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Would you get manual in an ugly color?

jtrader

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I, too, love rowing my own gears, but my Sport Hatch is a CVT which allows my wife to drive it occasionally. Like gtman said, the CVT with paddles is a fine substitute. I drive strictly in S mode and use paddles 99% of the time. I've owned my civic for 3 years, and even to this day it's still FUN as hell to drive. I love it!
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sosueme

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Civics4Ever - haha good point.

gtman wisely pointed out that it’s an emotional choice. In this case, the feeling of manual control vs the feeling of a slick-looking car :)
 
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Jessegovols

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I'd like to get some opinions from this community. I live near San Jose CA, and my driving is suburban with occasional shitty traffic. I enjoy driving and appreciate manual, but the vast majority of my driving is functional to get from point A to point B. I’m replacing a 2012 Mini S convertible w/ manual, that I drove and loved for 10 years except a few times a month when I was stuck in stop-and-go traffic on the highway or in the city.

I'm getting the 2022 Civic hatch in sport touring. Honda only offers the manual in sonic grey (a color I hate!), and in black and white (which are very boring for me). I love the boost blue, but hesitating because of the CVT.

There are no manuals available for a test drive near me. I have test-driven the CVT and it was fine, but I don't know if a 20 min test drive is a good indicator of how I will feel after a few years of ownership. Sometimes I tell myself to swallow my vomit and ignore the color to get the manual. Other times I tell myself the Honda CVT is pretty good, it comes with paddles, and I will see the color everyday. (I should mention that I have never actually owned an auto with paddles and only used them briefly on my short test drive.)

I don't replace my cars until I really have to, so I'm anxious about post-purchase regret. At the moment I'm leaning towards getting the blue color that I love, in CVT.

I know these are subjective trade-offs but it would help me to know how other people think about this. How would you guys choose between (a) manual in a color you hate, vs (b) a color you love in a CVT with paddles?
I know what you mean. I really hate that Honda limits the Sport Touring Hatch Manual to such boring colors. Why can't we have the boost blue....just why ?
 


arpypat

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TBH, the Sonic Grey Pearl looks a lot better in person. It might grow on you. Someone down the street from me has a current gen Accord in SGP and it looks really good IMO.

The Boost Blue does look nice on the 11th gen hatch. SGP is my close 2nd favorite color, after Aegean Blue Metallic
 

charleswrivers

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You had me at, “Would you get manual…”

Yes.

You can’t really see the exterior color from the inside of the car. You would notice, and miss, the lack of a manual transmission however.
 
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sosueme

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I did some extensive test driving yesterday and it was very instructive.

First I went for another drive in the CVT hatch.
The first thing I noticed, on a freeway on-ramp, is how well this car takes a curve at speed. On a moderately trafficked highway with about 50-55 mph traffic the paddles were great for quick lane changes and overtaking. TBH even without paddles the CVT was fine for overtaking.
On an empty straight back road the CVT accelerated just fine but didn’t feel like it. It was as if I could see the acceleration outside the window and on the speedometer, but I couldn’t feel it in my body.
On a corner the paddles were great for downshifting before the corner so I could exit strong.

Next, I took out the manual hatch for the first time. Instantly I could feel the sensation of having power available. “No shit”, you’re all saying, but there’s more. On the same moderately trafficked freeway the manual felt great but functionally it was no better than CVT/paddles for executing lane changes and overtaking. On the empty straight the manual felt way better for straight line acceleration, even though I’m sure I wasn’t actually going any faster than in the CVT. Interestingly on the corner the manual shifter felt good but not as good as the paddles. With the paddles I could downshift while keeping both hands on the wheel at all times, which made me feel more in control.

After this I drove 150 miles, first on boring 101 and then along gorgeous, windy, hilly CA1 past Big Sur, San Simeon, etc. This is my favorite kind of road, and the kind of drive I used to love in my manual Mini S. This time I was in a Subaru Crosstrek (182 hp @ 5,800 rpm, 176 lb-ft @ 4,400 rpm, CVT). It’s got pretty good handling for a crossover, though of course it doesn’t touch the Civic for handling. It was perfectly enjoyable. And then came the moment of truth. At dusk a car ahead of me started crawling at between 20-30 mph. For about 10 miles and 30 min I was stuck behind them, with no room to safely overtake, and them not having the courtesy to pull into a turnout. That would have been a horrible stretch in a manual. But in a CVT (with paddles for engine braking on downslopes) I was able to keep calm and still enjoy the drive at low speed. And when I got a chance I still had enough oomph to leapfrog the slowcoach.

So what’s the point of this looong update? I realized that the Civic manual is awesome. If all my driving was on wide roads and modest traffic then the manual would be clearly superior. But where I live I will mix in single-lane hill roads and also some heavier traffic. In those situations the CVT is more enjoyable. Taken as a whole, it’s sort of a wash. And given the color choices I’m tilting a bit towards the CVT now.
 

gtman

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Glad you did the long test as I suggested.

So I've mostly owned and driven manuals over the years. And I love them. My 10th gen turbo is my first CVT.

And sure, the term "CVT" disgusts a lot of manual owners. But I was open to it. And in time I realized it does a damn good job. It really does put you in the rpm range you need to be for any situation. Of course now I'm tuned so things are even better.

But the CVT takes some getting used to. It sounds "different'. Which is why acceleration sometimes doesn't feel as fast. We're used to certain sounds as we wind through the gears. With the CVT, say merging on the highway, it doesn't "feel" as fast but then you look down at the speedometer and you're shocked how fast you're going. Of course tuned it does feel fast, real fast.

Nothing can equal the control and engaging feel of a manual but the Honda CVT is better than a lot of people think.
 
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sosueme

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Glad you did the long test as I suggested.

So I've mostly owned and driven manuals over the years. And I love them. My 10th gen turbo is my first CVT.

And sure, the term "CVT" disgusts a lot of manual owners. But I was open to it. And in time I realized it does a damn good job. It really does put you in the rpm range you need to be for any situation. Of course now I'm tuned so things are even better.

But the CVT takes some getting used to. It sounds "different'. Which is why acceleration sometimes doesn't feel as fast. We're used to certain sounds as we wind through the gears. With the CVT, say merging on the highway, it doesn't "feel" as fast but then you look down at the speedometer and you're shocked how fast you're going. Of course tuned it does feel fast, real fast.

Nothing can equal the control and engaging feel of a manual but the Honda CVT is better than a lot of people think.
Thanks for sharing your experience!
Where’s a good place to start learning about tuning? I’d like to do some reading on different kinds of tuning, what it does, how it works, pros & cons and so on.
 


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sosueme

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I’m guessing that makes a difference for performance from a standing start but maybe less so when you’re already moving,? Could you paddle down to lower gear and higher RPM where the tune allows extra power to be tapped?
 

gtman

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jtrader

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Why would you want a CVT over a Manual ever?
That makes zero sense to me.
I appreciate your sentiment but did you read his post? He spelled it out pretty well. Colors, city driving, etc. There are other valid reasons, such as sharing a vehicle with people who can't/won't drive stick, or maybe if you can get a better deal on a CVT like in my case. I wanted a manual, but got a CVT for such a bargain basement price that I couldn't say no. Pre covid of course. No regrets here, I'm pleased as punch with my CVT civic even 3 years later.
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