[jesal]

civic auto all the way there is no doubt that. manual might be quiker but auto is the way to drive in the civic...

[csentil]

Originally Posted by iTNerd

Havin driven the good old zen, I am now planning to upgrade to a sedan.. After researching for quite some time (6-7 months), I decided to opt for the City ZX VTEC, after quite few drives with one my friend's new city. Completely bowled by its performance and trims and I was sure bent on finalizing on that... until Civic came on the horizon..after a test drive of Civic manual, the option for city just vanished... :(..

Now after deciding to pullin the extra 3-3.5 L for a civic MT ( not sure about my rational thought, but after a lot of thinking and consideration, it's civic), I am stuck up in another deliemma... Should I pulling heavy thousands again to opt for the automatic with the paddel shift F1 style.... This will stretch my budget though.. but heard lot about the paddle shift feature... just want to know if that extra thousands for AT is worth it? How does the Automatic match up with the manual in terms of driving pleasure and maintenance? I have never driven an automatic transmission vehicle...


Also, the honda guy offered 14.5% interest with 4% payback on a loan from ICICI of 7-8 Lakhs.. IF ANYONE OF YOU HAD BOUGHT A CIVIC RECENTLY, PLIZ HELP ME OUT WITH the choice between AT & MT variants.. and the finance plan undertaken....

Thanks

I will be driving the car in heavy traffic (Delhi-Gurgaon) up & down..

Can you please read my post on the Civic AT. I posted it on some thread. Can you please check it out. My boss is eating my head on some issue and I'll definitely reply to you or give you the thread link.

thanks for your patience.

[csentil]

The AT is a joy to drive in city conditions, especially in Bangalore traffic.

I've done 3 long distance runs with an average of almost 1000 kms each time and its absolutely fun to drive an automatic.

I like the way the car downshifts if I press the accelerator a little bit extra. Supposing I'm cruising on 70/80, and I want to pass someone in a hurry, i just need to push the pedal down a little bit harder, the car automatically goes from 5th to 4th or 3rd or 2nd and the rpm shoots up. The moment you relax your foot from the pedal it upshifts.

I've also used the sports (paddle) shifts. You need to get used to it. First of all, it does not upshift even if you hit the rev limiter. Unlike most automatics, it will stay in first untill you manually upshift. Next you don't have to bother to downshift. It automatically downshifts for you, in case you forget. This is a bit distracting at times, as you will tend to look at the display to find out which gear you are in. (yes, it displays the gear you are in when in sport mode).

I'm used to the paddle shift now and enjoy driving with it even in city traffic. Its faster than changing on a manual. On the highway, using the Drive mode, the gear change ratios are higher, so you could use the paddle shift to get to 5th quickly.

DO NOT GO TO ICICI. With other banks, check if they have partial prepayment facility. ICICI, Kotak, HDFC did not have it when i checked out. Check out Govt banks.

I took loan from SBI for 9.5%. This was in Jan. I think it's gone up now.
SBI has partial repayment only after 1 year and 2% penalty on preclosure amount if done within 1 and 1/2 yrs. Check their website. I paid .5% loan processing charge in SBI.

Corporation bank gave my friend a loan for 10% last month.
Corporation bank has 0% penalty for partial repayment and preclosure. You can do either of this anytime.

[iTNerd]

This loan thingy is a bit confusion.. I would like to go with public sector banks like SBI, Corporation etc.. but the requirements for strict documentation is bit too much.. from IT returns to gurantors.. all of which require time and effort running after babus... I started working last year and yet to file for IT returns.. so.. the only way out for me is to go with one of the greedy private banks.. ICICI don't seem to have a good affection here... What about HDFC? I have my saving account as well as credit card from them... but there is a pre-payment penalty of 4% on the principal amt.. and is valid only after 6 months loan period.... Have anyone of you went with HDFC? Would be helpful if you can through any advise on how to go about with this bank... thanks

[csentil]

Originally Posted by iTNerd

This loan thingy is a bit confusion.. I would like to go with public sector banks like SBI, Corporation etc.. but the requirements for strict documentation is bit too much.. from IT returns to gurantors.. all of which require time and effort running after babus... I started working last year and yet to file for IT returns.. so.. the only way out for me is to go with one of the greedy private banks.. ICICI don't seem to have a good affection here... What about HDFC? I have my saving account as well as credit card from them... but there is a pre-payment penalty of 4% on the principal amt.. and is valid only after 6 months loan period.... Have anyone of you went with HDFC? Would be helpful if you can through any advise on how to go about with this bank... thanks

Started working only last year and buying a Civic so soon. Cool man. Way to go. HDFC is pretty straightforward in their dealings. Its the same procedure. If you have a salary account in HDFC probably you can ask him to reduce the interest or the processing charges. Yes they do have a 4% pre payment penalty and their no partial prepayment also (when I spoke to them couple of months back). Their % rates are also high but they seem to have better service than ICICI.