DB Walkaround; 2008 Honda Civic EX-L Sedan -PART TWO-

The 2008 Honda Civic EX-L Sedan -Part TWO-

Features, Advantages, and Benefits

Honda has raised the bar as far as what the Honda Civic comes with for features. Let's start with the basic features that most cars have and move on from there.

The 2008 Honda Civic EX-L Sedan comes with either a 5-speed manual transmission or a 5-speed automatic transmission, yeah, that's right a 5-speed automatic transmission. I am not saying that this is unique to Honda, but I will say it is pretty unique to a 4 cylinder engine, most manufacturer's give you a 4-speed automatic (almost all give you a 5-speed manual). By having the extra gear to kick into, when you are at higher speeds (hwy) you will idle lower, making for a quieter engine/quieter ride and rpm's are lower so you conserve gas (check it out, at around 110km's/hr, the idle sits just over 2,000/rpm's - most vehicles will be at or over 2,500/rpm's).

The air conditioning unit comes with a micron filter which works like a heppa filter on a vaccum, filtering out alot of the debris in the air, this helps those out with alergies, etc. The Civic comes with both a tilt and telescopic steering wheel, which means that not only will the steering wheel tilt up and down - but it will also move in and out. This is great for people of my body type. I am not the tallest guy in the world (5'8") and what height I do have is in my legs, so when I sit in a seat I sit further back because of my longer legs, so I find I end up reaching a bit for the steering wheel. By having the telescoping steering wheel, I can move it closer to me (in/out) so I don't have to compromise my seating position, which makes for a more comfortable ride. Electronic Cruise Control is on the car, so you can comfortably set your speed and rest your foot on a long drive or for you 'lead-foots'. The full power group is included on this trim, power windows, power door locks, power heated side door mirrors, and a power moonroof with the tilt feature, all convenience features made to make life easier!

The audio is something pretty good for a factory deck. In most cases it is made by Alpine (I have seen decks made by Panasonic as well), I don't know why they don't brag about this, Alpine and Panasonic make good electronic's. The decks will play most +/- burnt CD's and mp3 files. There is also an auxillary jack located below the power outlet to plug in a i-pod or mp3 player, all you have to do is get a 'stereo cable' (has two male ends that look like the end of a earphone cable). It will not charge your i-pod at the time and you have to use your i-pod to control the songs etc., however you can get what's called an 'i-link' from Honda where you can do both.

The first thing that you will be drawn to when you step inside of the car is the new 'heads up' display. You'll notice that all of your most commonly used guages are always within your front periferal vision, you do not have to peek through the steering wheel in order to see what the speed, gas, or oil temperature is at. The more your eyes are on the road the safer you'll be. You really have to hand it to Honda for putting together such a dramatically different dash together than ever before (competitor's included), they could have kept turning out the same old stuff and still sold a whack of cars.

The middle armrest actually can be pulled forward to give you more of an armrest (or is some cases of sitting closer to the dash a armrest at all). Inside of the armrest is a generous storage compartment that will fit 10X CD cases and also has another power outlet for a cel phone. This extra power outlet gives you 2X in all. The nice thing about the power outlet being tucked away in the armrest/storage compartment is that when you charge your cel phone in the armrest it will be out of sight, so if you stop for a coffee at 7-Eleven (http://www.7-eleven.com/) a thief doesn't pass by, sees it and does a smash and grab. Plus, having the cel phone out of the way while you are charging it, you won't have all the cables in the way of the shifter.

Exclusive to the 2008 Civic EX-L's is the Leather with heated front seats. If you have kids or pets, leather is easier to keep clean than cloth. There is a manual height adjustable seat as well, perfect for me being long in the leg, so I can 'pump it up'.