themaincop
New member
- Location
- Ontario, Canada
Like the title says I'm thinking about trading my 2017 Civic Si sedan for a new GTI, probably a DSG Autobahn. Looking for some feedback both on if the GTI will be a better fit for me and also where on the idiot scale trading in a 2.5 year old car would leave me financially.
I actually really wanted the GTI before I bought the Si but I was making less money when I made the purchase and I also was biased towards Honda because I've pretty much always driven Hondas. I also was coming from a CR-V and was excited to get something really kinda stripped down and sporty. Now that I've had it for a couple of years I realize that I really like having a speedy car, but I don't really like the stripped down aspect so much. I don't go to the track and there aren't even all that many really fun backroads near me, I just like having a car that makes running errands or going on road trips a joy and never leaves me feeling like I don't have enough power/control. My understanding is that the GTI is a bit more like a sub-luxury entry, where you sacrifice a little bit of the super tight handling and in return you get more comfort and better tech, but you're still undeniably driving an enthusiast vehicle.
What I like about the Si
What I don't like
So given what I've listed here is the GTI likely to be a better fit? I know I need to test drive one but I also believe it's hard to get a feel for some of that kind of thing from a test drive alone.
Finances
How dumb is this? I bought the Civic in December of 2017 for $32k CAD all-in (taxes, fees, everything.) I owe $10k on it still and it has under 20k km (12.5k miles) on it. Similar cars are listed on auto trader around here for $22-24k so I imagine trade-in would be decent. I would most likely be looking at leasing the GTI over a 36mo term with a bi-weekly payment of roughly $300 CAD (this is just from the website, not sure if I could negotiate for better numbers.) My current b/w on the Civic is $225 but I also drop extra money on it fairly often. My wife and I are DINKs and I like driving new cars (everyone knows that getting things is better than having things) so leasing seems to make more sense to me than buying. The only downside for leasing is no modding, but I'm not sure I would really need to mod it anyway. With the tune I'm running now I'm supposedly getting 237whp/287tq but I feel like with the GTIs stock numbers and a DSG instead of my piss-poor manual skills I could probably get similar performance.
Thoughts?
I actually really wanted the GTI before I bought the Si but I was making less money when I made the purchase and I also was biased towards Honda because I've pretty much always driven Hondas. I also was coming from a CR-V and was excited to get something really kinda stripped down and sporty. Now that I've had it for a couple of years I realize that I really like having a speedy car, but I don't really like the stripped down aspect so much. I don't go to the track and there aren't even all that many really fun backroads near me, I just like having a car that makes running errands or going on road trips a joy and never leaves me feeling like I don't have enough power/control. My understanding is that the GTI is a bit more like a sub-luxury entry, where you sacrifice a little bit of the super tight handling and in return you get more comfort and better tech, but you're still undeniably driving an enthusiast vehicle.
What I like about the Si
- Sporty/fun to drive (fantastic handling in sport mode)
- Clutch/gearbox are easy and satisfying
- Sedan is fairly practical
- Looks cool (controversial I know, I like it though)
- Great community both online and IRL
- Great gas mileage
What I don't like
- Passenger seat is really not that comfortable. My wife and I both love driving it, both hate being passengers in it
- Driving stick gets annoying sometimes, particularly during road trips up Highway 400 in the summer when everyone is trying to get to cottage country
- Infotainment is slow and awful. Feels like using a six year old bargain bin android tablet
- Audio is meh
- Visibility is only okay and I don't love the low seating position
- Lacking in tech toys (given the bad visibility I would really like some parking sensors for example)
- Infinitely less practical than a hatch, particularly for someone carrying hockey sticks in their car multiple times per week
- Rear view camera sucks and constantly gets dirty
- It's supposed to be reliable but there's already been the oil dilution issue, I also have a squeaky A/C issue. I'm concerned about the long-term reliability of the 1.5T especially since I'm the poster child of the kind of driver it struggles with (frequent short trips in cold weather)
- I'm a big idiot who bought a white car while living in grimy slushy southern Ontario
- My dog sheds a lot and that makes me wish I got something with leather seats. I have one of those hammock things but her fur still gets embedded in the cloth
So given what I've listed here is the GTI likely to be a better fit? I know I need to test drive one but I also believe it's hard to get a feel for some of that kind of thing from a test drive alone.
Finances
How dumb is this? I bought the Civic in December of 2017 for $32k CAD all-in (taxes, fees, everything.) I owe $10k on it still and it has under 20k km (12.5k miles) on it. Similar cars are listed on auto trader around here for $22-24k so I imagine trade-in would be decent. I would most likely be looking at leasing the GTI over a 36mo term with a bi-weekly payment of roughly $300 CAD (this is just from the website, not sure if I could negotiate for better numbers.) My current b/w on the Civic is $225 but I also drop extra money on it fairly often. My wife and I are DINKs and I like driving new cars (everyone knows that getting things is better than having things) so leasing seems to make more sense to me than buying. The only downside for leasing is no modding, but I'm not sure I would really need to mod it anyway. With the tune I'm running now I'm supposedly getting 237whp/287tq but I feel like with the GTIs stock numbers and a DSG instead of my piss-poor manual skills I could probably get similar performance.
Thoughts?