The Temple of VTEC - Honda and Acura Enthusiasts Online - Articles - Man, and I thought I was analytical!: Exterior

NOTE From the editors of the TOV: You are reading a user-submitted article. This article is very thorough and is being presented in its entirety in unedited form. The opinions expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of the TOV nor its editorial staff. We would like to extend our thanks to Dan Acosta for taking the time to write this informative article and sharing it with the TOV community.

Exterior: Aside from saving gas, the main reason I chose the Civic is its looks. The rear bears a strong resemblance to older Civics, but the view from the front and sides suggests something much more than an economy car. One pleasant surprise has been the wide spoke wheels on the Civic are much easier to keep clean than the multi-beveled surfaces on the Accord wheels.


2006 Civic Wheel	2004 Accord Wheel

The combination of interior and exterior side mirrors makes it easy to adjust for a full panoramic view of the sides and rear while driving, which allows you to see a full 360� without turning your head. This mirror technique works great in heavy traffic and is explained more thoroughly here. Odyssey mirrors have this same great adjustability. The Accord, however, doesn't have quite enough outward displacement in the left door mirror for a complete panoramic view, but it's close. All of my Hondas have steady mirrors (no vibration) to at least 100 MPH; beyond that speed I'm not looking behind me anyway.

On the downside, the Civic only has 5 inches of ground clearance at the front, so it's easy to scrape bottom on speed bumps or the large concrete bumpers in parking lots.

There are a few other "problems" with the exterior on the Civic. While its style and design looks great, it makes it very difficult to maneuver when parking. It has a tight turning radius, but you can't see any of the corners. Thus, parking maneuvers are done in the blind. I find it much easier to parallel park my Accord or Odyssey than the Civic, even though I spend much more time driving the Civic.

Another problem with the exterior design is the large blind spot created by the A-pillar. The little triangle window doesn't really help and is more for style. Right hand turns are not a problem, but it does take significant head contortions when rounding left hand corners.

The final problem with the exterior, if you want to lump this into exterior features, is the horn. The stock Civic horn can best be described as an embarrassment, and was my biggest disappointment with buying the car. It's not loud enough for anyone to hear if you really need a horn in traffic, and the sound it makes is too wimpy if you're trying to flirt with someone you might see walking down the street. Honda made this great looking car and then handicapped it with the horn.

I enlisted the aid of my dealer to swap my anemic Civic horn for a set of dual horns from an Odyssey. The connectors are the same, but you do have to splice in a second wire and connector for the second horn. Both horns work on the stock fuse without any additional relays. The hardest part of the job is removing the bumper cover, which isn't too difficult for someone with experience who knows what he's doing.