Honda LX - 2003 Review

We bought this little two door coupe in a hurry.  We didn't have any fears buying a Honda; we'd owned several before.  She wanted a two door.  It has decent power with the A/C off and one or two occupants.  Nobody should doubt Honda's quality of design and assembly; I think they are tops in those categories.

 But it has had problems.  The right front shock unit (inside the strut tower) broke in half.  Yes, in half.  We started hearing this loud rattling sound and when we took it in for service, they remove both halves of the shock and showed us.  Maybe it was just a fluke but when it happens to you, it's a complete and total failure.

It seats four average adults but you have to change your driving habits if you carry more than two.  The weight of four passengers seems to really hit the engine power and how you have to engage the clutch.  Needing air conditioning while carrying four approaches the absurd in terms of acceleration.  We need to cross two lanes of traffic to make a left when leaving our neighborhood.  Then the road goes up a gentle hill.  We've learned to turn off the air in order to make this common maneuver.  We call the A/C off switch the "turbo boost" button.  It's that bad.

 And then there's the two door coupe styling.  She wanted it.  Yes, it does look kinda sporty.  But the doors are so long it becomes a prison cell in tight parking lots.  I mean sometimes you just can't get out at all and we have to move to another parking spot.  It's truly ridiculous.

Then there's the steering feel.  You see we traded in an older four door Civic for this two door unit.  Driving in to the dealer that day, I had no idea that I would be leaving my fun to drive, sporty little car and driving home in your father's Oldsmobile.  I mean, as far as steering wheel feedback, the new Honda has almost none.  It's smooth and steady but it just doesn't feel like it is attached to the front wheels.  It never tugs in a hard turn.  You don't feel grooves and ruts.  You can't tell if the road is slick or sticky.  My wife says she doesn't notice much difference and maybe I'm just more tuned-in to that stuff, but I miss our old car's road feel.

 The car came from the dealer with cheap-ass Firestone tires that were OK on dry roads and suicidal on wet roads.  I mean, my wife even compained about them saying that she was spinning out on corners she if very familiar with.  Yeah, a guy likes to hear that!  So I challenged her and she was right; those original equipment tires sucked.  I replaced them all with Goodyear Assurance ComfortTreds and I mean, night and day difference.  It even improves the road feel through the steering wheel.

Finally, this was the first car that we bought since moving to Florida and we figured, get a light color to reflect away some of the sun's heat.  Well that seems to work alright but it apparently also reflects away much of the light that other drivers see when driving near us.  You wouldn't believe how many times other drivers seem to not notice that we were on the same road as them.  In the next lane over, at intersections, in parking lots, everywhere we drive we have near misses where folks seem to not see us and half to gesture apologetically after the fact.  Sure, maybe part of it is Florida drivers, but they always seem to see my green pickup!  Maybe Honda accidentally sold us a Stealth Civic but I think I'll get red next time.