Hello All,
I have not lurked here but have generally scanned the threads, and this appears to be a forum mainly for tuners & Mods.

My wife and I just purchased a new '09 Civic DX VP in Richmond, Virginia and I will never be modding the car; just wanted to hang out with hum-drum owners who share a love of maintaining their own car.

I was looking to find answers to simple questions, and later delve into good care tips, like:

What makes the VP different from a non-VP Dx??
Does this engine really use 5w-20 oil?? Holy cow! That's thin!

Well, anyway, thanks for letting me in, and please let me know if there is somewhere else I should be..

Cheers!

 

Nope. Your in the right place. We do talk about modding. But lots of people on this site are very good with technical help. If something goes wrong they can help. The difference between the vp and the dx is:

Vp-does not have a compass,cargo net,lighter element,ashtray,floor mats,am/fm stereo,seek-scan,indash mounted single, no amp, no first aid kit, no foglights, no spoiler, no mudflaps, and no engine block heater, no remote start,and there a weight difference of 18 pounds. Vp weighs more.

Dx- has optional-airfilter, compass, cargo net,ashtray,amp,mp3 capability,first aid kit,mud flaps,engine block heater,remote start,mp3 capability,and weights 2630 lbs. it also has floor mats front and rear,radio prep 8 disc cd changer in trunk, has fog lights, a lip spolier.

 

Welcome to HCF! You are correct in stating that many of us are here for modding/upgrading. However, we have some members who are here just for advice on how to fix things. We get many people who inherit an older, problematic Civic from a family member who didn't or couldn't maintain it as it should have been. We (or should I say RonJ...lol) help them resolve the issues, and they end up catching the "mod bug". It can range from replacing the OEM speakers with higher quality, replacing headlight bulbs with better ones, to adding a turbo kit onto the car, or swapping out the motor.

Hopefully, I won't have to look at a thread titled:
I'm just joking with you though. Again, welcome to HCF, many members have ALOT of information, much more than me. haha

 

I have used several other civic or honda forums, and I found HCF to be the most active, helpful, and friendliest of them. Even if you arnt going to mod your car at all, you can still learn a lot here about maintenance and fixing problems without having to pay a mechanic.

 

Welcome to HCF. As everyone has already said, we welcome members of all types, so it doesn't matter if you're not going to mod your car. There are a lot of members who can help with tech questions and general maintenance problems.

 

Outstanding! Thank you all kindly for your replies. I am accustomed to friendly, well-moderated forums so I am glad to be here. I will go lurk around, and do some searches for some answers before I post.
Thanks again!
Dave

 

Welcome to HCF!

You are correct, most active members are into modifications, but even us "tuners," for lack of a better term, do a lot of maintenance. We also have some members like yourself who are not interested in modifications but are interested in maintenance, and a handful of those members are extremely knowledgeable with troubleshooting and other tech, such as RonJ and mk378.

I can guarantee you that by searching and asking for information, you will learn a lot here.

 

Well, thanks. I have spent my first week of ownership looking around the web, discovering that I may have overstated my "no mod" idea. I have not driven the car yet (I'm too scared) but my wife might enjoy some useful, add-ons; a cargo net (looks doable), a cruise control ($300!!- kind of pricey), LOVE to put an armrest in it (none on ebay right now, will check dealer prices), a service manual: I do my own work (I can't find one from Haynes, darn it, and a new Helm is pricey), I saw one on ebay for an '06 civic...Do you know if there is enough difference (other than TPMS) with my '09 to matter?

Anyway, I have found in my motorcycle forum that modders know more. So I'm glad to be here

 

It was a temporary ban, for a very minor infraction...

The Helms manuals are much, much better than the Haynes manuals. I'm not sure if it's available yet for your car, but many of the Honda manuals have been scanned and saved as .pdf files and posted to the internet for downloading. Our user RonJ has a link in his signature to the site where these can be downloaded. Much of the stuff from the 06-08 manuals will be the same for your 09 civic, i'm just not sure of the details.

 

welcome to the forum, good to see another 8th gen here the Haynes book should be ok. the only changes from 06-09 was the tpms and the horn location. the only main difference from the dx to vp is a/c and radio and all 05 up honda's use 5-20 oil happy modding.