I drove my CTR 700 miles home

[Boostlag]

Thanks for the review. I must say, not having the volume knob on the radio sucks! I hate that touchscreens are the "in" thing. Turning vol up and down in an instance is always needed. But small quirk to deal with.
I think you'll see mpg improve a bit after about 1000-2000 miles (assuming normal everyday driving style, not 7000 rpm shifts lol). Let the engine break in and it should improve a tad.

people hated that slider so much, it was quickly revised on the CRV to have a knob. It should trickle down to the civic soon.

Sponsored

 

[zroger73]

A weird quirk I found was that if you are in cruising speed in sport, and change into comfort, you will actually slow down. Likewise if you're cruising in comfort, and switch to sport, you will begin to accelerate without any change.

The USB port in the center console seems to be pretty low power. I was trying to charge my phone through it and it was going pretty slow.

Well-organized review of your initial impressions. Thank you.

Regarding the "quirk", this is actually normal for all Honda models when you change "modes" (Comfort/Sport/+R on the Type R, SPORT on the Si, and ECON on all other Hondas) because the different modes alter part-throttle sensitivity (idle and wide-open throttle are unaffected). For example, if I'm slowly cruising across a parking lot in my Ridgeline with ECON mode on then switch it off without changing the position of the accelerator pedal, the truck will suddenly accelerate.

The Civic has only a 1.0A (5 watt) USB port in the center console and a 1.5A (7.5 watt) USB port under the dash. My Ridgeline also has two additional 2.5A (12.5 watt) USB ports which I use to charge my phone. I miss not having them when driving the Si.

 

[foxxdie]

Thanks for the review. I must say, not having the volume knob on the radio sucks! I hate that touchscreens are the "in" thing. Turning vol up and down in an instance is always needed. But small quirk to deal with.
I think you'll see mpg improve a bit after about 1000-2000 miles (assuming normal everyday driving style, not 7000 rpm shifts lol). Let the engine break in and it should improve a tad.

That's what I figured as well for the MPG. For the volume knob, I totally agree that it's probably one of those things they can improve on. I'm not sold on the touchscreen just yet, but I worked around it pretty easily. To compensate (at least a little bit) I found that the "grooves" that the steering wheel has between the volume up/down made it really easy to feel for without having to actually look down for them. It's not as easy as a quick flick of a knob to mute the music, but it's close enough for me.

 

[foxxdie]

Well-organized review of your initial impressions. Thank you.

Regarding the "quirk", this is actually normal for all Honda models when you change "modes" (Comfort/Sport/+R on the Type R, SPORT on the Si, and ECON on all other Hondas) because the different modes alter part-throttle sensitivity (idle and wide-open throttle are unaffected). For example, if I'm slowly cruising across a parking lot in my Ridgeline with ECON mode on then switch it off without changing the position of the accelerator pedal, the truck will suddenly accelerate.

The Civic has only a 1.0A (5 watt) USB port in the center console and a 1.5A (7.5 watt) USB port under the dash. My Ridgeline also has two additional 2.5A (12.5 watt) USB ports which I use to charge my phone. I miss not having them when driving the Si.

Thanks for the extra insight! I didn't mind the shift in power, I just thought it interesting since I didn't have the background knowledge. Now I have to go look for that extra USB port

 

[mabuz]

Sweet dude!

Seeing you picked it up in Buffalo, and live in NC...maybe that was you I saw in the black Type-R on I-79 southbound, a little north of Pittsburgh, PA around 6 PM yesterday?

This car looks great in black either way...and this was the first R I saw in person...too bad it was on the opposite side of the highway and I didn't get that good of a look.

 

[foxxdie]

Sweet dude!

Seeing you picked it up in Buffalo, and live in NC...maybe that was you I saw in the black Type-R on I-79 southbound, a little north of Pittsburgh, PA around 6 PM yesterday?

This car looks great in black either way...and this was the first R I saw in person...too bad it was on the opposite side of the highway and I didn't get that good of a look.

That is unreal haha. That was most definitely me! I used to live in the burgh and wanted to get through before the evening traffic (obviously didn't happen). Luckily you mostly avoid it anyway on 79.

 

[UFO CTR]

The following wall of text will be an average guy with average knowledge telling you what he thinks of the new CTR.

I'll preface all of this by saying that I am by no means a professional, just another guy that really wanted a CTR. I've also never really owned a "nice" car before this (coming from a VW rabbit, yes a rabbit. It's basically a crappy golf), so I'll probably be somewhat clueless as what to expect, and probably bias. Also I'm not trying to post any "new" information, just my own 2 cents. I drove my #0817 CTR 700 miles home through basically everything it'll go through except a track and snow. I drove back roads, highways, stop-and-go traffic, cities, construction, flat ground, mountains, slight rain, torrential downpour, day, and night. I haven't bee able to tinker with everything just yet, but this is what I think of the car so far.

Body:

• My CTR is Black, and without really looking at the other civics as an example, I was expecting just a normal gloss black. Instead I was surprised to see that it had some metallic in the paint that made it sparkle brilliantly. Definitely looks super sharp. Yes, it picks up a lot of dust. No, I don't worry about it
• The rear end is pretty large I feel like, and pushing at the side of the panels the vents are attached to they seem to move quite easily. I'm not really concerned.
• The spoiler does a wobble dance every time you close the trunk.
• These tires want to pick up everything. I could probably eat food off of the road after these tires have driven over it. I was not planning on paint protection for the whole car, but getting something for the areas around the wheels seems pretty necessary now .
• The spoiler actually doesn't obstruct any view out of the rear mirror. but holy moly does the housing for the wiper take up a lot of space. I got used to it, but that definitely blocks a good chunk of visibility.

Driving:

• It handled incredibly well on basically everything except the heavy rain, which I didn't expect it to be fantastic anyway. It was completely straight on the highways, and felt awesome to drive around the back roads
• Between the driving modes, the default sport mode is definitely the right default. A weird quirk I found was that if you are in cruising speed in sport, and change into comfort, you will actually slow down. Likewise if you're cruising in comfort, and switch to sport, you will begin to accelerate without any change.
• If you're in very slow traffic, I had pretty bad interior vibration (passenger side I think) in first gear right around 1500 rpm. again, crawling speed that I'll probably never have to deal with again. There was also some vibration at highway speed, but it wasn't as noticeable.
• Hello gas stations. I was not buying this car to get great mileage and I was tinkering with driving styles, gears, and RPMs the whole way back, but gas mileage seemed a little low compared to the estimated average. I'm sure once I make good use of comfort / cruise control it'll be around where it should be.
• Maybe I just didn't know what to expect, but the suspension actually felt really good. I was ready for a bumpy "stiff" ride home, but unless you hit a pretty big bump the whole ride home felt really smooth.
• Electronic parking break. Why is this a thing?

Interior:

• I am so glad I did not buy a FoRS. This interior feels fantastic. The seats are actually super comfortable, the sound system sounds great.
• For everyone complaining that the volume was on the touch screen and not a knob, I think I used it once to try it. The rest of the trip I used the volume controls on the wheel. problem solved.
• The USB port in the center console seems to be pretty low power. I was trying to charge my phone through it and it was going pretty slow.

Overall:
I love this car. Yes there are probably some issues with it, yes some other cars probably do certain things better, yes there are probably some aspects to improve on, but this is a seriously fun car and I am so happy that I was fortunate enough to get one. I can try to answer any specific questions you might have, if I missed anything you're interested in hearing about. To all of you waiting to pick up your CTR, the wait will be completely worth it. To all of you still looking for one, I wish you the best of luck. If anyone finds themselves in the Charlotte NC area, let's meet up. See you all on the road!

Thanks for the write up!!! How was the seats, how many times did you stop? Myself, along with a few from CA, will be driving 850 miles to get back to CA. Any other comfort comment will help! Congrats again!

 

[foxxdie]

Thanks for the write up!!! How was the seats, how many times did you stop? Myself, along with a few from CA, will be driving 850 miles to get back to CA. Any other comfort comment will help! Congrats again!

I'm a little under 6 ft and ~200lbs and the seats basically felt perfect. I hardly moved when on the backroads, and they've got plenty enough cushion for road trip bumps. I only really stopped when I needed to (gas/bathroom) which was probably around 6 times. The most uncomfortable part for me was actually just getting myself accustomed to a stick shift again. If you don't mind a few extra gas stops compared to more gas-friendly vehicles, the CTR can be a great road trip car in my opinion.

 

[Chee_hu]

Bravo! Such an awesome review from a regular joe, and not from an automotive journalist. This is exactly what I've been waiting for. If all goes well, I'll be making a 10xx mile drive home with the CTR as well. I can't wait!!!

 

[RODSCIVIC]

Nice review and congrats on your TypeR! Personally I used the steering wheel volume control on the EXT and have gotten used to it. It would have been nice if Honda had used the one they have in the MDX on the steering wheel but those are minor things. Good break in, enjoy!

 

[UFO CTR]

I'm a little under 6 ft and ~200lbs and the seats basically felt perfect. I hardly moved when on the backroads, and they've got plenty enough cushion for road trip bumps. I only really stopped when I needed to (gas/bathroom) which was probably around 6 times. The most uncomfortable part for me was actually just getting myself accustomed to a stick shift again. If you don't mind a few extra gas stops compared to more gas-friendly vehicles, the CTR can be a great road trip car in my opinion.

Thank you...this is very comforting to hear....looks like I'll be blasting off soon here

 

[mp2017]

Can you describe specifically which part of the body around the wheels you would recommend getting covered with PPF. I plan to have my car done before I drive it 150 miles home. Thx.

front of rear fenders

 

[Boostlag]

you calculate the milage up on fueling up?

 

[youCTR]

I think you'll see mpg improve a bit after about 1000-2000 miles (assuming normal everyday driving style, not 7000 rpm shifts lol).

I think gas matters here too...non-ethanol gas should give you a bump in MPGs

 

[foxxdie]

you calculate the milage up on fueling up?

I didn't during the trip. I knew it wasn't going to be great compared to my cheapo rabbit so I basically just looked past it besides "I'm close to empty, better find some gas". Doing some napkin math it looks like I was somewhere around the 24-26 range which is actually right around where it should be. I filled up conservatively so I never got terribly close to empty to see a full tank trip. With proper driving and the right gas, that will probably bump me closer to that estimated 28 highway or higher.

Sponsored