I have been thinking about buying a new car for quite a while. For about the past year or so, it has been on my mind. I bought my Volkswagen GTI in October 2001, so it is about 7 1/2 years old. It has over 130,000 miles. I loved that car for about the first 100,000 miles. Then it started to fall apart. That seems to happen with Volkswagens. It happened with Nina's Beetle, and it happened with my GTI. VW's are really fun cars to own, until they start breaking. And the worst part is that every time I would take my GTI to the shop, it would cost me $1000. It didn't seem to matter what was wrong with it. It would always cost at least $1000. So I decided it was time to get a new car. And this time I would consider getting something other than a VW.
Today we were out and about, so I suggested that we go to the Honda dealer to test drive some Civics. We cruised over to Tempe Honda and met a nice salesman named James. He did a double take when I told him that I was trying to decide between a Civic SI and a Civic Hybrid. These are on two opposite ends of the Civic world. The SI is fast and sporty. The Hybrid is slow and thrifty. James flipped a coin, and the SI was first. Of course it was a blast to drive. Very quick, just like my GTI. But at the same time, very practical. It has 4 doors. It doesn't have a huge spoiler on the back. And it gets 30 mpg. Next I drove the Hybrid. I wanted to like this car, but I just couldn't get into it. The continuously varialble transmission felt really odd. It whined and moaned but never gave any power. I know, I know. It's a hybrid. It's not supposed to be fast. But I swear I floored it on the highway to pass a car, and it completely ignored me. When we got back to the dealership, we looked at prices. I could get a leftover 2008 SI for about $19,000, or I could get a 2009 Hybrid for about $24,000. It wasn't a hard decision. I picked the SI. And whadaya know, they convinced me to buy it on the spot. I got it for $1000 under invoice price, plus I got about $700 worth of free dealer installed accessories. Sweet.
So now I am the proud new owner of a Honda Civic SI. Tomorrow I have to say goodbye to my GTI. I will miss that car, but I think the Civic will give me many years of great driving. After all, it's a Honda.
Before
After
After
-Brian
4 comments:
I had a 1994 Honda Accord that lasted until 2006 (150,000 miles) and probably could have gone longer. Ryan has a 1998 Civic that is still (pretty much) going strong. They're great cars.
You are a consumer sucker. You bought a car on the spot. I THOUGHT I KNEW YOU!! You did not want to like the hybrid, admit it, ADMIT IT!! Now that you have a sporty Honda you cannot dump it as quick as a VW, I hope you are okay with that. You will have this car until you are 50.
P.S. Can I drive it in April? hehehe
Congrats! My dad and lori both own Hondas and will never look back. My dad said he loves honda and will always own one...Great choice!
But Fonda ain't got a motor in the back of her Honda.
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