Honda Civic Hybrid Fd3

[luckey007]

I hope to buy a honda civic FD3.I found one manufac on 2010 CAC number for 3.4M.

Dear friends, my questions are,

1. Do you know what are the trim levels are and how to know them and ascending order of trims[including adding features if possible].

2. Does it worth 3.4M?[generally]

3.My friend told me that it is not fast and accelerate as other civic fds. Is it true?

4.Is there any way to check the battery condition?

Thanks in advance.

[ramishkad]

I hope to buy a honda civic FD3.I found one manufac on 2010 CAC number for 3.4M.

Dear friends, my questions are,

1. Do you know what are the trim levels are and how to know them and ascending order of trims[including adding features if possible].

2. Does it worth 3.4M?[generally]

3.My friend told me that it is not fast and accelerate as other civic fds. Is it true?

4.Is there any way to check the battery condition?

Thanks in advance.

1. MX, MXB, MXST (highest grade). There is one grade with Navi i'm not sure which that is. Google would surely have this info.

2. Worth if the hybrid battery is in good condition.

3. It won't accelerate as fast as FD1 (1.8cc) or FD4 (1.6CC). But it's got decent acceleration for a hybrid esp when the electric motor kicks in. Definitely better than Prius for me.

4. Yes. Go to Stafford motors and get the IMA/Powertrain check done. There will be a parameter called 'IMA battery usable capacity' in the report. Ensure this is at least above 30-35%. The check costs around Rs. 4000 at Stafford. There may be other technicians who do it for cheaper.

[ramishkad]

In addition to the usable capacity check the SOC value as well because the hybrid FD is very popular for IMA problems. Make sure you do this before you buy...

You cannot check anything by reading the S.O.C. value. S.O.C. indicates the current state of charge of the battery. It would always be relative to the current usable capacity. Even a bad hybrid battery could have a 100% S.O.C.

If you want even more thorough testing, you can do the process below:

In test drive, floor the accelerator constantly until the battery charge drops.

Notice how the charge drops. A healthy battery should move between S.O.C gauges (bars) one by one. If you notice at one point the charge dropping rapidly from 6-7 bars to 1 or 2, there is something wrong.

And notice how it charges back up (it will charge when you break on the move). If the S.O.C. indicator suddenly jumps from 2 bars to full (8 bars), then the battery's usable capacity is extremely low.

See this video:

0.30 - Sudden drop from 5 to 2 bars

0.40 - Sudden rise from 3 to 8 bars

Both are signs of a bad battery and happens when the usable capacity falls below ~20%.

Ive seen many complaints here about FD3 battery problems. But here are main causes for this:

1. The car has sat around too long idle. If the car is unused for 1 month straight, the battery cells can get damaged.

2. It runs older software (prior 2009 models) which uses the electronic assist more aggressively than battery can handle.

3. Undercharging. The car runs mostly on stop and go traffic and when it's parked overnight/weekends has no charge in battery left. If you reach home with 2 bars, put the car in P and rev the engine to 2500rpm till the S.O.C. reaches at least halfway. Anyways i myself have hardly ever had to do this. I reach home usually with 75% charge left, even on times i visit my house which is on a hill.

It's not a good car to have parked around idle for days. I use the 2011 model and run about 1500 km per month. It's a good high mile runner.

Edited November 8, 2014 by ramishkad

[chathuranga.s]

Thanks for sharing the information. I'm using my Fit hybrid for the last one year or so. I also did the full inspection test at Stafford before I register the car when I bought it to Srilanka. I have run around 20,000kms and still have no issues

[luckey007]

Thanks friends, and may I know how to find the trim levels.

[luckey007]

1. MX, MXB, MXST (highest grade). There is one grade with Navi i'm not sure which that is. Google would surely have this info.

2. Worth if the hybrid battery is in good condition.

3. It won't accelerate as fast as FD1 (1.8cc) or FD4 (1.6CC). But it's got decent acceleration for a hybrid esp when the electric motor kicks in. Definitely better than Prius for me.

4. Yes. Go to Stafford motors and get the IMA/Powertrain check done. There will be a parameter called 'IMA battery usable capacity' in the report. Ensure this is at least above 30-35%. The check costs around Rs. 4000 at Stafford. There may be other technicians who do it for cheaper.

No bro, Aunt Google has failed this time or me?

[ramishkad]

No bro, Aunt Google has failed this time or me?

http://translate.google.lk/translate?hl=en&sl=ja&u=http://www.honda.co.jp/auto-archive/civic/hybrid/2010/webcatalogue/type/&prev=search

There are no badges. It would be mentioned on a sticker inside driver or passenger side door.

Edited November 8, 2014 by ramishkad

[MadMMX]

Take a look on the ad's and also ikm**.lk - there are some decent ones floating around. Possibly look for ones that Sta&&ord have maintained - they will have any records of maintenance ..etc.

Cheers,

[luckey007]

http://translate.google.lk/translate?hl=en&sl=ja&u=http://www.honda.co.jp/auto-archive/civic/hybrid/2010/webcatalogue/type/&prev=search

There are no badges. It would be mentioned on a sticker inside driver or passenger side door.

Thanks bro, It shows who is failed. And do you know place to check Hybrid battery in Kandy and to do the services in Kandy? And the unit I have seen does not have display and there is a CD player where the display is. I personally don't mind it as I can reverse a sedan without a rear cam.But wish to know tha marcket value for it as I can bargain.

[ramishkad]

Thanks bro, It shows who is failed. And do you know place to check Hybrid battery in Kandy and to do the services in Kandy?

You can do it at Polgolla Automobile Service Station. I am also from Kandy and that's the place I go to. Detailed info about the place : http://forum.autolanka.com/topic/15974-good-mechanics-technicians-workshops/?p=263590

[luckey007]

You can do it at Polgolla Automobile Service Station. I am also from Kandy and that's the place I go to. Detailed info about the place : http://forum.autolanka.com/topic/15974-good-mechanics-technicians-workshops/?p=263590

Thanks Ramishka, Went there. I am satisfied with his service and manner . Thanks for your recommendation.

[overTuned]

You can do it at Polgolla Automobile Service Station. I am also from Kandy and that's the place I go to. Detailed info about the place : http://forum.autolanka.com/topic/15974-good-mechanics-technicians-workshops/?p=263590

Hi Ramishka,

What is the engine oil that you're using in your civic hybrid?

[ramishkad]

Hi Ramishka,

What is the engine oil that you're using in your civic hybrid?

Mobil 5w-30 full synthetic. I change it every 7500km.

[overTuned]

Ok. Thanks bro.,

When I went to Stafford to buy number plate holders for my vezel, I met one of the supervisors there & asked about the best oil to use for vezel. He adviced me not to use mobil fully syntactic and introduce a fully synthetic oil producing by Havoline which should change at every 5000 km intervals. The reason he explained was mobil can be caused to spread some clay like thing in the engine bay. But I've use mobil 1000 for my previous civic EG & EK for years without any issues. Don't know he honestly said that or market Havoline since stafford has an official dealership with them.

Again when I went to have a body wash for my car to the regular service station which I used to service my old cars, the owner asked me to use Toyota genuine oil or some mineral oil but not any syntactic. He is also not a cheater up to now and did a decent job for my old cars. Don't know what to believe and what to not

[The Don]

Ok. Thanks bro.,

When I went to Stafford to buy number plate holders for my vezel, I met one of the supervisors there & asked about the best oil to use for vezel. He adviced me not to use mobil fully syntactic and introduce a fully synthetic oil producing by Havoline which should change at every 5000 km intervals. The reason he explained was mobil can be caused to spread some clay like thing in the engine bay. But I've use mobil 1000 for my previous civic EG & EK for years without any issues. Don't know he honestly said that or market Havoline since stafford has an official dealership with them.

Again when I went to have a body wash for my car to the regular service station which I used to service my old cars, the owner asked me to use Toyota genuine oil or some mineral oil but not any syntactic. He is also not a cheater up to now and did a decent job for my old cars. Don't know what to believe and what to not

There is no issue with Mobile 1 fully synthetic as far as I know. There used to be an issue with Havoline synthetic which I hope has been resolved now.

You should really only use synthetic oils for vehicles which are run regularly as only then you can take advantage of the longer oil change intervals.

If the vehicle is sparingly used, use semi synthetic or mineral oil and change more regularly.

There is a caveat here thoug. You need to use an oil compliant with manufacturer reccomendations and some of the oil grades are not available as mineral, and sometimes not even as semi synthetic. Then you are forced to adopt fully synthetic.

Don't go by "reccomendations", read the manual. Vezels are fairly new cars so its possible not everybody knows how to service them properly.

[Magnum]

hold on a second! isn't Civic hybrid in production anymore in Japan?

[ramishkad]

hold on a second! isn't Civic hybrid in production anymore in Japan?

Nope mate. Regular Civic and the Civic hybrid no longer produced for Japanese home market. But it is produced in Japan for export markets. From Wikipedia:

"In Japan, production of non-hybrid Civic for domestic market ended in August 2010 and production of Civic hybrid for home market ended in December 2010 when it no longer complied with Japanese Governmentdimension regulations in the width category. In recent years, customers shifted to minivans and compact cars like Honda Fit. Honda launched Fit hybrid in October in Japan. However, production of Civic and Civic hybrid for export markets will continue."

Edited November 11, 2014 by ramishkad

[Ruslan]

Nope mate. Regular Civic and the Civic hybrid no longer produced for Japanese home market. But it is produced in Japan for export markets. From Wikipedia:

"In Japan, production of non-hybrid Civic for domestic market ended in August 2010 and production of Civic hybrid for home market ended in December 2010 when it no longer complied with Japanese Governmenthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_size_class#Japan'>dimension regulations in the width category. In recent years, customers shifted to minivans and compact cars like http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honda_Fit'>Honda Fit. Honda launched Fit hybrid in October in Japan. However, production of Civic and Civic hybrid for export markets will continue."

Isnt the new civic and civic hybrid imported to SL manufactured in india or thailand?

[iRage]

Nope mate. Regular Civic and the Civic hybrid no longer produced for Japanese home market. But it is produced in Japan for export markets. From Wikipedia:

"In Japan, production of non-hybrid Civic for domestic market ended in August 2010 and production of Civic hybrid for home market ended in December 2010 when it no longer complied with Japanese Governmentdimension regulations in the width category. In recent years, customers shifted to minivans and compact cars like Honda Fit. Honda launched Fit hybrid in October in Japan. However, production of Civic and Civic hybrid for export markets will continue."

Funny Wikipedia says that. I swear I read in quite a few articles (one I believe was an official Honda press release in Japan) that the Civic was dropped due to the Fit taking over the market and some mambo jumbo about consumers showing the need for change blah blah blah the lineup for the local market evolving blah blah blah........if I am not mistaken they kept the Type R for a bit longer than that.

[sathyajithj99]

Dimension regulations? Hmm.... I wonder Sri Lankan government would also comeup with this kind of bullsh*t.

[The Don]

Have you guys noticed that over the years, the so called small sedans have become wider and wider. I notice this a lot as getting a car out of my parents house is quite difficult due to a tight 90 degree turn into it, but even when we had an old station wagon we could do it in one go. But the newer cars really struggle because they are wider and sometimes longer. The car market segments seemed to have blended into each other..... (for me the old categories were small sedan, medium/ executive sedans and large sedans, but now various sub categories have emerged and you have city cars, super mini, mini, small, medium etc etc)

[luckey007]

Have you guys noticed that over the years, the so called small sedans have become wider and wider. I notice this a lot as getting a car out of my parents house is quite difficult due to a tight 90 degree turn into it, but even when we had an old station wagon we could do it in one go. But the newer cars really struggle because they are wider and sometimes longer. The car market segments seemed to have blended into each other..... (for me the old categories were small sedan, medium/ executive sedans and large sedans, but now various sub categories have emerged and you have city cars, super mini, mini, small, medium etc etc)

Thumbs up...Don, If you just consider evolutio of Corolla, you can see this.

[sharma]

Isnt the new civic and civic hybrid imported to SL manufactured in india or thailand?

Honda Civic Hybrid 2013 model that Stafford imports is made in Thailand. Current price with VAT is 6.4M

[Magnum]

Nope mate. Regular Civic and the Civic hybrid no longer produced for Japanese home market. But it is produced in Japan for export markets. From Wikipedia:

"In Japan, production of non-hybrid Civic for domestic market ended in August 2010 and production of Civic hybrid for home market ended in December 2010 when it no longer complied with Japanese Governmentdimension regulations in the width category. In recent years, customers shifted to minivans and compact cars like Honda Fit. Honda launched Fit hybrid in October in Japan. However, production of Civic and Civic hybrid for export markets will continue."

I dont think dimension is an, like iRage mentioned probably its due to other vehicles taking over the market, but its a shame that they have stopped the Civic production there cuz Civic was their key model

Thumbs up...Don, If you just consider evolutio of Corolla, you can see this.

Yep the Axio seems to be pretty much the same size as Premio

[ozzie]

Thanks for sharing the information. I'm using my Fit hybrid for the last one year or so. I also did the full inspection test at Stafford before I register the car when I bought it to Srilanka. I have run around 20,000kms and still have no issues

Is that the Fit GP1?

[ramishkad]

Honda Civic Hybrid 2013 model that Stafford imports is made in Thailand. Current price with VAT is 6.4M

Does Stafford officially sell the Civic hybrid here? I thought they were selling only the Insight as a hybrid here. Not the Civic, Fit or Accord hybrids.

I saw ads for the 9th generation civic hybrid from other sellers around 5.2 million.