Yup I got a Civic.
Written: Jul 03 '04
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Pros: Fun to drive, Great on gas, comfortable, reliable, lots of security features.
Cons: No standard ABS, just a basic warranty, so-so stereo system, #1 stolen car in USA.
The Bottom Line: It's a Honda so we all know it's going to last a long time and should be virtually trouble free.
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| stoafer's Full Review: 2004 Honda Civic |
Okay so here's my situation, several years back I bought a Dodge Neon it was an alright car but it did end up having a few problem. If someone held a gun to my head and said give that a car a letter grade I would commend it with a B-.
But since I hate giving out letter grades to anything, (partially since I got such bad marks in school) I will try to not do so in this review.
Any who I needed a new car and was getting tired of my neon for several reasons, the major being gas mileage was just becoming worse over the years.
So this brings us up to about six months ago when I decided it was about time to consider getting another car.
So let me start off by saying that I know nothing about cars except you put gas in them change the oil and drive. So If i sound under educated in this review please forgive me but also understand that I'm not trying to make it sound like I'm Mr. Good wrench
REQUIREMENTS:
My only requirements were that the car has a long reliability record. That pretty much got rid of any Dodge or Ford that I was considering.
Also I wanted something that would be great on gas, has ABS, and maybe a little stylish.
Long story short... Civic
Okay so I finally decided on a Honda Civic due to its great reliability, and gas efficiency. I did not think I'd like driving a Civic so much due to the fact that it's a small car, and my neon and I got along well at first but over the time of a year or so I felt way cramped in the thing.
Well I'm 6'1 and according to other reviewers who are shorter then I am they say it suits them 'okay' but for tall individuals 'stay away'. Well I have no problems sitting comfortably in this car. I have quite a bit of head room and seats are comfortable. My suggestion to anyone who is my height or taller, test drive the car for about 10 miles total and you can usually tell if the car is going to make you feel claustrophobic by that time or not.
My Civic
I won't tell you every little thing that comes standard with the car since most likely if anyone is doing research they will probably go to Honda.com and look at all that stuff yourself.
I've had mine for about 7 months now and I've had time to come up with enough pros and cons so I'll let you all know how I feel about this car.
My Civic is a metallic 2dr coupe EX.
I wasn't to thrilled with the fact that I had to get the EX but it was the only Civic in my price range that came with ABS.
My EX comes with the 2nd biggest engine in the civic line-up with a 127hp (standard in EX). Yea your not going to win any races anytime soon but it's been saving me so much money on gas I'm willing to make the trade for horsepower. (By the way I was also driving a Grand Prix Turbo for a main car when I wasn't able to drive my Neon) I think anyone who is getting a Civic shouldn't be considering speed for a reason to buy, instead buy it for a good mode of transportation.
I like the sliding power moon roof, but I dont feel Its worth the extra cash that Honda feels I should have to pay. So why did I get it? It's simple I feel Anti Lock Breaks help avoid accidents, as does Honda BUT Honda doesnt feel that every Civic should come with ABS standard like all other Accords come standard with them. This was a huge disappointment to me so the only way I could get ABS was with the moon roof. I was willing to make the compromise.
As I hinted before the gas mileage on my Civic is great, I always seem to get at least 30 miles to the gallon but it's usually about 33 mpg. Excellent!
Also I guess I’m one of the few who don’t find the road noise excessive in the Civic. I read that the 2004 had extra sound dampening material spread through the cabin as apposed to the previous years but I can’t imagine it was enough to make a huge difference. I’m fairly used to road noise and to me it’s the quietest car I’ve owned (but not been in).
I would like to point out that if you have music on you won’t be able to hear much of any wind noise.
This brings me to my next point, the sound system. The EX comes standard with 6 speakers and It’s only sub-par at best. I’m not a music junkie but I like my music to be a little loud and the bass control on the CD deck is practically like ON or OFF. ON meaning it shakes to much or OFF meaning not even a slightly satisfying thud at all. No in-between at all. On the bright side of things the radio and CD player are very easy to use and set up.
One of the things I like about this car the most is it really does feel like it’s built just for me and with high quality parts.
All the controls are in my reach and geared for very easy maneuvering and adjusting without looking at the dash.
The a/c works very well cooling the car down very promptly, and heater is sufficient. I like how there are many fan speeds and the rear defrost works quite quickly.
Sitting in the Civics seats took a little while to break in. They seemed kind of stiff or maybe it took a while for me to get used to them but after about a week of driving they are very comfy seats.
I enjoy the black interior of my car, and since I knew I was going to get a black interior I knew I would want a stick shift (because it looks absolutely spiffy that why :P ).
Yes the stick shift is really fun to drive and I haven’t had one since my first car and missed driving one often. This stick shift is satisfying to drive and really does look kind of sexy.
Like I mentioned earlier the engine is rather small but the Vtec engine that only comes in the EX and I believe HX does utilize every little horsy it can muster. Not that I’m saying that it’s always enough to get you fast enough off the starting line at the Grand Prix but adequate for city driving, and powerful enough to get you up to freeway speeds.
The Arm rest that comes with the Civic is great to put your arm on but offers very little storage space on the inside of it like the great 2004 Accords does.
Some features that I didn’t see written about in the Honda Civic brochure that I’ll mention that I think are quite convenient are security features.
Honda has finally got a Coded Key that speaks to the car in some sort of computer-moon language that tells the car only to start with the original set of keys. Meaning some punk can’t shove a screw driver in your ignition and drive away. The stereo is also an Anti-theft stereo meaning that when the stereo looses battery power (like when the deck is removed, or when the battery under the hood drains) you have to enter a unique code given to you at purchase to make it work again. Honda also made it to where the trunk release and gas door have an actual lock on the HANDLE release switch on the floor of your car. You can either keep it locked or unlocked at all times to where you can all ways pull the lever any time if you’d like to.
Even the rear seats that fold down automatically are locked and require a key to open them from inside the cabin of the car.
So why all the security?
It’s simple Honda knows that the Civic is the number one stolen car in the USA so why not add these features standard to all Civics to make people feel more safe in there investment?
I also liked the little touch that Honda added by putting anti-theft stickers on the windows so it makes you look like your car has an alarm on it as well.
Rear seats are crammped but I rarely have anyone sitting in the back seat of my car.
Trunk space is adequate and like mentioned the rear seats fold down for maximum storage and its an easy process to push the seats down from inside the trunk.
My car also came equipped with side airbags along with the standard front and passenger side air bags, which got me an extra discount on my insurance premiums.
Keyless entry works flawlessly from over ten feet away and has a panic button built on the fob. I would have liked to see Honda make it to where you can roll the windows down on the fob before you actually get in the car but that’s just nit-picking really.
The exterior of the car I guess is an acquiring taste to most. I really like the not so new redesign of the 2004.
What’s so new about the redesign compared to 2003? Nothing much really just different shaped headlights (which most people agreed it needed)new hood, new tail light design for the 2dr coupe, a slight bumper redesign and additional sound dampening for the inside cock pit.
I’ve been one of the lucky few who haven’t run into any problems with any rattles in the car or break problems so I’ll continue to count my blessings on the fact.
Price
The MSRP for my car was about $17,110.00. I feel I got a good deal on it for one thousand dollars under invoice so it was about $14,638.00. A friend of mine who’s a car sales man said that he’s never heard of anyone getting a good deal like that before so I again count my blessings.
Conclusion
I’m glad I bought this car, I’ve had no buyer’s remorse and it’s been running strong so far and expect it to for a long time. One other little gripe I do have about this car is the warranty. It’s the basic 3yr 36,000. No frills, no nothing. I didn’t want to buy a extended warranty seeing how If I’m buying what’s considered one the most reliable cars out there why bother? Road side assistance, wasn't really worth it since I’m with AAA.
I would like a longer warranty. I don’t expect a ten or seven year like Hyundai or Kia who have to back there products up for that long if they want to keep customers but Mazda for example has a great 4 year warranty with a free rental imbursement incase they have to take your car and you need transportation and free scheduled maintenance.
But I’m not worried about it at all, just would appreciate for Honda to get with the times is all.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 14638
Condition: New
Model Year: 2004
Model and Options: EX 2dr Man. w/Side Air Bags
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Epinions.com ID:
stoafer
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Reviews written: 13
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