DanZilla

New Civic is a fantastic car. Definitely jealous of my girlfriends 2012 Civic

JonBoy

Have you talked to them all? Have you done the market research? I've owned Hondas most of my life (plus a Ford and VW and Acura in the mix, as well) and daily drove my S2000 for years so I don't mind a stiff suspension at all. However, on the Civic, I definitely would prefer a softer suspension. I'll bet I'm not the only one, especially in areas where roads have lots of frost heaves (ie, northern states or Canada)...

A 2

Cars.com disagrees with CR, recommends 2012 Civic

JonBoy

In the end, sales are what will determine how good the Civic is. Right now, they're selling every one they can get and Honda will actually relaunch the car this fall since the tsunami absolutely trashed their deliveries after the initial launch. If it sells well, I don't think they'll care what CR says and, in fact, it may reflect poorly on CR. If it sells poorly, hopefully Honda takes a better look at their product lineup and makes some improvements that we (enthusiasts) will appreciate.

Still, the enthusiast market is pretty small. I ain't holding my breath!

A 2

Honda has bigger problems. The 2012 Civic is only a tiny part of it.

Their spirit of innovation appears to have been lost. I've always said that Toyota is a process driven company whereas Honda is innovation driven. 2012 Civic appears to be a process designed product. It matches focus group expectations and is a fairly competent car but not exceptional in any case.

I see no innovation of late from them. The FCX Clarity aside, no new Honda has set the bar since 2008.

Perhaps they are at a point like Mazda was before they set BMW as their benchmark and turned things around OR they'll probably go the Toyota way - make their shareholders happy, but lose the passion the brand has established.

WolfpackS2k

My friend's 2001 Civic lasted 114,000 (softly driven) miles before the automatic transmission completely sh*t the bed. Top notch reliability my ass. If I recall correctly Honda automatic transmissions from the early '00s are absolute trash. Another friend of mine (a co-worker) is having transmission problems with his Pilot (that has 60k miles). He told me he also had transmission problems with his previous Pilot (which had me wondering why he got another Pilot - I'm sure it had something to do with his wife liking it). What I'm trying to say is that Honda's reliability and built quality isn't what it once was. I'd put up my 1992 Integra GS-R against anything Honda has produced in the last 10 years (for reliabilty). They don't make them like they used to.

I've started seeing more of the new Civics on the road these days and I can't help but grimace every time I see one. From the rear quarter panel view it reminds me of the first generation Prius. From the rear it looks like a Camry. And from every other angle it looks like a chunkier and less attractive 8th generation Civic. I haven't driven one (absolutely no reason to) but aesthetically it's a big turnoff for me.

Finally I'd like to commend JonBoy for continually defending the Civic.

A 2

while somewhat impassioned, for a large part he makes valid points

JonBoy

I'd like to think it's not so much defending it (I dislike some aspects of it as well) but rather balancing the opinions presented. I'm still waiting on a cheque from Honda for all my hard work, though....

Chris S

I usually respect your opinion, but gotta admit you come off as hitting the Honda Kool Aid awfully hard on this topic. Are they now resorting to paying fanbois to defend them in car forums?

JonBoy

I'm probably one of the few that's actually been in the new Civic as opposed to reading a few (if any) comparos online or in a magazine...