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-   -   Finally some Civic Sense. My 15k kms, CIVIC 1.8 S M/T. Named Valentino. (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-drives-initial-ownership-reports/104964-finally-some-civic-sense-my-15k-kms-civic-1-8-s-m-t-named-valentino.html)

My initial view on Hondas

I simply thought Honda's sucked. Jus cause of the way they handled. SCARY. That was what put me off in the first place. Making me an anti Honda fan. I used to abuse the hondas for this very reason. Why make a good car that cant handle. I just couldn't digest that single factor. But soon everything would change. and i would go in for the very same marque i ridiculed. STRANGE. How lhatred turned into love. love is blind. lol.

The Past

Having lived with the Ford a maintenance MONSTER for 6+ years, a loooooong time. A much need change was due. 2005 was when i bought my ikon. She was already 5years at that time had done 25k kms.
A good deal for an overall awesome car on paper. The drive factor of the car and its handling were drool material. This car cornered like it was on rails. Specially after the ES 100's. WOW. She worked wonders. Sadly ive been lazy enough not to put her on to the track but now after having sold her iam sure 1 track day and i would have changed my mind on my upcoming buy. I probably would have gone in for the fiesta S. Being used to the fords handling that would have been ideal. But the other issues were more overpowering. As time passed she became older and older and by the time i knew it the ikon was 11years old with as much spent on it as the original price i had bought the car for.

My Requirement

My main criteria was moving up a segment. Up to 1.8L or more. I was done with the 1.3 and 1.6's. My average use of the car is not a daily drive to office. I use the Public transport as it is a faster way of travel. So the car would only be for after hours, Drives etc. Economy didnt matter much since i have been used to the under 8 figures. I just wanted something rev happy and manual transmission. HANDLING is something i overlooked and now i realize my small blunder. But its ok considering the other factors of a Honda. Comfort, dynamics, reliability all took a back seat as i knew going up a segment that would be taken care of if it were a Jap(Japanese).

The search and cars tested

Skoda's (RS), Toyota's Corolla, Honda's Civic, 2.4 Type 2 Accord, City.

Skoda VRS
After already having a Mini VRS club in the KALTI.com group it, It felt only right to add to that club. But for Power was it really the right thing to do. To get a good VRS was insanely impossible since production stopped in 05' 06'. Cars available were in the range of 50k kms to 70k kms on the odo. And that wasnt fine with me. Id be keeping the car atleast for the next 5years. And knowing skoda's A.S.S and their stupendous pricing on spare parts iam sure it would be a nightmare if parts had to be replaced. Comfort isnt the best in the Vrs, infact for passengers at the back the seating is too upright. Its a good drivers car. but all the minus points put me off.

Toyota Corolla
Corolla was next in line. Good car. Good interior space. 1.8L engine. Toyota brand image. Reliability. BUT(again) ageing looks, interiors look dated. High GC make u feel a little airy at good speeds. Low end torque was a headache. Literally. Also out of production car means spare parts would go onto the more or less on the expensive side in the near future( not that much of concern). Cornering capabilities werent much to talk about either.

Accord 2.4 2004 - 2007

Too big. Later models though with less odo would go out of my budget. Would be more expensive on spares. Looked more executive class the type 3. Type 2 low odo reading car would have been hard to find.

The short Hunt

That led me to the HONDA. and particularly the CIVIC.

I started the hunt for a civic not so long ago. Infact i found my love almost instantly. The night i spoke to KSM-Vtec. ( BTW a big thank you to him for convincing me that the civic was the perfect car for me. ) that chalo its time to look out for a Honda now and particularly the civic. Its as if god said wait up boy ill make your shortly constructed dream a reality. and.....BOOM there she was sitting quietly in the classifieds. 08' under 40k comp insurance, cal 98xx....
I got up that morning (somewhere in the mid of June) opened the zigwheels classified section in the papers to pray that i would find a civic of my choice. By this little time i had already made decisions. I wanted a White Civic, under 30k, MANUAL, Single owner, Comp insurance, Full service history, Scratchless condition and individual buyer. Yup too much to ask. but i guess when its your hard earned money you'd buy the best and settle for nothing less.

So i came across a couple of civic classifieds took down their numbers and headed to work. On the way to work i called up all of them(3 in total) and decide to meet with them in the evening.
The first call went to(Valentino) the above mentioned classified. After getting a little more details on the phone i was really eager to see this one only because he said 12k kms.



1st Civic VALENTINO

This person who claimed it to be his brothers car was showing me the car saying that he wanted to sell the civic for a segment upgrade. A C-class, 3 or an A4. But a little into the conversation we realized that he actually is a dealer and not like what he had initially said. That obviously ment that there would be a big cut in the deal and the price would shoot up.
We met him near gabanna in bandra and he took us a few blocks down the road to where SHE was standing, in a building's open to sky parking.
The first sight wasnt love at first sight as i didnt really know what i had to look out for. The colour i was looking out for was WHITE. he did obviously mention over the phone the colour but i decided to go see it since it was a 08' and ONLY 12k kms.
We had to wait a little for the keys to come down.
Exteriors
In the little wait we took a quick round around Valentino to see any major damages or nicks etc. No tints on the car. All glasses mentioned 08'. front and rear Lights looks very good and clean. No scratches on them. She had a couple of bumper nick which were very negligible. A brush on the passenger side door. A little prominent. But i could live with that.

Interiors
The keys came. The dealer open the car, sat in and cranked the engine. At that very moment KSM said " *****" thats a Fantastic crank with his eyes popping out. " By the sound of the crank i can tell you pick it up. Shes a good Buy"
We then scuffled around the interiors which were in top notch condition. No Fade marks, No seat cover tears, No worn off Steering wheel. Clean dash, clean carpets, Clean roof. Absolutely empty cubby holes and door pockets.
Popped the hood and the boot. The boot had a slightly stained mat. Which was okay. Something that can be cleaned. Tilted the carpet only to find a Brand SPANKING new NCT 5 hiding under the instrument box. The threads on the tire were still very very imminent. Good news so far.
The Engine bay was a little dirty but with a wash she'd shine again for sure. Hood down. Boot closed.
Test Drive
It was time for a TEST drive. First KSM since he would be a better Judge of the cars characteristic's being a proud owner of this fantastic machine. Took it down the road. All seemed fine to him. Brakes, Suspension, Tires, Alignment. etc. I too did a small stint in it and i couldnt say much at that time except that it felt like "A GIANT LEAP" from the ikon. Just Love that dash.

Other options
2nd Grey, 3rd Black and 4th sky blue civics, i did see because of the long wait. But they were all close to 30k or above 30 k kms. And not even close to the price we negotiated. There was one which was black colour but was A/T. A very good condition. done about 25k kms with new tires, new battery, full service record and an individual party. But A/t was not what i was looking for.

The Undisclosed Price talk

So I expected the price to be around 8.xx atleast. The dealer started with a certain price but made it know to us that he was in for his cut which would be a surprisingly small 10k. He said as long as i get my cut iam ok with the negotiations you do. But a turnaround again very shortly where the dealer mentioned the price at x.xx amount and i thought to myself wow thats great, something i wasnt expecting. But just before i could open my mouth and say i want to go a little less he came out with another offer which stunned us. Iam not disclosing the price on the open forum for resale purposes.

The Wait

The dealer also did mention id have to wait for 10 days so that he could get hold of another car for the seller.Worth the wait nevertheless.
I met the seller at last on a Saturday morning. As the dealer did mentioned he also said 10 days. This wasn't his daily drive car. So hence the low mileage. We spoke about the car and various details and i was to meet him 10days later. Only to find out after 10days that i would have to wait half a month more since he didnt find his car. Anyways after the LONG wait and a lot of higgle haggle about the car, here she was finally. 18th of June is when Valentino arrived at 15385 kms.



A Few Pictures











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Many congos! Lot of pre-worshipped Civics since GTO's.
The car looks pretty clean outside. Awaiting buying exp/likes/dis-likes and load of pics.
Drive safe.

Congratulations for the Civic. That dark grey colour is a looker man! :thumbs up

Civic still has one of the best cockpits in that segment. Looks fab :D Eagerly awaiting your review and details on the pre-worshipped car deal

Many congratulations. The car looks to be in super condition. Looks like a 08 or 09 SMT (?) Civic. And talk about low miles, thats a great find! Eagerly waiting for the rest of review.

Congrats mate!

15k kms is fabulous - nothing in a vehicles lifespan.

How much did you pay for it and where did you pick it up?

Enjoy your new baby!

Congratulations on the AWESOME Purchase mate !

GTO's thread seems to have inspired quite a few "pre-worshiped car" purchases :) Now, please put up the full story to justify "pre-worshipped" being an understatement ;)

Congrats dude. Car is in excellent condition. Also grey colour looks amazing.

Could you please tell us price and from whom did you buy?
Also how old is it?

Neat pics and a well documented used car buying experience. Congrats on your new car, she is a beauty and reminds me of my car when I brought my Shark home! :)

15K Civic is a virgin, the owner must be thinking high to sell her off at this low mileage. Enjoy her to the fullest, drive hard and drive safe. :thumbs up

Hope to see regular updates in this thread on your part!

congo dan..damn clean and original car.how is low end torque??

Nice car,Mate! Looks so fresh!!

Good to learn that another skeptic got transformed into a Honda worshipper! :)

Enjoy your ride and drive safe!!

Congrats mate on your new steed.
Nice to know that there are still low mileage civic's like these available in mumbai.
Donno when my time will come to get hold of this beauty.. The cockpit of civic is the most stunning till date. No other car comes even close
Cheers

Thanks guys. Thread now updated with a little about the car. Low end torque is decent. She can climb pretty fast from as low as 30kph in 3rd all the way up.

Firstly CONGRATS!!!!!!

All i can say is - yes they are not the best when it comes to handling but once you get used to them no one can come close.

Dan dont say thanks for such a small thing, its the CIVIC that makes the choice so easy due by its own merit.

Oh ya i remember the first crank:) it sounded like a brand new engine. I am sure no one will be able to make out the difference in the sound between a zero km engine and yours.

It sure its a giant leap even if you compare it to any other 1.8 or 2.0 L cars in India even today.

First of all, hearty congrats danlalan. Its raining pre-owned Civics in this forum. Your car is fabulous and looks to be in absolutely pristine condition. If you tie one's eyes and take them up to the car in person, I am sure no one would really find out that its a pre-owned vehicle. Looking forward to your ownership thread.