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Scion tC or Honda Civic?

3122 Views 34 Replies 23 Participants Last post by  MustangJolly
I tried searching, didnt find much.

Can someone please tell me why I should be getting the tC over the Civic?

Right now, I am just favoring the Civic, but I lvoe the tC cause it just looks so much better. Can you guys sway me back to the good side, with clear, convincing reasons!

I like the Civic cause it has great gas mileage, and awesome re-sale value, is known as very dependable, and backs that up with years of one of Americas Top Cars.

So why is the tC better?
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Scion is made by Toyota which also has proven their reliablity and re-sale value. # 1 reason to by a tC. Everybody else has a Civic. With a civic people just say yeah nice car and don't even pay attention. With a Scion its a double look and the first thing they ask, what type car is that. So drive with the pack or venture out and be different. It's up to you. I like knowing that my tC will have people stoping dead in their tracks to look at it.
Civic has nothing on the tC except for gas mileage. But you have to pay for HP with gas...

You get way more features for the $$$ than the Civic EX (or any other trim)
Powertrain warranty is 2 years longer
Resale is as good if not better than Civic
Insurance on the tC will be lower than on Civic coupe (say thanks to the riceboys)

Tell me why you think Civic is better and I will try to convince you otherwise.
doesn't the tc compare more directly with the accord? size, options, engine (base, not the v6)
Thanks Zoltiz, that was very convincing! That made a huge impact on my decision! I am back to the Scion now, hopefully for good!
dude, toyota is super reliable too.

i LOVE this tc compared to my old 96 civic. and EVERYONE has a civic dude. mileage and reliability are the same on the TC, so get it. and if that's your reason for picking the civic, get a prius! haha.
For the price of a Civic EX (which is $17k right?) you can get a tC for about the same price which includes a CD/MP3 player, ~33 more horsepower, panoramic sunroof, 17"s and lots of compliments
Also if you get the '06 you will get steering wheel controls which the Civic doesn't offer.
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Well, when I test drove the Civic my main impression was that it is an econobox- very similar to the Corolla. I wouldn't knock Honda's reliability, their reliability reputation is as good or maybe even slightly better than Toyota. It just was an emotionally uninspiring cheap car. The Tc looks similar to a BMW from the front, and Acura RSX from the sides with sharper looking rims, and a Toyota Avalon (just short of a Lexus) on the inside except for the cheap stiff seats. Plus it has dual sunroofs and a Pioneer sound system standard. Now the Civic is getting redesigned for 2006 with an improved engine, but from the spyshots I've seen (and posted a link to in another thread about the 2006 Civic if you use the search function) it will look nothing close to as good as the Tc. But looks are subjective and many people, especially older people, think the Tc just looks odd. The Civic costs more too though. I would look strongly at the new Mitsubishi Eclipse or the new Ford Mustang before getting a Civic.
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Gottc?, you're right about the tC being more comparable to an Accord. Unless you want an accord coupe. The Accord coupe base is 3000 more than for a tC. Also, the Accord doesn't have quite the options of the tC.
The Civic is a nice, cheap car. zoltiz is right, though, when he says that the only thing the Civic has on the tC is fuel efficiency...unless you get one of the really cheap models of the Civic, in which case it will be a couple thousand cheaper than the tC.
If you aren't a car enthusiast and you are just looking for a car to get you from point A to B, the civic is your choice


If you want a car with more....to it, a car to enjoy and stuff, the tC is good
i would recomend the tc over the civic or corolla or anything, and that is why i bought this car and am this website.
What about for the same money, getting a 2-3 year old BMW with not many miles on it, what do you guys think of that option?
say no to Bimmer if reliability is your thing. See. those german machines are popular and all, but their relibility sucks, and their eletronics is a joke. My friend got a Benz c230, under my suggestion he got a 7 year warranty, good for him, because all those automatic chairs and steerwheels stop working after a few months. He has to go back to the dealer once in a while for pointless repairs like electric mirrors and suspension (suspension in a benz is controlled by a computer, so that goes whacky easily).

Go for the tC. Maybe you can wait for the new Civic Si, that thing looks great. But the current generation Civic is nothing to write home about. If you have to buy a car between the two, I would go for tC. it's just cooler and newer. Why not treat yourself for something nice. Milege is pretty good, 21 to 27 mpg.
Newer Civics = Appliance for driving. Not a fan, drove a 98 sedan in college. My girlfriend's 90 Civic sedan was so much more fun to drive. Honda took the car out of the car. Needles to say the tC is becoming so popular I believe it will become the next ricey thing in the "tuner" world. But my opinion is niether objective or rational, buying a car is not a rational thing. It is fashion and the projection of our own self images or desired self images in sheet metal.

All in all, more bang for buck plus killer looks. That's why I bought one.
Originally posted by kurker@Aug 27 2005, 12:00 AM
Newer Civics = Appliance for driving. Not a fan, drove a 98 sedan in college. My girlfriend's 90 Civic sedan was so much more fun to drive. Honda took the car out of the car. Needles to say the tC is becoming so popular I believe it will become the next ricey thing in the "tuner" world. But my opinion is niether objective or rational, buying a car is not a rational thing. It is fashion and the projection of our own self images or desired self images in sheet metal.

All in all, more bang for buck plus killer looks. That's why I bought one.
hey kurker- you're absoutely right, the 90-91 (for example) civics and crx's were much more fun to drive than the 96-99's they lost their "Edge" no longer were they nimble and fun.. that fun factor was weeded out.. and if you noticed after that the sales of civics began to fall.. what's ironic is that most tC owners were also former civic owners.. Just goes to show we (including me i had a civic) wanted the sporty type car back no matter what Honda thought. They are making some bad decisions about their cars and I also read that it was the President of Honda America agenda to get rid of all of their sporty cars.. anyone remember the prelude?

okay before i get way off track here.. I think the tC would be a better choice than the civic, the only thing better about the civic is the gas mileage, but we don't know yet since the new 06 civic is heavier than previous models, so because of that who knows what the real world fuel economy is going to be. Plus for me there is no way i could get used to that dual dash/instrument cluster.. weird..
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yeah i was going to search and put the link and make a sly comment, but strangly enough, i didnt find anything! im surprised, cause im almost positive this has been covered not just once but many times! oh well.

you should get a tc for a variety of reasons, most which have been discussed here already. i do suppose most of us favor the tc or we wouldnt even be at this forum, but without a bias, i like the tc more. if you compare what you get for the price, the tc is better. both are reliable and good, but i easily prefer the tc.
I wish that i could let you drive my friends civic. he has 40000 miles on it and the shifter for the five speed is loose and it just feels like a rattle trap. Now he would never now because he drives everyday but i think that most people are right: If you want to be like everybody else than buy a civic. The civic holds nothing on the TC. My friends honda is rated at 32 miles to the gallon(city driving). He drives like a grandma and he tells me he is lucky to get 26 miles with city driving. I have a little over 17000 on my TC and i dont drive like a grandma hence why i have 6points on my license and i am still getting 24 miles to the gallon.

AND THE BEST PART OF IT ALL, IS KNOWING WHEN I PULL NEXT TO THOSE PIECES OF #### THAT ARE ALL RICED, UNLESS IT HAS A TURBO OR NITROUS THE TC WILL WIN EVERY TIME.
Originally posted by sciontc_mich@Aug 27 2005, 12:07 PM
what's ironic is that most tC owners were also former civic owners.. Just goes to show we (including me i had a civic) wanted the sporty type car back no matter what Honda thought
Civic and CRX (as well as del sol) were the semi-cool and semi-quick vehicles that were, most importantly, affordable. Honda had moved waaaaaayy too much from that by killing the CRX, Del Sol, and the Prelude, pretty much the only 3 or 4 cars that were fun, and the civic had since became fat.

(I once saw a 1979 civic (4 speed, stick shift) parked near the Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory, and I can say it looks better than ANY small car that came after it from Japan in the 80s or 90s, but that might just be me.)

I drove both the 90 and 95 civic and I can honestly say I agree with ya 100 percent. I would pick the 89/90 civic over the silly 95/96 anyday of the week. I personally didn't like Toyota cars at all (since none of their cars are sporty and affordable, the celica is just way over priced like the Acura RSX, and the corrola, well my mom drives a corrola), but the scion brand is just so un-Toyota. The tC, being a sporty car, gets my vote even though it's by Toyota. Even if Honda thinks that its Civic owners are older now, but that doesn't mean they should eliminate the civic's first and soul audience.

If you look at how much crap out there that are simply over priced when equip to the level of a tC, the tC is simply a fantastic deal!
And best of al, it's a hatch, not a coupe (way more cargo room)!!!
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besides toyota's reliability, i would have to say that this car is way more comfortable than the civic. It has more leg room and hip room. The headroom isn't bad either.(I'm 6ft 2in.) Go with the tc.
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