Test drive of EX-L Saturday, as a passenger (long story)

hondo

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Background: Our current vehicle is an 09 Civic EX. My wife (primary driver) has been making noise about getting a new car for the past year or so, citing a need for better acceleration for merging and higher seating position. She wanted something between a sedan and an SUV. I prefer being closer to the road but she contends that she is shorter and she has to drive it every day. I can't counter these points.

We test drove a Mazda CX-3 which she loved but it was a bit cramped for me. We were about to buy one when the dealer reneged on a previously negotiated price. The next night I found this forum and learned about the new civic. Told her the specs as soon as they were published and she was not thrilled about the lower seating position.

We scheduled test drives for Mazda CX-5 and Hyundai Tuscon yesterday since it would give her the seating position she said she wanted. But the first test drive I scheduled was for a Civic Touring. When I told her the schedule for the day she was like "I thought we crossed the Civic off the list". I said no harm in giving it a shot, she shrugged her shoulders.

We get there and it takes an hour before the owner comes out and tells us that Honda is taking the tourings back Friday and Saturday and that the official sell date for the touring is Nov 20. First I'd heard of it, but whatever. He is rattling off what models they do have to test drive on the lot and he mentions the EX-L. Perfect. It's got the turbo and leather, enough to test and tempt.

We finally are in the car and I tell her to use the power seat controls to adjust the seat all the way up. I explain that in our car she can't really do that since then I have to pump it back down, but in a touring with memory seats she can have it as high as she wants without impeding my ability to use the car. As soon as we merge onto the highway she notes how much better and smoother the acceleration is. I see a glimmer of hope. I suggest we drive it to our home exit so she will have a better sense of of driving on home turf. The salesman has no problem with this (it's only a few miles away). She notes the visibility is much better because of the thinner pillars. I start to think maybe I can sell her on the car (yes, I'm doing the sales person's job).

As we merge back on the highway back to the dealership, she mentions that the seating position is much better. Could it be? Could she be satisfied with the ride height? I struggle to contain my optimism. While driving she had a chance to see the lane watch camera in action, play with some of the infotainment controls, etc. She also notes how smooth the ride is, I take the opportunity to point out how quiet it is. I also point out that the touring should be even smoother with the rear hydraulic bushings (at this point the salesman remarks about how much I already know and lets me do selling) We get back to the dealership and her demeanor towards the car has changed entirely. She notes that the front and back seem to be not as low as our Civic. It's true, but not a large enough degree for me to withdraw from my minor victory. One of her complaints have been that the front scrapes everything from parking lot concrete barriers to small piles of ice. The old civic has this annoying black apron under the front that lowers the clearance. She likes the car!

We get to the Mazda dealership and test drive the CX-5. The acceleration is ok. Better than our current Civic, but a step down from what she just drove. She also finds the larger SUV more to manage on the road. I don't argue this point at all. She decides she doesn't want an SUV, and that the ride height of the new Civic was fine. She does see the Mazda 3 hatch and is interested in that. I don't mind that, though I do prefer the Civic. The salesperson has already moved on to another customer and said he will see us in 10-15 min. After 30 min we give up. She would still like to test drive the 3 hatch, but the Civic remains at the top of the list. Not a bad finish from being almost scratched. Went from bubble team to the championship game. We plan to test one next week and then finalize our decision.

I know most of this story is not about the test drive or the car itself, but I wanted to share the journey of a member who started out not even considering a Honda to possibly returning for another Civic. The information and feedback from you guys have not only helped me make an informed decision, but fueled me with with the desire to get the new Civic as well as the ammo to convince my wife as well. Now I just gotta find her a White Orchid Pearl Touring for her.

Good luck to the rest of you all.
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manhunt

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Haha great story, I enjoyed reading this. I'll have to do a little bit of convincing myself when the time comes to sell my behind the scenes car buying plans to my wife :) I've also learned a ton of info from this site and your post has given me some ideas for how to approach the Mrs.

So her main concern was the lower ride height? That reminds me did we ever find out what the ground clearance is on the new Civic and how much lower it is than the 2015? It'd be nice if one of the owners could take a measure for us.

Anyway great reason to sell her on the Touring's memory seats. The Mazda 3 is going to be a tough bugger to beat. What's the price difference?
 
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hondo

hondo

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One of the things she didn't like about the 8th gen civic is that you can't really see the hood. It slopes down out of sight. It gives you more visibility, but it's a bit disconcerting. At first I thought it was about being up high and seeing further down the road, but when she liked the new civic I realized it was more about seeing the hood. I still haven't seen official specs on the ground clearance but it seems less likely to scrape on surfaces.

The MSRP between the Civic touring and the Mazda 3 s GT is not much, though I'm sure the Mazda can be bargained down more right now. One of the reasons we are going for the top trim is she wants better headlights. On the Civic Touring you get LED, the Mazda 3 s GT you get Xenon, though on the Mazda it's adaptive which is nice. She does like the look of the Mazda hatch, too bad the Civic hatch isn't out yet.

She didn't do much research on the cars so I had her watch videos by Redline Reviews since they happened to review each of the cars we were looking at. Sofyan Bey is pretty thorough and breaks things down pretty well.
 
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alladat1

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Background: Our current vehicle is an 09 Civic EX. My wife (primary driver) has been making noise about getting a new car for the past year or so, citing a need for better acceleration for merging and higher seating position. She wanted something between a sedan and an SUV. I prefer being closer to the road but she contends that she is shorter and she has to drive it every day. I can't counter these points.


Good luck to the rest of you all.
This is the exact situation I am in. I was all set to buy a HR-V in hopes that that would solve the higher seating position problem for my wife. The deal breaker for us was the lack of power seats since our driving needs don't require 2 cars anymore.
 
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hondo

hondo

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The deal breaker for us was the lack of power seats since our driving needs don't require 2 cars anymore.
Not just power, but memory. I wonder if it costs a lot more to have memory presents for seats when they already have power. Seems all power seats should have memory presets.
 


dick w

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I also point out that the touring should be even smoother with the rear hydraulic bushings (at this point the salesman remarks about how much I already know and lets me do selling)
The fluid rear bushings are on EX-T and above, per the Chassis press release.
 
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hondo

hondo

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Update: Well, my wife decided that she wants to Civic. She wanted the White Orchid Pearl with the Ivory interior. I'm one of these people who agonizes over every decision. I not only want to make the right item, but buy it at the best price I can. I will read single review for the product I am considering, I will also read every review for every comparable product and every comparison.

As I'm sure most of you are aware, car shopping doesn't lend itself to this type of shopping strategy. It's not like buying a TV where one you decide the model you want you can easily compare prices across multiple vendors. It's not quote like a house either in that there are often at least a couple dealers in your area that do have the same product. You do have to bargain though. It helps to do your research, but you can't keep second guessing yourself.

I happened to get a true car certificate (through Consumer Reports) on the 16th for a Touring in White Orchid Pearl with an Ivory interior. It was for 25,445. That's damn near close to invoice but it was for a dealer further away who didn't have the car in stock. I probably would have had to order it. Costco auto didn't even list the 2016 Civic as an option until the evening of the 19th. The only dealer it listed was in CT, I'm in NJ.

I kept going back and forth in my mind about which strategy I should pursue. Recent checks on true car were returning prices about $26,400.
1. We could go to the dealer we bought the original car from in hopes that they would give us favorable pricing. They didn't have it in stock, though I'm sure they could find a dealer to swap with.
2. We could go to the dealer that is listed on the true car cert. It's further away so that's at least two trips and a possible long wait since they don't have it and we would probably have to order it.
3. We take go to one of the 3 dealerships nearby who did have it in stock. I could show them the truecar cert and see how close they will come to matching it.

I decided to go with option 3. We went to Honda of Tenafly since it's the closest. We sat down and I showed them the truecar cert and within a couple minutes we were just under 26k. Maybe I could have pushed it a hair lower or taken the risk and gone to the next closest dealership. But thanks to all the information posted here by you guys I felt like this was a good price right now. They didn't try to push any add-ons or anything else. I also had a pre-approved loan from PNC in the form of a ready check so I got a great interest rate for the financing. I cannot recommend this highly enough. We will be picking the car up in a few days (Nov 25th).

Summary: This website has been a great resource for not only helping decide to get the Civic, but all the information, reviews, and pictures helped us decide the trim, interior/exterior color, target price, and buying strategy. The community here has been extremely helpful, informative, and friendly. Now that we have made our purchase, I look forward to being a part of this community throughout the life our our 10th gen Honda Civic. Thank you and happy civicing.

I've attached a few pictures I took with my phone at the dealership. I will take better pictures when we get it home. If there is interest I'll try to take some video of the interior/exterior.
Honda Civic 10th gen Test drive of EX-L Saturday, as a passenger (long story) IMG_20151121_131827769_HDR Honda Civic 10th gen Test drive of EX-L Saturday, as a passenger (long story) IMG_20151121_131842303 Honda Civic 10th gen Test drive of EX-L Saturday, as a passenger (long story) IMG_20151121_131852191
 

JF2KPNSX

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Congrats! Hope you and your gf enjoy the ride. Nice car by the way.
 


hothatchi

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@hondo thanks for sharing your experience and process and congratulations on the beautiful new car! Will it be primarily your car or the wife's?

I agree this community has been tremendous. I'm not even in the market for a Civic yet (waiting for Si or Type R$ and I still come on here everyday.
 
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hondo

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Hope you and your gf enjoy the ride.
This one is for my wife. If I had a gf also, I'd probably get her one too :)

did you opt for the sensing package?
The touring comes with sensing. I may not have paid for it on it's own, but the touring includes so much that the sensing is a nice perk.

Will it be primarily your car or the wife's?
My wife's. I use public transportation for my commute.
 


 


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