Anyone who sees snow, how is your Civic performing?

[WoolyKris]

This is my first season running winter tire setup on the civic as I always had AWD cars with all seasons. So far I’m extremely satisfied, right tires will make a world of difference.

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[civicdabest-foo]

Tires: I'm running the stock Firestone FT140's that people shit upon so much and they've done just fine in the polar vortex climate on the shitty roads that we have here in Saskatchewan. Never thought about winter tires so far. It's the VSA that I am happy about and rely on to not send me spinning out of control on the highway because the road is iced over.

Engine: Never failed to start. I have never had a Honda product fail to start in the winter. I do not worry about this lol.

Fuel Economy: It has been hovering around -30 celsius here in Saskatchewan. If the car is parked outside and is driven off, it gets roughly 19 mpg in this weather. Granted, this is exceptional weather and not the norm. Fuel economy is just fine when it's about -10 degrees celsius. The temperature guage doesn't register a squeak of a fart even after 20 minutes of city driving. I'm planning on switching to driving my SUV as it gets overall the same mileage in these shit winter conditions.

Gremlins: None so far other than a gurgling sound coming from near the fuel tank, the fuel pump is having a shower I assume.

 

[civicdabest-foo]

Just got hit with 22 inches of snow. My civic 1.5 performed like a champ when the only cars out on the road were 4x4's (and AWD'S). My Civic was literally the only Fwd car on the road. The stock Firestones performed like a champ. Can't be any happier.

Some people were staring at me like I was crazy. The roads were EXTREMELY bad.

Ah the FT140's that so many people shit upon. This is what I have on mine and the tread has worn down, yet in -30 celsius on packed snow and sheet ice it stopped as well as the winter tired Lexus SUV I occasionally.

It's only in deep snow that these tires fail, but these sections are avoidable and rare if you live in a city/town in North America where snow clearing is a standard function for society.

I'll say it again, the Firestone FT140's are champs.

I have 4 Michelin Arctic Alpins from years ago that I could just fit onto my Civic but the FT140's have combated -40 celsius here in Sask, Canada.

 

[redstang]

I'm in SE Washington state. It has been snowing and blowing pretty hard for over 24 hours and isn't expected to stop until tomorrow morning. I ventured out this morning after clearing my driveway. The civic did pretty good. I have a Ktuner dual tune installed so I just put it in ECON mode to dampen the throttle otherwise there is just to much torque. Didn't seem to have a problem getting going. Traction control seemed to help. I live at the end of a cul-de-sac that probably won't get plowed so I'm not sure what tomorrow will hold for going anywhere. We are supposed to go to Seattle next weekend and if the weather is still bad we will be driving the Civic. Our Accord Sport is more comfortable but has the 19" wheels and even though the tires are all season, sometimes chains are required over the pass and it isn't recommended to use chains on that car. I know there are alternatives but it was easier to just get standard chains for the Civic. It will be an interesting trip since Seattle is all but shutdown due to their storm.

 

[M1KL83]

My hatch is equipped with nokian hakkapellitas r3 and traction in deep snow was never a problem. We recently had a feet of snow and all my co workers were stuck in snow in our parking lot. They were stuck for almost an hour trying to get out of the parking lot. I was out of the lot like it was nothing. The only issue is ground clearance with these car but its not the car’s fault though.

I think any car will have no problem as long as they’are with proper tires.

+1 Nokian Hakkapellita R3's

I too have these as my winter tires, and on their own set of winter rims. I am thoroughly impressed with their winter driving performance. I looked at Blizzaks, XIce and Pirelli Sottozero 3 but ultimately decided to go with the Nokian R3's.

Initially I wanted to get a set of Gislaved Nordfrost 100's but unfortunately Gislaved has stopped production of the Nordfrost 100's and changed to the Nordfrost 200's. I couldn't source any of the remaining stock out there in my size here in Canada. I wasn't sold on the updated tread style of the 200's however I had been above and beyond impressed by their earlier 100's winter tires performance in snow and ice.

 

[arsh88]

This is first winter with the CivicX. And coming from an 10' Audi A4 Quattro, I have to say, that the snow performance for the Civic is not great compared to the Audi. Most likely because the Audi was all wheel drive, but I feel maybe the stock firestones arent the greatest tires. Anyone have opinions on how their civics are doing in the snow?

I came from an AWD lancer and can confirm. I'll see how it is next year when i get winter tires but so far with the stock all seasons i am not impressed. All seasons on my lancer and i could cruise through snow without issue. All i get on the civic is the traction control light being on constantly. I'm really hoping winters fix it because we get snow like half the year and otherwise it'll be time for a new car with awd sooner rather than later.

 

[VarmintCong]

After 3 winters in my Sport, I'm questioning the need for AWD. I came from RWD cars for 15 years, and while they were more fun, the Civic is a little better in the snow. In other words, I think GTI/GLI/Si or even Type R would be just fine in the snow, don't need an AWD.

 

[remusrm]

After 3 winters in my Sport, I'm questioning the need for AWD. I came from RWD cars for 15 years, and while they were more fun, the Civic is a little better in the snow. In other words, I think GTI/GLI/Si or even Type R would be just fine in the snow, don't need an AWD.

I came from a Lancer SE AWD and the Civic is great but the tires are awful. I have the Kinergy GT and I have to say they are just a summer time, since in light snow under 1 inch and 28 outside they had no traction! I had a cheap Achilles tires that were better in light snow.

 

[HalfBreed]

This is my first winter with this car. Haven't had a bad snowfall yet since I picked up my car (knock on wood), which is surprising for upstate NY. But winter is far from over for us. I'm gonna keep the stock tires on it for now, but by Spring, I'll hopefully have a new set of wheels/tires for non-winter and my stock wheels will get snow tires for the winter.

 

[CosmicX]

I came from a Lancer SE AWD and the Civic is great but the tires are awful. I have the Kinergy GT and I have to say they are just a summer time, since in light snow under 1 inch and 28 outside they had no traction! I had a cheap Achilles tires that were better in light snow.

I agree, the Kinergy GT's were borderline worthless in the snow. I only drove on snow a couple times with them, but hated them each time. I did end up putting 90000 miles on them though, and thought they did great on dry and wet, so there is that.
Current tires, Cooper Neon RS3-G1's, are a little less sucky on snow, but not a lot better either. I just stay home when it snows, if I can help it. My commute is 125 miles round trip, with hills. I would consider dedicated winter tires, but don't see the low temps and loads of snow that make them worth it. I typically only see snow 2-5 times per winter, on average.

 

[Muscleman]

My 1.5 cvt touring absolutely sucks here in Canada its takes forever to warm up and the all season Firestone tires is a disaster

 

[remusrm]

My 1.5 cvt touring absolutely sucks here in Canada its takes forever to warm up and the all season Firestone tires is a disaster

Yeah, even my 2.0 takes some time to warm, but I am ok with it since it a fuel sipper when idleing, not like my lancer that got 26(mainly street)-28(70% highway) avg vs this one at 34.5MPG!

 

[arsh88]

1 winter with the stocks and I was not impressed
This is my 1st winter with continental Dws-06 and I am NOT IMPRESSED

my old lander with AWD with General rt43 was way better. I’m getting some blizzak ws90s as one final shot but I think AWD ruined fwd for me

 

[marauderguy]

My 1.5 cvt touring absolutely sucks here in Canada its takes forever to warm up and the all season Firestone tires is a disaster

My 1.5 Touring warms up pretty fast. I never put the heater on hi as it sucks too much heat out of that tiny engine. Usually put the heat on 1 or 2 until it starts to warm up and then not much past half on those very cold days. Also using S mode to keep the rpms closer to 2500 helps a lot to produce heat instead of idling along closer to 1500.

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