Topic: Made in Canada: 2010 Toyota Corolla LE and Honda Civic DX-G, Part two

[made in canada]

Both cars are real good, if you want ride get the
Corolla, if you can stand the two foot deep mini van like dash and not being able to see any part of the front of the car get the Honda.

He meant if you want quieter, more cushiony ride get the corolla. If you want a sportier more agile and fun to drive car get the civic. Both are great economy cars. Most spectacular about both of these cars are their fuel economy.

[Gforce99]

Price of a LE Corola is $21,165 not $20,865 while the DX-G Civic is $19,780. I guess Toyota raised the price due to cover the cost of parts required to fix the recall

I own an 07 Civic LX and an 09 CR-V. Both have been completely problem free.. not a squeak or rattle from either of them. The civic has over 75000kms on it and has been fantastic and the CR-V has just over 24000kms and has been great also. Winter fuel mileage on the CR-V hasn't been the greatest(average 11.7-12.6) around halifax with Toyo Observe 17" winter tires on OEM Steel Honda wheels, but that mileage stays the same no matter what driving habits are used. In the summer, i was able to get between 8.7-10.5 (mixed city/highway driving in Ottawa).

Prior to buying my CR-V, i tried out the 09 Rav4 but the dealers i visited in Ottawa were less than willing to negotiate on the price. Best they would come down was $600 on a $30600 Rav4 sport and financing was 3.9%. I got just over $2000 off my CR-V EX with 0.9% financing (Honda basically matched the price of the Rav4).

Honda has 0.9 financing on their Civics and CR-V's right now so they have a definite advantage over Toyota in that regard.

I know Toyota and Honda both build great vehicles, but Toyota will have to offer prospective buyers more of an incentive to regain market share and buyer confidence.

[johngenx]

Toyota has been slowly raising the price of the Corolla.  Our 09 CE-Enhanced was $20,700 including GST.  Today, the 2010 is $22,250.  That's $1550 more, but you do get traction-stability control.  Still, that's quite a bit for that one new feature.

[Joe Smith]

The 2001 Civic to 2009 Corolla comparison is just a joke.  You can't compare the 2 previous generation's (8 years old) Civic to a brand new Corolla.  You wouldn't compare your current cell phone to a phone you had 8 years ago!  Please be reasonable and realistic with your comparison.

It sounds like you like comfort and finesse Toyota Corolla more than a driver engaging vehicle like the Honda Civic. Corolla and Civic are going after different target markets.  Average age of a Corolla driver is way older than a Civic driver. 

Interesting review.

I owned a 2001 Civic DX-G from new and sold it last year. The engine was as sweet as the day is long. Interior items fell apart though. Under warranty the Honda dealer replaced a driver side door panel and 2 passenger side ones because the fabric was coming off it. When I sold the car both had the fabric falling off again. The headliner was coming apart at the back of the car as well.

The trannie died at 60000km but was replaced by Honda and the fuel/trunk release cable was replaced 3 times. Were these first year bugs?

Contrast this to my parent's loaded 2009 Corolla LE which has not had one issue yet. They are concerned about the recall but so far the car has been perfect for them.

The Civic I had was amazing on gas but the lack of sound deadening material wore on me as I used it for a sales vehicle for the last year that we owned it and it went from a city dweller to a primarily highway driven car. Lots of road and wind noice. My parent's Corolla? Like a "mini-Lexus". Nice and quiet and pefect for racking up the highway miles in comfort.


I would buy another HOnda but my current favs are the CRV and Fit. I would not hesitate to get another Toyota (we have a 2007 Yaris hatch right now).

[Waterlooresident]

Both the Corolla and the Civic are appliances, mere toasters.  They are plain, dull, boring cars.  But I just love them because that’s exactly what I am searching for:  something that won’t break my wallet, something that will be low-cost to buy and low-cost to own and fill up at the gas station. 

I have owed a Honda Civic before and from my experience they tend to fall apart a bit faster and rust a bit faster than the Corollas, but not nearly as fast at the cars from Korea.  To me the main difference between the Corolla and the Civic is the instruments (speedometer).  If you enjoy driving the Star Ship Enterprise  ( maybe you’re a closet Trekkie ? ), then you’ll just love the Civic and its split-level bi-dash design.  If you are like me and you want to see those old fashioned analog gauges then you will prefer the Corolla instead.  Really, other than that both of them are almost identical in most ways. 

The one identical thing in both of them is that horrible baby-puke beige interiors !   What were the designers thinking when they thought of those colors?  I just love the black interiors of the Mazda 3 so much more  (even though that black shows every little bit of lint on it and needs cleaning a whole lot more often.)

I really wanted a Civic / Mazda3 / Corolla type of car, but with the quality of the Corolla, the higher fuel efficiency of the Corolla  ( a bit better than the Mazda3 ),  the analog instruments of the Corolla/Mazda3, and the dark interior cloth of the Mazda3.  I found all of that  with the Corolla ‘S’ model.  Yes, the Mazda3 is a whole lot more fun to drive but that horrible grinning face on the Mazda3, I just cannot stand it, not even for a minute !   If it wasn’t for that smile, I would be buying the Mazda3, but as it is I’m going to buy the Corolla S instead, I just cannot take that grinning face of the Mazda.  And I’m adding a very small trailer hitch to the Corolla so that I can pull a very “very” small utility trailer in the odd once or twice a year time when I need the cargo-hauling ability of an SUV or pickup.

I do agree with the other person; the Civic is all but impossible to see the front of the car, and that makes it so much easier to smash bumpers in the parking lots, something I DON’T want to be doing.  At least with the Corolla I can lean forward and get a bit of a view of the corners of the car and see where I’m going, that’s kind of helpful to save my bumper paint. 

[triuman]

Even tho I can't see the front of my Civic too well, I know where it is........