Honda, sell me a damn Civic Hatch!

[jks]

Problems are overrunning me in my beloved Acura RSX. After 15 years and 195,000 miles of very reliable service, I've suddenly got 4 problems that I really don't want to deal with. It occurs to me to just trade it in and get a Civic Hatch. Problems solved! Shouldn't be that hard. In fact, I should be able to walk right in to the nearest dealer and do the trade today. And I would. I want a Civic LX Hatch with 6MT. I won't budge on the trim or transmission. The color I'm not picky about. Anything but black.

I just spent the last half hour scouring 16 Honda dealers in 4 states going up to 300 miles away and only one dealer has a Civic LX Hatch with 6MT. In black, of course...

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[silverrascal]

I've been looking at my local dealers for an EX hatch for my wife. They've had maybe 1 and they're not the color (black) that we want. I wonder if it's because they've been so focused on the CTRs that all other hatch trims have been placed on the backburner.

 

[Froz3nTundra]

Make me wonder if I could get an ADM for my Hatch Sport :-D.

If someone offered me $25k for it I'd probably take it and run.

 

[TimberWolf]

Problems are overrunning me in my beloved Acura RSX. After 15 years and 195,000 miles of very reliable service, I've suddenly got 4 problems that I really don't want to deal with. It occurs to me to just trade it in and get a Civic Hatch. Problems solved! Shouldn't be that hard. In fact, I should be able to walk right in to the nearest dealer and do the trade today. And I would. I want a Civic LX Hatch with 6MT. I won't budge on the trim or transmission. The color I'm not picky about. Anything but black.

I just spent the last half hour scouring 16 Honda dealers in 4 states going up to 300 miles away and only one dealer has a Civic LX Hatch with 6MT. In black, of course...

Civics aren't built to order. Each dealer gets an allocation of Civics, and of course each dealer will try to order the style and trim that will be the easiest to sell. Manual hatchbacks are the least likely to be sold quickly, since Americans tend to be averse to hatchbacks and manual transmissions.

So if you really want one, you need to put your money where your mouth is. Make it worthwhile to the dealer to try to get one in. Offer to pay MSRP. Put down a sizable deposit. That should get a dealer's interest. It may take a while since they may need to wait for next year's allocation, or try to find one elsewhere in the country and do a swap.

 

[Razzak]

I bought my 6MT white coupe from a dealer that didn't have one. Signed the papers and everything and they said they'd call me once they "find" one. Took about 2 (long) weeks before they called me back and I could go pick it up.

 

[bmbpenguin]

I just spent the last half hour scouring 16 Honda dealers in 4 states going up to 300 miles away and only one dealer has a Civic LX Hatch with 6MT. In black, of course...

We have Hatchbacks a plenty here in the MidWest. Almost all CVTs though. Good luck finding a 6MT.

 

[Froz3nTundra]

We have Hatchbacks a plenty here in the MidWest. Almost all CVTs though. Good luck finding a 6MT.

That's how it is everywhere, I checked last week out of curiosity and there were 2 blue sport 6MT's within 1k miles of me.

 

[myke]

I want a Civic LX Hatch with 6MT. I won't budge on the trim or transmission. The color I'm not picky about. Anything but black.

Haha... I was in the exact same spot you were. Except I only had 2 colors I wanted so that made it even harder. It is super frustrating to see a car that is 'offered' but you can't even get.

But, you have to be patient. I checked the listings every day for weeks. Finally one popped up about 80 miles away from me and I ended up getting it.

LX Hatch with 6MT. Totally worth the wait. The thing is awesome!

 

[bmbpenguin]

Out of curiosity, why are you guys wanting the LX 6MT vs the Sport 6MT?

 

[Froz3nTundra]

Out of curiosity, why are you guys wanting the LX 6MT vs the Sport 6MT?

My guess would be because it's cheaper and it's the same car. The only difference on the sport is the body kit, wheels and the tune, the tune can be handled with hondata/ktuner and the body kit could be added.

I almost switched to an LX when I thought it was going to be another 4 months for my sport but I lucked out.

Seriously though, I'd sell my sport for $25k if someone wants it :-D.

 

[bmbpenguin]

I went with the sport because I wanted the center exhaust and 18" wheels. Body kit was a bonus. Plus I got mine for 20,500.

 

[zroger73]

I just spent the last half hour scouring 16 Honda dealers in 4 states going up to 300 miles away and only one dealer has a Civic LX Hatch with 6MT. In black, of course...

An almost complete lack of availability of an EX-T or Sport manual is one of the reasons I ended up with an Si. The number of us who enjoy and can drive a vehicle with a manual transmission has become very small. Now that automatics outperform manuals and are more efficient, automakers prefer automatics as well. These two factors combined results in a very small selection of vehicles with manual transmissions. Even though I enjoy driving a manual, I wouldn't want one as a primary or only vehicle.

 

[myke]

Out of curiosity, why are you guys wanting the LX 6MT vs the Sport 6MT?

I wouldn't want a car that needs over 87 octane

 

[exyia]

I seriously wonder how small/under-staffed this UK Honda factory is.......because it's 99% of the problem with the Civic Hatchback.

I bet a few years from now, Honda will say "well the Hatchback still remained a smaller niche sales segment than our Sedan models..."

Well yeah.......your supply of them was atrocious.....

 

[jks]

Civics aren't built to order. Each dealer gets an allocation of Civics, and of course each dealer will try to order the style and trim that will be the easiest to sell. Manual hatchbacks are the least likely to be sold quickly, since Americans tend to be averse to hatchbacks and manual transmissions.

So if you really want one, you need to put your money where your mouth is. Make it worthwhile to the dealer to try to get one in. Offer to pay MSRP. Put down a sizable deposit. That should get a dealer's interest. It may take a while since they may need to wait for next year's allocation, or try to find one elsewhere in the country and do a swap.

My contention is that many more people want the 6MT than American Honda realize. That's why there's a severe shortage. My dealer says they'll order one for me but Honda may not accept the order. If they do accept the order it will take 2 to 3 months (!).

Out of curiosity, why are you guys wanting the LX 6MT vs the Sport 6MT?

In my case, it's gas mileage. I'm looking for a car that will haul stuff (thus the hatchback) and gets good gas mileage on the road (thus the gas-turbo with 6MT) The sport has the big-wheel, wide, low-profile tire thing going that hurts gas mileage + it's more expensive. My 2nd choice would be the Ioniq or Niro, but those cars are so expensive I'd never make up the difference in gas savings.

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