Living in Australia, i don't have an American built civic, rather a Japanese one (or maybe Thailand) but the problems are shared between both. My first issue, rather an annoying one, is the fuel gauge. When i fill my car up to full, the needle will stay at the top of the gauge for about 100km ( 4 days), it wont even drop a millimeter. It fools you to think you have the most economical car in the country. One moment the hand is at the top, you glance away and suddenly, it drops to half! and it will keep dropping at large intervals until you run out of fuel. I hardly use this car, having a mere 80,000km, (probably about 50,000miles) and i cant even rely on my fuel gauge to provide me with accurate information, instead i have to approximately judge how many liters i have left through the mileage. Ive had the car checked out at Honda and they said it was the fuel sender unit malfunctioning and that it would cost a total $660 for a factory part as the whole unit needed replacing. Absolutely ridiculous. Im also experiencing the famous civic transmission problems. Even though the car shifts impeccably smooth, i don't like the way it works, i find its always in the wrong gear, is very reluctant to shift to 2nd and downshifts too late or at an inappropriate time. I have a 94 accord (Japanese built) with over 320,000km on the clock and i prefer it to the civic in every way, its transmission may shift harder, but its operation and ratios are spot on. Its also more comfortable and didn't require a $660 part when it was at 80,000km, nor does it need one now at 320,000km.

I have had my car for about 2 years now, and the problem that I've noticed is the fuel guage. Once I filled up the tank past the full line and drove the car for about 1,000 miles. I've noticed that a full tank will barely get me by two days and when I park it, it seems like someone sifted gas out, but when I drive it the hand would slowly rise. But now when the hand does that, the check engine light will come on, and once I had a half a tank in the car, and I parked it and let it sit for about thirty or fourty minutes. When I got back in, I barely had a quarter of a tank and when I backed it out the spot, it went down to E and the empty tank light came on. Then when I started to drive it, it rose two lines above the e, but the fuel empty light stayed on and the check engine light came on. Now I've taken it to the Honda dealership twice, and they said that it may need a tune-up, which I had done, or I would have to calculate the gas mileage and then bring it back, but they coudln't figure out what it was. I've taken it to a foriegn car mechanic, and they ran a computer diagnostic, and they said it had something to do with the throttle. I dont know whats wrong with it, but I'm barely getting 18 mpg and I can't calculate it properly because the hand is inconsistent.

Like Ryan C. wrote about fuel indicator, I have the same problem. Fill up tank to full, drive for about 10 miles, indicator shows 1/2 tank is gone. Come home, park the car the next morning indicator is one notch off the full mark. Same happens if I drive, at one point indicator shows almost empty, and then after 2-3 miles crawls up. Brought car to Honda, they say that they can't fix it since problem could not be replicated.

After 'beefing it out' with dealership for about a month I decided to write letter to Honda of America about this. Got case number from them, explained what's going on. This way if something indicator breaks after warranty runs out, I still have a case since problem was noted earlier.

I am also thinking about taking pictures of indicator with odometer with my digital camera, this way I can show Honda that there is something wrong for sure.