It's time for a new car, but with 4 kids in college, I have to get a bargain-priced Civic, otherwise I'd opt for an Avalon.

I don't care about moon roofs and spoilers, but I do care about performance and reliability, so what must-have features would you recommend? (I'd like to keep the costs below $18,000.)

Also, if anyone has some tips on how to drive a good bargain, or buy a Civic as part of a group purchase, I'd love to hear them.

- k

 

AUTO OR STICK?

 

You shouls have no trouble getting a nice LX that will come standard with all the features the average person would want (power windows an locks...) for under 18k. If you wait a little while for hype of the new model to go down you will have a better chance of getting a deal.

 

Manual - it's cheaper, and I don't mind it.

Thanks for your reply.

- k

 

No Prob.

Go here before you buy and you can get an idea of what others are paying plus know what invoice is.

http://www.edmunds.com/new/2006/honda/civic/

I'd print out the sheet of your configured car and bring that with when you purchase so you can show them you've done your research.

Since I bought the Si and I got the first one to come in I couldn't get a deal on the car. However, I did get the aftermarket leather seats for cost because when they told me how much they wanted for them I checked out what an RSX which has factory leather seats cost and they were trying to charge double that.

 

RSX?

So, tell me more about how you got the dealership to do the leather seats at cost.

This is all very helpful.

Thanks.

- k

 

Civic does not offer factory leather seats but the dealerships have places that do them after the cars come in. When I put money down on the car they told me the leather seats cost $2400. I thought that was very high so I looked up what the factory leather option would be on a similar car...The Accord Coupe was like $1750 (a little more area to cover on the Accord) and the Acura RSX which is pretty much the same car as the Civic $1150. When I went to do all the financing I complained about the price of the leather and told him what I knew. He agreed to give it to me for there cost. Obviously it's guna be a little more than factory because they have to remove the cloth first and they are not doing anywhere near the amount of cars the factory does so material cost are probably higher for the aftermarket shop. Ended up getting like $950 off of the seats.

 

So, how do you like your leather seats, and their workmanship?

- k

 

I was actually very impressed! There is a pic if you click on the little camera icon. They used red stitching which really set them off. I was worried about how straight the stitching would be but it looks just as good as factory.

 

doesn't the si come with suede seats?