The monsoon season is on its way; in fact, pre-monsoon has already started. Every year, we have extreme monsoon season in Pakistan with urban flooding conditions in multiple areas of the city. Especially in Lahore, these areas regularly face urban flooding:
- DHA Phase 1 and 5
- DHA Main Boulevard
- PIA Main Boulevard
- Gulberg 2 Main Area
- CBD Kalma Underpass
- Walton Road
- Wanted Lahore
- Huma Block, Kashmir Block, Moon Market
- Wapda Town, F2, G2, E2, D3 and Phase 2
- Bagrian
- Township
- Johar Town Phase 2
- Kot Lakhpat
Other cities in Pakistan do experience urban flooding, but our team lives in Lahore, so we know only about Lahore. Now, driving a car through urban flooding is a huge risk; if in case water gets through your engine, it’s not a good thing.
Some cars are more sensitive to flood damage. Here are those cars in this list. If you have one of them, drive it with extra care and try to avoid taking it in urban flooded areas.
Honda Civic (Especially Reborn)
Driving a Civic through urban flooding in the monsoon might be the owner’s worst nightmare. All Civics receive water damage, even in 2-inch standing water, due to their low air intake. Basically, the Civic’s intake duct is on the bottom of the car bumper. Therefore, even if the water is on a 2-inch level, it’ll suck the water. It’s best to avoid your Civic in heavy monsoon rains at all costs.
BMW 3 Series
Civics can be repaired for a good price, but if your BMW is damaged by a flood, the repair cost will break your bank. The BMW 3 Series and M3 Series have air intake on the lower bumper side, near the fog lamps.
With just 3-4 inches of steady water on the road, your BMW’s engine will receive water damage. Believe us, BMW’s water damage is a nightmare for any owner, especially in Pakistan, where there is no official support for any German brand. Or, you can modify the air intake so it’ll suck the air from the radiator side.
All Carbuerator Engines
All other older engines that use carburetors, like old Mehran, Cultus, and Cuore, will face the issue of rain. The problem with carburetors is they easily suck the water in the air-to-fuel mixture compartment. Due to this, the combustion in the engine will not take place, and the engine won’t start.
That’s not a critical issue and won’t affect your engine or any other components in any way. The only problem is that the engine won’t start for a few hours. If you’re outside of your home and your car doesn’t start, then it might not be an issue for you. However, after a few hours and some failed self’s, the water will eventually evaporate, and your carb car will work fine as usual.
Old Hybrid Vehicles
Prius, especially, has an old history of seal leakages. Basically, that seal is used to make the hybrid and BMS. If the seal is leaked, the water will make its way to the sensitive electronics. In severe cases, it can cause a short circuit and cause fire, but in typical scenarios, it’ll fry your HEV system, and the repair cost isn’t cheap! Just make sure that no seal is leaked in your old HEV vehicle, or get it checked by a good and expert mechanic who knows about hybrid cars.
EV Cars
Modern EV cars have IP65 and IP67 waterproof ratings. This means you can drive them under 4 meters of water without issues. However, almost all EV cars have safety precautions, such as not driving in heavy rain like monsoons, especially in cases of urban flooding. One small seal leakage can fry your entire EV system, and we all know diagnosing and repairing will never be cheap in these kinds of vehicles!
All Other Cars with Low Air Intakes
We can’t just list all the cars in the world, so we’re giving you a pro tip. If your car has a lower air intake, like near the bumper or in the bottom of the car, then it’s not meant to be used in the monsoon rains. These lower air intakes will suck the water into the cylinders, and the car will not start until you bring it to the mechanic’s shop.
This is sad state of affairs I think the problem should be highlighted on appropriate forum and some preventive measures should be taken by local public bodies, after paying huge taxes public should get some facilities, British were right to highlight that people of punjab are too docile and very easy to rule
Very informative,thanks Pak wheels.
Incorrect. CIVIC X intake is not like reborn. It is located at the top, right next to the hood.
Despite this very serious problem with Civics (reborn and rebirth) which has been known to cause very serious damage to cylinders and pistons inside the engine, people swear by their “quality”. Not only that, in the Civic “rebirth” (and “X” I believe), there is a rusting issue on the underside of the car if the car goes in water and is not dried/dealt with on time.
Despite the very old, well documented and common fire risk issue with the Prius, it is the hybrid gold standard. Reports of Prius fires have been common in US, UK, Australia, EU, China etc. For example, in 2018, Toyota recalled a million of them due to a fire risk. In 2021, another 200,000 were recalled for another fire risk issue.
If such problems were common in Korean or Chinese cars, people would be screaming and heads would roll! However, in the case of these Japanese cars, these are not flaws; they seem to be a privilege! These (some very serious) flaws are mentioned only in passing like it’s no big deal!
Like with any other machines, we can see the very clear flaws and failings of the Japanese cars we have been driving for years but we have somehow blinded ourselves to them. We don’t seems to consider them as flaws.
There seems to be a bias we as a whole have developed in favor of these Japanese brands; barring/shunning/ignoring/ridiculing and even getting offended at the very notion of any and all other considerations.
One point that I agree with, for the Pakistani market specifically, is EVs. The ones we have here are literally from the bargain bins so the quality might be questioned.
However, EVs in general are excellent in flood performance. We can see that in so many videos of floods in America, China and even the Dubai floods where the EVs (completely unmodified in anyway) are among the few vehicles moving on the flooded roads while the great Japanese ICE cars have mostly all packed up. (The only ICE vehicles running being mostly large SUVs and/or modified with snorkels to deal with the water.)
I remove the pipe on my air intake vent in reborn and it works fine
Pls also add a section in this write up about the best cars to drive in the monsoon season! Thanks
I owe a Khyber and it has witnessed many floods in Karachi. Never stuck. It has the best starting due to its powerful CDI. But in general no need to take risk in rain and work from home or use your casual leave. There are hidden manholes, broken electrical wires that are ready to take you to your “next” journey. So avoid movement unless necessary.
Civic X 1.5T does not have this problem. Its air intake is higher than the engine
If you want to drive Honda Reborn in rainy season then you should have to remove its air sucking pipe from its air filter box.
Bhai main pakory leny gaya tha lc80 series pe mujy tu bohat mazy k lagy thy….
Shock!
When will we built flood drain ?