Comments: 1-15, 16
Windshield started cracking at 25,000 Ks. It has now an enormous crack across the bottom end. Honda won't fix it, because they said it is from a rock chip. However, I couldn't find a bump anywhere myself.
Paint is peeling all along the back and the sides.
Cheap seats with only a thin layer of foam, very uncomfortable.
The reason I bought this car was the good comments and reports I read on Consumer Reports and Lemon Aid guides. My friends had good memories from Civics of the past and the whole thing seemed like the perfect choice to me. Well, I have been through hell since I got it...
The car is extremely uncomfortable to drive and noisy as hell. When it idles, it runs so rough that can drive me to the end of my wits during commuting and heavy traffic. The kids are cramped in the back and they are dying to get out of it (to tell the truth, so am I). This car looks like a great family car when you first look at it, but it is not what it seems on a first impression. We are not "sporty" people, so we decided that we did not mind the 115 or so horsepower engine, it was OK to be passed even by WV Beetles on the highway. But we understoond the limitations on our first long trip: this car is a hell of a back breaker on the highway, long trips are no fun, believe you me. If you want to get your kids to school and back, it is fine, but if you want something more, like the camping trip or a trip across the border, forget it! and why, then, pay the extra price for it, if you cannot have any fun driving about? I really regret having bought a Toyota Camry or even a Corolla on the first place. They are cheaper, more reliable and really fun to drive.
Cars of this price range has a few more standard featues than the ones you get with the DX.
Oh, did I mention insurance costs? Civics are REALLY expensive to insure. I wouldn't recommend this car to anyone, despite what is written around. Spend the extra money and get something better, you will really regret you bought this baby as reality settles in and you commute back and forth to work sitting on a low floor with A LOT of road feel (bumps and jolts and cracks and everything!)
Test drive it for a day or two before you buy it!
I need to mention here that the 2003 Civic has redesigned suspension (independent McPherson struts). 2003 is the first year with this new suspension system, so comments on the past civics kinda not applying on the 2003s. Accords still have the old fashioned double wishbone suspension which is a better, yet more expensive system. I find that this has cheapened the Civics tremendously. Speaking for myself, the Honda Civic ride is something atrociously ugly that I cannot live with. After all the discomfort that I have had, I will never ever buy from Honda again!
What is it with people who don't check insurance prices before they buy a car and then are surprised when one of the most popular cars to steal in North America costs them more than they thought to insure. Hello people. Stop being f#$%wits and recognize the fact that the cars that get stolen the most are the ones that cost more to insure due to the increased risk. Plus civics are frequently driven by boy racer morons who think they can drive fast, but really can't and so frequently wrap them around lamp-posts. Again, another reason for high insurance costs as in the eyes of the insurance companies if you buy a car popular with boy racers, you too are probably wanting to drive it the same way they do. So stop whining.
I just looked up the insurance rates on the four cars I'm interested in, and while the numbers were different from each other, they were not really that diverse.
They were:
Hyundai Accent GLS (2-door) - $312/yr
(4-door) - $318/yr
Honda Civic DX (4-door) - $302/yr
Toyota Corolla (4-door) - $325/yr
SION xA - $310/yr.
The Civic was actually the lowest of my choices... and this is in the Northeast (New Hampshire) quoted from www.progressive.com.
I hope this helps.
I recently purchased a 2005 Honda Civic LX (Cdn model) coupe after test driving the Toyota Corolla, Chevy Cobalt and the Honda Civic. The above person's comments about the Corolla being better was not what I experienced. I found the Corolla really noisy, very uncomfortable driving position, very weak air conditioning unit and it's styling really hasn't been lasting the test of the time. After my test drive, I came to the conclusion that the Corolla is purchased because of the reputation of the manufacturer not because of the pleasure someone would derive from driving one.
I love my Civic with three exceptions.
1. As mentioned above, I too took the Civic on a long distance trip and although it performed wonderfully on the highway, I also found the front seat lacking in lower back support. Thank goodness my passenger brought a pillow that I used as extra support or else my back would have been in serious pain.
2. The car has keyless entry, however it doesn't include a button for the trunk. You are still required to use an old fashioned key system to open up the trunk. Is this 2005 or 1995!??!
3. The black only interior (no colour choices for the interior) is going to show premature wear over the years I own this car as I can already see some spots where the black plastic on the door armrest is turning white.
Otherwise, I love this car and despite its power ratings I only find a lack of power when merging on the highway. Once up to an adequate speed, it actually has enough power in reserve for passing (and speeding) LOL Around the city, I find its power very adequate when accelerating from a stop light and one of the car's nicest features is that with the a/c on, it really doesn't suck up the power of the engine - the performance is relatively the same with or without the a/c unit on.
Because this is a very light car, I fear that this car maybe give me trouble in the winter as it doesn't have even close to the weight my V6 Mercury used to have. However the best feature of all is the gas consumption. I haven't exactly calculated the consumption myself yet, but my credit card bills are telling me this is one heck of a gas saver compared to the 'modern' 2.5L V6 in my 98 Mercury Mystique.
My friends are telling me I should have waited for the 2006 Civic to come out. However, Honda is in a hurry to get rid of the old 05's and at least up here in Canada are giving us very attractive lease and financing rates to me with my decision.
I don't feel the same at all. Road tripped/moved from Florida to Washington and drove my 91 4 door and my wife drove the 03 coupe. No problems, no discomforts, no complaints to Honda.
The 91 was our road tripper, going from Washington south to California several times and all the way across to Florida, where we bought the 03. Coming back to Washington was a great trip with great gas mileage the entire way.
We love them both.
"you will really regret you bought this baby as reality settles in"
Problem is no one wants to accept the facts. It would crush your typical honda fan to actually admit they hate their car. Luckily you did realize that honda civics aren't all that as did I when my 06 lx coupe's door panel fell off.
My door panel fell off into the road even though the doors were shut and my radio fell off and landed in my trunk.
Honda is not all it's made out to be!
Purchased my 2003 Honda Civic DX Sedan in March of 2003 New and let me tell you... I wish I had paid the 2000 bucks to keep my 12 year old Cavalier on the road. I have 84500 km on my car now and have had the front bumper replaced due to a paint flaw that took 3 years to fix, have had all 4 interior door panel inserts replaced (some twice) too may driver's door window regulators replaced, the trunk lid replaced because of rust around the lock, not too mention almost 3 years of trying to get my clutch fixed after the master cylinder blew in June'04 and it's still not fixed. Going back into the dealer again next week. Purchased at one dealer who was good for selling me the vehicle, but didn't want to fix anything. Started going to another dealer and although the dealer is trying to fix the problems, seem to be blocked by Honda Canada who has received a letter indicating all my complaints about extremely poor quality on this vehicle only to have them say their only obligation is to fix the problems. Truly sad! Will never purchase another Honda, nor will I suggest to anyone else to do so. Will go back to General Motors after this car dies. Congratulations GM 200,000 km on Cavalier with original clutch and still going up until I regretfully sold it! Never thought I would say that!
I can't say I own a Civic, but I did have to drive a friends for a 45min. drive to her home when she first bought the car. It was a '96 Civic EX sedan. I was impressed with the fuel economy, the refinement, and build quality. I was overall not impressed though because people put Civics on such a high pedestal. It was NOISY. The engine was constantly whining and buzzy. Every time I gave it the slightest bit of gas on the interstate it downshifted and over-reved. The seat was very unsupportive and gave me back cramps on that drive, which wasn't THAT long of a drive. Overall, they're probably more reliable than the competition. But, when you factor in the fact that they are more costly to buy, to insure, more costly to repair, and start burning oil like crazy after 100k miles, I'm just not that impressed. I'm used to driving all different sizes and brands of cars. So I can fairly assess the Civic for what it is... a subcompact economy car. I'd say it's a good product overall, just not worth the excess costs in my opinion. Compared to say, a Dodge Neon, yes, it's a far superior product.
I own a Civic and have to say it is nicer inside than any other compact. To tell you the truth yes it is noisy, but the build quaility and materials are much better than many cars twice as much... such as Ford Escape, Crown Victoria which I just recently rode in. My Civic is a 2000 and it stacks up well with bigger cars in quality.
I dunno what car you guys are talking about, but I have a 03 civic with 190000km on it and all I've put into it is gas and oil changes! It runs amazing and I would never buy anything else. It is a truly reliable car and I think that a lot of people in this forum have had some seriously bad luck! The only issue I have now is my A/C went, but in Canada I can wait till the summer to fix it!
So many people with bad luck and one with good luck!
I've had a 1993 Honda Civic DX Hatchback for about a year and a half. It's done me very well up to recently when I started to notice it burning antifreeze, and I got into a car accident which wrote it off. The body of the car has app. 300,000 kms on it, and has about a 1" square piece of rust in the driver's back wheel-well. From these cars you can't except an immense amount of power (110 horse power), but for it's little engine it does amazingly well. With the comment about it not starting in winter... I had mine sitting outside in -47C for 8 hours, and it was rough, but it still started.
Like any vehicle, it just needs to be pampered a little bit and taken care of, and then it'll last you forever, and give you little to no trouble... depending on the previous owners.
I'm currently in the market for another car, and would buy nothing other than a Honda... I'm actually buying a Civic.
Hey Guys, I own an '03 Civic Hybrid. I must say, I LOVE THIS CAR! Gas prices today, Wooooo! $3.30 a pop! Every week I only have to spend $20; not to mention, I drive 30 miles to work! I'm not a racist but I HATE AMERICAN-BUILT VEHICLES. If I need a van, I'll go for Odyssey other than that hideously ugly Caravan. If I need a truck, I'll go for Tundra. As for cars, I'll go for Honda & Toyota.
Considering that our Civic had worn out CV joints at 40,000 miles, was using a quart of oil a WEEK at 50,000 miles, and totally died (massive engine failure) at just over 90,000 miles, I'm not exactly chomping at the bit to buy another Japanese disaster.
None of our domestics has ever had a single repair except brake pads before 100,000 miles.
I may get 2 or 3 mpg less mileage, but I more than save it back in oil consumption and massive repairs every few months.
I sold my last domestic front-drive car at just under a quarter of a million miles and it had never had any major repairs and still did not use a drop of oil. It also had the original CV joints.