Honda is one of the most reliable car brands right next to Toyota. That does not necessarily mean that all their cars are flawless because even the most reliable cars out there still do have issues.
2006 marked a radical change for the eighth gen Honda civic. Honda gave the coupe and sedan a more of a futurist spaceship-ish design that made this car pop. It was recognized as the North American Car of the year and Motor Trends “Car of the year” for 2006.
Although this 2006-2011 generation is liked by most people, is it really all that reliable? Well, today I am going to go through the common issues of the eighth gen Honda civic so you can be better educated about what issues may come up on your ride or just know exactly what you are buying, let’s get started!
(Sun Visor)
The sun visor falling because it has made cheaply. Instead of having the visor screwed in like a normal sun visor in any other car, Honda decided to make it attach by a plastic clip that just fails. Class action lawsuit Cooper v American Honda Motor Co. “The lawsuit goes on to say that Honda should have corrected the defective visors, or at the very least they should have disclosed information about the defect at the time of the sale.” Not a deal breaker but annoying non the less.
(Rear Control Arms)
Faulty Rear control arms that will cause uneven tire wear. Replacing the control arms is actually not to hard of a job if you have worked on cars before and it shouldn’t be too expensive of a fix if you have to go to the mechanic.
(Transmission)
In the 2006-2010 Civic Sis, the shift from second to third gear grinds and pops out. This can also happen to other gears, but the issue mostly effects the third gear. Some people have reported that replacing the trans fluid and adding ACDelco Synchromesh fixed the issue, others have reported that adjusting the clutch pedal has helped and even replacing shifter bushings have resolved the issue. Now, if you are still having issues with the third gear, then you may need to rebuild the transmission and replace the synchronizers.
(Power Steering Pump)
The power steering pump fails, and it typically goes bad under 100k miles.
(Brake Pedal)
In 2010, some Honda civics were recalled because the manufacturer forgot to insert a pin in the braking assembly that essentially linked the brake pedal to the braking system, thus giving the car an increase in braking distance. So, if you feel like your brakes are a bit odd, this might be the culprit. But I don’t think this issue effected many cars, so I wouldn’t be very worried. Just thought to mention this recall.
(Engine)
Cracking engine blocks on the R18 motor causing the coolant to leak. The cars are affected between 2006-2009 and typically happens around 80k miles. Honda has issued a 10-year extended warranty recall, service bulletin 10-048, on this issue, but that does not matter anymore because it is outside the warranty dates. Most likely all effected cars have been dealt with.
(Paint)
The paint fades. This may seem like a silly issue to bring up, but its typical for all the civics to have the paint fade in the same spots. So, this is more of a cheap paint job issue then people not taking care of their cars paint.
(Engine Mount)
The engine mounts fail causing the car to vibrate and rattle, and more often so the passenger side engine mount fails. But, if you are replacing the mount, I would go ahead and replace them all. It is not too hard of a job to do.
(Air bag light on dash)
The air bag light illuminates because the occupant position sensor fails. The sensor is a part of the seat belt buckle itself and you will have to replace that, which is a super easy job. All you must do is remove the seat with the 4 bolts holding it down and replace the buckle. That is, it.
Here is a video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IE-ssLqzJk&ab_channel=LiFan
Conclusion:
I mean, even with all these issues, the Honda civic is still a reliable car and decently cheap. You will have a few small issues. They are not deal breakers by any means especially if you work on your own cars and even if you don’t, the civic is great car to start with. If you like this model, I would avoid the years from 2006-2008 as they have the most complaints reported on car complaints.com. So, I would try to get anything newer. However, I have A LOT of reports stating that their cars between 2006-2008 have been pretty reliable. Do your due diligence and make sure to look over all the issues I mentioned when you are about to buy the car.
More:
Check out this article to see how the Civic lines up against the Toyota Camry for the same years!
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