Civics 101

Here's a bit of autoporn for the interested. It's a car I consider both sensible and sexy: it's one of the top ten cars of 2006 in fuel efficiency (though, in that line-up it is near the bottom), and it looks good. The dash is split, with the speedometer further forward and closer to the field of view than the less-immediate displays (tachometer, odometer). When i got to the dealer, they didn't have the color i had planned on (dark blue), so what i got was a combination of what they had and what i wanted (it wasn't a compromise because i'm quite happy with what i drove away with). In fact, i went with the intention of spending a certain amount on an Accord. The dealer talked me into the civic and as a result, i got a more fuel-efficient car with more features than the Accord for the same price i planned for.

Features this car has include the sun/moonroof-- what defines a moonroof? i thought it was window glass in the roof that doesn't open, but my coworkers think it is glass that opens part-way, to vent air, but doesn't fully retract-- alloy wheels (which i didn't understand until a few days after i got the car. this means there is no hub-cap, what you see is the wheel. now that i know about them, i see them a lot), and a in-dash navigation system. The nav system is very cool, but i will qualify that. It's cool because it's kept me from getting lost several times and because when i'm driving around and see a body of water, a park, or a road diverging and wonder where it leads, i can use the nav system to name the features or show me a map of what's over the hill.

The qualification is the source of the map information. There is a navigation DVD which holds the data. The DVD that my car came with is already a year or two out of date. Update DVDs can be purchased from Honda for about $200. What foolishness. There is a property in my hometown neighborhood that used to be a psychiatric hospital but has been renovated and made into upscale apartments. The nav-system still reports that it is Appalachian Hall Hospital, even though it hasn't borne that name for several years.

The real problem, though, is the DVD, which by nature will become outdated. The car has some way to communicate with the GPS network to get position and elevation data. The navigation information should be downloaded on the fly, like mapquest or google maps, so that it is always current. And while it would require a larger effort, highways and city streets should be color-coded to reflect congestion in real time. Then i could see that I-435 is at a stand-still all the way to Quivira and take an alternate route.

But I like my car all the same. It's pretty responsive (when the AC isn't on) and the handling is good. The stereo system is solid and has an auxiliary eighth-inch stereo input, so i can plug in my mp3 player or whatever else. I like the color, which i choose to call graphite. And now you've met Sabado.