Looking For Reassurance

[gevans5]

Hi

I've been lurking for a bit trying to gather knowledge before investing in a 2.2 CTDi EX (over £20,000 in total).

I've decided against buying a Golf GTi, Audi A3 Sportback due to the excessive price once specced up. This only left me with the Civic or Octavia VRs to choose from my list (5 doors only hence no Type R).

But I'm beginning to worry about the build quality of the Honda after reading numerous posts all relating to problems with the car. Paint, dashboard and suspension seem to crop up more consistently than I would like.

Should I be worried by the amount of flack in the various posts or is this due mainly to the high expectations of Honda owners.

Any help gratefully received as I'm struggling

Regards

Graham

[Brodick]

The majority of the problems are with the some of the early cars i.e
55 / 06 / 56 plate cars things have improved

you could have the same problems with your other choices aswell
in fact probably more chance of having problems with your other choices

[jazzman]

Originally Posted by gevans5

Hi

I've been lurking for a bit trying to gather knowledge before investing in a 2.2 CTDi EX (over £20,000 in total).

I've decided against buying a Golf GTi, Audi A3 Sportback due to the excessive price once specced up. This only left me with the Civic or Octavia VRs to choose from my list (5 doors only hence no Type R).

But I'm beginning to worry about the build quality of the Honda after reading numerous posts all relating to problems with the car. Paint, dashboard and suspension seem to crop up more consistently than I would like.

Should I be worried by the amount of flack in the various posts or is this due mainly to the high expectations of Honda owners.

Any help gratefully received as I'm struggling

Regards

Graham

Those problems occured in the early ones, my gorgeous milano red civic is now3 months old ,is running like a dream and has been perfect from the day I picked it up.
Go for it , it`s a wonderful car and has brought the fun back into motoring for us

[Pottsy]

Have a look at the survey results:

http://www.civinfo.com/forum/survey....results&sid=28

Filter the results by 2007 cars, and you'll see what has gone wrong and how happy people are with their cars.

Looks pretty good to me!

[greeze]

You're at the exact same place I was when it came to buying the '07 Civic. I was a bit worried about spending a similar amount on the same model (£20k with a few extras) but trust me (and the other replies); you'll not regret it!

Had it for a couple of months now and I have absolutely no problems what-so-ever (okay, I have a couple of stone chips but hey, hardly Honda's fault) and can't recommend it enough.

My only gripe is that I don't get to drive it enough!

Relax, Buy & Enjoy!

[Kremmen]

Reliability is improving all the time and the survey reflects this.

Get as long a test drive first to ensure that it meets your requirements.

[FWH]

Originally Posted by gevans5

Hi

I've been lurking for a bit trying to gather knowledge before investing in a 2.2 CTDi EX (over £20,000 in total).

I've decided against buying a Golf GTi, Audi A3 Sportback due to the excessive price once specced up. This only left me with the Civic or Octavia VRs to choose from my list (5 doors only hence no Type R).

But I'm beginning to worry about the build quality of the Honda after reading numerous posts all relating to problems with the car. Paint, dashboard and suspension seem to crop up more consistently than I would like.

Should I be worried by the amount of flack in the various posts or is this due mainly to the high expectations of Honda owners.

Any help gratefully received as I'm struggling

Regards

Graham

Hi.

I had the same questions really and posted my concerns.

Having had the car a couple of weeks I am very happy.
I am not regreting this buy at all.

It is wonderful to drive, very practical for it´s size, economical, and the design and toys are just amazing. No car in this price range comes even close.

I have had the handbrake issue, not too happy with radio reception and the rear view mirror was loose on collection (just a question of snapping it back in place).

I have fitted fog light covers from Gray52 to help protect the foglights.

My fuel filler cap had the factory mod, the doors were de-bunged from the factory and so far (touch wood - knock myself over the head) the suspension is fine.

The dashboard - it is said that there is a "new" more durable version with the same design that Honda are fitting FOC. The alternative fix is to fit a Type-R dash. That doesnt solve the blue rev counter lens sensitivity though.

Paint - I looked at the bonnet of several year old A-class Mercs and there was loads of touch up there. So many newer cars with enviormental friendly paint are more sensetive than older cars. Is Honda worse than others? Some say so, personally I don´t know.

No doubt early cars had more problems and several are sorted on the new ones, but there are still some unresolved little issues that may or may not be solved in the future. But, the same is the case with most cars (not just Honda), it is just that with this great forum we know about things and can make an informed decision.

I think also high expectations come into it as you say.
Those who have had Hondas before are much less satisfied that those who traded in say a Renault.

Go on, buy it!

[Kremmen]

Those who have had Hondas before are much less satisfied that those who traded in say a Renault.

Very true

I came from a Lexus IS200 which is a hard act to follow but apart from the hard suspension and the quirkiness of the i-shift I'm quite happy.

[cylon2007]

I bought a 2.2 iCtdi Sport in March of this year after also discounting the Golf GTI/GTTDi, Audi A3 Sporthatch (on purely cost grounds) Seat (***** interior). I went for the basic Sport in NHB as I decided the £1400 extra for the StaNav (I have a TomTom which from all accounts is better) and the glass roof as I didn't see the point.

I have now done nearly 8000 miles and have had no problems whatsoever, great to drive good performance and handling (a bit crashy on poor roads) and fair economy (I drive it harder than the last car so it's no better overall.

The last car was a VW Passat Sport TDi 4Motion, I have no reason to regret the change, the Passat was a brilliant car so is the Civic, buy one you won't regret it.

[dondon]

Remember also that it is those with a (car related) problem that post on here (mostly).

There would be little point in a forum that was full of nothing but "my car is great"; so don't take the negative posts to imply that no-one is happy with their car - I certainly am.

[Bog]

Don't worry, I've had a few minor niggles early on with my EX (56 plate), but that's to be expected with a brand new model! As others have said, 07 onwards seem fine and the experience of owning one the most exciting cars on the roads today is second to none!

PS The Sat Nav and all the toy's in the EX are fantastic. At first I found the Sat Nav hard to get used to having used a Tomtom Go300 for 2 years. But now I'm used to it, I can honestly say it is better than the Tomtom (especially the TMC). The only thing I miss is the ability to add you own POI's (especially speed cams); I don't miss having to take the thing in and out of the car tho'.

And as anyone who uses their tomtom properly will tell you, the top down 2d view is the most useful, 3d views are a bit gimicky, so not having a 3d view in the Civ' is not an issue!

So as FWH say's.... Go on buy it!

I promise, you won't regret it!!!!!!!!!!

[okehciv]

Having just read all the posts on here I think you lot are


"Probably the the best sales team in the world"

[davee7]

I bought my 2.2EX brand new March this year (and therefore an 07 plate).
My opinions are below....

Good points:
- Interior and exterior looks (if you like that sort of thing)
- Performance - especially the torque! (Though I would like to know more about chipping it)
- Boot space and clever rear seats

Bad points:
- Soft paint - covered in chips
- Scratched dashboard
- Economy is not as great as it should be
- City Basingstoke's disinterest in the above
- Standard stereo speakers not that great - and listening to what people think about the Honda upgrades - they're not worth it.
- My satnav version (06/07 I believe) is not up to date with roads that I know where built at least 3 years ago!
- Seat fabric looks dirty very easily. I wish I'd gone for the leather (though for the EX you have to get it combined with the glass roof! More expense)

Like I said - these are just my opinions on my experiences!

[zio]

I think if you go on any forum dedicated to a particular type of car, you're going to find a lot of people talking about all sorts of faults. After all, a place like this is a good place to look for advice when things aren't right.

Personally, I'm loving my car. I've had it two months and haven't had any of the problems others report on here, except maybe the soft paint (one or two stone chips on the bonnet, grrr!). Mine's a NHB, and I think black shows blemishes up worse than anything anyway. Certainly if I do trade up to a Type-R at some point (a definite possibilty), I'll probably go for a silver one.

But my gears all work properly, the fuel filler cap opens everytime without any problems and I haven't got any scratches on the dashboard. Admittedly my previous car was simply sharing my girlfriend's Ka, so a Civic is a massive upgrade over that in all departments, but I even find the stereo system to have decent enough reception and sound (better than the Ka at least!). I might go for a speaker upgrade at some point though.

[pcr]

For me, the major problems with this car are the very poor suspension and the endless rattles. Having driven two 07 models, I am not convinced that there has been much improvement in these areas. I would recommend it were it not for these, but sadly no.
This car has made me add Ford Focus to my list of possible replacements, unthinkable previously.

[elfa7]

Originally Posted by pcr

For me, the major problems with this car are the very poor suspension and the endless rattles. Having driven two 07 models, I am not convinced that there has been much improvement in these areas. I would recommend it were it not for these, but sadly no.
This car has made me add Ford Focus to my list of possible replacements, unthinkable previously.

I agree. The rear suspension is its achilles heel. I'd willingly sacrifice some boot space for a Focus type set up.

[FWH]

Read this thread for reassurance:

Cherry

[gevans5]

First off thanks for all the comments.

I think I'm coming round to the idea that I'll stick with my heart and buy the Honda. My nine year old lad when asked what he thought of the car after the test drive said "it's like being abducted by aliens". I loved the car with one exception which even the dealer knew I was going to say, view out the back!

The reason I asked the question on here was I have spent time on the Golf, Audi and Skoda forums and although I expect to find mostly posts relating to problems what worried me was the consistency regarding certain problems with the Civic.

Any way for those that are interested the things that I added to the spec are:
Leather & Glass/Rearview camera/colour still not sorted (Wife likes to have input only on the colour).

Thanks again

Graham

[Skippy]

Good decision!

You'll get used to the rear view. The nice big mirrors do help.

Any colour looks good. Non black seems to work well with the glass roof for me, anyway: a bit of contrast.

ps Do you mean to say that your son was abducted by aliens and was thus able to compare?

[davee7]

Originally Posted by gevans5

colour still not sorted (Wife likes to have input only on the colour).

I went for red as it was the only non-cost option available at the time! It looked lovely new, but you can really see the white chips that are speckling it nicely now! If only Honda did white as an option....