Driving in Some 'Civic' Sense - A Buying and Ownership Review

[Iron Rock]

I couldnt find any civic threads out here, so thought might as well do my own, also some really powerful guys are ganging up on my xuv thread and asking for one on the civic, so here it starts

The story starts with a flashback to Sept 2010 :-

I was moving back to India after nearly a decade abroad and i needed a ride for me from Day 1. I was aware generally of the Indian market and my choice was to book the fortuner day 1 after I land - i was also aware of the waiting period but thought some jhugaad could be possible.

Well indeed the jhugaad is possible but the T-badge already commands a premium - why spend more on top and anyways i would have to wait a week atleast - so common sense prevailed and i decided i would buy something temporary as a ride and then migrate to the T-Fort in 6 months. I have always been a SUV lover.( and i was told i also need to adapt back to the Indian style of driving even though been driving for over 15 years(dont ask me if that was all legal) so a preowned one it was.

I land in on a friday and go straight to a First Choice Dealership Saturday morning - the head said if i am buying something temporary it better be a brand which commands a good resale value. Also i didnt have the time to go through classifieds and skimming through multiple cars - which i would have ideally loved to do. So decided lets go to Mahindra First Choice and get something with a peace of mind.

So there starts the hunt, more to follow.

Link to Review Post :- http://www.theautomotiveindia.com/f...nse-buying-ownership-review-2.html#post127496

 

[350Z]

Congratulations, although it’s been sometime since you bought the car. Please continue. I shall be following the thread, especially to know about the overall experience with First Choice since I had a some experience (Both good and bad) with them in the past.

Drive Safe,
350Z

 

[truecitylover]

Errrr. Now you are now teasing with a prologue?
Common Amit, keep it rolling!!! We are all awaiting for a good ownership review on the Civic for a long time.

Hooked up to this thread. And +1 for accepting the requests/ nagging from us!

 

[zengetz]

Aha! the teaser's up now. Will be stuck to this. Thanks a ton Amit for bearing with us.

 

[mukeshus]

Yes waiting for more....

Keep it rolling......

 

[Sam Dinkar]

Good to see a Civic thread. Not many Civics are taking off the shelf now-a-days.

 

[Iron Rock]

Thanks 350Z, Mukeshus,truecitylover,zengetz, Sam Dinkar - give me some time as i keep updating the thread, be assured u will have all the usual review aspects

So we continue ::

We go to Thane Saturday morning hoping to visit a few Mahindra First Choice centres and may be others too and having a look - armed with only a chequebook :- The idea was clear no matter how long it takes i had to finalise by the weekend as i needed a car Monday onwards.

Somewhere in the back of my head i had the Honda City as i thought if i am anyways hell bent on buying a SUV later i might pickup a sedan now - just in case i dont sell it it might be a nice combination to have. I dont need to say anything more about the Honda City - extremely reliable and the Honda vtec engine is really a gem of an engine. But i was keeping my option open towards a toyota too - wanted to avoid Indian brands and only was looking for reliable Japanese ones as i had very little time for making the choice and i wanted to get it right.

So went through test driving quite some city's and i liked 2 of them one a 2008 model and the other one a 2009 - but both of them seemed pricey atleast 70k more than i would agree to pay. The city drive was kind of similar to a mondeo i used to own from the late 90s only more refined and slicker gearbox.

So i parked this in my list and went ahead to another first choice showroom - again was shown some city's and this time also some tucson's and couple of toyota corollas.Tucson was tempting but had to strike it off as i was not very sure of aftersales. Toyota corolla was good but found the interiors too bland to my liking. Then just on the other side of the parking lot saw some civic's standing - the sales guy was more than happy to show me them though i wasnt having a civic in my list originally. I saw a few automatics and those were strict no-no's - if the automatic gearbox has a problem its a near write off. I didnt want to take a chance as mahindra wasnt offering the warranty on the autogearbox(Smart but i aint falling). Also i always prefer a manual.

Then saw a alabaster silver civic - caught my eye the moment i saw it - everything seemed perfect at the outside and the inside was clean too - did all kinds of checks for next 3 hours - inside and out. It was late 2006(read as the original civics) model and had aged nicely run around 40K kms. I had heard about the GC issue so was skeptical initially - but the sales guy told me to have a drive!

And boy 5 mins of drive and i was convinced this is what i want - to hell with GC issues( lol ill explain later that this is not actually a gc issue but more the suspension setup and wheelbase)!!

Did a few more test drives and it kept growing on me - This is what i describe as a driver's car and it seemed to read my mind - steers exactly where i want it to - stops where i want it to - accelerates harder than i want to lol. And does all of the above without a fuss and in the smoothest manner.
It was really growing on to me and i did a lot of detailed underbody and bonnet checks - was happy overall - but after showing all the eagerness to buy i started walking out - the sales guy was behind me as he thought he had sealed the deal and i told ill think about it and went to a neighbouring used car dealer and he saw me going there. Saw many cars there including a Laura - liked it but skeptical about Skoda A.S.S. In the meanwhile the sales guy called back and asked if i wanted a more detailed test drive and i made him agree that he could negotiate.

Final Part Negotiation - First Choice guys dont negotiate much as they claim they provide warranty which not most others do. I asked them a detailed break through of what they provide and other dont and struck off some stuff including the free services they offer - only thing i took was the warranty and in lieu told them i would service it myself and can show them the proof to make the warranty hold. Also i told them i will be driving the car from here and give them full payment there and then - negotiated and all agreed i drove out with the civic - and thats how it all began!! The owner of the place was a friend of uncle so a phone call helped too. The preowned civics offer great value for money and infact many a times tempt new car buyers from a lower segment to buying a civic.

And to think of it - it was not in the potential list of cars i was looking for, as they say the car chooses u!!

More to follow..

 

[P3T3R]

Congratulations and....

 

[lxi.]

Congratulations on the civic Iron_Rock! Silver would be looking cool (I mean that you should post few pics). Keep the rest of the story rolling in...Waiting for more!

 

[cooldhaya]

You have nice writing skills buddy , nicely started and ended , looking for more updates about the car now and pictures.


Civic is one great car i liked for its looks and comfort. Even when i was scouting around for my used Verna i was tempted to buy Civic but alas Petrol!

And also for my height i find getting in and out of the car a bit tough , i could get used to it though!

 

[type-r]

hey buddy from another Civic owner. Love the car. absolute beauty and it has the go with the show too. just the sad part that u have the 1.8 while i have the 2.0. but still, the car always puts a smile on my face after a drive. also mine is black which is a pain to maintain.

 

[Iron Rock]

Thanks P3T3R, lxi and cooldhaya..lol we enthusiasts can never be happy without pics and no matter how much we post we want more pics..

cooldhaya you're right about the ingress and egress part - i will talk about it in my car review - have only finished the buying process so far, car review and ownership log will follow soon. about my writing skills you're only one till date who thinks so..i am glad atleast someone did notice

For the pic lovers here is something to start - please welcome the civic to our forum - is it the first one i dont know?

 

[mukeshus]

Oh man can't beleive its a 6 year old car.

You have maintained it well.

Now i need tips from you too.

After your acquisition how many kms have you drove.

 

[cooldhaya]

Nice pictures bro you have maintained it really well!


Your's is the second Civic i guess , first one is Type-r's.

 

[zengetz]

Great write up! You never fail to disappoint
The Civic looks top notch bro. Looking forward to the next parts.