Engine choice

damon5

At the moment i,m driving a 3 door 99 astra with a 1.4 16 valve engine that will be going out to pasture when i find a replacement car.Have been looking at the 2008 Civics that have a 1.4 DSI engine and wondering would these two engines be similar in power and performance,
The astra is only driven a couple of days a week and mostly city and out skirt driving and very little on a motorway,have heard that the 1.4 DSI is very under powered for the weight of the car and that the 1.4 i-vtec would be a better choice.Am not looking for some fast hatch piece just an engine similar to what i have in the astra at the moment,that works with the weight of the car and when needed for overtaking etc power is there,cheers....

Del2005

Going from a 1.4 Opel to a 1.4 Honda will be a massive improvement. The Civic is about the same size as the Astra so even the basic engine will be an improvement and have plenty of power for every day use, its only when you start pushing that the extra power would be noticed and you can't push on the road. Irish insurance companies don't like VTEC in the car title.

colm_mcm

Neither the i-DSI or i-VTEC 1.4 are particularly powerful. The I-VTEC will be around the same as the Astra.

Get the 1.8 if you want a bit more power. They aren’t any harder on fuel and a 5 door is €390 tax post 2008.

Insurance on a 1.4 i-VTEC won’t be any mpre than on an i-DSI. Civics aren’t as cheap to insure as a lot of other similarly sized cars though.

damon5

Thanks for replies lads,think i will stick to a 2008 1.4 DSI from july on for the co2 tax rates as the price of the car goes up if i was to buy a 2009 civic that has a vtec engine, as far as i know the vtec came out in late 2009.Will be paying 100 euro less on tax than what i,m paying now which could offset some of the insurance cost increase,also buying a 1.8 vtec would just be an extra hit to the cost of insurance on a car thats just sitting there during weekdays

colm_mcm

You don’t have to go for post July to get the cheaper tax, anything from January 08 onwards will go on emissions if the original cc rate was higher.

Price insurance on both the 1.8 and 1.4

damon5

colm_mcm wrote: »

You don’t have to go for post July to get the cheaper tax, anything from January 08 onwards will go on emissions if the original cc rate was higher.

Price insurance on both the 1.8 and 1.4

Thanks for that colm,as you mentioned too will check out the differance in insurance between the 1.4 and 1.8,the tax for the 1.8 will be the same price as the 1.4 i,m driving now so at least no increase there ...:)

colm_mcm

I have the 1.8 and there’s no comparison between it and the 1.4

damon5

colm_mcm wrote: »

I have the 1.8 and there’s no comparison between it and the 1.4

And did you say your 1.8 was vtec,ivtec ? read somewhere i think that the ivtec had power from lower revs and up where as the other you have to drive it up in the revs and then you would get the power performance.........

colm_mcm

It’s i-VTEC, and it’s SOHC not DOHC so it only works on the intake valves. you don’t really get proper old fashioned screaming at 9000 rpm VTEC engines anymore. It just makes it more economical and a small bit more powerful. It’s closer to VVT-i than VTEC.
It’s more the gear ratios and weight that make them reasonably quick.

chicorytip

damon5 wrote:

At the moment i,m driving a 3 door 99 astra with a 1.4 16 valve engine that will be going out to pasture when i find a replacement car.Have been looking at the 2008 Civics that have a 1.4 DSI engine and wondering would these two engines be similar in power and performance, The astra is only driven a couple of days a week and mostly city and out skirt driving and very little on a motorway,have heard that the 1.4 DSI is very under powered for the weight of the car and that the 1.4 i-vtec would be a better choice.Am not looking for some fast hatch piece just an engine similar to what i have in the astra at the moment,that works with the weight of the car and when needed for overtaking etc power is there,cheers....

Try a 08 Astra 1.4. The engine has the same output (90 b.h.p.) but feels much more lively and is chain as opposed to belt driven so easier to maintain.

damon5

Looking on the net and i,m finding a lot of the 1.8s and over are the sports models with higher specs etc, that would bump the insurance right up but i,ll only be looking for a quote on a five door hatch.
With the same insurance company 10 years now with the same car so maybe their quotes will be decent for a loyal customer ,would have to get at least an 08 which would make it an 11 year old car so hoping the age wouldnt raise an eyebrow and those 10 years will work in my favour ....

damon5

chicorytip wrote: »

Try a 08 Astra 1.4. The engine has the same output (90 b.h.p.) but feels much more lively and is chain as opposed to belt driven so easier to maintain.

Had my old astra in the garage a few years ago for a couple of days and they gave me a newish model while the work was getting done on the car,got into the drivers seat and it felt so high up and i didnt feel 100% in control.Couldnt wait to get my car back and when i did i melted into the much lower seating position and regained the connection i have with the car and the road if you know what i mean

colm_mcm

chicorytip wrote: »

Try a 08 Astra 1.4. The engine has the same output (90 b.h.p.) but feels much more lively and is chain as opposed to belt driven so easier to maintain.

You’re joking right? A belt would need less changing than the chain on an Astra.

Brasso

I just got two quotes out of interest for an 08 civic hatchback. The 1.4 sport was €594, 1.8 sport was €618. For that small of a difference I'd definitely be in the 1.8

damon5

colm_mcm wrote: »

You’re joking right? A belt would need less changing than the chain on an Astra.

Whats the story with the chains on the astra out of curiosity ? have been looking at the 2010 Opel Astra 1.4I 16V VVT SC 100PS model body style as i dont like the shape of the 09,s,any imput on those regarding the chains,engine etc ...

damon5

Brasso wrote: »

I just got two quotes out of interest for an 08 civic hatchback. The 1.4 sport was €594, 1.8 sport was €618. For that small of a difference I'd definitely be in the 1.8

Nice bit of luck there with those quotes,hard to believe theres only 24 euro in the differance,thing is i could phone that same company for those same cars and get a quote twice as much.Could be depending on which side do i get out of bed in the morning,which shoe do i put on first my right or my left,read on yahoo yesterday that there is a bit of a drop in car insurance prices happening ,wont hold the breath though ...

U_Fig

I found with the civics I tried to get a few quotes and the 1.8 petrol was pretty much the same too as the 1.4 but the quotes on the 1.6 and 2.2 diesel were cheaper than both and for a type R I might as well have put my kidney up for auction on the black market to insure it.

From driving both the petrols unless there is a significant difference in the Insurance I would go 1.8 all day

damon5

U_Fig wrote: »

I found with the civics I tried to get a few quotes and the 1.8 petrol was pretty much the same too as the 1.4 but the quotes on the 1.6 and 2.2 diesel were cheaper than both and for a type R I might as well have put my kidney up for auction on the black market to insure it.

From driving both the petrols unless there is a significant difference in the Insurance I would go 1.8 all day

Thats good to know too especially if i,m assuming right that there the V engines your refering to and not DSI,wont mention i-vtec or v-tec because i,ll just get too confused

damon5

Still on the lookout as 1.8 petrol i-vtecs look to be pretty scarce,can someone tell me what the stem thingy is to the left of the steering wheel,cheers....
https://www.carzone.ie/used-cars/honda/civic/used-2010-honda-civic-nct-02-20-1-dublin-fpa-201902265315165

Squidgy Black

damon5 wrote: »

Still on the lookout as 1.8 petrol i-vtecs look to be pretty scarce,can someone tell me what the stem thingy is to the left of the steering wheel,cheers....
https://www.carzone.ie/used-cars/honda/civic/used-2010-honda-civic-nct-02-20-1-dublin-fpa-201902265315165

That photo is of a different car altogether. Look at the photo after it, completely different steering wheels and centre console.

damon5

Squidgy Black wrote: »

That photo is of a different car altogether. Look at the photo after it, completely different steering wheels and centre console.

Had read that the 2010 model had a facelift and a few other bits changed on the dash looking at it now i,m assuming that the rod thingy maybe some automatic shifter ....

colm_mcm

Yeah. That’s a Honda CR-V interior with a column shifter.

Facelift civic interior is 99% the same as pre-facelift. Has aux in and some tiny differences but on first glance they’re identical.

damon5

colm_mcm wrote: »

Yeah. That’s a Honda CR-V interior with a column shifter.

Facelift civic interior is 99% the same as pre-facelift. Has aux in and some tiny differences but on first glance they’re identical.

Thanks for info....was thinking how can you test drive a car that your interested in if you dont have close enough access to 80,100,120 km roads to make a fair assessment of a cars condition ......

colm_mcm

Meet them somewhere where you can drive on those roads?

Or go to a garage and drive one for perspective.

damon5

colm_mcm wrote: »

Meet them somewhere where you can drive on those roads?

Or go to a garage and drive one for perspective.

Cheers,the brain jumps out of gear every now and again with all the researching on the internet