After months of debating whether to go for a pre-worshiped or a new car, the heart finally won over the mind and came home a 2012 Honda Civic V-AT (with sunroof).
What follows is a lengthy prelude to the happenings of December 18, 2016 and some photos which I can't seem to rotate.
I wanted to get a car ever since I moved to Mumbai for my first job. I had a car in college and life without a car in Mumbai was just not "right". I wish I could pen it down in a more elaborate manner, but that just is it. Life without a car is not "right". Things don't add up and the gaping void is hard to live with.
Hence the search started and I soon zeroed down on a new Polo GT-Tsi. A test drive on the Bandra-Worli Sea Link was enough to convince me to put down the booking amount. Excited as I was, I decided to take another test drive a couple of days later and this is where the initial euphoria started to fade away. I loved the engine and the gearbox combo. I still love it. But everything else about the car was extremely average. What made matters worse was that VW was silently removing goodies from the Polo (If I remember correctly the soft padding on the side armrests had been removed recently). In essence I was coughing up north of 10 lakhs for a Polo and I was expecting more than just the engine and the gearbox. I may be nitpicking here, but as they say, everything happens for a reason.
So moving on from the VW showroom, I happened to land at the Skoda showroom (The VW and Skoda showrooms are literally adjacent to each other in Prabhadevi). I decided to give the Rapid a try and once again the DSG with the 1.5 diesel made a compelling case for itself. The only thing holding me back was my personal experience of the horrid Skoda after sales services. A couple of my colleagues have the Rapid and every second month there is something new which goes wrong with the car and somehow the car always comes back with more issues from the dealership. But then again, the discounts towards the end of 2016 were very tempting and worth the time.
This is when I decided to check out the used car market. For the same amount of money, I had a plethora of options to choose from. You name it and it is available. Some very tempting options as well. A BMW 525i was available for around 8 Lakhs. Fortunately sense prevailed and I reluctantly moved on to other less bankrupting cars.
This is when I decided to check out Civics. I have always loved the Civic. Even today it looks absolutely smashing, both inside and out. After searching for a bit, I glanced upon a single owner 2011 Civic V-AT with sunroof done 30,000 Kms. Was being sold by the owner for 5.3 lakhs. The asking price was good and I could easily negotiate the price down to below 5 lakhs. With a lot of excitement I decided to go and check out the car. However the excitement was short lived. The car was covered under a layer of dust. Upon inquiry got to know that the car has not moved for the past 3 months. And upon further inspection, lo and behold it is an accidental car. I was extremely saddened and disappointed. However, this incident soon became hilarious. I questioned the owner as to the nature of the accident and his words were "this is no accident, the car merely climbed over the divider". Merely climbed the divider!. That was it for me. Exchanged greetings and left.
As luck would have it, the very next day I came across an add on carwale for the Civic that I ended up buying. It was a bit creepy that this had also done 30,000 Kms and was in the same spec (V-AT with sunroof) as the aforementioned Civic. As intriguing as it was, I decided to take a closer look. The add was posted by a dealer and the asking price was 6.9 Lakhs. The original asking price was a bit high, but then again there is always room for negotiation.
I paid the dealer a visit and took a test drive of the car. It genuinely felt good. The interiors were well looked after, the exteriors were in very decent shape. No dents or scratches. The sunroof was working fine and the engine seemed healthy. This was it. Only deterrent was the asking price.
After a lot of negotiations, the dealer finally came down to 5.8 Lakhs. Was this too high? Certainly yes!. But I did not mind putting down the money if the car was approved by Honda.
So took the Civic to Arya Honda and got it examined. Got a go ahead by the dealership and the deal was done.
Have driven the Civic for over 1000 kms since I got her. She has been pampered a bit and the following items have been installed:
1. Head Unit - Pioneer 5890 BT;
2. Focal Component - ISS 165 in the front;
3. JBL Coaxial in the back - I am not aware of the model number;
4. JBL CSX-1400BP - 12 inch subwoofer in the boot; and
5. JBL GX-A646SI - 4 channel amplifier powering the components and the subwoofer.
Funny story about the audio installation. I have captured it in the Audio Installation thread, will cross-link it hear.
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/car-en...ml#post4120896
I also got 5000K 55W HID's fitted in the fogs and now plan to install projectors in the headlights. The search for a good installer in mumbai continues. Also got the engine oil changed to synthetic and topped up the coolant.
So in essence, the heart won over the brain. Was it a wise choice? Only time will tell.
In the interim, here are some photos (Apologies in advance, I am no photographer):
First look:
Looked good all round:
Interior seemed to be in good condition:
The sunroof was a major attraction. And yes I do use it regularly.
Being inspected at Honda:
It deserves to be pampered:
A parting shot:
Best,
Enigmatic