Honda Civic - Honda Civic or VW Golf

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Mon 29 Sep 2014 21:31
Honda Civic - Honda Civic or VW Golf - travelstops

Hi

I'm about to buy a used car and am trying to decide between a Honda Civic ES 1.6 desiel or a VW Golf SE 1.6 desiel. Both cars are 63 regs and both have about 11500 miles on the clock. The Golf will be about £1000 cheaper taking into account the better trade in VW will give me on my existing car.

My pocket tells to get the Golf, but I keep hearing that Honda is a lot more reliable than VW and has better real world fuel economy and the Honda also has slightly more bells and whistles than the Golf.

Does anyone have experience of both cars and is able to give me some feedback on them.

Thanks for your help

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Mon 29 Sep 2014 22:23
Honda Civic - Honda Civic or VW Golf - GHSAUNDERS40

Hi

I'm about to buy a used car and am trying to decide between a Honda Civic ES 1.6 desiel or a VW Golf SE 1.6 desiel. Both cars are 63 regs and both have about 11500 miles on the clock. The Golf will be about £1000 cheaper taking into account the better trade in VW will give me on my existing car.

My pocket tells to get the Golf, but I keep hearing that Honda is a lot more reliable than VW and has better real world fuel economy and the Honda also has slightly more bells and whistles than the Golf.

Does anyone have experience of both cars and is able to give me some feedback on them.

Thanks for your help

Hi. I looked at both of these cars when I was looking to change my car this month My preference of the two would be the Civic. The Golf's 1.6 tdi in my opinion is poor, noisey, slow and not very economical. The civic is a good car, seemed well built and nice to drive, but expensive. I then stumbled on an Astra 1.6 cdti. It's a completely brand new unit and is fantastic particularly in 110ps format. It impressed me that much I ditched the civic and the golf. I also managed to negotiate a pre reg excite model for £13k. So far I'm averaging a real 71.3mpg. The car is not as quick off the line as the civic but has plenty of torque for quick and safe over taking and seems much faster that its paper figures suggest. I have come down from 130 Bhp and struggle to notice any difference. It's also the quietest 4 cylinder diesel I've ever heard by a significant margin. You really need to add it to your list or at least test drive one. Gareth.
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Mon 29 Sep 2014 22:43
Honda Civic - Honda Civic or VW Golf - gordonbennet

Thats interesting GHS, but far too modern for me you understand.

I thought Vx had hobbled the Astra and crossed it off lots of our lists by putting that damned electric parking brake on them, one of my neighbours has a handy looking estate version and when i had sneeky peek as we walked by i noticed a proper real honest to goodness handbrake lever in the usual spot, have they ditched EPB now or is it only on certain models please.

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Mon 29 Sep 2014 22:55
Honda Civic - Honda Civic or VW Golf - GHSAUNDERS40

Thats interesting GHS, but far too modern for me you understand.

I thought Vx had hobbled the Astra and crossed it off lots of our lists by putting that damned electric parking brake on them, one of my neighbours has a handy looking estate version and when i had sneeky peek as we walked by i noticed a proper real honest to goodness handbrake lever in the usual spot, have they ditched EPB now or is it only on certain models please.

That's GB. I read your vehicle experience with interest. Thankfully it has a standard mechanical handbrake. I specifically picked the excite model due to that fact. I think models higher up the range have an electronic parking brake amongst other pointless and complicated electronics. I'm hoping vauxhalll's new motor is reliable! Only time will tell.....
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Tue 30 Sep 2014 04:09
Honda Civic - Honda Civic or VW Golf - gordonbennet
I specifically picked the excite model due to that fact.....amongst other pointless and complicated electronics.

Thanks for that.

That edited sentence of yours speaks volumes, i reckon there's a growing number of buyers who are turning against these unecessary things, it's going to have effects on the used car market if it isn't already, a growing list of not on your nelly's for many of us.

I too hope it proves a good car, one of the few modern european cars i actually quite like.

Edited by gordonbennet on 30/09/2014 at 04:10

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Wed 1 Oct 2014 21:39
Honda Civic - Honda Civic or VW Golf - Ed V

Each to their own - I'll never return to a mechanical handbrake if I can avoid them. Electronic ones are great - easy to set, and auto-release on accelearation.

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Fri 3 Oct 2014 14:42
Honda Civic - Honda Civic or VW Golf - twitcherman

and auto-release on accelearation.

My Discovery 3 once stuck me in the middle of morning rush hour precisely because this DIDN'T happen.

I got shut of it within a week.

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Fri 3 Oct 2014 14:52
Honda Civic - Honda Civic or VW Golf - daveyjp

And in Vauxhalls case auto release once you have got out of the car and locked it.

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Sat 4 Oct 2014 05:29
Honda Civic - Honda Civic or VW Golf - DavidGlos
Doesn't the Golf you're considering also have an electronic parking brake? A colleague of mine has spent a fortune on his '56 plate Passat trying to solve endless issues with the EPB. He's managed to completely wreck one set of rear pads and discs with the brakes sticking on and currently has to leave the car in gear when parked as the handbrake is out of action again!
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Sat 4 Oct 2014 05:30
Honda Civic - Honda Civic or VW Golf - DavidGlos
Doesn't the Golf you're considering also have an electronic parking brake? A colleague of mine has spent a fortune on his '56 plate Passat trying to solve endless issues with the EPB. He's managed to completely wreck one set of rear pads and discs with the brakes sticking on and currently has to leave the car in gear when parked as the handbrake is out of action again!
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