I have heard so many people say that the last car they would ever buy is a Honda/Toyota.. so run of the mill cars :). Even I belonged to that clan until I started looking for my second car. I previously owned a '90 Nissan Sentra Coupe that I bought as a student. Loved driving and working on it(yeah yeah.. had to do a lot of work from time to time.. did a lot of them myself and learnt how to do some from a friendly mechanic) and gave it away before moving to Seattle. After having that car for close to 3 years, my expectation from my next car was pretty clear.
I wanted a car with
(1) Zero maintenance and highly reliable,
(2) High fuel efficiency after seeing rising gas prices
(3) All possible safety measures,
(4) Stick shift, and
(5) Some coolness factor ;).
At the same time, I wasnt so much for shelling out lot of money but at the same time, not comfortable with the idea of buying a used car. My choices boiled down to Honda Civic and Mazda3. I didnt like the cones showing speedometer and oil gauge in Mazda3.. felt claustrophobic in the sedan. I loved the Mazda3 Hatchback but wanted the S-touring model for the safety features I wanted.. and ofcourse the stick shift. I couldnt find a Mazda3 with the configuration I wanted. That left me with the only other choice .. 2006 Honda Civic LX.
The things I love about the new Honda Civic
(1) Cool, simple and sophisticated Dashboard,
(2) Flat "back seat" floor,
(3) illusion of space in a compact model,
(4) Big windshield,
(5) car's sloping front and ability to vertically elevate the driver seat -> better visibility for a petite driver like me,
(6) Fuel efficiency(30-40) and low maintenance.
(7) Good speakers along with WMA/MP3 player,
(8) Side curtain airbags, ABS and the crash test results,
(9) Highly raved and rated car of the year in 2006.
Most bang for the bucks I paid :)).. I cant be happier ;).
Few features I wish I had,
(1) Button for opening the trunk in the car key(so lame of Honda to omit this basic feature :P )
(2) Quality cloth seats like that in Mazda3 or Passat
(3) No noticeable delay in the communication between the accelerator and the engine.. so called cool feature "throttle by wire"
(4) Black color with grey interior combination
(5) Heated seats or butt warmers ;) and
(6) A 250hp engine wudn't hurt ;).
2 comments:
Aha..This feels like dejavu :)..Finally you had to tell the world about your new honda civic :) . When are you taking me on a dirve in your new car ?
Whatever you say, German Car Rocks!
Hmm .. When I started looking to buy a new car back in 2003, I wanted to buy a Jetta/Passat. I loved the interior and also under the hood..its a masterpiece design. Its a high maintenance car in that it will drink only premium :( and also the defect ratio is higher in German cars compared to Honda/Toyota.. also cost of replacing parts is a factor to be taken into consideration.
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