1994 Honda Civic Pricing and Specs

The main problem with this gearbox is that it’s a CVT and that makes a lot of people a bit nervous. But in the Honda’s case there’s less to be concerned about.

That’s because Honda doesn’t just buy in its CVT, and instead, designed and engineered its own CVT to be a better thing. And it seems to have worked. That said, any Honda that exhibits juddering on take-off, a whining noise from the CVT and even slippage as the car tires to accelerate or travel up a hill needs attention.

The good news is that, in the case of the Honda CVT, the fix is often pretty simple. That’s because these problems in a Honda usually point to nothing more involved than changing the contaminated transmission fluid. For the record, the experts reckon that changing the fluid in your Honda CVT every 40,000km at the outside is the way to go, and should keep any problems at bay.

As far as the engine goes, the Civic’s turbocharged four-cylinder seems to follow Honda tradition by being remarkably reliable. However, it’s worth remembering that this is a high-tech unit and requires careful servicing if it’s to remain so. Make sure any second-hand Civic has a full and complete service history as part of the deal.

If the car is still running well and there’s no signs of oil burning, then the oil you’ve been using so far would appear to be the right one. Thicker oil is usually only used if the engine is starting to show signs of wear and is leaking or burning oil.

While that mileage sounds a lot, provided the servicing has been carried out promptly, it’s amazing how far a modern, quality engine like the Honda’s will go without problems.

The first thing to do is to make sure your phone has Bluetooth switched on and is in Discoverable mode. Then, go to the menu on the car's info-screen and select Settings. Then scroll down and select Setup and then Bluetooth. From there, touch on Add a New Device. The car will then search for nearby devices and display them. When your phone's ID appears, scroll to it and press the Select button. Make sure the code on the screen for Bluetooth Honda Civic matches the code shown on your phone and you're good to go.

There are also online tutorials on how to connect Bluetooth to Honda Civic cars, and these are worth watching provided the unit in question is the same as the system in Australian-delivered Civics. Some markets had different set-ups, so make sure you watch the right video.

If all that fails, the connection instructions are in the car's owner's manual which, hopefully, is in the car's glove-box.

This system of Honda Civic Bluetooth paring was introduced on 2018 and on Civics, but it's worth mentioning that those earlier cars did not have on-board sat-nav. So to get navigation on the RS or VTi-L model, you definitely need your phone connected to make use of your phone's nav system.