Good little car for the city
Written: Apr 12 '03
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Pros: new blue-lighted dash, VTEC, handling, roomy for a subcompact, excellent gas mileage, 10K oil change
Cons: expensive side of compacts, road noise, poor standard stereo, target for theives
The Bottom Line: Looking for a good city vehicle? Do not pass up the Civic or you'll be sorry.
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| vipet's Full Review: 2003 Honda Civic 4 door |
Before buying the Honda Civic I had test drove quite a number of cars above and below the Civic's price range. The requirements? - 1) 4 Door (as the wife would say 2 doors are hard for child seats) 2) Automatic 3) Safe 4) Great commuter car - Now mind you I have driven enough cars for my young age of below 30 to comment on how cars drive after driving chevy's truks and the nova '70's, cadillacs de velle '00, fords rangers and F150's '00-01, honda accord '96, acura 3.2TL '03, toyota corolla '00 with various engines and for a minimum of 3 days and even more cars during my research during this last buying trip. After an exhaustive search, I have concluded that it is cheaper to buy a new civic especially if you are getting it with the 1.9% financing than getting a used '01 or '02, reason being the high resale of hondas and the better improvement over the last 2 years. For those people searching for the cheap used car with Edmund's prices, you will 9 of 10 times find a car with a salvage or junk title (please, please run the carfax or the consumerguide report). Since I am no mechanic, I stay with cars with clear titles, and the only cars that are close in comparison is the corolla and the civic.
Now the corolla and the civic are very much the same. It's really the style. While the EX does have VTEC and does accelerate faster than the other Civic models, overall engines between the Toyota and the Honda are about equal. Toyota costs less as retail because Toyota leases their vehicles to rental agencies whereas Honda does not. That's why Honda vehicles have higher resales. I suppose best reason you should get a corolla rather than the civic is that it looks more bland (except the Sport) making it less likely to theft. Now to the serious review:
A) Exterior - doors are not as heavy as a jetta, but the paint and weight is very acceptable, new improved colors in the last year or two, and it's been redesigned for '02. The EX has 15 inch wheels with full covers, and looks decent and better than previous years, but not great. There are new front and tail lights.
B) Interior - the beige is much nicer than the grey, and honda has improved the feel even though it's not leather. The console in the middle is improved, and new blue lights at the driver's console is nice and bright and a new addition. Everything is ergonomic as you would expect from a Honda. The AC is decent even driving at speeds in the 60's without any appreciable decline in acceleration or ride. The radio is substandard, and Honda should have put in a 6 speaker rather than a 4, but having the theft deterrant of the music is nice. New fuel immobilizer via key is new as well, and should hopefully deter some people from robbing my car. The back seats are even bigger than before, and I'm rather surprised that I can actually sit in back being 5 11.
C) Ride - I was told that this year it's the roomiest and the most quiet of all the civics. I still can hear quite a lot of road noise, and the stereo does not hide it. The acceleration is very good for a 4 cylinder, and VTEC does make a difference; just test drive the LX and EX and you'll see - 127 HP in a small car of the civic does feel fast. Handling is excellent too, though I can't say it's BMW or Mini, I feel I can slip in and out of traffic with ease. Braking is excellent, probably because the car is so light to begin with.
D) Cons - the main thing I don't like about the Civic is that it is noisy and with so many big cars out there it can be somewhat frightening, civics are usually #1-3 for stolen cars, this is not a racer - get the Civic Si for a couple grand more for that.
E) Pros - honda reliability, low maintenance (oil changes every 10,000 miles), low fuel costs (regular unleaded and 32/38 mpg), and a very young look, easy to park, lots of aftermarket parts. There is keyless entry for the EX, moonroof, power everything. 2 nice cupholders that can hide away in the mid console, and even a hideaway solid cup holder in the rear. Fold back rear seats, and yes, ABS and SRS airbags
Go ahead and look around. If you have more money than $20K, get something else. I think you might be able to get a Jetta for $20K, but until VW can prove their cars will stay out of the shop. Then again if you can get a fully equipped Jetta you might as well pony up a couple grand more for the new Accord or an Acura TL.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 17228
Condition: New
Model Year: 2003
Model and Options: 2003 Civic Sedan EX Automatic 4 door w/ mats,guards, trunk tray
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vipet
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Reviews written: 1
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