So, what other vehicles did you look at before buying?

[Bob-blehead]

Interested in what other vehicles you looked at before buying your Civic. What did you like / dislike about the other cars you were considering? What swayed your decision to buy?

I test drove a Chevrolet Sonic, Cruze, and Malibu. Also drove a Hyundai Accent, Sonata, and Elantra Touring. Would like to have driven the Elantra sedan. Also drove a Jeep Patriot, a Dodge Caliber, a Ford Focus, and a Fiesta. Was not interested in anything Toyota (given my wife's dissatisfaction with her Venza). Probably should have driven the Kia offerings, but didn't get that far the day we bought our Civics.

Of what I drove, the Sonic, the Accent, the Patriot, and the Caliber were the closest contenders, for various reasons. All were hatchbacks. The Sonic and Accent drove the best, but the Patriot had the best ride, and was the quietest. Turns out that the Patriot and Caliber are plagued with leak issues, so it was a good thing we did not buy either of those.

Then we drove an Accord. We were instantly impressed. Far and above anything we had driven. Then came the Civic, which we were looking at for the boys. Even more impressed. Decided on the Civics because we felt the seats were better, lower price than the Accord, yet more features for the price point we were looking at. The real problem was deciding on trim levels and colors. EX-L for me, and EX for the boys (really wanted the 60/40 rear seat).

Will be fun to drive some more vehicles next spring when my wife's Venza comes off of lease. The CR-V will get a good look, but the Subaru Forester, Legacy, and Outback will get a good look too. Can't wait for the Detroit Auto Show again. Love going there!

 

[PistolPete]

I was looking for a car that was fun enough and offered a good value and decent gas mileage. The Civic SI won out based on price basically. It offered more than the other cars I was looking at at the least price. The main cars I was considering was a V6 Mustang, Mini Cooper S, and a Subaru BRZ. The Mustang and BRZ got too expensive when I got the packages I wanted, so it came down to the Mini and the Civic. The Civic was nice enough and a couple grand cheaper, which ended up putting it at the front.

I'm very happy with the Civic, it's fun enough (now that I've swapped out the rear sway bar), gets good gas mileage and is overall very nice. And I can even pull my jet ski when I don't feel like using my truck!

 

[rain91]

Wanted to look at the mazda speed 3. Maybe i can just test drive one out just for shits and giggles ~. Tested out a Frontier about a year ago, loved it, wished we coulda got it for 24k

 

[Chris Shawn]

I had a mazdaspeed 3 before buying my Honda. I test drove the Hyundai veloster, a Jetta, and pretty much every other car out there except ford lol. I absolutely love my Honda.