Honda Civic Advice

The most economical car argument is still a valid one, despite the fact that oil prices have stabilised around the world.

Is 2017 the year of the new car for your garage? It's pretty easy to work out what's available now, but here are the most exciting models that are yet to arrive in showrooms.

... for the coming hot weather once summer arrives and our thoughts turn to the long drives to our summer holiday destinations.The last thing we want is to be stuck roadside with steam gushing from an overheated engine and the family quietly fuming away beside us. It's worth taking a few minutes to check the car to make sure everything is in good shape for the hot road ahead.Long distances, with a load in tow, mean our tyres will come under increased pressure to stand up. Start by checking the tread depth to make sure there's plenty of tread to move water away from the tyre contact patch should we get caught in a sudden summer downpour.At the same time look for any uneven tyre wear across the tread face, carefully examining the shoulders of the tyre for excessive wear that might indicate a suspension alignment issue that needs to be addressed.While you're at it check the spare tyre and make sure it's ready to go in the event you have a puncture on the way. Many cars today have temporary use spares, or even run-flat tyres, so it's worth reading up on the limitations of them before you hit the road. That way you will know what to do if you have to fit one on your journey.Summer also means higher temperatures and that puts higher stress on our engines and transmissions, stress that is made even higher if we're towing. Servicing both the engine and transmission will help avoid the breakdowns and delays that can ruin our holidays.Pay particular attention to the cooling system. Make sure it's topped up with the correct coolant, not water, and check for leaks. Most cars are fitted with thermostatically controlled cooling fans that come on at a predetermined temperature to keep the engine from overheating. It's worth checking that it is operating correctly.Take the time to clean bugs and anything else that's accumulated on the radiator so the radiator can work at its most efficient, and check for leaks.

Among Australia’s many, many gifts to the world - Rebel Wilson, Tony Abbott, the cork hat, Clive Palmer, Vegemite, Dame Edna - perhaps the most profound, yet sadly unrecognised, is the ute.

Back in those dark days Australia, Britain, Germany and Japan were at each others throats in deadly combat. Today mankind has, on the whole, woken up to itself and we have other ways of engaging in combat. Such as on sporting fields and in one of the toughest arenas of all - the automotive sales race.For whatever reason, the former Axis countries are doing much better in the automotive business than the Allies - Germany, Japan and Italy now dominate the car business.Which brings us back to the British motor industry. Once a shambles caused by poor design, class conflict and over-aggressive trades unions, Britain is now doing pretty well in automotive manufacturing although the big players in car manufacturing in the Old Dart these days are mainly owned by Japan (Honda and Nissan) and Germany (Mini, Rolls-Royce, Bentley).Which brings us back to Honda Civics and the aircraft runway at Swindon. Honda’s giant plant is located about an hour’s drive west of London and we recently spent a fascinating day touring the factory, talking to the people who work there and learning about the philosophy of the giant Japanese car, motorbike and power equipment maker.Honda’s policy is to build cars in the areas where they are sold whenever this is possible. Britain has a long and glorious history of industry in many fields, not just cars, though it had faded in recent years. So Honda chose the England as a major player in its business.Honda is the world’s largest manufacturer of engines by quite a large margin, due to its major presence in bikes and power equipment. We witnessed the assembly lines in Swindon where up to 1000 engines a day, petrol and diesel, are produced for the Civic, CR-V and Jazz.One thing that fascinated me was watching men (there were very few women in the factory) setting the tappets for a Civic engine using spanners and a feeler gauge. Somehow I thought that a giant computer would have carried out this intricate task, but no, Honda says human beings can do it better. Good to see!Participants in the deadly struggles between the English upper and working classes, as well as the financially fatal fights between management and unions, would have been delighted (or horrified?) to see the way the Japanese company operates.We had talks with several levels of Honda employees, including the managing director, factory floor workers and several others in between. The fascinating thing is that they all wore the same uniform of white pants and shirts no matter what their level of in the company. A uniform with their first name on a label on the right side of the shirt.All ate in the same canteen. A far cry from the days when some English factories had as many as seven segregated levels of canteens / restaurants for employees, staff, top management and the owners of the companies.While every company of any consequence - automotive or otherwise - talks about caring for people and the environment these days, Honda is very serious about the matter, playing far more than lip service. We witnessed correct recycling of waste, not only at the industrial stages but also in the staff canteen and many other rooms where thorough recycling is very much part of the day-to-day scene. Honda in the UK is proud of the fact that nothing goes to landfill.We also saw the genuine care shown by Honda’s first aid staff when one of our number showed signs of illness after the long flights across the world from Brisbane to the United Kingdom.Talking of flights brings me back to the runway used by Spitfires and Lancasters. Though its origins are still visually obvious, these days it has been transformed into a series of test tracks with various surfaces, speed capabilities and other everyday, and not so everyday, motoring areas.Every Civic that comes off the line - not simply a selected few - is road tested on the old runway area. Honda feels that while this is time consuming and expensive it’s very important that a human driver, not a robot, makes the final decision as to whether a car should be delivered to customer in the best possible condition.