petrol at an average of just 4.4L/100km. That was around 3L/100 more frugal than petrol-only members of the Civic fleet and anyone with a calculator could work out just how far you would need to travel over, say, a five-year span of ownership to recover the extra initial outlay.

Between 2007 and 2009 the only hatchback in Honda's eighth-gen Civic family was the prodigiously powerful Type R. It is so far removed in character from the rest of the range it needs to be left for a review of its own.

The hatchback Si was unashamedly luxurious and priced accordingly. Most were sold in five-speed automatic form – although a six-speed manual transmission that reduced the Si's base price to $37,490 was available. Among the inclusions were heated leather seats, dual zone air-conditioning, 17-inch alloy wheels, paddle shifts in the auto and wheel-mounted controls for the sound system and cruise control.

In 2009 Honda launched a 40th Anniversary Civic that didn't differ significantly from regular versions and doesn't command extra money in the current used market.

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The thing that's immediately apparent when shopping for a Honda Civic is how few of the eighth-gen cars on offer have averaged more than 12,000 kilometres a year. We frequently see 10-12 year-old Corollas, i30s and others from this category that have cracked 200,000 klicks and look ready for the crusher's bin. But not your typical Civic.

Initial cost, and a reputation for high servicing costs, mean that Civics were rarely subjected to rental fleet or corporate abuse. The majority will have fully-documented service history and some will even still be in the hands of the proverbial 'one careful owner'.

Obviously a professional mechanical evaluation is still essential – however a car with books that show it hasn't continually been returned to the dealer to fix a litany of gripes has a fair chance of continuing to offer reliable running.

Worn driver's seat trim can be a hint that while the odometer hasn't copped much of a workout the car has still seen a lot of use. Frequent, short journeys where the engine doesn't get hot enough to burn accumulated nasties can be as damaging as travelling huge distances.

The vast majority of cars in the market are VTi and VTi-L sedans, fitted with the five-speed automatic transmission. The basic five-speed isn't much fun, although people who have lived with a Sport or later Si Hatch say the paddle shifters  liven-up response.

If you don't need to battle the traffic every day and get an occasional chance to explore winding and fairly deserted back-roads, the six-speed manual might enrich your Civic-owning experience and save a bit on fuel as well.

Some people believe that the more rubber you can get in contact with the road the better a car will handle and, up to a point, that's true. In the Honda's case with basic 15-inch rubber the response and grip are below par for a car with this level of chassis sophistication. In Sport spec with 17s and kidney-rattling 45 Profile rubber it should grip really well. However unless your motoring occurs exclusively on super-smooth surfaces, perhaps the VTi-L with 205/55/16s is a good compromise.

With dual front airbags standard and various other protection devices included you would think that at least some of the eighth-gen Civics would qualify for a maximum five star ANCAP crash score. For that, Honda buyers needed to wait for 2012 and the ninth-gen Civic.

Fuel figures are another evaluated area which may cause confusion for Honda Civic buyers. Again, though, actual costs are more dependent on how and where the car is driven than how it went when subjected to a standard testing regime.

Official 'urban and highway' figures saw the manual Si Hatch average 8.3L/100km while the five-speed manual VTi managed 6.9. Automatics allegedly used only five percent more fuel than the manual and we doubt that the typical driver will match the nominated 7.3L/100km so don't be too dispirited if you fall short.

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>> Civics of this age may be affected by the Takata air-bag recall. Some cars will already have been modified, so check for a note in the service book. If not, snap the VIN with your phone and give Honda Australia a call before agreeing to buy the car. This is a very dangerous fault and motoring groups recommend affected cars not be driven at all until the air-bags have been replaced.

>> Observing service schedules may not be enough to preserve the engine in a high-revving Honda. Make sure that lubricants and filters have been changed every six months rather than waiting to clock up 10,000 kilometres.

>> Cars that have travelled more than 100,000 kilometres may need attention to drive-shaft universal joints and power steering seals. Look for leaks and damaged rubber driveshaft boots. During the test drive listen for CV clicks and get a price on replacement before finalising the deal.

>> Make sure that manual transmissions don't stick or crunch when being shifted quickly. Problems have been reported when selecting gears, especially third. A savage action and/or clutch shudder mean that a new clutch is due soon.

>> Though the electrics are generally reliable, things that do fail are costly to fix. Test all the windows and make sure the seat warmers (where fitted) do work. So too the steering wheel control buttons and the air-conditioning controls.

Also consider: Mazda 3; Ford Focus; Volkswagen Bora