2012 Honda Civic

2012 Honda Civic

            Honda has been selling Civics since about 1973, and the 2012 is the ninth generation. After the testing the Ford Focus I thought that I should go for the Honda Civic because this is the perfect car. They are known to be reliable, good driving, and they live forever.

Styling

            The Honda Civic has really gone bland. It has always lacked style but now they took bland to a whole new level. They have dulled down the tail end and made the front end more aerodynamic that gives the car an average look, which to me is actually refreshing. It is really nice to be able to choose a car that isn’t pretentious looking with huge bubble lights and small rear windows. I think that it is great to be able to choose your average, normal car. I have never been a fan of the two dashboard thing that the Civic has going on, but plenty of people love it, and it is very functional. But I think it is very displeasing in appearance.

Trims

            I love how Honda does their trims. They take out the guess work by eliminating packages. What you get is in the title. So there is the bottom of the line DX model then there is the LX, EX, and EX-L. With the EX and EX-L there are navigation trims.

Power-Train

            There is only one engine for the Civic. It is 1.8L I-4 that delivers 140 horsepower and 128 foot-pounds of torque. In the lower trims you can get the manual but when you get into the upper trims you can only go automatic.

Technology

            My test Honda came fully loaded with navigation Bluetooth. The navigation map can be difficult to read if you live in really urban places. The placement of the street names, the color of the words are the same as the streets, and the placement of the letters make the map less than desirable. The rest of the system is pretty good. The voice control understands English fairly well but you have to push the button too many times. Here is an example:  you push the button and after the beep you say address, then it loads the address screen. You then have to push the voice button again to say street or city. This is frustrating. I was just in the Ford Focus and I couldn’t get the voice lady to shut up. Now the Civic will not stop prompting me for more. Where is my happy medium?! I hope that there is a way to have the system move more fluidly, but because I couldn’t find get it right I would definitely skip the Navigation and the voice that doesn’t like to talk you.

Driving Aspects

            I just love Honda and the way their cars drive and the Civic stays true to the Honda I have always known them to be. They are not sporty but they don’t lack power. They seem to give you the right amount of power to drive like a normal person. This is fine and what you would expect for a car designed and built for your average person. I also love the way a Honda brakes and again the Civic preforms. Just light taps will slow her down. For some reason when I drive a Honda I feel invincible. The fully loaded Civic I got to test had good views, lots of glass and a navigation that turns towards the driver.

Purchasing

           The Honda Civic base DX model has a starting 15,955 MSRP. I would definitely jump up to the EX because the sunroof is very nice and the Bluetooth is a must these days. The EX starts at 20,655 and if you want to add a little looks to your Civic I would go with Wing Spoiler. I would skip on the Navigation and go aftermarket only because you could get one that is less kiddie looking and with a more readable map.

        Thank you for taking time out to read this review, I hope that it is full of information that you can use. If you have decided that the Honda Civic is the car for you and you live in the Bay Area give our friends at Winter Honda a ring and check out their website at http://www.winterhonda.com/