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Accord or Civic for Teen?
baseballmom97
Member Posts: 101
We are researching Hondas for my teenage son. It will be a family car and will eventually be used by his sister. We want a safe and reliable car so that is why we're focusing on Honda.
It looks like we can get a 1 or 2 year old basic Accord LX for about the same price as a new Civic. Another thing is that they would have about the same powertrain warranty since the Certified Preowned powertrain warranty is 7 years/100,000 vs. 5 years/100,000 on a new car.
Which would you choose for teen drivers? I know they are both supposed to be safe but the Accord "seems" safer just because of the size difference.
It looks like we can get a 1 or 2 year old basic Accord LX for about the same price as a new Civic. Another thing is that they would have about the same powertrain warranty since the Certified Preowned powertrain warranty is 7 years/100,000 vs. 5 years/100,000 on a new car.
Which would you choose for teen drivers? I know they are both supposed to be safe but the Accord "seems" safer just because of the size difference.
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The Civic is a better size for a young person to drive, but since you say this is going to be a family car, I'd go with the Accord. Also, the Accord comes standard with Stability Control in 2008-current models; the Civic has it standard only on the leather-equipped models which cost well over $20k. Stability control would've kept me out of that guardrail, although the Civic is still a very safe car, with "Good" ratings from the IIHS and 5-stars from the NHTSA tests, with standard side and head airbags and anti-lock brakes.
I doubt I helped, but maybe I added something to think about.
Corkscrew
Corkscrew
After looking at both new Civics and used Accords, we realized that it would be better to get a new Accord or Civic. The Accords really retain their value and for a difference of a $1000, it makes more sense to buy new with the warranty. We plan to keep the car at least 10 years and will pass it down for our 13 year old to drive in 3 years. Safety trumps cost for our family even though we are very cost-concious. I see so many kids driving older cars that probably don't have side airbags and that is important to us. I was involved in a bad highway accident this summer which totaled my Acadia and ever since then, safety features are at the forefront of my mind.
So now the choice is between the 2010 Civic or 2010 Accord. Here are the things we're considering:
1) Accords all have VSA (important since this will be required to be on all 2012 models sold in U.S.)
Civic only has VSA on EXL model....for that price, it makes more sense to get Accord plus there are hardly any EXLs available in my area.
2) Will 2011 Civics have VSA on all levels of trim? I can't find a definite answer on this...the salespeople don't seem to know. ;-)
3) Is Accord too big for a teen to drive? Is it too much of an older person's car? I see tons of kids driving older Accords but the current model seems a bit bigger.
4) Despite all the safety features, which car is truly safer in a crash? The smaller Civic or larger Accord?
As far as crash protection, my opinion has always been bigger is better. Both the Civic and Accord have the latest in crash protection, but if you crashed an Accord and Civic head on, which car would you rather be in? Just the weight alone would tell me the Civic will be traveling backwards when hit by the Accord. Crash a semi into a car, again which would you rather be in? Weight seems to win. OK, i'm not being very scientific using crash test data, just my opinion.
Mrbill
I'm guessing most teens would rather drive a Civic but I think it is more important what YOU want and how comfortable YOU feel. We've got some young Accord drivers around here who may be able to give you a better perspective.
I haven't seen a press release about the 2011 Civic so I don't know what to tell you about VSA. You get to decide how valuable it is for your son to drive a car with that feature.
Good luck and let us know what you decide.
Would suggest getting the slightly larger Accord. About 6 weeks after our marriage, the step-daughter (I hate that term) borowed my car (because hers had a flat tire) and drove it to school. At lunch time, she sneaked out to go to a fast food place and in a hurry to turn into the drive-in. She was hit head-on by another car. Totalled my car. But she walked away with nothing more than bruses. Younger drivers make mistakes when making decisions - its best to have an extra measure of safety around them. Accord, being larger, may end up with more dents in the doors, than a Civic but if the child can walk away from an accident - who cares about the dents?
Our 2002 CR-V at 95,000 miles just blew a relay and the air compressor blew. Honda wants $3,600 to repair it. So get an extended warranty - but search on this website for suggestions on how to get the lowest price for the extended coverage - prices vary widely (by about 40%) from dealer to dealer.
I like the standard Vehicle Stability Assist and we decided it was a must for safety. I can't believe it's not standard on all the Civic models. I feel this will be a good safe car for my kids to drive...wish it was more of the same size as the prior generation but that's okay.
Accordguy0325, just curious, what would you consider a "steal" on a 2010 Accord LX right now?
Actually Honda has been using plastic wheel covers for years. Not sure when they started, but my 88 had them. They never dented, and basically looked the same for the 20 years I had the car.
Mrbill
My '96 LX has them; they've just finally started to peel right around the edge; barely noticeable. Not bad for 215k miles and 15 years of automatic car washes.
That said, I absolutely hate the design on the 2008-current LX Accord, so I can let it slide.