2012 Honda Civic
Honda has been selling Civics since
about 1973, and the 2012 is the ninth generation. After the testing the Ford
Focus I thought that I should go for the Honda Civic because this is the
perfect car. They are known to be reliable, good driving, and they live
forever.
Styling
The Honda Civic has really gone bland.
It has always lacked style but now they took bland to a whole new level. They
have dulled down the tail end and made the front end more aerodynamic that
gives the car an average look, which to me is actually refreshing. It is really
nice to be able to choose a car that isn’t pretentious looking with huge bubble
lights and small rear windows. I think that it is great to be able to choose
your average, normal car. I have never been a fan of the two dashboard thing
that the Civic has going on, but plenty of people love it, and it is very
functional. But I think it is very displeasing in appearance.
Trims
I love how Honda does their trims.
They take out the guess work by eliminating packages. What you get is in the
title. So there is the bottom of the line DX model then there is the LX, EX,
and EX-L. With the EX and EX-L there are navigation trims.
Power-Train
There is only one engine for the
Civic. It is 1.8L I-4 that delivers 140 horsepower and 128 foot-pounds of torque.
In the lower trims you can get the manual but when you get into the upper trims
you can only go automatic.
Technology
My test Honda came fully loaded with
navigation Bluetooth. The navigation map can be difficult to read if you live
in really urban places. The placement of the street names, the color of the
words are the same as the streets, and the placement of the letters make the
map less than desirable. The rest of the system is pretty good. The voice control
understands English fairly well but you have to push the button too many times.
Here is an example: you push the button
and after the beep you say address, then it loads the address screen. You then
have to push the voice button again to say street or city. This is frustrating.
I was just in the Ford Focus and I couldn’t get the voice lady to shut up. Now
the Civic will not stop prompting me for more. Where is my happy medium?! I
hope that there is a way to have the system move more fluidly, but because I
couldn’t find get it right I would definitely skip the Navigation and the voice
that doesn’t like to talk you.
Driving Aspects
I just love Honda and the way their
cars drive and the Civic stays true to the Honda I have always known them to
be. They are not sporty but they don’t lack power. They seem to give you the
right amount of power to drive like a normal person. This is fine and what you
would expect for a car designed and built for your average person. I also love
the way a Honda brakes and again the Civic preforms. Just light taps will slow
her down. For some reason when I drive a Honda I feel invincible. The fully
loaded Civic I got to test had good views, lots of glass and a navigation that
turns towards the driver.
Purchasing
The Honda Civic base DX model has a starting 15,955 MSRP. I would definitely jump up to the EX because the sunroof is very nice and the Bluetooth is a must these days. The EX starts at 20,655 and if you want to add a little looks to your Civic I would go with Wing Spoiler. I would skip on the Navigation and go aftermarket only because you could get one that is less kiddie looking and with a more readable map.
Thank you for taking time out to read this review, I hope that it is full of information that you can use. If you have decided that the Honda Civic is the car for you and you live in the Bay Area give our friends at Winter Honda a ring and check out their website at http://www.winterhonda.com/
