2012 Civic Ex four door, good car?

[sasilverbullet]

My son's thinking of pulling the trigger on a 2012 Civic EX four door, auto, no sunroof, 13,000 miles, still on Honda warranty.

What do you guys think? Solid car? Maintenance hassle?

What say you?

 

[michaelluscher]

No, the "12's were shockingly bad in far too many ways.
A disgrace to the Honda name, wait for a "13, or buy something else.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

Aside from probably costing more than a brand new Focus, Mazda 3, it's a good little car.

 

[rjundi]

Very solid car and no maintenance hassle. Have him try a 2013 major revision before biting. 2012 is a very odd duck year for the Civic in terms of car with refinement, materials etc. The drivetrain is tried and true though.

If an EX it has a sunroof and this is true of all US Civic's back into the early 1990's at least.

 

[surfstar]

Originally Posted By: Miller88
Aside from probably costing more than a brand new Focus, Mazda 3, it's a good little car.


Yep.

 

[Propflux01]

Originally Posted By: michaelluscher
No, the "12's were shockingly bad in far too many ways.
A disgrace to the Honda name, wait for a "13, or buy something else.


While I'm not a Honda fanboy at all, they seem to be good cars, my relatives have bought them exclusively for years without issues. Why do you say this? What makes this particular year and model a disgrace?

 

[QuietPortage]

Reliable as always, but the interior seems ultra cheap. I much preferred our 2013 Elantra, and the 2014 Kia Forte looks even better.

 

[SatinSilver]

Because it was redesigned that year and rushed to market according to the CEO. Very cheap looking outside and in. Cheap looking plastic dash. The back of it looked like an old Dodge Neon. Corporate even said not enough time was spent on the redesign.

The 13 looks much better. More chrome accents and styling cues. If you can get a great deal on the 12 I'd probably go for it. Iirc, Consumer Reports didn't recommend this year since it looked and drove so cheap.

Some have said the 2013 Civics have a better ride than the Accord.

 

[SatinSilver]

Originally Posted By: michaelluscher
wait for a "13, or buy something else.


No need to wait, the 2013's arrived almost a year ago.

 

[JethroBodine]

Originally Posted By: sasilverbullet
My son's thinking of pulling the trigger on a 2012 Civic EX four door, auto, no sunroof, 13,000 miles, still on Honda warranty.

What do you guys think? Solid car? Maintenance hassle?

What say you?

Make the dealer give him the CPO warranty that goes out to 7 years 100k. I was able to get my kid a 2 year old LX with more miles but the 100k warranty for $12k. Very easy to work on and maintain. BTW, super reliable car for a kid and the insurance raters like them. If it has no sunroof it is probably an LX. So pay less.

 

[Hokiefyd]

Originally Posted By: Propflux01
What makes this particular year and model a disgrace?


Honda itself has said before that it made a business decision to lessen the quality of the interior materials and sell the car for a lower price, because at the time, that's what they thought would sell well. When the new generation Civic was still in development, much of the world was in poor economic straits, so it was probably a reasonable guess at the time (that people would knowingly sacrifice quality for a lower price).

Turns out, they were half wrong. I say half wrong because the car was torn apart by the automotive press. I'm not sure I know anyone who thought highly of the 2012 Civic's interior. That said, they still sold like pancakes, so I'm not sure the buying public really cared all that much.

The 2013 Civic is appearing to be a very good seller (better than the 2012 model), so it looks like the makeover is at least initially successful. To a Honda fan, the 2012 Civic is probably a model that will be avoided in the used car market, but for most of the buying public, it'll just be another Civic with a pretty good reliability record.

 

[KrisZ]

Oh please, spare me the drama and disgraces! It's a fine automobile and the 2012 model was still among the best in its class despite all the "drama" that internet and mags were putting out.
It's great that Honda listened and made the interior more upscale, but everything underneath stayed pretty much the same. So if someone doesn’t mind hard plastics they can take advantage of “bad” press and pick a 2012 model for a great price.

 

[LckydevL]

The only issue with the 12's is the lackluster interior that has already been addressed. Drivetrain has been virtually untouched since 06' and it is the main reason I bought the 11' because of the success of that drivetrain. Maintenance is very, very simple.

 

[dparm]

Originally Posted By: LckydevL

The only issue with the 12's is the lackluster interior that has already been addressed. Drivetrain has been virtually untouched since 06' and it is the main reason I bought the 11' because of the success of that drivetrain. Maintenance is very, very simple.




This. If you don't mind the interior, I'd bet there's a decent number of them on the used market as people upgraded to 2013s.

 

[Rolla07]

Id avoid the civic. 2012 had issues. Friend of mine bought one. A few problems early on..and blind spots in that car...strange design..

 

[SatinSilver]

The 2012 Civic is akin to a wet hen.

 

[thrace]

2012 Civic. Noisy, bad riding, cheap cheap interior. Compared to an old car, might feel ok. But not so good compared to other 2012 cars. Engine transmission par for a small car. Check comparable prices and other makes and models. Don't overpay for a Honda. The fanboy and overrated reputation jacks up prices sometimes.

 

[The Critic]

While the 2012 Civic may be a terrible car in terms of the driving experience, fit/finish and overall refinement, the powertrain is solid and I fully expect it to deliver years of reliable service.

One of my friends has a 2012 Civic with 34k that I have maintained since new. I have changed the oil and rotated the tires about every 8,000 miles since new and it has had no issues at all. At just before 30k, I flushed the brake fluid, replaced both air filters and changed the transmission fluid. It has required no other maintenance to date. Even the noisy original tires still have 7/32" remaining and the front brakes are at 80%.

 

[Mykl]

For the right price I'd get a '12. But the '13 looks so much better inside and out it would have to be a really good deal.

On the topic of Civics, can anybody speak to them from a family point of view? Can you make them work with one or two children in car seats?

 

[Spazdog]

Did Honda ever fix the cracked block problem prevalent in earlier R18s?

I honestly do not know. I am pretty up to speed on Civics up to the 7th generation but that is about the time that they cease to interest me. By the time they got to the 8th generation, to me it was a Kia Spectra with big plate of sloped glass windshield and early Lumina wipers. It just wasn't that impressive.

To Honda's credit, they seem to be very good at covering cracked blocks under warranty. I've had several clients with the problem.