test drove a brand new civic sport

[roar]

i don't want to stir shit or anything but frankly, i was very disappointed.

Exterior appearance - love the rear, hate the front, the side profile is also pretty ugly...the car looks like a girl who seems to have nice features, but just the whole package you could never call hot

interior appearance - at first its like, WOAH LOOK AT THAT DASH, thats awesome maenz...then you step back and you look at the car, and honestly, i really thought it was pretty cheap looking, looked more like a toy, not solid enough. the paddle shift is a novelty. Yes, it is cool how there are leather seats standard, tho if you actually look at the leather, its pretty shitehouse quality when compared to european cars etc.

power - nothing special. slightly more grunt than mazda3 auto 2L

handling - at least this part hasn't been screwed up. compared to other new cars in its class, it has some steering feel to it, tho of course, it is rather soft.

brakes - good enough

MY WORST GRIPE however is the build quality of the car
i test drove the car at scotts honda and i couldn't believe it but the demonstrator car had two interior panels loose and the roof lining coming off
Also, i was being a bit silly and pressing down on the body over the front strut tower area and i just heard what sounded like plastic cracking, and with that i slowly backed away from the car lol

overall the new civic sport feels like a car where the designers have tried to impress by packing it full of "crazy new" innovations on a car of its class, but in doing so have sacrificed their budget on solidness and overall build quality

that same day i also test drove a jazz and i think its a great little car for what it is, build quality seems better, which i thought had to do with a much simpler design

tho, in essense thai built hondas i feel aren't fit to be part of the same brand which brought us gems such as the type r's/euros/nsx/s2000

in the current aus honda range, the only cars i would probably ever think about owning would be euro/odyssey/jazz.

i know some ppl will feel otherwise, and i respect you for that, this is just how i view honda these days and their quality (or lack thereof) of cars

[NightRyder]

dude, I have to say I agree with you. The build quality on the new civic coming from Thailand (not that I am saying anything to offend any thai ppl here ) but I have to say it also does seem cheap.

I was overseas a few weeks back on holidays and I visited the Honda dealer over there (on a day I had nothing to do..hehe) and I must say...for some reason I found their Civic much more impressive looking, build and interior did not have any loose ends...I dunno...it was funny because it looked very impressive to me...so out of curiousity I asked one of the salesman and they said they get the Japan built Civics!

So there you go and there were certainly features on their top of the range Civic model which we don't get here, and one of the things is OEM HID headlights. Only sad thing I found was that the top of the range Civic only came in 5-speed auto sportshift but other than that the overall look and feel of their car was remarkable and worth the price of around $35,000 AUD.

Although I know all Honda cars have strict quality control, I dunno...the Japanese made Civic seems much more impressive both inside and out. Then again, I would expect nothing less...
And as well, they get to order Mugen parts/accessories through their Honda HQ as well!..
The only car they get that is Thai made are the Accord V6's.

But on the contrary, I like the new 17" alloys that come standard on the new Civic Sports here in OZ so I guess we all win some and loose some.

[aaronng]

Yes, it is cool how there are leather seats standard, tho if you actually look at the leather, its pretty shitehouse quality when compared to european cars etc.

That's where your extra money goes to when you buy an European car. That's also why Lexus cost twice that of a Honda or Toyota while also being a Japansese car. They use top quality materials.

power - nothing special. slightly more grunt than mazda3 auto 2L

When comparing torque/grunt, a 2L is equivalent to another 2L. Nothing will change the fact that torque is proportional to displacement and filling efficiency (by using a turbo).

MY WORST GRIPE however is the build quality of the car
i test drove the car at scotts honda and i couldn't believe it but the demonstrator car had two interior panels loose and the roof lining coming off
Also, i was being a bit silly and pressing down on the body over the front strut tower area and i just heard what sounded like plastic cracking, and with that i slowly backed away from the car lol

Well, even if they have strict quality control, if the mechs building the car don't have the love and enthusiasm for their job/company, then even QC will not be able to cover up the flaws.

[Miss_GTI]

Yes, it is cool how there are leather seats standard, tho if you actually look at the leather, its pretty shitehouse quality when compared to european cars etc.

tho, in essense thai built hondas i feel aren't fit to be part of the same brand which brought us gems such as the type r's/euros/nsx/s2000

U can't compare the leather seats in the Civic to a European car coz if u look at the specs sheet carefully, its got "† Leather includes some PVC vinyl material." (http://www.honda.com.au/wps/wcm/conn...howroom/Civic/) hence the reason for the quality of the leather!

And yehhh... got a Euro coz the Accord is Thai built and not even nearly as good looking as the Euro and didn't get a civic when I was looking for a car coz altho I luv'd looking at it when someone else had 1 on the road, it didn't do much for me when I was looking at one at the dealer's.

[Alpine]

i don't want to stir shit or anything but frankly, i was very disappointed.

You are not alone, amigo. When I test drove the Civic Sport when it was released last year, I walked away feeling kinda disappointed too, thinking "what's the hype all about?!". It wasn't a car which blew me away, it didn't seem to have any soul to it. It felt like a Toyota!!

[industrie]

made in japan...thats the way to go =]

[xenfacta]

suppose it depends on ur view. if i was spending around $35K id get a euro over the sport (mums got one n i love it). i paid 22500 on the road for my vti which for the money had more features than the same price competitors (mazda3 neo, focus cl) like abs and power options.

i was pretty impressed with the handling tho, considering what it is. i took it down to national park on saturday and was pleasantly surprised.

[nexace]

suppose it depends on ur view. if i was spending around $35K id get a euro over the sport

I totally agree!

[roar]

well yer the leather seats do have PVC in them but that's the point. On paper it looks like the best deal ever, but if you don't do it right, then don't do it at all.
The leather seats feel worse than the cloth seats imo

[Miss_GTI]

haha well.. yehhh would this be a bad time to say that I dont think the leather in the Euro is "all that" either? Probably of the same quality as the civic leather... but *sighs* I still like the euro!

[IAMVTEC]

Leather in the Accord is pretty good I think, Im no expert on leather but I think its better than the leather Ive seen in luxury brands. But for Civic Sport the leather isnt very leathery.

The Civic feels quite solid for me. Ive known people to have bad dashboard fits but mine is working fine except for a drivers window that doesnt close sometimes.

At end of day I think Civic Sport is questionable value. Vti is great for price, Sport is not really.

[aaronng]

haha well.. yehhh would this be a bad time to say that I dont think the leather in the Euro is "all that" either? Probably of the same quality as the civic leather... but *sighs* I still like the euro!

The leather in the Euro is not that high grade either. And the sides and back are actually PVC. Only the front faces of the bottom seat and backrest are real leather.