Need advice: EXL vs Touring...

[03eunos]

Wasn't aware the sway bars were any different. But a good choice in any trim.

All non-Touring models get front/rear stabilizer bars at 25.5 mm/16.5 mm while the touring gets a little thicker at 26.5 mm/17.0 according to the dealership brochure I picked up.

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[Troy Jollimore]

A whole millimetre thicker! That's a difference I can feel...

 

[zaver5]

I won't buy a new car that does not have Adaptive Cruise Control. I live in SF Bay Area and use regular cruise control on my 05 Accord sometimes, but end up cancelling it often.
I haven't used the ACC with Low Speed Follow in Civic, but I have used Full Speed ACC in 2016 Prius and it really takes a load off. Tracks car in front, even to a stop.
Sometimes I get so tired of 'babysitting' the brake and gas 500 times during a traffic jam on freeway. If my car can take half that load off, I'm all in.

This self driving or part self driving stuff will be coming more in future and I want in on it. I can always turn it off and take over when in the mood. But, I don't get too excited about driving in stop and go traffic. Let the car do that if it can.

I'm also in the bay area and I have an exl with sensing. The sensing feature is great on the highways around here but is pretty useless in stop and go traffic. I'm not sure if it's due to the engine size, programming, or both. Basically if you're in traffic below 10 mph, as space starts to develop the car will accelerate pretty hard to close the gap as set by you but then have to break pretty hard to keep you from crashing into he slow moving traffic in front of you.

It may not be as extreme as that sounds, I don't think you're in danger of crashing but it's not really a smooth crawl as I was thinking it would be. It's more akin to slamming the accelerator and then the breaks between lights on short city blocks. Just my thoughts.

 

[Farcry1010]

I totally agree! We were actually looking at a 328 as one of our choices, and to option it up like a Touring Civic was around $58k. Don't get me wrong, the BMW is in a whole other league, but the performance, economy, and features of the Civic are absolutely amazing for the money. We are actually looking for a car for my wife, and after driving the Civic Touiring, she said that she would rather buy 2 Civics, and still have $10k leftover, than buy the BMW! (Not being a huge car enthusiast, she really doesn't see the value in the Bimmer, and to be honest, I often have a hard time with it myself.)

Yeah I agree as well I was looking at Audi A6 or even the A3 model (which is comparible to Civic touring). But in the end I went with the Civic. It had more to offer than the A3. A3 was cheap and had a major hesitation stumble off idle up to 15 mph. I test drove 3. All the same thing, and it was $5-7K more! Granted it did have Quattro which I miss. But that's ok. And when I saw the touring I bought it that day. And like the OP I plan on keeping for more than 10 years so what is $2,300 over 10-15 years from EXP to Touring= It's peanuts. I would say get the touring to the OP. I love mine. And I bought the 10 year/120,000 mile 0$ deductible warranty for $1,100.

 

[tacthecat]

I'm also in the bay area and I have an exl with sensing. The sensing feature is great on the highways around here but is pretty useless in stop and go traffic. I'm not sure if it's due to the engine size, programming, or both. Basically if you're in traffic below 10 mph, as space starts to develop the car will accelerate pretty hard to close the gap as set by you but then have to break pretty hard to keep you from crashing into he slow moving traffic in front of you.

It may not be as extreme as that sounds, I don't think you're in danger of crashing but it's not really a smooth crawl as I was thinking it would be. It's more akin to slamming the accelerator and then the breaks between lights on short city blocks. Just my thoughts.

Hopefully Honda can do a software update to "fix" the issue - might try playing with the "following interval" setting to see if that helps to make the transitions smoother.

 

[jerseyjoe]

This weekend will be the week I pick up my new car. My 03 civic is gonna need breaks and tires soon. And there are a few other problems. I waited as long as I could. My thing is I'm really stuck on these two models.

He's the run down...

EXL 22000.00 including Dest before TTL
Trade in 1100.00
Total 20900.00 before TTL

Touring 24300.00 including dest before TTL
Trade in 1100.00
Total 23200 before TTL


Touring
Pros
1. Hid lights
2. 10 speakers
3. Nav built in
4. HS

Cons
1. Extra 2300.00

Exl
Pros
1. Has everything you pretty much need in a car

Cons
1. Might have regrets down the road.

Have any of you guys went back and forth If so what pushed to decide?

Hi
I had the same decision as you and selected the EXL, for several reasons:
- Did not see the advantage of spending the additional money
-Very costly when warrenty expires
-Do not regret not having those options , the car is awesome, far superior then the 2012 EXL I had. What will really make big difference would be negotiating changing the rims to the HFP 18" rims with Michelin tires
Good luck on your choice
Joe

 

[California]

I have no regrets I have a EXL over a touring.. I don't care about the extra stuff touring has and for me had more chrome to black out..Lol..... Depends on what's important to you.

It depends on what you want. Me too, I ended up buying the EX-L (after I learned that with the built-in NAVI, I would need to update it with a fee. My other car has NAVI, never updated it and I often got lost when driving to new developed areas)
I paid $23,500 out-the-door. The dealer will try to sell you many things i.e. extended guaranties, the car alarm (Honda Civic Sedan has built in engine immobilizer/alarm). Do you home work thoughroughly before buying alarm and do not pay over $300 for it and ask them what can it do besides the built in one. You can go to Kelly Blue Book - kbb.com, build your car and find the fair market price for your car. Good luck!

 

[Scoby151]

What dealership are you getting to sell you one for 23!!!!!

 

[krav51]

the touring model has apple car play just as well.

I understand that,but i would have to ability to use the built in nav instead of google maps thru car play that i cant rely on.

 

[Rawnerve1]

Im more worried about my phone updateing and not working with AA and CP. I wish honda did wifi updates...

 

[Troy Jollimore]

For that price, it's obviously missing quite a few bells and whistles. If you want the top of the line touring coupe, it's about 28,000

That price was for an EX-L.

 

[daschtick]

For that price, it's obviously missing quite a few bells and whistles. If you want the top of the line touring coupe, it's about 28,000

That is MSRP. I was offered a Touring for $24,200 which much more reasonable.

 

[dannys1]

This weekend will be the week I pick up my new car. My 03 civic is gonna need breaks and tires soon. And there are a few other problems. I waited as long as I could. My thing is I'm really stuck on these two models.

He's the run down...

EXL 22000.00 including Dest before TTL
Trade in 1100.00
Total 20900.00 before TTL

Touring 24300.00 including dest before TTL
Trade in 1100.00
Total 23200 before TTL


Touring
Pros
1. Hid lights
2. 10 speakers
3. Nav built in
4. HS

Cons
1. Extra 2300.00

Exl
Pros
1. Has everything you pretty much need in a car

Cons
1. Might have regrets down the road.

Have any of you guys went back and forth If so what pushed to decide?

just for the full LED headlights i went for touring , not too much of a fan of the audio system tho , quality is good but when i turn up the sound , subwoofer rattle is annoys me

 

[J4Berg]

I myself test drove a lot of cars and did a bit of research. I decided on the touring because of all the features it offered for the price. I really like the bright LED headlights. The Honda sensing features of lane watch, adaptive cruise, lane keep assist etc. it all came down to that I plan on keeping this car for quite a while and since a that's the case I want the features I want without regretting a thing down the road.

 

[sourdots]

I did wayyy too much research before test driving. Got in my own head about it. Just tried out an EX-L and Touring in person and went with the EX-L. I don't care for sensing and didn't want the rain sensing wipers, or need the power passenger seat. For the new Accord IIHS rated the LEDs as poorer visibility overall than the standard headlights and I've seen the same thing mentioned on these forums for the Civic, even though they look nice. For my pricing it was a $3000ish difference between the two trims, and for less than 3 grand I can get some good rims and a better sound system installed if I really wanted, which were the only two things on the Touring I cared about. I usually regret big purchases and stress myself out prior to making these decisions and I'm content and have no regrets tonight after finally deciding.

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