Anyhow, guys, let's move on to a different subject on the new Civic. I didn't mean to dominate the whole thread with just struts and mouldings.

 

They were starting to fail just out of warranty but really started going about a year out of warranty, now they don't hold the hood up for more then 3 or 4 seconds. I rarely open my hood to warrant needing to repair them. I asked the dealership once when I was getting an oil change after telling them not to rely on the struts to keep the hood open and it was going to be over $200 which I said don't bother if it is going to be that expensive. The repair guy said it is very common for those struts to prematurely wear out and they place a prop under the hoods when working on cars to avoid accidents. I will eventually get around to DIY'ing it.


About the civic, the improvements look good especially with the interior. The cheapened civic did not effect sales much if any as they were still very high and it led its class several months
despite stronger competition. I see them everywhere. I am sure Honda did not like all the flak they were getting from magazines and reviewers about the interior and wanted to address that quickly. These new improvements may not even matter much to most buyers, most civic buyers are more concerned with reliability, fuel economy, safety, how it rides/drives, and resale which were all there even in the cost cut version. The handling improvements should be welcome, the interior dash is much nicer.

Hope they learned their lesson not to do that again, the civic is too important of a model and seller to risk alienating buyers and for it to take hits in reviews. It is rumored the new CEO is the one who rejected the original version that was much nicer, larger, and was going to be more expensive to build and told them to do a smaller lighter version with much more cost cutting.

 

I don't mind the hood prop. At least they do not wear out.


My GS400's struts died on me one day. I was working on my car (replacing valve cover) and next thing I knew, the hood came crashing down, hitting my head. I wasn't seriously injured, but I had a big bump on my head for a week. I replaced the struts so they're good as new now, but after a couple years, I'll be replacing them again just in case.

 

I work at a Honda dealership, so I will give you my first hand impressions on Honda's current lineup.

'12 Civic, hate it. It's too plain, and boring. The Si is okay, but I'd prefer the 7th gen. Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) trim is completely pointless where I live as there are only two places to fill it. So we still have two that are about a year old now (a long time for a dealership).

'13 Civic. huge improvement, looks wise. Still drives the same, but I'ts growing on me. Coupe's exterior is a carryover of the '12 with the '13 interior. Just got the (pointless) HF and a Hybrid. Hybrid is not worth the premium for 5mpg, but I like the styling cues (LED DRL's, LED/clear tails). Si drivetrain is a carryover

'13 Crossturd is still ugly despite the facelift.

'13 Accord is the ****, V6 is smooth and quick. I4 is also surprisingly smooth. I hate CVTs with a passion, but it is pretty good in this, but the smoothness of the 6-speed Auto in the V6 version makes me question the point of the CVT. Touring trim is really nice.

'13 CRV & Odyssey are unchanged for the most part. CRV now has backup camera standard on all trims, still drives nice. Ody still looks like a Hurst in black, most spacious 3rd row.

CRZ & Insight is still around somehow. So is the Ridgeline, but it gains backup camera standard on all models.

'13 Pilot is unchanged.

'13 Fit is unchanged and still my favorite new Honda.

The V6 Accord has hood struts, I4 still has a prop rod.