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February 14, 2017

How Much Does It Cost to Run the 2017 Honda Civic RS Turbo?


Thanks to the continued trend towards downsized engines, carmakers are now adopting technologies once reserved for performance-oriented cars. One such technology is turbocharging. By forcing more air into the combustion chamber using an exhaust gas-driven turbine, the engine is made to produce more power despite a smaller displacement. Even the “every man’s car”, the compact car class is now home to three choices using turbocharged engines. The best seller among them is the all-new Civic RS.

The recipient of Honda’s first-ever Earth Dreams Turbo engine, the Civic RS has scooped up awards left and right including CarGuide.PH’s very own Top 5 Picks of 2016. Still, some would-be buyers and critics remain unsatisfied, saying that the 1.5-liter turbocharged engine is costlier to maintain versus a typical normally-aspirated engine.



Removing the guess work (like what we did with the City before), we asked for the Civic RS’s service menu straight from Honda Cars Philippines. And the results are quite encouraging.

Given the Civic’s 3-year/100,000-kilometer warranty, there’s minimal out-of-pocket expense outside of gasoline and Preventive Maintenance Service (PMS) for as long as the required service schedule is followed and performed by an authorized Honda dealer.



As it is, Honda has already halved the required visits to the casa from the typical 4 times a year (or every 5,000 kilometers) to 2 times a year or every 10,000 kilometers (whichever comes first). The Civic RS goes further, adopting an oil condition sensor that lets you know when the engine oil warrants a change. Even with the rough life of being a media demo unit, this particular White Orchid Pearl RS can go 12,000 kilometers between oil changes.

However, since HCPI requires a fixed rather than conditional interval between dealer visits, the oil condition indicator won’t be used as basis. Instead, in accordance with Honda’s prescribed PMS schedule, these are the jobs required to be done during the first 3 years of ownership:


From the chart, it’s obvious that the cost isn’t evenly split between intervals. The bulk of the cost comes at your car’s anniversary or every 20,000 kilometers with a smaller cost sandwiched in-between every six months or every 10,000 kilometers.

While the “lighter” service remains constant at P 3,810.55 (and a quick 2.75 hours turnaround time), the “heavier” service interval goes up steadily peaking at the 40,000-kilometer mark. At that point, it will set owners back P 15,849.20. It does cover a lot of work and parts replaced such as fuel strainer set, A/C filter, and the CVT fluid. It also takes around half a day (5 hours) to complete though.



To get a better picture of the Civic RS’s running costs, fuel consumption has to be factored in as well. Based on the actual tested 8.3 km/L (done in city traffic or 14 km/h), the Civic stands to consume around 1,205 liters of 91-octane unleaded per 6 months or roughly 2,410 liters per year. Pegging petrol prices at P 45 to a liter, it will cost P 108,433.74 to top up the tank annually. Interestingly, with a maximum tank capacity of 47 liters, it means at least 52 visits to your friendly gas station per year or around once a week. Adding up the cost of PMS and fuel, the Civic RS runs up to a 3-year ownership cost of P 372,544.98. Split by year, it comes out to:
  • Year 1: P 120,400.84
  • Year 2: P 128,093.49
  • Year 3: P 124,050.64

At a glance, this looks a lot, but factoring in that you’ll be traveling to the tune of 20,000 kilometers annually, that comes out to just P 6.21 per kilometer. As a reference, this is P 1.37 more expensive per kilometer than the City (P 4.84). Compared to other compact cars though, it’s a bit more expensive than the Corolla Altis 2.0 (P 6.04 per kilometer)—mainly because of the Altis’s better fuel consumption and the Mazda3 Speed (P 5.13 per kilometer)—because of the all-inclusive Yojin-3 PMS. It is way cheaper though than the Subaru Impreza’s P 7.96 per kilometer running cost whether you factor in fuel economy or not.




Considering everything, the Civic RS looks promising even for long-term ownership. For what it’s worth, Honda has done their homework and brought down the price of turbo ownership to a level that even the every man can enjoy. The new Civic RS truly lives up to its nameplate’s promise.

36 comments:

  1. I wonder what the cost of a Mazda 3 (or any Mazda models) post Yojin 3?

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  2. Cost to own a Civic for three years: P 372,544.98
    Cost to one's reputation for owning a horridly ugly car: Unfathomable!

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  3. i own an ugly car honda city lx 98(all manual and no power steering and windows) with close to 15k run yearly, i wish i had money to replace it the sooner the better. i want a new one

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  4. Very nice review, sana my ganito study DOE or any government agency sa mga ssakyan (like EPA rating on MPG). Puro lang kasi tax measure nakkita nila pag dating sa vehicle sales

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  5. The oil listed in the chart indicates a semi-synthetic blend. My father-in-law has a Civic RS Turbo and Honda uses fully synthetic oil as per the manual. The oil costs around 600+ per liter and that would amount to 2400+ just for the oil alone. Our previous Honda cars serviced by dealers are also being lubed by Honda fully synthetic oils. Also, Honda suggested to use 95RON fuel for the 1.5L turbo engine.

    So, can the new Civic RS be lubed by semi-synthetic oil and fed by 91RON fuel? If that's the case, there might be some disconnect with what the folks at Honda dealerships are telling owners.

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    Replies
    1. This list came from Honda Cars Philippines itself. It was verified by their service department. Using semi-synthetic blend should be okay for oil change intervals every half a year. Using synthetic oils might be your dealer "up selling" a service to you.

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    2. Honda recommends 95RON fuel? Ha! They do that to make you feel that the Honda is more powerful than it really is. I tried the 95RON one time as well, and I felt the throttle is quicker to response than with the 91RON fuel that is recommended.

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    3. Honda engines can take advantage of the higher octane fuels, a slight bump in hp output. But there's just too many cops here in the US to use that negligible extra hp.

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    4. Extra HP? Higher octane fuel just reduces engine knock.

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    5. CONFIRMED: Civic only needs semi-synthetic oil (as per HCPI) provided it be changed every 6 months. It only needs 91 octane (as per HCPI) as well.

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  6. sir uly how about the mazda 3 R how much does it cost to run a mazda 3. thanks this is a very informative article.

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    1. The Speed and the R have the same drivetrain, so the maintenance cost is the same as the Speed in the chart above.

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    2. sir uly, why mazda resale value is low compare to honda cars? is it worth to buy mazda since it has yojin3 total care. buying a civic doesn't stop there. it has a maintenance costs. for you sir uly which one is worth to buy? this mazda 3 or honda civic?

      i like the toys of civic but the interior design of mazda 3 is way more better. when it comes to performance we know which one is good ;) hehe. so i need your advice sir before i settle down my decision. thank you thank you thank you

      my consideration for buying a car in this segment
      good looks(interior, exterior)
      reliability
      durability
      comfort
      features

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    3. Do you know why? It's because of the local cult following of Honda here, and that is the same reason why Honda's pricing strategy is higher than their competitors. In my own opinion, based from your criterias, the Mazda 3 beats the Civic, except for the comfort part, mainly due to the Civic's bigger interior space. Looks are subjective, reliability and durability are the same because they're both Japanese brands, but the Mazda 3 is made in Japan whereas the Civic is made in Thailand, and the Mazda 3 has more features than the Civic if you read the brochure and spec sheet. I own a 2017 Mazda 3 R btw. If you decide to buy a Mazda 3, go to an ANC Mazda dealership, they have 5 years free Yojin(Mazda Quezon Ave, North Edsa, etc).

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    4. 25k yung i-stop compatible battery pa lang nung Mazda 3. Taob na ang Civic sa battery pa lang

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    5. Merong local ata na 15k pero di tatagal ng isang taon sa traffic. Yung free maintenance kulang pa sa battery cost ng mazda

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    6. Honda USA dealers mandate to only use fully synthetic engine oil on our 2015 Accord 2.4 direct injection. I don't know for the other Honda models.

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    7. Just turn off the iStop feature = +++ battery life
      iStop is not for manila traffic

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    8. Sir i have civic fb 2012 up to know im using fully synthetic.
      is it ok or i need to change to semi-synthetic.
      # my mile age is 15k only for 5 yrs.and 3mos.

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    9. According to HCPI, there shouldn't be any problem for as long as you follow the prescribed maintenance schedule.

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  7. how about the honda civic 1.8e how much does it costs to maintain and to run

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  8. Can you post pms cost guide for other vehicles like ertiga, mobilio, avanza and br-v? Thanks!

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  9. CHANGE OIL: Php 3,810.55 damn. with Php 1,309 going to labor cost for a job it took a normal car guy 15 minutes to finish. that is more expensive than the oil and filter and plug. I change my oil for less than 1k pesos using japan made idemitsu semi synthetic

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  10. Is it safe to get a Civic RS from a Third Party, that is not brought here by HCPI?
    Not the smuggle cars.
    I'm talking about those imported cars from U.S, Europe, Dubai, Japan, Korea. I find them cheaper compare to Honda Phil SRP.
    Thank you.

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    Replies
    1. Well, you don't get the warranty if you decide to bring in a unit not from HCPI.

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  11. Sir is the rs turbo more fuel efficient than the 1.8e?

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    Replies
    1. They seem to be more or less the same.

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    2. why are all 2017 civics CVT? May turbo nga wala namang Manual. i cry

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  14. Hi sir uly! U did a good job on giving us the estimate of cost of ownership of this unit! ����

    I just want to ask whether its cost of ownership is somewhere near with that of Honda CRV 2017 (petrol). Thanks sir Uly! ��

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  15. hindi naman totoo ung 3,811 pesos na 6months PMS.
    marami pa silang add ons na required

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  16. pag CVT kase mas predictable kung kelan masisira kaya may forecast na sila ng replacement parts at kung ilan, unlike pag MT depende yan pag di marunong or clutch rider and matagal masira which is ayaw nila syempre, another is mura ang production cost if CVT = higher revenue.

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