Glad its gone

[Hazzo]

I wasn't very reassured by your post.
I am sitting at home today after dropping my Civic off this morning at the main dealer (not some back street job - although it may as well be).
I have had it for two weeks and I am not happy - suspension knocking from front offside when I go over speed bumps and annoying scuffing sound when I brake as I come to stop!
I was really looking forward to getting a new car and its caused both me and my man quite a lot of stress to be honest. Its a 1.8 sport manual, nearly new, has done 7000 ish miles. Weren't expecting any problems. . .
The day we went in to sign for it, the dealer din't encourage us to look at it again as he was just interested in getting us to sign, and we had checked it out during the test drive. So we nipped round the back afterwards to find scratches to the front offside bumper (the same side where the knocking is coming from now - coincidence eh?). O.K they did sort it without any fuss, but we became suspicious about the price although they claimed it must have happened on a test drive and they weren't ever intending to sell it like that...oh YEH!!!
Since they sold it to us the customer service has been rubbish. When I rang to report the knocking etc they didn't get back to me. I was told they would test drive it with me this morning and they just asked me to leave it. They haven't rang me to let me know what the problems are or when it will be ready or to provide any reassurance that it will get sorted.
Its awful. I just rang them and they said they would ring when ready!! Lucky me..sitting here like I ain't got nothing better to do!
Just hoping that when I get it back I can actually start enjoying it!!

[Pottsy]

Geoff, I've had a look at all the posts aimed at you, and not at the issue of the reliability of the Civic in general, nor the weighting that problems carry on internet forums.

I found:

Originally Posted by Brodick

Take care Geoff

Originally Posted by Topcat

Hope all is well in France and glad you are having a better time with the VW.

Originally Posted by JB75

glad to hear you're getting trouble-free running and decent customer service.

Originally Posted by Topcat

Have a really great time Geoff

Originally Posted by jayt43

So I wish you the very best of luck with it Geoff!

And you reply:

Originally Posted by geoff

Being as my comments are not wanted

Goodbye

only posted because the forum asked me to

and because i was here when there were only 60 members I thought that might be allowed

Did I miss something?

[Minkster]

Originally Posted by Hazzo

I wasn't very reassured by your post.
I am sitting at home today after dropping my Civic off this morning at the main dealer (not some back street job - although it may as well be).
I have had it for two weeks and I am not happy - suspension knocking from front offside when I go over speed bumps and annoying scuffing sound when I brake as I come to stop!
I was really looking forward to getting a new car and its caused both me and my man quite a lot of stress to be honest. Its a 1.8 sport manual, nearly new, has done 7000 ish miles. Weren't expecting any problems. . .
The day we went in to sign for it, the dealer din't encourage us to look at it again as he was just interested in getting us to sign, and we had checked it out during the test drive. So we nipped round the back afterwards to find scratches to the front offside bumper (the same side where the knocking is coming from now - coincidence eh?). O.K they did sort it without any fuss, but we became suspicious about the price although they claimed it must have happened on a test drive and they weren't ever intending to sell it like that...oh YEH!!!
Since they sold it to us the customer service has been rubbish. When I rang to report the knocking etc they didn't get back to me. I was told they would test drive it with me this morning and they just asked me to leave it. They haven't rang me to let me know what the problems are or when it will be ready or to provide any reassurance that it will get sorted.
Its awful. I just rang them and they said they would ring when ready!! Lucky me..sitting here like I ain't got nothing better to do!
Just hoping that when I get it back I can actually start enjoying it!!

Was it a 2006 car or a 2007 one?

Any used car, whether nearly new or not can have problems which is why you need to do a full inspection prior to collection. Same goes for brand-new, although nearly new (especially ex-demo cars) can have a range of problems through misuse during the cars early life. It sounds like the attitude of your dealer is poor though, both through the sales process and after-sales and as a result I would consider switching dealers.

[geoff]

Pottsy

Don't take everything I say to heart you know I talk rubbish most of the time

your message said you haven't posted for some time why not do so now

I wish I hadn't bothered

[Jack The Lad.]

If you had read my first posts on this topic Cad, maybe you would understand why I mentioned Volvo .
Not a comparison at all.
There is NO such thing as a perfect car.

[Koen]

I'm a bit confused here. Some people abviously like their Civic, others don't. That's the human kind, I guess.
I like it, anyway. And yes, there are lemon cars, even at Honda. But overall I think it's a fine piece of machinery. I don't know if you people did, but before buying mine, I looked at several alternatives. I can assure you, in this segment, in this price-range, the civic is top. Maybe the Toyota Auris is a real competitor, but I just didn't like the overall feel of it.
Nowadays cars are more and more liable to faults and errors, since they became such complicated pieces of modern engineering. Remember, only a few years ago even Mercedes S and SL drivers got united all over europe, because their cars just stopped riding due to ECU and other electric-related problems.
If you want Merc, Lexus or BMW quality, performance and reliability, get one. And pay for it. Chances are, you'll be disappointed, too.
However I must admit that dealerships in the UK seem to be outposts of hell. I am very pleased with my dealer, I've known him for 15 years now. Maybe it's because he knows he will not get away b*llsh*tting me. On the other hand, I think 80% of all Honda's in my region come from my dealer, however there are 5 dealerships in the area.

'nuff said.

[Trekker308]

Koen

I'm not surprised you get on well with your dealer - did he throw in the lawnmower for free??

[Koen]

Originally Posted by Trekker308

Koen

I'm not surprised you get on well with your dealer - did he throw in the lawnmower for free??

To be honest with you: that's the only Honda I do NOT enjoy riding.

[rhodgreen]

Originally Posted by Koen

And yes, there are lemon cars, even at Honda.

Very true, but they won't accept this their end, and they certainly don't do anything about them!

[Hartside]

For all the trouble I've had, or I'm still having I think the Civic is still a good drive with some great features. What boils me more than anything is that I bought an early 06 (April) car and it has the same recurring problems. It's like banging your head off a brick wall trying to get them fixed properly. It would be nice if it were recognised that some of us have problems and the utmost effort was put in by Dealer/Honda to rectify these problems. Forget the sniff of "goodwill" gestures, I'm just not bought by this type of crap, I just want the car as it should be!

To those of you with no problems, I'm glad to hear it - you got the car I expected to get from Honda, but didn't!

[3rd Honda]

Originally Posted by rhodgreen

Very true, but they won't accept this their end, and they certainly don't do anything about them!

And that in a nutshell is the problem.

I can accept that early cars may have problems - but lets see Honda co-operating trying to get them sorted ........ not the customer having to continually work at trying to get them to do things - Honestly - its like pulling teeth trying to get them to help - and I'm lucky in having a pretty good and sympathetic dealer!

[rhodgreen]

Like I've said before (on another topic) - Honda have offered me £500 off my next Honda purchase!!!
To me this is a disgrace.....
1. Do they honestly think I will ever buy another Honda based on the experiences I've had with this car.
2. It barely covers the time I've spent dealing with this car (based on what I could earn per hour - NHS rates!!!).
3. This is pennies from their back pocket - they could easily part with significantly more and not even notice it - and get far better word of mouth - which I'm activelly spreading with collegues and patients! (and that's a lot of people in one of the South's biggest hospitals).
4. This offer was made very early on, hence nothing takes into account the numerous further problems that have occured, let alone the ongoing ones that have not been sorted.
5. What I wanted was a working car (ongoing) from March 06 - nothing much will make up for 18 months of sadness and depression (whilst thinking of my car!).
Honda can and should do better with us.

[Topcat]

Having had a civic now since 1st March 2006 I have come to accept that I will never have a fault free car.

I am no longer embarrassed to pull up in a jazz despite the fact that a neighbour asked me recently if I had left my job and now worked for Honda (because I drive a car with their logo on the side a lot of the time)!!!! I couldnt afford to just replace it and finding such a great dealership definately has helped me put up with the problems they are totally on my side and deal with HUK direct.

I have many friends who have perfect fault free cars that they have purchased within the time I have had the civic all of whom think I am mad to put up with it and having had a fault free focus for seven years I probably would have stuck up for Ford had I ever joined a Focus Forum and read about other people's faults with their Focus cars.

But having now been the owner of a problematic car and having had 19 months of going back and forth to the dealers on a regular basis I can fully appreciate why Geoff is glad to see the back of his car and why some members including myself sometimes get fed up of it all and want to let of steam on here.

But despite it all I still get a buzz when I drive my civic and never get bored of looking at it. Had I known the problems that lay ahead, would I have bought it - No. Had I bought something else, would I have always looked at the civic and wished I bought it - Yes!!

Geoff if you are still around reading this, you do make me laugh when you have your tantrums

[Brodick]

Is it me or is it me

but it would seem at the end of the day that this tread prooves the civic is still one of the best small hatchbacks on the market today even with
the early issues and the odd one still today

I joined this forum on the 2nd December 2006 to make this exact point
and it would seem that i was right all along ( with no thanks to Geoff or TC )

I think this may be a good time to write a book

[JB75]

Originally Posted by rhodgreen

I think it's fair to summarise the following three points:
1. Us early adopters have had the majority of problems, some many and ongoing.
2. Newer cars would appear to be better with less problems.
3. We all seem agreed that Honda UK customer relations / service is very poor and sub standard (especially compared to what is expected).

I don't usually get involved in these threads anymore: many of us were having very similar discussions this time last year. On the above three points however:

• agree
• agree
• agree

At times I really do wish I'd waited a few more months and got a 56 or 07 plate. I don't doubt for a moment that it's the 55 and 06 plates that have had the most problems, and that cars rolling off the line now are probably fine. Of course, it doesn't excuse the nonsense some us owners of earlier models have had to endure: I'm not exagerrating when I say my car's been back to the dealer's ten or more times.

[Hartside]

I'm not exagerrating when I say my car's been back to the dealer's ten or more times

mines getting near that too - and it's scheduled for another one shortly!

[Topcat]

Originally Posted by JB75

I'm not exagerrating when I say my car's been back to the dealer's ten or more times.

Not sure how many times have been in but it is far more than 10 times!!

But I have made two good new friends at the dealership

[Koen]

Originally Posted by Hartside

mines getting near that too - and it's scheduled for another one shortly!

That's your choice. I do not tend to go to my dealer for every little squeek or rattle or scratch. I do inform him however, that something needs to be fixed at the next visit, and I keep a list. (Well, "List" is a strong word...) Sometimes it's a warranty issue, sometimes it's just tear and wear. (Which I often fix myself, being fairly handy.)
Only when it's to some extend "dangerous", or really annoying ("dangerous" for my well-being so to say ), I go there right away.
On the other hand, the (very competent) staff there allways gets it fixed from the first time. Well, almost every time... Very often, when possible, they fix it on the spot under my very eyes.

[Brodick]

Originally Posted by Topcat

Not sure how many times have been in but it is far more than 10 times!!

But I have made two good new friends at the dealership

Oh that's nice see FWH TC has two friends now aswell

[Jack The Lad.]

Thank Goodness, that's all sorted then.
We will have to agree to disagree then, though I REALLY do feel for those who have had problems ( some - many problems).
As some geezer once said, - A computer or robot, is only as good as the silly sod who imputs the instructions and there isn't one car maker in the world, that has not made a **** up and still continues to do so. Tis human isn't it.