Edmunds dealer partner, Bayway Leasing, is now offering transparent lease deals via these forums. Click here to see the latest vehicles!
Popular New Cars
Popular Used Sedans
Popular Used SUVs
Popular Used Pickup Trucks
Popular Used Hatchbacks
Popular Used Minivans
Popular Used Coupes
Popular Used Wagons
Comments
The previous writer answered his (or her) own question. The Buick is a heavier car. Heavier cars (all other variables being equal) will do better when hitting an object. The Civic is good in its class, but the class as a whole doesn't do too good against heavier vehicles. Of course, Honda didn't make ABS or side airbags standard (or even available (ABS) on the LX). Honda should be ashamed that Hyundai put side airbags standard on its very competitive Elantra but Honda does not.
no, it wasn't my fault but the car was great. never drove the same after it was fixed, so got rid of it, but i appreciate how it was built!
The impact caused her roof to buckle, it shattered the rear passenger glass, knocked the passenger front wheel off, and even knocked some interior trim loose in her car. The SI held up remarkably well. Both doors still opened, the glass didn't shatter, and there were no intrusions into the passenger compartment.
Needless to say her insurance company ended up paying me $19,300 and I went and bought another 02 Si for $16,400. Regardless, the Si protected me in what could have been a much nastier accident whether I had side airbags or not.
To effect this absorption of energy does not mean the nonframe parts should suffer damage from small animals on the road to a great extent.
A racoon should not do great damage to weakly hung, weakly designed lower parts... A racoon is not another 3000-4000 lb automobile.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
I know my experience in my 02 SI made me go buy another 02 SI after it was totalled. There was NOTHING overrated about the 5-star crash test rating the SI received. I have seen lesser cars hurt worse from alot less. Now that we have a little one on the way we have chosen a 2004 Accord EX-L and a 03 Si to do the baby-hauling duties.
Interestingly, even with my 50+ MPH smash the only part damaged underneath the car (besides the engine bay) was the exhaust pipe. The crumple zones did their job as both doors still opened and there was NO intrustion into the passenger compartment.
Instead, run a credit check on yourself and find out your FICO score at a place like freecreditropoert.com. If you know what your FICO score is you'll have a better idea as to what rates you can qualify for. If your FICO scor is below the high 600's or so, the lowest rates are not a cinch (except maybe with DC or Ford).
BTW, if you don't know what a FICO score is, you need some more education before you go buying cars or houses again.
LEARN THROUGH EXPERIENCE
Best bet : Purchase the whole thing with a bunch of cash
that cost less by 1500.00 do you all think the hondas the way to go even with its shorter powertrain the honda is also smaller interior size. but i have read so much about reliabilty.
any help would be great. thanks
Called up a manager and got this reply "Oh yes, a mid 700 could lock into a 2.9% financing, yes definitely, come in, come in tomorrow and I will sit down and discuss with you..." And after everythings' signed, got this answer "Oh sorry you still need 20 points more in order to lock into a 2.9%, we could give you a 8.9%..."
LEARN THROUGH EXPERIENCE
Best bet : Purchase the whole thing with a bunch of cash [/I]
Or as an alternative, get financing prior to going to the dealerhsip. If they see someone who came un prepared they will try and stuff the loan. But if you come to buy a car and already have pre-approved financing from your credit union or another bank, they will most definately try to beat it.
Prime example, my girlfriend has terrible credit (she had a bancrupcy). She got a loan from her credit uinon before we went to Ford. Once we finished negotiating the price and were told to go to F&I office, we told the sales man we didn;t need to as we already had the money. He insisted that "his" F&I guy will beat anyone out there. And long behold, she qualified for 0% from Ford. I doubt F&I guy would have qualified her had she not have her own financing lined up.
Assuming the two cars are comparably equipped, other things to consider are that the Civic has better fuel economy; the Elantra has more power (138 hp vs. 115); both cars have "Above Average" predicted reliability by Consumer Reports; both cars did well in the NHTSA crash tests but the Civic did much better than the Elantra ('01 model) in the IIHS frontal offset crash test (note that the '04 Elantra has some changes and is being retested this year by both the NHTSA and IIHS); the Civic has historically had higher resale value than the Elantra (which can more than make up for the $1500 initial difference over time, unless you plan on running the car into the ground); and the Elantra has a much longer warranty. Also be sure to check on insurance rates as in some locations the Elantra seems to have fairly high rates for a compact.
If it were me, for a $1500 difference I would buy the car that I liked better. I think both are very good cars, and the Civic's resale value should overcome the price difference in the long run.
i got a great deal and look forward to my first civic.
any recomondations on test driving it when i pick it up to make sure its good?
anything special to listen for off the lot?
i just recalled they had the wrong tax
your good advice will help me.
the dealer is not the one i will use for warranty or service work. i will use a local dealer.
My 1997 Chevy Lumina, 2001 Pontiac Firebird, and 2003 Honda Civic LX Sedan all make that noise when you turn on the heater. The noise usually subsides after you drive 2-3 city blocks, so I never thought that the sound was a problem.
Tony
Try visiting more modifications oriented websites. A good place to start adding power to a Civic is Nitrous. For $600 you can dial in another 50-100 hp, but only for a few seconds up to a minute on a bottle. Next step would be forced induction, either a turbo or supercharger. There are two camps, the turbo people would say that turbos are the way to go, supercharger people say that superchargers are the way to go. Both will agree that those sump pumps sold on ebay as electric superchargers are junk and will hurt your engine when the blades on the impeller brake off and are sucked into your engine.
If you are all "au naturelle" you can swap the 1.4 liter for a more potent 2.2 Liter from a prelude.
Good luck
If the local Mazda dealers weren't so lousy, I probably would've gotten a leftover 03 Protege for thousands less than the Corolla or the Civic goes for.
If you are going for auto, then it is a wash. It will basically come down to "who can give you better deal" Don't be affraid to pit one dealer against another. Right now Honda has 2.9% or 3.9% financing available. Last year this time it was 1.9%. Toyota had 0% financing for a while, but I am not sure what they have now.
Corolla S still has the same engine as the regular corolla, Civic EX has a different engine from the other trims. Corolla S is just a decorative package.
I had a Corolla rental when my Civic was in the body shop. It was an auto and the basic version with crank windows. It is a very roomy vehicle, has some pep, and I am sure one with manual would be fun to drive. But, it squatted alot in turns, and when braking.
Drive both side by side and then if still not sure, get one that gives you the best bang for the buck.
The Toyota shifter is still better than the shifter in the WRX though....yuck, that one needs to go back to the J-car parts bin where it belongs.
Jaa37 - did you get that $16,100 figure in writing on a buyer's order? I smell a lowball.
If you don't know what a lowball is it's basically where a dealer makes you think that he is offering you a Civic for $16,100 when he figures that you will simply shop his number around to other dealers. You then do so only to have other dealers say no way (which it appears has happened to you). You then return to the original dealer only to find that the $16,100 figure was only good for that day or something like "oh you meant on an automatic model...well those are more $$". You get the idea.
Basically the lowballing dealer has no intention of selling you the car for $16,100, he's just trying to either get rid of you or get you to come back in a state of exhaustion where you will agree to a "renegotiated" deal which may or may not be any good.
I'm not saying that is for sure what is going on in your case, just that I would be suspicious.
I have a question. How long were you negotiating / interacting with the dealer that said $16,100?
Please, let us know how it goes.
The only car that I had that did not make the gurgling noise was a second hand 1987 Volvo 240 that I drove in my college years. Other than that, all of the cars that I drove had that gurgling sound. It almost sounds as if someone's eaten something bad and their intestines are bubbling with gas... "bluuub blub buuub zoop." Something like that.
Happy New Year everyone! ^_^
-- unless they had air trapped in the heater core after an antifreeze change.
Sounds like a problem that's being called normal! I guess that's cheaper than fixing the design flaw???... as long as people will accept it. LOL
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
Happy New Year!