I am picking up this car tomorrow. Here is just my opinion on the car buying
experience so that others can learn or laugh or ignore or comment.

Friday I go to local Honda dealer to start the process. I was going to buy a
Civic, at least that was my intention. All based on other owners
experiences. My other choice was Corolla. These guys are across the street
from each other.

Walk in with GF, no one runs up to us, there were quite a few people in the
place, understandable. I go and look at Civic on floor, doors locked, I
reach in to unlock and alarm goes off! Doh!! So after a couple of seconds a
salesman runs over and tries to silence it, except, he doesn't know how(bad
Honda, make sure these guys at least know the fundamentals). So after he
reaches in and plays with the locks to no use, he grabs the keys and puts it
in the door and locks and unlocks to no avail, I am ready to start screaming
with laughter, so I told him to "PRESS" the red panic button, he did, it
stopped. So after that, I opened all doors and hatches on car and was
satisfied with the way they all closed, everything seemed tight and aligned
on the car. Well I have been in the showroom 15 minutes, no one came up to
us. So I am thinking, hmmmm, maybe I should have dressed like I have
money...So we looked at all of the showroom models, we were there for 1/2 an
hour at least, and no one tried to sell us anything. So I was getting antsy,
told GF very loudly, lets go across street and look at Toyota. I felt like
Ralph Kramden, (it looks like rain Alice), and as we got to the door, I
again said louder, I wonder what they have to offer at Toyota dealer. As I
put my hand on the door, salesman came up and asked if I was interested in
anything. Finally! So as it was getting close to kids coming home from
school, I was now cut short for time. Knowing that I have great FICO score
and a good interest rate at local CU, I knew I could make a deal on the
spot. I also know that gas prices went up like 50 cents plus this week, so
Honda was getting alot of traffic, means less leverage for consumers, I
wasn't really ready to dick around, I NEEDED to buy a car with great gas
mileage and had a high resale value. SO I was ready to pay sticker if I
needed to. I pretty much said as much, I don't have time, show me what you
have on the lot, 5 civic sedans, and one was being bought as we were looking
at them. We went back inside, I just said straight up, I am short on time
give me a price, he did, a fair price in my mind, 1000 less then sticker. I
asked how long they would honor price and he said 2 days. So knowing that, I
told him I would be back Saturday to take test drive. My intention was to of
course go to Toyota and try and play for better deal. So Saturday morn, I
pull into Toyota with my rusty 78 C10 truck. In front are 2 sales people,
and sure enough, one peels away  and homes in on me like an F18 Hornet. So
as I am closing door, he does introduction, and of course I tell the guy I
heard today was Toyota giving 5000 dollar trade in on anything. He reponds
that if that is what it takes to get deal done, they would do it. So I am
looking at Corollas, take one for a ride. What a disappointment, it was
noisy, engine seemed to run erratically, I was not impressed. It was the LE
version. So we go to his desk, I tell him, straight out, I am going across
street to test drive Honda before making up mind. Well this is a problem, he
asks, what do I want. I point to the S on the floor, give me that one and
match the quote I got from Honda on LX. Of course, he counters that I need
to compare it with the EX, and I say whatever, show me the money. He asks
what I want to put down, I say 1000, he asks about financing, I already was
preapproved for a 5.45 rate for 60 mos and told him such. He of course, had
to go see manager, because he was going to make sure I bought Toyota. He
comes back with standard monthly payment stuff, price too high, and tried to
use my downpayment as a way to show lower bottom line price. Of course, I
tell him that I won't make a deal until I test drive the Civic. So he goes
back to manager and they do the usual dog and pony show(BTW, theyhave an
open cube concept so that you are treated to hearing manager and salesperson
arguing over price, I was thinking deal or no deal and Howie and banker,
pretty much could intimidate consumer) so I called GF at work and started to
loudly say that it was a nice car so they could hear me. There was no way I
was going to make a deal until I drove the Civic. I know the Toyota is
pretty reliable, I owned a 78 for 6 years and it was a great car. So when
sales came back with offer, 1000 less then before, I was still going to pay
1650 more then Civic, sure it had sport package and sunroof, but that is of
no interest to me. Plus they still factored in my down payment so that it
looked like I was getting great deal. I asked the salesguy where the car was
manufactured and he said in Fremont Canada,(Toyota, make sure that the sales
folks know where their product comes from), and I pointed out that Fremont
CA was California and that I wasn't going to string him out, I was not
making decision until I made test drive with Civic. So he kind of seen that
I was pretty much a stubborn a.s, got the manager and went through intros.
Of course it turned into make us an offer to keep from going back to Honda,
and I just said, I will be back to work a deal if I felt the Corolla was
better deal. They of course said that the Civic EX was the car I should use
for comparison. So I go across street, look for the guy that I had seen on
Friday and told him I was ready for test drive. I also asked if they sold
the car I looked at the day before and it was gone. I asked if deal was same
from day before and he said yes, I said lets go, I need to drive one. We go
to lot and of the 5 that were out there the day before, 2 were left. Hmmmm,
these things seem to fly out the door. So we went to run a Burgundy looking
one around, sales manager said that there was a blue one that came in Friday
afternoon that still needed to be prepped, which was fine by me, I didn't
really want the red car. So we took red car for a ride. Let me tell you, it
was a totally different sound and feel driving the Honda. After about a
whole 2 minutes, I asked salesman if price applied to the blue car and he
said yes. I told him that when we got back, just get out the paperwork, I
was sold. Period. I am sure the Toyota is a good car, but the Civic seemed
to be built much better. Sales guy of course tried to sell me the surface
protection packages, and I declined. We had a brief discussion about
financing, they would try and match CU APR, they were a little higher, and
of course I had to meet his boss, who tried to sell me extended warranty, no
dice. But they all seemed to understand that I would not go for the extras,
so they didn't try and browbeat me to death on them. Which is good for me.
Will I be happy with the Civic? I hope so, I have enjoyed owning a 2000
Subaru Outback since it was new, has 137K on it now, has had almost no
problems, I didn't get the extended warranty with it either. All in all, I
enjoyed my Honda experience, although I was a little put off at first.
Hopefully I will get many miles of carefree motoring, if I don't, I will
post another long post.... Other car owners, don't hate me, just expressing
my humble story.