The jerky motion in the Civic Coupe occurs when you accelerate hard, let in the clutch, change gears and again when you let out the clutch. Its mostly the enagagement of the clutch and the 'thump' that accompanies the drivetrain engagement when you resume accelerating. I don't recall this on the Civic Si I drove some time ago. If you didn't compare this to other cars, you might think it was normal, and in fact, it's not that difficult to live with if you try hard to shift smoothly. But it's still there, and I call them as I see them. I haven't tried other base Civic Coupes, and I haven't asked my colleagues if they experienced it. Frankly, I don't like to be influenced by what other writers think - it leads to a herd mentality.
Thank you for your latest clarification, I now understand what you meant when it comes to jerky shifting. It actually mirrors my own experience where the rev happy nature of the Civic engine almost seems to work against it. It is as if there is a lag in throttle response. Precisely at the moment when you concurrently back-off the throttle and depress the clutch before up-shifting, the engine continues to spool up rather than falling off by a 1000 or 1500 rpm as you would expect. The net result is that the car lurches forward if the upshift is completed quickly sometimes with an audible clunk. What it reminded me most of was drive train lash as found in some old rear wheel drive cars. I found, however, that lifting my foot a fraction of a second sooner than I might normally seemed to cure the problem. I have to admit that the higher the rpm, the trickier it got. Could this have something to do an electronic throttle control, i.e.: no more cable?
