denim

Which one, the Insight or the Civic?

I shopped by both. I used to only consider domestic cars. That was until I finished with my second Escort. I had a 1980 Mercury Zephr, a 1988 Ford Escort GT (new), and a 1986 Ford Escort Wagon.

When I managed to chivvey the 86'd wagon to the (Ford) shop the last time, I asked them what they had on the lot to replace it. He had a number of vehicles of course, but the one I ended up buying was a stripped-down Acura (1993 Integra RS). I found this to be an okay car, with certain obvious issues.

When I started the research for replacing the Integra, I first wanted to just get a newer Integra. But I found I didn't fit comfortably in recent ones. I am rather large.

So I looked. I looked at Acura, Honda, Toyota, VW (very seriously), Lexus (briefly), Mazda (briefly), Infinity, GM (under duress), and a little at the Ford Focus. What it came down to was that I wanted a car for no more than a certain price and no less than a certain price, which would be fun to drive and have more amenities than the Integra RS.

That shouldn't be hard, as that Integra had only one major feature: a/c, kinda required where I bought it (Plano TX). Other than that, it had power-assisted brakes and steering, rear defrost and wiper. That's all. Cranked windows. It was Acura's bottom-end car in 1993.

Service was part of it. Toyota was too busy to help me. GM's Saturn Ion was perhaps not the place to test them for sanity. Ford, I'd already had enough of. Lexus repelled me from the prices on their web site for used cars. Infinity(?) had too low MPG.

Ended up with the Acura RSX 'cause it was effectively the current Integra coupe, with the TSX being the current Integra sedan but in its first model year and a bit pricey for me.

I wanted to buy the Civic Hybrid, but I've got questions about the technology which no one has been able to answer to my satisfaction, so I went with tradition.