Goodbye and thanks

I got a cheque through today from the insurance company, so feel like a line has been drawn under my Civic ownership experience.

I bought a grey Civic EX 2.2 in March 2009, after plenty of reading stuff on here - the wiki was especially useful. An ex-demo car came up at the dealer near my parents in Kent, late enough to have parking sensors but in budget. My first Honda, and in fact first car that wasn't French or Italian (I'd come from an Alfa 156).

It had 7000 miles when I bought it, and was at just over 42k when it was stolen from my road in north London in early December. Other than the front 12v socket stopping working (I barely used it, as there was one in the back too) which I never got round to investigating, I had no issues whatsoever. Perfectly reliable motoring and it only ever got attention at service (which I'd pre-paid via Honda Happiness anyway).

Other than the usual minor gripes about harsh ride and poor rear visibility, I rather enjoyed owning it - the design still looked fresh, and I loved the practicality of the flip/folding rear seats and huge boot. I don't dive any more, but there were a few weekends where we'd take my car as despite owning estates, mates' cars couldn't fit the six tanks and all the boxes and bags we'd take, along with three people. Civic managed it fine with the wider rear seat flipped up.

I was left with the problem of what to replace it with - I decided I didn't want another 8th gen Civic, 9th gen looks good but I certainly wasn't going to pay £20k+ for a new diesel one nor wait for a factory order to come through - maybe in a few years I'll be back though. Considered a CR-Z but high insurance for what they are and tiny back seats put me off. Tried at various other Civic competitors and ended up taking a test drive in a Fabia vRS which I loved to bits. 180bhp, 7-speed DSG, economical, crazily cheap to insure for what it is, and a stereo and bluetooth system that puts Honda's to shame. Local dealer were selling their specced-up demo which was 3 months old - have had it a couple of weeks now and am very happy with it.

Thanks to all of you who are so helpful and contributing to a fantastic tech resource - I think it's one of the best going and was a (albeit minor) factor in me picking a Civic in the first place.

Costs summary is on PH here: http://pistonheads.com/members/showcar.asp?carId=96109
Full Fuelly log for my ownership is here: http://www.fuelly.com/driver/kiteless/civic