Well, true to form I ignored all my plans and careful research and I'm now the proud owner to be of a Civic 1.8 ES (manual) -- pick it up next Wednesday. Skipped the Citroen C4 test drive; I'd taken a look at a few over the last few weeks and decided I'd never be truly happy with the interior and always be wishing I'd got the Civic.
By the time I went for a test drive I was only 50/50 about the idea of the i-shift. I did test drive them both and I have to say that overall the i-shift was probably better than I'd been expecting. In manual mode it seemed really good. In auto, I'd say that 90% of the changes were really smooth, but every now and then it would throw in what seemed to be a slow change where the cut off of power while it sorted itself out was really noticeable and just a bit too long for comfort. Also felt that when I was just pootling along and it had got itself into quite high gear and then I got to a slight hill where I needed a bit more umph, pressed the accelarator and it down shifted down the whole experience was all a bit too savage for my tastes, but I guess this is where you need some time with it to adapt your driving style.
Guess I might have been tempted if the choice hadn't been between a 3000 mile demonstrator i-shift and a 15 mile pre-reg manual. Frankly, the dealer wasn't doing themselves any favours as it was clearly being used as a salesman's mobile home and had a baby seat and someones's sandwiches in the back and enough assorted junk lying around that it was hard to tell what was rattling. Despite assurances that it would be valeted to their "usual high standards" it really felt a bit tatty for saying it only had 3K on the clock.
Anyway, I was more than happy with the test drive of the manual and I'm now just counting the days until I pick it up
