Great car - why such ugly exterior & interior colors?
Created April 1, 2008, at 5:37 pm by Tbirdtony
Hi everyone - I am new to this forum. My wife & I went out today to drive and possibly buy a 2008 Honda Civic Hybrid. We drove the car and were very impressed with the car. It seemed well built & solid, quiet on the road with a little wind noise, comfortable, with adequate acceleration. What my wife and I could not get past were the ugly exterior colors and the two interior colors. Why doesn't Honda offer the Civic Hybrid in all of the available Civic sedan colors? The Taffeta White (with no metallic or pearl) looks like a refrigerator, the Opal Silver Blue Metallic is just plain aweful, the Magnetic Pearl is also terrible, the Galaxy Gray Metallic makes the car look like a cheap subcompact, and the Alabaster Silver Metallic (the only nice exterior color) comes with a horrible dark blue & light gray interior. The Civic Hybrid Ivory interior looks more yellow than tan or ivory. The Civic Hybrid Blue interior, like I stated above, is a very dark blue with light gray. The dark blue seats just don't go with the rest of the interior. We don't understand why Honda can't offer the hybrid in more appealing color combinations. I guess they feel that the hybrids will sell no matter what they look like. Ford has the same problem with Escape/Mariner Hybrids. Ford does not offer all of the Escape/Mariner colors on the Escape/Mariner Hybrids plus good luck finding an Escape/Mariner Hybrid to look at or drive.
I guess we wait until the manufacturers build hybrids that look as good as they perform. Just my wife's & my opinions. We were ready to plunk down the money for the Civic Hybrid but the color combinations stopped us.
Tbirdtony
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3 years ago
Some of us like the colors as they are very distinctive and most are not shared with any other model in Honda's lineup.
But there are indeed many who would rather have more to choose from. Personally I would like to have a broader choice as well.
That color limitation is only an issue in North America. The rest of the world gets the Civic Hybrid in a greater variety of colors than we do.
Cheers;
MSantos
3 years ago
The Element has such cool colours. Prius has great colours as well. HCH is BLAND.
3 years ago
Agreed that the exterior colors are not good. I have alabaster silver which I would have bought on any car. It is great. I too had second thoughts about the dark blue interior but it has grown on me considerably. I now find it modern and very understated. The fabrics are great and the color really doesn't stand out that much.
3 years ago
We've got a white '06, which only comes in a light tan interior. Personally, I would have preferred a dark grey or blue. Paritcularly the light tan carpets are very prone to show grime. We got the black rubber all-season floor mats (an extra) ASAP.
3 years ago
Thanks for all of the comments. My wife & I decided aginst buying the Civic Hybrid because of the exterior & interior color combinations. There wasn't a color combination that we liked. We drove a Prius yesterday and really liked it. Much larger than the Civic and it has fold-down rear seats. Also the Prius is available in great exterior colors & interior colors. I ordered a Barcelona Red Metallic Prius with gray interior. It has many more features & options than the Civic for around the same price. I ordered the Option Package #3 with includes stability control, heated mirrors, Homelink, JBL 6 CD stereo with 9 speakers, backup camera, and much more. The sticker was $24K. You can't even get most of these items on the Civic Hybrid. The Civic Hybrid is a good car and we may have bought one if all Civic colors & interiors were offered. Can't wait to get my new Prius.
3 years ago
I like the colors because they're mostly light. I live in southern California where there's a lot of sun, and here, the light colors make for the car's interior heating up a lot less when you park it in the sun and come back to it a couple hours later.
Another thing I like about the colors is that they're not really that flashy. I think the Prius has colors that are more "cool"...like the deep red, the nice blue color they have, etc. Those colors make your car be noticed. I think that fits with the shape of the Prius...it looks different from another car, so as to draw attention.
The Honda Civic Hybrid is not designed to draw attention to it; it looks just like any other car. I think that's what they were going for, and they made colours to fit this.
3 years ago
One thing my wife likes about the 08 HCH is that it doesn't scream, "Look at me, I'm driving a hybrid!" :) We are trying to decide between the Prius and Honda..a tough decision, but we are leaning toward the Honda. The main reason is that Honda, at least our local dealer, isn't marking them up 3-5 thousand dollars over MSRP. I'm no mathematician, but that is a LOT of gasoline, even at $4.45 a gallon....
And, styling is a funny thing...one person's meat is another's poison. We really like the silver Civic with the blue interior...go figure!
Cheers,
Steve in So Cal
3 years ago
Hi Steve. I agree.
I got the silver (my car) and my wife got the magnetic pearl all on the account of that blue interior. ;)
Cheers;
MSantos
3 years ago
"That color limitation is only an issue in North America. The rest of the world gets the Civic Hybrid in a greater variety of colors than we do"
Actually not true. In australia there are only five colours and they are nto good at all. I too am ready to buy one but the lack of coilour options and the very "yellow" interior has put me off...just slilghtly...:-)
3 years ago
Hi Peter;
You are correct as Australia has only a single interior with no option.
However, in terms of external colors you are generally better off as the Australian color selection is distinct enough to please more people than what we have on our shores. Our colors seem to sit mainly on one side of the rainbow with mainly white and grays to choose from. At least you have a red and a blue which many of us seriously wish we had.
Cheers;
MSantos
3 years ago
Yeah, when we were shopping we really wanted the 2006 Civic Hybrid in white exterior. It was more-or-less the *only* car in *any* of their model lines that came in white that year. I think there was one other: the Ridgline truck (which wasn't what we had in mind).
Anyway, I was taken aback a bit by the tan interior that came with white. I've never liked light coloured interiors, they're a pita to keep clean. 2~3 years down the road our interior is starting to look a little "burnished": seat edges and door handles in particular. Black, all season rubber floor mats (by Honda) helped with the carpet, which would otherwise likely be a disaster by now.
Addendum: Forgot to mention, this is in Canada.
3 years ago
I'll try this again . . .
Just got back from the dealer. To the best of my memory, this is the new color list for '09 hybrids:
Alabaster Silver Metallic (blue interior)
Magnetic Pearl (blue)
Nighthawk Black Pearl (ivory)
______ White Pearl (blue) -- this isn't the Diamond White Pearl on the Accords
Atomic Blue Metallic (ivory)
Polished Metal Metallic (ivory)
Also, leather will now be available for the hybrid.
3 years ago
durufle, what country? The States? Looks like no non-metallic white: "Pearl" is metallic isn't it?
3 years ago
USA, sorry. Pearl isn't metallic. It's more like a deep luster that picks up other light hues, kinda like a slight halographic effect. If you've seen a piece of mother of pearl shell, that's where the name comes from -- that irridescent quality. This link shows the comparison of the Taffeta White (on the current Civics) versus the White Diamond Pearl on the Accord:
http://automobiles.honda.com/accord-sedan/exterior-colors.aspx
Acura, on the other hand, has no less than four different white pearl offerings on their various models, none of which seemed to be the white pearl I saw on the printed list for the 09 Civics.
3 years ago
I ordered a red with charcoal interior Prius in January. When I came to pick it up it had a putty "bisque" interior. I ended up getting talked into getting it anyway. You know the spiel "It will be at least 3 months before we can get another one in", "It will be cooler", "It doesn't show the dirt and won't stain" etc., etc. What a mistake, I can't get used to the industrial grey color. I feel as if I'm in a cubical or doctor's office. I spent my life saving to buy this car and I am uncomfortable in it. I put it in the classifies today. With the price of gas at least I'll be able to get my money out of it. I might get another Prius someday but from a different dealer. How hard is it to check the right color when you're ordering a car? Anyway my 22 year old Honda still gets 42 mpg on the highway, if it wasn't for the blue smoke that follows it. Must be the smoke monster from Lost.
1 year ago
black interiors are the best they always look the cleanest
1 year ago
Just get the Panic at the Disco HCH:
http://www.cars.justelite.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/honda-civic-tou...
::barf::
Nothing against the band, but that paint job looks like a preschool playground mural.
4 weeks ago
the cars are bad
4 weeks ago
the cars are bad
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