Delivery On New Honda Civic

[jackcorbett]

I ordered a new Honda Civic nearly a month ago and put down a deposit. I was told there is definitely a black one coming in June. It's now June 28 and there's only two days left.

Broke my clavicle test driving a 250 CBR motorcycle and that's what finally convinced me to get a car. There were four cars I was considering when I booked the Civic....the Honda City, the Civic, the Mazda 2 and the Ford Fiesta. Was really liking what I was reading about the Fiesta in the car magazines and liked what I saw at Big C when they had a small auto show there. The flow of cars into the Honda dealership seems to be a mere dribble due to the problems in Japan. We have a new manager at our condo now. She's been waiting a long time for a new Accord and she's telling me that she thinks I'll be waiting for several more months for the Civic to come in---equipped as it is and in black. She might be right, then again she might be wrong.

My thinking is to wait until the end of the month to see if the Civic has arrived as promised. If not......I'm thinking of going to the dealership where i'll politely explain that I was promised a car in June, that I've broken my clavicle and need a car now, not later, as I do not wish to reinjure myself and that I will want my deposit returned. After that my latest thoughts are to go straight to Ford and get a new Fiesta. There are a number in stock and even if I prefer another color it would take only several days to get one from the factory in Rayong. I'd save well over 100,000 baht--albeit I'd be getting a different class of car, the Fiesta being smaller than the Civic. However...the car seems to be at the top of the curve technology wise. So what are everyone's thoughts about the incoming supply of cars from HOnda? Is it realistic to expect that the car I've ordered could well take a couple more months to arrive?

Edited June 28, 2011 by jackcorbett

[MoonRiverOasis]

Latest offical status report form Honda TH is that they are still currently at around 50% production capacity, will be able to increase that to 80% production capacity sometime in July, and back to 100% capacity in September.

However, it would appear their priority is the Brio, whose launch in March was practically scuttled by the parts supply crisis, and is top positioned to become their volume seller.

I think it's clear your dealer is telling you porkies - there's no way when you ordered that they would have been able to deliver this month, unless thay had an March/April order that had been cancelled. My suggestion is to get onto Honda head office and get the status of your order from the source.

[katabeachbum]

Latest offical status report form Honda TH is that they are still currently at around 50% production capacity, will be able to increase that to 80% production capacity sometime in July, and back to 100% capacity in September.

However, it would appear their priority is the Brio, whose launch in March was practically scuttled by the parts supply crisis, and is top positioned to become their volume seller.

I think it's clear your dealer is telling you porkies - there's no way when you ordered that they would have been able to deliver this month, unless thay had an March/April order that had been cancelled. My suggestion is to get onto Honda head office and get the status of your order from the source.

agreed

only way to get a Civic in less than 3 months, is an already ordered unit canselled by buyer

[Kwasaki]

From your two replies I would be asking:- Can I get my deposit back ?.

Hope you get well soon, how'd it happen ?.

Cal Crutchlow did the same thing and was back riding a bike in two weeks.

Rode a CBR250 the other day in the wet it seems good.

Edited June 28, 2011 by Kwasaki

[John 1]

I don't know what you paid in deposit but if it was the norm of 5,000bt, maybe if they don't refund it's not a big loss then go order a Fiesta they look nice and a big saving from a Civic price wise.

[jackcorbett]

I don't know what you paid in deposit but if it was the norm of 5,000bt, maybe if they don't refund it's not a big loss then go order a Fiesta they look nice and a big saving from a Civic price wise.

Since my opening post I've done more reading. That Six speed automatic in the Ford Fiesta looks like the berries. Basic setup is used in Porsche and BMW's but now I'm reading a lot of negative reports about its reliability. These date a few months ago however. Some of the reports state that earlier releases didn't have enough voltage to get reliable shifts. The solution appears to have been to increase the electrical power. In a quandary on this one as an automatic that gets even better fuel economy than the manual would seem to put the Fiesta into a commanding position vs the competition.

Reading some really good stuff on the Mazda 3 but from what I've seen so far, they are expensive. I've had great experiences with Mazdas. Neighbor of mine got a beautiful little Mazda 2 at a great price. He'd only have manual and from what I've read the 2 performs well with a manual but is doggy with the auto as the car only has 100 h.p. In city traffic (I live in Pattaya) even though nearly all cars and trucks I've owned have been manual this could be a big concern, even though the 2 probably has one of the smoothest most fun to drive manuals in the business. Again...really like the looks and high tech of the Fiesta, and the price but the negative reliability reports are a downer.

Agreed about the long wait coming up for the Civic.

[MoonRiverOasis]

I don't know what you paid in deposit but if it was the norm of 5,000bt, maybe if they don't refund it's not a big loss then go order a Fiesta they look nice and a big saving from a Civic price wise.

Since my opening post I've done more reading. That Six speed automatic in the Ford Fiesta looks like the berries. Basic setup is used in Porsche and BMW's but now I'm reading a lot of negative reports about its reliability. These date a few months ago however. Some of the reports state that earlier releases didn't have enough voltage to get reliable shifts. The solution appears to have been to increase the electrical power. In a quandary on this one as an automatic that gets even better fuel economy than the manual would seem to put the Fiesta into a commanding position vs the competition.

Reading some really good stuff on the Mazda 3 but from what I've seen so far, they are expensive. I've had great experiences with Mazdas. Neighbor of mine got a beautiful little Mazda 2 at a great price. He'd only have manual and from what I've read the 2 performs well with a manual but is doggy with the auto as the car only has 100 h.p. In city traffic (I live in Pattaya) even though nearly all cars and trucks I've owned have been manual this could be a big concern, even though the 2 probably has one of the smoothest most fun to drive manuals in the business. Again...really like the looks and high tech of the Fiesta, and the price but the negative reliability reports are a downer.

Agreed about the long wait coming up for the Civic.

Thailand was the first market in the world to get the DSG (powershift) Fiesta, so teething issues were bound to surface here first. Things like that are not terribly uncommon with all-new models - it's just that Thailand rarely ever gets the chance to be the first market for a new model (unless it's a pickup)..So long as it was just a matter fo a tweak to rectify, I wouldn't worry too much about the core engineering.

Ad for the "new" Mazda3 (in quotation fingers, because it's been out for almost 2 years elsewhere), I personally found it to be somewhat of a let-down. Prices are pretty much unchanged from the 7-year old outgoing model, but so is the NVH and the chassis dynamics. To me is simply feels like the old car in a new skin - I expected more, considering it was never really as quiet or as refined as it should have been..

[threedot]

If this means anything, I wanted to buy a Honda City from Chiang Mai on Hang Dong road 2 weeks ago, I was told 5 months wait. I asked about the Civic and was told it would be a similar wait. Fiesta is a good car but it's much more compact than a civic. Have you looked at the Chevrolet Cruze or the Focus which are both available immediately for roughly the same as the Civic?

[MoonRiverOasis]

If this means anything, I wanted to buy a Honda City from Chiang Mai on Hang Dong road 2 weeks ago, I was told 5 months wait. I asked about the Civic and was told it would be a similar wait. Fiesta is a good car but it's much more compact than a civic. Have you looked at the Chevrolet Cruze or the Focus which are both available immediately for roughly the same as the Civic?

Sounds about right..

Focus is nice but nearing end of life (as is the Civic), Cruze is nicer than I'd like to admit (not a GM TH fan), and Lancer EX is also good availability, E85 compat (22 Baht/litre), and strong promotions.

Segment leader Altis suffers from same availability problems as Civic.

Edited June 28, 2011 by MoonRiverOasis

[threedot]

Lancer EX GT is a fantastic car but over 1m baht from memory, which opens up a lot of other options. I am in a similar position of wanting a medium sized saloon. Cruze LT would be my pick if I could afford the depreciation and wanted one ASAP. I'm excited by the new Focus but sounds like it will be over 6 months away?

[jackcorbett]

If this means anything, I wanted to buy a Honda City from Chiang Mai on Hang Dong road 2 weeks ago, I was told 5 months wait. I asked about the Civic and was told it would be a similar wait. Fiesta is a good car but it's much more compact than a civic. Have you looked at the Chevrolet Cruze or the Focus which are both available immediately for roughly the same as the Civic?

I've heard a lot of good things about the Focus, but I rented one last year from Hertz in my once a year visit back to the U.S. First off the key did not want to slip into the ignition. Bad fit. Then when I'd be driving down the highway the power down locks would keep switching up and down. Finally I parked the rental at a Best Buy, went inside for a few minutes then went back to the car. Got in the door only to find out there was no way to get the ignition switch to bulge. Couldn't unlock the wheel. EVen went back inside Best Buy to corral the manager just to see if someone else might have the golden touch. He couldn't do any better than I could do. so I called up Hertz. Guy knew just what to do. One had to force the steering wheel to get the front wheels perfectly straight and then and only then could you get the car started. Must have had a real lemon so I took the Focus back and got a red Cobalt which my nephew and I drove 1800 miles from St. Louis to Prescott, AZ without incident. So I got a bad taste in my mouth towards the focus.

[MoonRiverOasis]

Lancer EX GT is a fantastic car but over 1m baht from memory, which opens up a lot of other options. I am in a similar position of wanting a medium sized saloon. Cruze LT would be my pick if I could afford the depreciation and wanted one ASAP. I'm excited by the new Focus but sounds like it will be over 6 months away?

The 1.8L starts at 800K, but it's the 1.8L GLs-Ltd that's probably the best overall buy. The 2.0GT is not an FFV (no E85 compat), so loses out on the cheap fuel advantage:

http://www.mitsubishi-motors.co.th/en/model-lineup/lancer-ex/price.php

New Focus is scheduled for it's Thai launch in March 2012. It's a little bigger and softer than the current model, so if you like the Focus becuase of the way it feels behind the wheel, you'll probably prefer the current model.

[MoonRiverOasis]

If this means anything, I wanted to buy a Honda City from Chiang Mai on Hang Dong road 2 weeks ago, I was told 5 months wait. I asked about the Civic and was told it would be a similar wait. Fiesta is a good car but it's much more compact than a civic. Have you looked at the Chevrolet Cruze or the Focus which are both available immediately for roughly the same as the Civic?

I've heard a lot of good things about the Focus, but I rented one last year from Hertz in my once a year visit back to the U.S. First off the key did not want to slip into the ignition. Bad fit. Then when I'd be driving down the highway the power down locks would keep switching up and down. Finally I parked the rental at a Best Buy, went inside for a few minutes then went back to the car. Got in the door only to find out there was no way to get the ignition switch to bulge. Couldn't unlock the wheel. EVen went back inside Best Buy to corral the manager just to see if someone else might have the golden touch. He couldn't do any better than I could do. so I called up Hertz. Guy knew just what to do. One had to force the steering wheel to get the front wheels perfectly straight and then and only then could you get the car started. Must have had a real lemon so I took the Focus back and got a red Cobalt which my nephew and I drove 1800 miles from St. Louis to Prescott, AZ without incident. So I got a bad taste in my mouth towards the focus.

Always hard to judge a car based on a thrashed renter - how many miles on the one you hired?

[seriouseats]

Dont waste your time waiting for a honda with 10year old technology for extras.. As everyone said. Focus and Cruze are 2 solid cars with solid extras. Both will be tunable for more HP once you find it slow. Both have class and will make you have a different car than the mass without resorting to 'ricing it up' or douchebagging it up.

I personally can't wait to get out of my almost new honda with the same features i had in my 1989 jeep(but much much less HP) for a real 2011 car.

Too bad they dont have hyundai here.. new 1.8l turbo GDI elantra coming out soon.. Looks fantastic and shouldnt cost much more than a cruze

Edited June 28, 2011 by seriouseats

[jackcorbett]

Always hard to judge a car based on a thrashed renter - how many miles on the one you hired?

Definitely true about most motorbike rentals I've seen. I can't recall how many miles it had on it but I don't think it had many. The Cobalt had around 20,000 if I recall.

I did have pretty good luck with the two Ford pickup trucks I bought and used at the farm. The new Focus does look good. But that's down the pike a bit.

[jackcorbett]

If this means anything, I wanted to buy a Honda City from Chiang Mai on Hang Dong road 2 weeks ago, I was told 5 months wait. I asked about the Civic and was told it would be a similar wait. Fiesta is a good car but it's much more compact than a civic. Have you looked at the Chevrolet Cruze or the Focus which are both available immediately for roughly the same as the Civic?

One day to go as to the Civic with tomorrow being the last day of June. Looks like a long wait. So today my gf and I took a taxi...first to Mazda, then to Ford and finally to Chevrolet. The Mazda 3 with leather interior on the showroom floor was a stunning car, but 1,060,000 baht? I then looked at the Mazda 2 next to it. Very nice. And definitely up to what I would expect a car to do for me. I've had two MX-5 Miatas in the U.S. so I can fully appreciate the superior handling of a Mazda 3 or two. But...the Mazda 2 is just 60 % of the price of the 3. We are talking something like $12,000 more. Problem here is I only like the sedans and the only Mazda 2 sedan that is available is white and it's a manual, which is what I'd have in the U.S., but this is Pattaya where the traffic can be real bad and I don't think the manual would be nearly as much fun here.

We went to Ford (I had gone there two days ago sans girlfriend). 702,000 baht out the door with registration and one year's free insurance (Honda makes you pay for that). There's two colors of blue, white, and black to choose from in stock and in three days I can get what appears to be a real nice gray color that's in stock in Rayong. Granted, the back seat might just fit my girlfriend if she's trying real hard. Not a lot of trunk space either. The car is narrow-----I'm sure that's one of the reasons this car no doubt gets terrific fuel economy. I'd be ready to put my money down on one day after tomorrow once the Honda Dealership tells me, "Give us another week to get you the car we promised you was coming in June" and I reply..."You most definitely said that black Civic is coming in June. Deal's off for non performance on your end." Meanwhile I've finally got my gf buying into Ford and then we head out to Chevrolet.

THe salesman knows me from Homepro where he used to work. The guy's on the ball. Was looking at the Aveo at the Big C auto show but didn't look at the Cruz while there. They've got a black Cruz with leather interior and diesel engine for 1.1 million and it looks like a million bucks. But there's also one with a 1.8 liter gas engine with a very nice cloth interior that looks significantly upscale from a Civic's cloth interior. Car has a lot of room. Pretty impressive and I could even put my pals Big Daddy and Big Mike in the rear seat plus a suitcase or two and scuba gear in the trunk. My girlfriend loved it. But what really matters is "Do I love it?" Looks like a great car for the US. where I'd be driving on a lot of expressways and superhighways. A nd it looks like more car than a Civic, just starting with the cloth interior. Civic looks cheap in comparison. But right off I'm thinking, Most of my driving will be in Pattaya or nearby and the Fiesta will be so much easier to park and so much easier to get around in and no doubt far more fun to drive in traffic.

I get back to the condo and read a few more road tests. I think the Fiesta is a far better all around choice for me as Big Daddy and Big Mike are still in the U.S. so it looks like most of the time it's going to be just me and my girlfriend so making the person in the back seat is going to be important only about 1 % of the time I'm using the car and the Fiesta still comes in at around 200,000 baht less. And what is the purpose of the car anyway? My Thai girlfriend can play one upmanship in the condo community here if we got the Cruz or Mazda 3 but I like a driver's car and the driving environment is Pattaya, maybe trips to the zoo in Siricha, trips to Rayong only this time I don't be breaking my clavicle because now I've got four wheels instead of two. Trips down Sukamvit will now be safer. See my gf's family in Korat once or twice a year. Trip to Chiang Mai perhaps or elsewhere in Thailand but here we aren't talking about all those 1000 mile non stop trips I was doing in the U.S. So it would seem the Fiesta matches my needs pretty well.

[sotsira]

Was just watching the BBC news and they reported that Honda was on the verge of recovering back

to normal production capacity and should be back to 100% in the last quarter this year.

So going by what they said i would think you would be lucky to get your car within the next 3 months.

[culicine]

For Pattaya and surrounds, and considering you want and auto, the fiesta would be the best choice if you don't care much for rear space. It beats the competition for fuel economy too, getting close to 17 km/l on the highway - best in class, (but similar to the jazz in the city). The 6 speed powershit is great too, and shifts as fast as the manual version which we don't get here.

For manual, the only real choices are the jazz (590K) or mazda 2 (535K - a real bargain and supposedly fun car to drive).

[Captain Haddock]

Ford Fiesta is 30 years old; Honda Civic is a shopping trolley about 40 years old: what's to debate?

[Captain Haddock]

P.S.

Sorry to hear about the OP's shoulder. I know that roads are hard, and cars are safer. Bikes are more fun, though...

[seriouseats]

Hummer H2..

Park on top of cars

No problemo if you put police highway sticker.

[phupaman]

Hi All.

I have had a new Ford fiesta since February 9, Drives really well no problems at all. been on a couple of long trips = Khonkaen to Pattaya ,economy really good and performance really good, Would recomend it no worries.

phupaman.

[jackcorbett]

Hi All.

I have had a new Ford fiesta since February 9, Drives really well no problems at all. been on a couple of long trips = Khonkaen to Pattaya ,economy really good and performance really good, Would recomend it no worries.

phupaman.

The Honda Civic came in today, and this is after our new condo manager took me to the Mazda dealership (her boyfriend works there) and I took a Mazda 3 out for a test drive. As I told my girlfriend....."If that Civic comes in I'm sure we are both going to like it." And I sure liked that Mazda 3 too, with its 2 liter engine, leather interior, etc. The one on the show room floor is just gorgeous but could i justify spending 1,060,000 baht for one? Anyway.....after getting back from the test drive I was out on my deck about ready to g o back to my laptop to do more reading up on the Mazda 3 when the salesgirl from Honda called. At that point the Fiesta was about number one with the much more expensive Mazda 3 moving up on my list.

So I guess it's the Honda Civic after all with its unarguable build quality but with yesterday's technology. Funny though....although I just got my first Thai driver's license for car two weeks ago, until now I had never driven a car with its steering wheel on the right side. On Sukamvit for that little test spin that wasn't nearly as hard as my hitting the windshield wiper stalk several times while attempting to engage the turn indicators. In the U.S. the turning indicator stalk is on the left side of the wheel where the windshield wiper stalk is on that Mazda. And even so, you pull the stalk up and the indicator light indicates I'm making a left turn. In the U.S. you have to pull it up for right turns.

[toffo9]

Hi All.

I have had a new Ford fiesta since February 9, Drives really well no problems at all. been on a couple of long trips = Khonkaen to Pattaya ,economy really good and performance really good, Would recomend it no worries.

phupaman.

The Honda Civic came in today, and this is after our new condo manager took me to the Mazda dealership (her boyfriend works there) and I took a Mazda 3 out for a test drive. As I told my girlfriend....."If that Civic comes in I'm sure we are both going to like it." And I sure liked that Mazda 3 too, with its 2 liter engine, leather interior, etc. The one on the show room floor is just gorgeous but could i justify spending 1,060,000 baht for one? Anyway.....after getting back from the test drive I was out on my deck about ready to g o back to my laptop to do more reading up on the Mazda 3 when the salesgirl from Honda called. At that point the Fiesta was about number one with the much more expensive Mazda 3 moving up on my list.

So I guess it's the Honda Civic after all with its unarguable build quality but with yesterday's technology. Funny though....although I just got my first Thai driver's license for car two weeks ago, until now I had never driven a car with its steering wheel on the right side. On Sukamvit for that little test spin that wasn't nearly as hard as my hitting the windshield wiper stalk several times while attempting to engage the turn indicators. In the U.S. the turning indicator stalk is on the left side of the wheel where the windshield wiper stalk is on that Mazda. And even so, you pull the stalk up and the indicator light indicates I'm making a left turn. In the U.S. you have to pull it up for right turns.

The civiv and fiesta sport where on my list.. I bought the fiesta looks way better

[Gary A]

If this means anything, I wanted to buy a Honda City from Chiang Mai on Hang Dong road 2 weeks ago, I was told 5 months wait. I asked about the Civic and was told it would be a similar wait. Fiesta is a good car but it's much more compact than a civic. Have you looked at the Chevrolet Cruze or the Focus which are both available immediately for roughly the same as the Civic?

I've heard a lot of good things about the Focus, but I rented one last year from Hertz in my once a year visit back to the U.S. First off the key did not want to slip into the ignition. Bad fit. Then when I'd be driving down the highway the power down locks would keep switching up and down. Finally I parked the rental at a Best Buy, went inside for a few minutes then went back to the car. Got in the door only to find out there was no way to get the ignition switch to bulge. Couldn't unlock the wheel. EVen went back inside Best Buy to corral the manager just to see if someone else might have the golden touch. He couldn't do any better than I could do. so I called up Hertz. Guy knew just what to do. One had to force the steering wheel to get the front wheels perfectly straight and then and only then could you get the car started. Must have had a real lemon so I took the Focus back and got a red Cobalt which my nephew and I drove 1800 miles from St. Louis to Prescott, AZ without incident. So I got a bad taste in my mouth towards the focus.

I think you'll find that the Focus available here in Thailand is not the same vehicle that is available in the US. They appear to totally different with the US model being a cheapie.