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Prices Paid: Buying & Leasing Experiences Honda Civic Prices Paid and Buying Experience
9208 messages, Last post on Dec 04, 2009 at 11:38 AM
You are in the Prices Paid: Buying & Leasing Experiences Forum. Your Hosts are car_man & kyfdx
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Replying to: webaggie (Apr 08, 2007 7:55 am) |
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This is my first new car for personal use since 1980 and at 52 years young I do not think I will ever be able to treat myself again. So for me the extras are worth it: a sunroof, the 4 wheel disk brakes, the alloy wheels, the outside temperature readout (comes real handy when I am wondering if it is icing outside or not), the better radio with extra base speaker. I also do not think I will use the sunroof a lot but what the heck. In the end, a few thousand dollars for luxury versus more basic transportation. It is a personal decision, but for me, it is worth it. Good luck!
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Replying to: ggg5 (Apr 08, 2007 12:43 pm) |
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Replying to: gizmo7 (Apr 04, 2007 4:14 pm) |
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Looking back, I should have sprung for the EX but the wife really didn't want a sunroof. And guess how often she's driven the car since last June? NEVER!!!! If I did have a doover, my Galaxy Gray LX would've been an EX. Live and learn. Still, both versions are great cars and I'm still very pleased. Which ever you choose, you won't be sorry. But if I were buying in the near future, I'd wait a bit until the new Corolla debuts and then drive back to back the following list: Corolla Lancer Elantra Mazda 3 Versa G5 Jetta/Rabbit Civic. There's so much to select and they all have a bit different ergonomics and engine sizes. The reason to drive them all back to back is so you can really get a feel for each contender and go from there. If it were me, I'd spend a couple of days doing this so I could narrow down the field to maybe 3 of these. Then I'd like to rent each for a few days to see if I could live with them in my life. Sure it's a bit of a long drawn out process, but why buy something that you're really not going to be happy with a year or two down the road. The Sandman 
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Replying to: sandman46 (Apr 08, 2007 3:45 pm) |
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Glad to contribute to this board, as I learned so much from the experience others shared. 2007 Honda White Civic EX Sedan with automatic transmission, mud flaps, door protectors (painted to match car color at factory): Price of car: $18750 Mud flaps: $133.2 Door protectors (on edge of door): $136.4 State & Federal Document fees: $165 Sales tax (6%): $1151.08 Transfer plate: $8 Title fee: $15 Full tank of gas: no charge TOT: $20,358.68 Test drove the car, in town & highway & checked absolutely everything> I specifically followed the advice of findings by others in the Civic forums. I had a two page list! The car drove like a dream! I can not wait to pick it up this week! Good luck and thanks to all that contributed to this forum. Of interest, I followed up on advice and priced a car at neighboring Ohio. After working out all the details, I would have saved ~ $175. The inconvinience of picking up the car ~150 miles from home plus doing all the motor vehicles work myself, was not worth it for me. Have a great day folks!
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| Yes, with dest my price was 16,995. I am sure with enough haggling you could get lower..I think I saw someone here say they got 16,100 plus dest...but I just couldnt haggle anymore and a few hundred bucks isn't worth the effort for me...but great car. | |
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Replying to: ggg5 (Apr 09, 2007 12:27 pm) Sounds like you had a great experience. Would you mind emailing me your pre-delivery checklist? I hope to be a new Civic owner soon, and I have seen that there are a few issue that could become a concern. I, too, hope to avoid them. Thanks in advance Loki |
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My list was long, but I will try to summarize. Please note that many of these cars were sold (100-200 thousand?) so far, and what people report in these forums represent worst case scenarios. My expectations are that any car will have problems, with 15000 parts on average, but expecting a minority of vehicles to have defects because I am paying for Honda quality. Also, how you drive & maintain the car has a huge impact on the reliability and wear/tear over time. 1. I opened and tested everything: trunk remote, gas cap, horn, lights, signal, every heater/AC control and so on. I made sure every single item in the vehicle was working. 2. I drove it for about 5 miles on rough local roads, with radio off, to hear the sounds of the car. I was looking for unusual noises in the rear or the front, which could mean the suspension was not working well. This was reported by early owners of the Civic (2005-2006 especially). 3. I took the car on the highway for 10 miles with close attention to acceleration, feel, noise levels and control of the car. I used the cruise control and also accelerated a few times to 80-85 mph just to see how the car responded. But my main focus was driving the car the way I normally drive to assure I could live with it. 4. I actually measured, with a tape, the distance between all four tires and the body of the car. Some owners reported that uneven height was due to defective front end struts. Visually, none of the cars on the lot had any such defects 5. Owners here reported that windshield scratches easily as well as the paint. So I inspected the car, every inch and found only perfection. Only time will tell how the paint and windshield hold up. 6. I asked about upgrading the tires from Bridgestone but dealer did not offer it. Owners reported tires failing or wearing too quickly. Only time will tell on this too. 7. Some reported the interior of the vehicle may scratch easily: could not tell from the new vehicles. But this is a minor point for me. However, I made sure my vehicle was as perfect as possible in the interior appearance. 8. Many reported concerns in this forum can be eliminated by a careful drive, paying attention to sounds (radio off!). So, reports of weird noises, transmission shifting oddly, vibrations, etc., can all be identified prior to driving the vehicle. I tested one, with 1.8 miles, that had a severe vibration starting  40 mpg. I brought it immediately back and told the dealer that I was not my job as a customer to "test drive" their cars. I mentioned this to other dealers, who I believe made sure that did not happen with their cars. 9. I made sure that all the outer panels, doors, etc. were properly aligned. Opened and closed every door. This eliminates a sloppy assembling job. This is mainly a visual inspection. Take time to carefully look at the car critically, walk around it, step back and if something is not right, you will see it. 10. We had snow here and rain and windy days and I got to test the Civic under these conditions, including day & night driving. This is a hard one to do, because the weather has to cooperate and you need time. But I eliminated per my requirements the following comments on this forum: headlights illuminate poorly (OK for me!), windshield wipers are noisy (a bit, but not a big deal for me), poor handling at highway speeds (my experience is excellent handling, including windy conditions, snow, passing a large truck, etc.). My last car was a 94 Buick (a tank!) and yet, I felt very comfortable and no complaints in this area. 11. I did purchase an Ohio assembled vehicle because some folks mentioned they were performing better (versus Canada assembly) and also to keep some of my $$ in USA. This is just my preference, although it appeared that all EX models came from Ohio. 12. I looked for blind spots and they were minor for me, as in all vehicles there will some areas of poor visibility. 13. The sun visors are barely functional, but that is why I have sunglasses. I found no blinding glare from windshield area, as some reported. The parking brake was not in an inconvenient location for me. Driver's seat was comfortable and if you raise it to its highest point, it feels like I am in my wife's SUV. Although she pointed out my head was really close to the ceiling. 14. A did look under the car (best I could) for any oil leaks, especially around front & rear suspension (you can feel it by hand behind the tires & also visually) and rear differential on back of car. I also closely inspected the engine compartment. All you need to know is: anything looks disconnected, leaking or odd? The salesman can answer any of your questions. I asked quite a few, although I understand cars a bit more than most after working on older vehicles for too many years. I think I went overboard here, but I work in research and my analytical side is always on overdrive. In the end, it is a very personal decision on what to buy. I bought a white Civic which my entire family thought was ugly, but in my eyes it really highlights the car. Go figure. Best of luck and do not be surprise if others in this forum do not agree on some of my impressions or guidelines I used. It is after all only my opinions and how I chose a car. Plus, my spouse would not allow me to research it endlessly, because she knows I would never stop
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