CR disses the new Civic...

Saw on the news tonight that Consumer Reports has decided to withdraw it's "coveted" Recommended status from the 2012 Civic. After testing it against a few other small cars, they decided that the stopping distances were too long and the interior was a step BACKWARDS in it's fit and finish.

So far, I haven't driven the new Civic or the previous gen. Civic, but just looking at the pictures of the interior of the new car all I can say is "doesn't anyone at Honda ever look at the inside of any other car makers cars?" IF, IF, I was buying a car based on how the interior looked, the Civic would be at the BOTTOM of my list. NOT because of the strange two-tiered design, but because the new one looks like the old one....but made at a MUCH cheaper price. The instrument panel (at least in pictures I've seen) looks medium grey, while the radio sits in a dark/black panel. Shades of the '92-'95 Civic with it's grey instrument panel surround on the dashboard of blue, black, or tan.

I saw this on the news also.

My dad has a previous gen Civic (the first with the two-tiered dash) and despite my love for Civics (I had a 97, easily the best car I've owned, and wish I still had it) I just can't get into the newer ones. They just don't feel quite right.

Every morning as my Buick falls apart around me while I'm driving to work, I look at other cars and covet them. Old Civics are included, new ones are not. Of course I have dreams of putting a B18 in an old Civic hatchback...

The 8th gen Civic is my favorite one so far, plus they are great handling and driving cars---can't forget some great MPGs. I do have an Si so some of the stuff is a bit better, but it's a civic....what do you expect? Have you seen the interior of a cobalt? I'm not a fan of the 9th gen (newest generation) because they look like old Kia's but the 8th generation civic is an excellent car, especially the K20 powered one. I love them so much I want to buy another one for a dedicated track car.

I have no love for Civics once they switched to the McCrap suspension. However, I do like the drivetrain/economy of the current Civic Hybrids.

Sounds about right. The interior door panels on our Fit feel like cardboard wrapped in a t-shirt. As a 6' tall wheel-hugger, the knee smothering center section of the dash has been driving me insane. The hard plastic dash vs vinyl is also weird. I'm really unsure as to whether or not to use armorall on it, and wondering how it will wear 10 years from now.

That said, It handles phenomenally, gets good gas mileage, and will be worth AT LEAST twice what a kia whatevertheberkeley or daiwoo 'aveo' or malibu wagon, or whatever will be worth in the same 10 years. And, as a 100% jap car, the fit & finish is ALWAYS going to be better than a honda assembled in the u.s. I shake my head when sitting at a traffic light, looking at uneven body panel gaps on an obviously 'Made in the usa' civic.

I can't speak for the civic, but the Fit's controls are amazingly intuitive as well. So which cars fell in cr's recommended group for the class?

but it's a civic....what do you expect? Have you seen the interior of a cobalt?

A few years ago I bought my wife a Cobalt, and drive it occasionally. I drove my bosses wife's new Civic last year. I had expectations, and was looking forward to it. That Civic was awful in every way, and was one of the things that made me realize how good the wife's Cobalt really is. I like Honda cars, and I realize it was a 4 door appliance, but you couldn't pay me to drive that thing.

you couldn't pay me to drive a cobalt....unless it was a tubro ss. That and a wide shouldered polish friend of mine were in a rental cobalt and were shoulder to shoulder, ridiculous.

The handling in the new Si is amazing, whooopty do it doesn't have double wishbone, it still handles great, and I do pretty damn well with it out at the autoxes and track days.

I used to fend for GM and hate on Honda, but after two stints of working on their cars vs. the four years I worked at Honda, Honda def has the better built vehicles. Things don't break when you take them apart, things go back together as the should, and you don't have 18 control modules to trace one wire issue back too.

The issue is sitting on my kitchen table, I will have to read it. But the headline on the cover is singing praise for the new Focus.

Edit-I tried to read the article, but it only illustrated that I'm glad it's not my money paying for the subscription

I have a hard time believing people put faith into the same guys that test washing machines. I mean heck, they test cars like washing machines. Cars with more cupholders score better, and they really don't like most of the cars we like.

I stopped ready CR when they took the "automatic recommendations" from Toyota. It was at that point that I realized that they are more biased than any self-proclaimed consumer advocate should be.

Zomby woof wrote:

but it's a civic....what do you expect? Have you seen the interior of a cobalt?

A few years ago I bought my wife a Cobalt, and drive it occasionally. I drove my bosses wife's new Civic last year. I had expectations, and was looking forward to it. That Civic was awful in every way, and was one of the things that made me realize how good the wife's Cobalt really is. I like Honda cars, and I realize it was a 4 door appliance, but you couldn't pay me to drive that thing.

I'm with you. I really do not understand the hate for the Cobalt. Comparing my friends Cobalt (that used to be a Drivers Ed car) and my girlfriends Corolla (that used to be a rental car), the Cobalt wins hands down each time with one exception: The cheap plastic chrome and general plastic interior paint that they've used seems to be wearing off faster. Otherwise fit and finish is as good as or better. And it seems more comfortable to my body as well.

A used Cobalt is one of the cheap cars I tell people to buy. They are built pretty well, and are pretty reliable. They're also cheap enough that you can buy one, drive it for 3 years, and still be able to sell it for not a lot less than you paved. It is really nice to break even on a car after driving it for years.

If it weren't for Honda and Toyota, my friends auto repair business would go under.

I know very few ppl who rely on CR n e way.... we always had the impression it was the 'ppl who couldn't pound a nail type'... but if it works for you, OK.

Are we really arguing about Civics and Cobalts? NEW LOW FOR THE BOARD!!!!!

civic is going down hill in a hurry.... with things like the cruze and elantra and focus all being better now. honda needs to refocus and realize that they cant just slap an h on the car and its the best.

I think Honda gave up years ago on trying to make decent cars and decided that their strategy was to try to out-Toyota Toyota by building a better more boring line of appliance cars. I've not been impressed by any Honda since sometime in the 90's. They are just about 5 years behind Toyota at falling off my radar.

I shopped Honda because of my love for the 4th Gen Civic, but compared to the Koreans, they can't compete on anything but reputation and resale value.

92CelicaHalfTrac wrote: Are we really arguing about Civics and Cobalts? NEW LOW FOR THE BOARD!!!!!

You must have missed the thread where an Omni vs Rabbit thread veered off into a heated argument over which of the two was better looking.

Derick Freese wrote: I have a hard time believing people put faith into the same guys that test washing machines. I mean heck, they test cars like washing machines. Cars with more cupholders score better, and they really don't like most of the cars we like. I stopped ready CR when they took the "automatic recommendations" from Toyota. It was at that point that I realized that they are more biased than any self-proclaimed consumer advocate should be.

That argument is really tiring. They have an automotive department. If you look at their ratings, you'd see that they tend to love Porsches, Miatas, BMWs, etc. Their opinions are usually close to those of the big car enthusiast magazines.

MadScientistMatt wrote:

92CelicaHalfTrac wrote: Are we really arguing about Civics and Cobalts? NEW LOW FOR THE BOARD!!!!!

You must have missed the thread where an Omni vs Rabbit thread veered off into a heated argument over which of the two was better looking.

I have a hard time telling the difference in person, let alone on the internet.

A LOT of people who view a car as a means to an end and no more (change the oil, buy gas, ho hum), actually take the CR reports quite seriously. Not to be lightly dismissed at all. Then there are THOSE of us....

Otto Maddox wrote:

Derick Freese wrote: I have a hard time believing people put faith into the same guys that test washing machines. I mean heck, they test cars like washing machines. Cars with more cupholders score better, and they really don't like most of the cars we like. I stopped ready CR when they took the "automatic recommendations" from Toyota. It was at that point that I realized that they are more biased than any self-proclaimed consumer advocate should be.

That argument is really tiring. They have an automotive department. If you look at their ratings, you'd see that they tend to love Porsches, Miatas, BMWs, etc. Their opinions are usually close to those of the big car enthusiast magazines.

To provide the more relevant argument then, CR admitted that they stopped testing Toyota's for years and just gave them all an automatic Recommended rating. Based on that fact alone, I do not trust anything they have to say about any cars.

Why bother testing Toyotas when clearly, they are the best cars on the face of the planet?

Javelin wrote:

Otto Maddox wrote:

Derick Freese wrote: I have a hard time believing people put faith into the same guys that test washing machines. I mean heck, they test cars like washing machines. Cars with more cupholders score better, and they really don't like most of the cars we like. I stopped ready CR when they took the "automatic recommendations" from Toyota. It was at that point that I realized that they are more biased than any self-proclaimed consumer advocate should be.

That argument is really tiring. They have an automotive department. If you look at their ratings, you'd see that they tend to love Porsches, Miatas, BMWs, etc. Their opinions are usually close to those of the big car enthusiast magazines.

To provide the more relevant argument then, CR admitted that they stopped testing Toyota's for years and just gave them all an automatic Recommended rating. Based on that fact alone, I do not trust anything they have to say about any cars.

That is a bizarre claim. Can you back it up?

I know for a while for purposes of giving a recommendation they assumed if a prior model of a car was very reliable, the new model would be as well. This was true for all makes, not just Toyotas. But they still fully tested the new model before deciding if they should recommend it.

triumph5 wrote: A LOT of people who view a car as a means to an end and no more (change the oil, buy gas, ho hum), actually take the CR reports quite seriously. Not to be lightly dismissed at all. Then there are THOSE of us....

It's funny what some non-car people have to say about their cars. My wife's take on the Cobalt. "It's my favourite car ever. There is no parking spot I can't get into."