Team-BHP - Maruti SX4 or Honda Civic

hi everyone

first of all i would like to say that this is the best car forum i have found on the net. the information on it abt the indian car scene is simply awesome

now to my question..

i know i am trying to compare a C segment car with a D segment car but still i would like your views on my problem

i am planning to buy a new car and my max budget is around 10-11 laks. i have selected two cars ie Maruti SX4 and Honda Civic. now the two of them are ploes apart in price and category but still i am considering SX4 as it offers quite a lot of features that are available only in a D segment car.

my daily driving is around 60-70 kms and i mainly drive in congested areas. so i am confused between the civic and sx4 on the issue of ease of handling in congested areas and the fuel effiiency. i know my driving is not much but since its gonna be in a lot of traffic so if the fuel efficiency turns out to be quite low, it wont be feasible for me to drive the car daily.

i currently have honda city zx, maruti esteem and hyundai santro and they all give me above 10 FE in these conditions

so guyz please help.....

Its a no brainer Civic is miles ahead of SX4.
Although since you will driving in congested areas sx4 would suit you better between the two of them.
Since you will be driving 60-70 km daily why don't you consider buying a diesel car like Fiesta etc.

Why not try Optra Diesel.

It has excellent torque. Great safety features. Good Handling and above all great fuel efficiency/ status factor and all.

60/70 km in a day is lot of driving and I suggest you try out Octy/Optra Diesel.

Man, a comparo between the SX4 and the Civic. Hmmm.

While I love Suzuki cars, if I were planning to spend 11-12lakhs on a car, I dont think i would be even thinking of the SX4 - ICE controls on the wheel and bigger wheels be damned. I would think no further than the Civic. Not because its a costly car, but because its an awesome car for the money spent - no wonder you see scores of them on the street.

And yes, I would take it only in black (the pain of keeping it clean be damned) - that car is one hell of a looker in black.

OT: Dont know why, but I kind of have this gut feel that this is not a genuine "what car?" query. I might be wrong too.

I read your query more as a question regarding what segment car you could buy rather than a choice between SX4 and Civic.

If I read it wrong, can you say what attribute of the SX4 makes it appear to you that it is a competitor to the Civic?

well as i mentioned in my post the reason i choose sx4 for comparison with civic was that with sx4 we are geting a trusted brand(maruti), and features that are present only in the D segment cars.

now when it comes to comfort fi and finish.... we all can judge that by lookin at the segment itself. there would be a difference but then we have to compromise somewhere or the other. both cars have their +ve n -ve points.

dont know why since civic is my first love :) i am still inclining towards getting a sx4(strange)!!! i change cars at around 2 yrs interval and somehow after buying civic my family wont allow me to buy another for another 4-5 yrs!! on top of that from the 4lac that i will save by buying a sx4 i can mod it to my hearts content which wont be a possibility for me to do with civic.

another thing i have heard from 2 of my frnds who have civic is that if u drive it in real congested areas or at extreme high speeds, it wont give FE of above 8!!! if anyone can confirm it then im gettin sx4.

and mods i request you to please add a poll between sx4 and civic

Civic (just by virtue of it being a D segment car, as compared to C segment that SX4 belongs to) is a better car , period.

Whatever advantages you are thinking SX4 has over Civic is due to the fact that the SX4 belongs to a smaller segment (and hence dont count). So first finalize what category of a car you want to buy (or is it that you want help regarding choosing the category itself)..