My friend just bought a 2007 Honda Civic LX Coupe with Automatic in Atomic Blue about 3 weeks ago. I got to drive it for a while because he was nice enough (since I helped him with the purchase process), and decided that this would be the debut article for my Blog.
Outside:
The current body style of the Civic is in it's 2nd model year and it still might be the most stylish coupe in its class. When we tried to come up with a custom plate that will fit the car, our ideas didn't deviate much from "UFO" or "Spaceship" and such. It does look quite different from other cars on the road, although you now see a bunch of them around now. After all, it's a Civic. The LX has body-colored side mirrors and door handles which adds to the sportiness. The 16" steel wheels with covers are larger than most cars in its class and fills the wheel wells nicely, but alloys on the EX are definitely nicer looking. The Bridgestone tires seem to be ok. The very sloped windshield creates a very aerodynamic and sporty look.
The headlights and the shape of the front fenders makes it look like it has a round smiley face. The overall shape does remind me of the outgoing 2007 Honda Accord Coupe which will be replaced by a redesigned 2008 model soon. The small lip spoiler on the rear is a nice touch. Even the "Civic" logo in the back is modernized with an italic font and absent is the model designation. The atomic blue is a nice color that's matched with the gray interior.
Inside:
The first thing that catches you eyes is the centrally placed digital speedometer that is deeply recessed all the way towards the glass on the very long/deep dash. To the left and right of it is a digital fuel gauge and the engine temperature gauge. The dash is to long it's almost like there's a table in front of you. Due to the angle of the glass, the dash is very deep, but except for the speedo, there's nothing there and Honda could have made use of that space and added a little storage bin on top. The gauges are bright and easy to read day or night while the tachometer is placed in a spot where you'd normally find it.
The audio system is a little further away than I'd like because it's not all that easy to reach, but the sound quality of the 6-speaker system is not bad for a stock unit. The seats are sport bucket seats that provides pretty lateral support with the thick bolsters. The passenger side has an easy entry/exit position memory feature that comes in handy. Leg room in font is good, but is a little cramped in the back. Sitting in the back for a longer period of time might become catastrophic because of the lack of visibility (windows are quite small). The 2 doors do open wide enough for a smaller person to easily enter the 2nd row. The EX model has a center armrest in the back that the LX doesn't. The front cupholders are large enough for huge 32 oz drinks.
The power window and lock buttons could be conveniently reached on the door armrest. The steering wheel is both tilt and telescopic for both tall and short drivers, but the steering wheel design on the coupe is different from that of the sedan. It has the cruise control switches located conveniently on it. But for some reason I find myself easily putting the vehicle in 3rd gear when I try to shift the shifter out of Park into Drive.
Features:
The Honda Civic LX Coupe comes with a pretty wide array of standard features which I think makes it quite a good value. It has all the power windows (driver's auto up & down), mirrors and locks with keyless entry. Cruise control and A/C were also standard. The 160-watt audio system has pretty good bass performance and had a MP3 compatible CD player with an auxiliary jack on the dash. Other features that are nice touches are the extendable armrest with storage underneath, and you can switch the dash display and gauges (that I will go in further detail later) between metric and English units. The rear seats fold down flat quite easily also, and the small pockets for storage are all lined with a rubber-like material.
However the split folding rear seat is only standard on the EX, and since the rear pillar is pretty thick on the coupe, rearward visibility is compromised when changing lanes or parallel parking. A divider in the large center console would be nice, and a lockable glove box would definitely be a nice touch. The small pockets here and there would be nice if they were deeper so there would be more volume. The sun visors could also be a little longer and wider, because it is pretty useless right now.
Standard safety features on all Civics include font, side and curtain airbags. ABS brakes are standard also, but rear disc brakes are only standard on the EX and up. Coded keys with a built-in remote is standard, but the LX doesn't have a trunk release on the remote which makes it sometimes inconvenient.
Driving:
The seats are comfortable overall. Lumbar support adjustment of some sort would make it even better. The driver's seat has a height adjuster and the passenger seat has a memory feature which will return the seat to the original position after the seat has been moved for rear passenger entry. The coupe gets the bucket sport seats which give sufficient lateral support. The cloth upholstery is nice but they should offer leather as an option on the EX in my opinion.
The steering wheel is tilt and telescopic so I was able to find a good position. The ride is smooth but a bit choppy over bumps. Engine noise is muted during cruising speed but road noise is pronounced. Handling is nice as suspension configuration is not too soft and the independent multi-link rear suspension does help. Steering is responsive and has better handling than many other cars in its class.
Rearward visibility is inhibited by the thick C-pillar. It does look cool from the outside, but it definitely doesn't help with visibility. The side window is long and narrow. The side mirrors are large enough but could be a little larger. If you are concerned with visibility, get the sedan.
The engine is smooth and is powerful enough for regular city driving, and if you want more power, either get a manual or the SI version. It has that little "humm" when you step on the gas pedal and you can quite easily hit freeway speeds in no time. The 5-speed automatic shifts smoothly and the 5th gear gives it a respectable EPA rating of 40MPG on the highway. Braking power is good and ABS brakes are standard.
Competition:
The reason why I recommended him a Honda Civic was because these cars are well known for 1. reliability and 2. resale. There are probably other more entertaining choices, and we looked closely at the competition in terms of features, cost effectiveness and price and ended up with the following conclusions:
Toyota Corolla:
I had a Matrix and did not have the best experience with the seat ergonomics and most importantly, reliability. Yes, I will be commenting on the un-reliability of Toyota throughout my blog so if you're a fan, please prepare to be disappointed (LOL). The design of the 2007 Corolla was basically carried over from 2003, so the design and features are pretty dated.
Toyota Yaris:
The 3-door liftback was my friend's favourite body style, and the price was definitely well within his price range. But the Yaris is too light to drive on the freeway and in case its hit by a large truck/SUV, then it might not be a good car to be in. And a lot of the safety features were not widely available to the vehicle like ABS brakes, etc.
Ford Focus:
Great car, great handling. Quality has been reported as excellent and has gotten many great reviews. However resale value is a concern here so we decided to pass.
Honda Fit:
Like the Yaris, too small to drive around Hummers. Surprisingly, the salesperson at Honda told us he hated the vehicle. He said the seats were uncomfortable. He had one for 2 months and had to sell it at a loss.
Nissan Versa:
Nice size, lots of room inside, and my friend also really liked the styling. It was quite a bit heavier than the Versa and Fit even though all 3 cars are B-segment cars. It was almost as heavy as the Sentra for crying out loud. But since it's pretty hot now and there weren't as many incentives on it as other vehicles, the relative price of the car is much higher, so for a similar price, might as well get the Sentra.
Nissan Sentra:
Great price, many incentives and quite a few features standard. New styling was pretty nice, but the lack of independent suspension and the fear of a weak resale value made us decide to go with the Civic instead. It did come in 2nd place though.
CIVIC:
Over great value for the money, good reliability record and historically great resale value made it the vehicle of our choice. Not that the other cars we considered were not good though. The vehicle was purchased at Marin Honda from Brent Miletich who gave us a price that was significantly lower than the other 11 dealers that I emailed. We were surprised at the low price and they also gave us an excellent deal in financing.
Vehicle was purchased at Marin Honda in Corte Madera, San Francisco. Brent Miletich was great to work with and can be contacted at (415) 927-5523. (No, I don't get paid for this)
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