Really thinking about dumping the Civic.

[psyshack]

Yeah thats right. I'm really thinking hard about kicking it to the curb. It once again needs more warranty work and Ive just about ran out of time for it.

The navi is acting up.
One of its headlights winks or has a twitch. ( short somewhere )
Its started idling rough.
The center cowl piece under the windshield. Ive had replaced once already is deforming and coming up again.
and several other issues I cant remember right now.

So Ive done my part for Honda and got burnt IMO. Between the Civic and Accord Ive had more warranty issues with these two cars than all the new cars Ive ever bought put together.

So HCHII is OUT!!! No Thanks!
PII I dont want because of all the hwy driving I do. And I dont think its worth the asking price at all.

So with my love for my old Festiva. The little car was **** good to me! Im thinking a base Yaris stripper 3 door hatch. I don't like the center dash pod at all. But thats all I don't like about it. I like everything about my Civic but its build quality and engineering.

I will have owned the Civic one year this Thursday. Im going to get the K-Y out and swing by a yota dealer tomorrow and look at one if they have it. Test drive it and maybe crunch some numbers.

I just don't see me keeping the Civic at all. If the TCH wasn't so much I would buy one of them for me. The wife likes her Accord. And I have vowed to never buy her a new car again. If she would have even tried to keep it clean up and vacuumed out and not ruined the bumper cover with a landscape bolder I would be up for trading it on a TCH. So all I have to work with is the Civic.

I cant think of another small car that I would consider.
Fit. No Way
Corolla. Nada
TDI anything way to much money

I'm open to ideas!

psy

[ericbecky]

How about buying my slightly used 1952 DeSoto? It gets a solid 10-12mpg, all it needs is a little work. (You know how to rebuikd an engine, right? Sure you do!)

Yours for the low, low price of $750!

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/ericbecky/album?.dir=9842

[xcel]

Hi Psy:

___I have read from plenty of 8th Gen Civic owners and so far, they seem to be pretty satisfied for the first year of a new model. I am sorry to hear you are still having trouble. That headlight flash sounds like a loose connector or the harness has a crack/split working its way out to ground. God knows you would be able to find that in < 30 minutes given your capabilities.

___If the Accord was going, I would have no qualms about telling you that the TCH is one heck of a vehicle for either you or your wife. I really like the TCH but I would not be able to touch the FE I am receiving in the Accord because of my 85 - 90% all-highway drive either. You have gone over quite a few truths wrt your own thoughts on the Prius but you may like a basic package on one now that you can get them for close to invoice. Out on a higher speed highway, they are every bit as fuel efficient as the HCH-II and around town, there isn’t anything that can touch it without going to extreme measures. I hope you give it a shot. And trust me; the Yaris is not going to be to your liking. One touch of the A/C controls will say this thing is worth < $10K stripped or loaded! It has a great ICE and looks sharp to me but your Civic is the top of the pile wrt its look and feel, quality of materials and construction by comparison to the Corolla LE, Fit Sport, and especially the Yaris in that order. The Yaris will more then likely be a letdown given what you are currently driving now imho Even though a Fit Sport is a buzz-bomb by comparison to your Civic or Accord, at least it has a nicer look and feel interior. The 08 Corolla might be a solution given the JDM have a pretty sharp looking 5-door hatch but we will probably be limited to a sedan alone and not for at least another year yet.

___Good Luck

___Wayne

[philmcneal]

how about a used car hehe... or new is only your option?

hm my car is pretty easy to maintain and no problems yet! although since you drive a lot of highway it might not make much sense but...

well there's always a older gen civic

[brick]

Sorry to hear the Civic is still giving you trouble. At least it's under warranty, right? I have to agree with Wayne that the Civic is probably the best car all-around out of the non-hybrid options that we're talking about. Keep in mind that the HCH-II is assembled on an entirely different line and in much lower volume, which I think is the reason that I have never heard of your kind of issues amongst the sizeable crowd at GH. For all intents and purposes it's a different car.

I'm ~500-600 miles into owning my Prius and so far I love it. I thought I would miss driving a stick shift but the sheer simplicity of going ICE-off more than makes up for it. Dan is really the authority on how the Prius handles the open highway, but his numbers look pretty darned good to me! Even mine is doing ~55mpg at 60-65mph with a little care as long as it's not freezing cold like this morning. And at least for the moment it will be you offering them the K-Y if you are ready to take one home. Worth a look if you are serious and headed over to drive a Yaris anyway.

Here's a question: how much longer do you have until the warranty runs out? Are we looking at two more years or more like a year or less? The new Corolla could be a really excellent car if you are willing to wait for it. I think the Fit is due to be redone in the next model year or two, as well. Then as Phil suggested you also have the chance of a used car. HCH-I w/ stick sound appealing? As with the HCH-II those seem to be very trouble-free...if you can find someone who isn't trying to gouge you on one. The ridiculous markups on them in this area are half the reason I turned away from that concept.

Lastly, I have to encourage you to take a few breaths before making a quick dive into a new car. A couple of years ago I dumped my disaster of a '98 Volvo for the Accord. Though I did my research and ended up with a great used car for a good price, it would have saved me thousands of dollars to spend maybe a grand and a little time maintaining the beast for another year. That way I might have held out for a Prius or HCH, which I did want at the time but couldn't find or justify yet. All I'm saying is try not to let your frustration drag you into anything.

[Chuck]

psyshack,

Sorry to hear about all this.

Maybe I should just ask everybody about their Honda experiences - have they been good?

My gut feeling is Honda spoiled me on the Insight. They built them in the same factory as the Acura NSX supersportscar - think it went for $160,000. It seems the same quality control that went into the NSX must have gone into the Insight. I have had five collisions , but it's done well. Honda have upgraded the hybrid battery pack and software nicely - doing a recal now almost has to be pre-meditated these days. While I was very pleased with the 250,000 miles on my 1988 CRX HF, this Insight has done bettter.

To the point, do the rest of you feel Honda is slipping?

[psyshack]

The car will be one year old as of tomorrow. As it sits outside it has 27k miles on it. Warrenty will be gone at the blink of a eye.

I have to fix the (*$%@%$&*_(_ plastic peice on the windshield today before I can go to a yota dealer. It blew off coming in this morning. I pulled over in a driving rain storm to look for it. I found it and am soaking wet!!!! Hope we have some dubble sticky tape here at the office somewhere.

I agree that most cars dont have the BOM and touchy feely stuff the Civic has. But what good is any of it if parts fall off it going down the hwy like a Chevy?

The wife is also concerned if I buy a Yaris I wont be happy with it because of the furter lack of comfort and trim she thinks Ive become acustume to. I dont think this will be a issue for me as a daily grind driver. Now as a trip car I dont know that it would meet the need. But thats why we have Accord. And if the wife would just try and take care of a car. I would dump it and its ^*$#@)*((*&^$( hood and dash.

As Ive stated before. Ive had more warrenty issues with these two Hondas than Ive had with the conbined issues of all new cars Ive ever purchased in my life. That doesent bode well for Honda in my book. And honestly. My times worth more than Hondas.

psy

[Chuck]

Check out this video.

It goes without saying - "Don't try this at home".

After one unintentional experience with drifting - never again!

[HCHCIN]

Psy--

The HCHII I just bought is my second Civic. In between them I had an Audi A4, which I bought fresh out of grad school when I was single and wanted my first nice car. Biggest automotive mistake I ever made. While it never failed to (eventually) start, I had sixteen service stops in four years, almost all for electrical problems that required more than one attempt to fix. Theft immobilizer, sunroof, audio system, all went bad. Very few VW/Audi owners that I know personally have been satisfied, especially given the premium they've paid for those products. A family member and a couple of coworkers had similar troubles with various Volvos, and my boss has his BMW 530i in every other month for something, it seems.

In the six years I owned my 97 Civic EX, I had the window gasket and regulator fail, at the same time and because of very cold temperatures. That was it. I can't argue with your experience with your cars -- you have had to suffer through those problems and nothing anyone can say will change that. I would submit that your experience might've been isolated and a measure of (extremely) bad luck. But I guess my point is that other cars suffer from the same or worse problems. You just have to figure out if you're willing to play the law of averages and give Honda another shot. --RN

[psyshack]

I had to get out and vist a job site today for a moment. I took this chance to get out of the office to run by a Yota dealer. Seeing it was on the way.

First off they were very nice. Very up front that Yaris was msrp,,, period. They didnt have a 3 door in stock at the time. Only a Sedan S with the automatic. Not intrested so no reason to even look. They wrote me up a quote on the car I was intrested in.

3 door
side air bag
and the power package. I think the $1300.00 one.

msrp plus dest. and $400 doc. fee. Came in a tick over $13k.

They asked if I had a trade. I told them the Civic. I was informed by the salesman and GM that they were not intrested in my Civic as a trade. Said they were sorry. But they cant move them. And put me in a golf cart, took me around back. And there set six 8th gen Civics that had been traded in. All had quality issues. All had been repaired at the local Honda dealers and they were going to auction in Dallas. Some how this didnt suprise me. They were very frank with me concerning the problems.

1ea. lx coupe, rattles and squeaks, windshield seperation.
1ea. ex coupe, rattles and squeaks, navi issues and dosent track right.
2ea ex sedans, lug bug issues, hunts for gears, unlocks out of 5th at normal hwy speeds. Poor mpg
1ea. HCHII, CVT issues
1ea. brand new si sedan. Third gear grinds with less than 1k miles on it.

I went for my digi camera to get a pic of these Civics lined up on a Yota lot and wanted to send it to Honda. But my battery's were dead.

Again,, everybody I had contact with at the dealer was very nice. Made buying stock in K-Y easy. They admited they were very concerned about the 8th Gen Civic when it came out as a threat. And now see it as a mistake. When they asked about my car. I gave them the list of issues. Minor and major in my mind. They just shook there heads. The GM asked if I had driven down Memorial when I came to the dealer and if I did. Did I notice the amount of Hondas lined up in the service area. I did go that way and yes they were stacked up like cord wood. And they were'nt in the express lube lane. He was very proud to show me there shop was basicly empty with only a few cars in for express service. He was very proud of the fact that they sell as many,,, if not more cars than the Honda dealer's in town and there service area isnt near as busy.

We had a hand shake. I looked for a can to kick,,, stuck my lower lip out,, got in my junk and drove off.

psy