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The winner is...

 

2006 Honda Civic Coupe EX with Navigation ($20,010)

A Civic?  A Civic?  I know, you're thinking This is as far as you can go from small SUV, chump!  But, I have to say, after driving the RSX Type-S, I was intrigued by the two-door coupe, and began exploring other cars in this category and kept shooting them down:

• Pontiac Solstice:  sexy, not out to market yet
• Saturn Sky:  sexy, also not out to market
• Chevy Cobalt:  the remodeled Cavalier, I had mucho problems with Cavaliers in the past
• Ford Mustang:  a contender, until my brother left the dealership
• Toyota Solara:  good looking, but just a tad pricey for what is basically a Mustang

But, I like the look of this Civic.  This one really looks different than your mom's old Civic.  It's sporty, it's got a better engine (140 HP) than Civics of the recent past.  For the first time, Honda is offering this car with a GPS system on the high-end EX model; after testing out a car with GPS for the first time with a rental a month ago, I had decided I needed navigation in my next car.  The display in the EX is very cool, the trunk space is big for a coupe, and the back seat is big enough for my shorter friends or to stow small items...of course, at the end of the day, the car is going to only be toting me around 99% of the time, so cabin space for the driver was key and I love that space.  XM Radio (the satellite provider I already have a subscription with) comes standard in Honda vehicles now, and Hondas were the only cars with pedestrian models that had the aux jack I need to plug my iPod directly into the car's audio system.

It should be asked--why didn't I wait for the Si model?  The Si has about 50 more horsepower in its engine and it has a few more sport options; basically, it's the Honda version of the RSX Type S, which is odd since Honda and Acura are the same company.  The price has not been announced on the Si, but I am guessing that it will run about $2,000 more than the EX version that I bought...and that would have priced me out anyway.  The real reason I didn't want to wait for the Si?  Whereas I think my Civic (still #3 on the list of Most Stolen Vehicles for 2004) will get jacked eventually, the Si would be gone from my office parking garage 15 minutes after getting there.  Not to stereotype, but I had about a dozen scenarios of instances when street racing Asian syndicates would jack my car and re-engineer it within a day without blinking an eye.  That car is seriously hot, and I didn't want to sweat parking it somewhere like Target and seeing it disappear.  The salesmen at the dealership couldn't stop talking about how long the waiting list is for the Si right now.

I'm pretty happy with my selection so far.  It's got the perfect mix of spacious driver cabin, feature-heavy product, fun driving experience, and sensibility--it gets 40 MPG on the highway and 30 city.  I did consider buying both the hybrid Escape & the hybrid Civic, but in each case the hybrid is so much more expensive and I'm still not sure about wear & tear on a hybrid's battery; no one is really sure, I guess, since no one really knows about how they'll do in the long run.  But, to drop $7,000 more on the Escape hybrid didn't make any sense to me, and with such great gas performance on the car I bought, I feel I still made an ecosystem-friendly decision given the option of buying a gas-guzzling SUV.

I did haggle about $600 off the price of my car--I had to go to three dealerships to even find someone that had an EX with the nav system, they are so hot right now--despite the fact that there is a waiting list for the cars at many local dealerships.  In general, price negotiation on Hondas is very difficult since good salespeople know that they don't need to wiggle too much to sell their products; most people just want to have a product as reliable as a Honda sitting in their driveway anyway.  I worked hard to hose the dealership on the back end--taking financing through a credit union (4.75%) instead of through Honda (7.79%) and paying about half of the normal price for the extended warranty program because I had a hook-up with a friend of a friend that works in the finance department.  But, I had to basically pay sticker because the car is so popular right now.

Saturn, I'll miss you; damn, we had a great run together.  Sleep well with the fishes!

 

Random Bellviews, courtesy of Bell and Longer Community Trust:

• Paintball:  Opening Weekend

• Autumn:  $9.50 Show

• Beating G-Tech...to secure a spot in a pre-Christmas Day bowl:  Matinee

• Watching U2 take another large check to be Apple's advertising bitches, making The Black Eyed Peas look like discriminating shoppers:  Rental

• Umpiring softball games at night in November:  Hard Vice

 

justin@bellviewmovies.com