2006/2007 Civic coupe vs. sedan handling

I'm in the market for a an 07 Civic but unsure about whether to go
with the sedan or coupe. I'm interested in better handling and
understand the suspension on the coupe is more performance oriented
than the sedan (and that the Si is firmer than the coupe but it's out
of my price / insurance range... and I'm looking for good fuel
efficiency). Anyway, does the coupe handle noticably better than the
sedan? I'll be trading my WRX so I'm weary of going to anything that
feels mushy. As it is, I'm not even sure how well I'll adapt to the
civic but at $3/gallon I'm tired of mediocre fuel economy. At least
I've owned honda's in the past and liked them.

And to complicate things, I'm also looking at the Mazda 3 which looks
like a great car for about the same money. Unfortunately, I don't
trust the Mazda reliability which is a shame because I would probably
go with that car if I thought it would last. I normally drive my cars
about 100K miles before trading so reliability is important.

Any thoughts?

 

I am not aware of a difference between sedans and coupes in the civic line.
The Si does have a different suspension (for handling), but you may not be
happy with the economy of it. I average about 24 MPG in mixed driving
(slightly higher in the summer) and about 32 Highway.

I would probably recommend the EX, with the number of doors you prefer. I
think the coupe looks much better than the sedan, but that is a personal
preference thing...

And 100k on the civic will barely get it broken in... ;-) AAMOF, the
only service you'll likely need on it will be fluid and filter changes.
There is no more timing belt, and the first tune-up is at 100k.

 

I own a coupe and have driven the sedan, the coupe is a little sportier
and there are some suspension differences. Its a nice car, I recommend
it.

 

snip
I normally drive my cars

Wanna save some serious money? Consider driving your cars for 200,000
miles or more. There are any number of cars that will go 200,000 miles
with few major repairs. Doing that will save you a bunch more money
than buying a 34 mpg (vs 28 mpg) car that will be traded at 100,000
miles.

If you insist upon buying new every 100,000 miles and you plan to own
the car for only 5 or 6 years you can buy almost anything you want.
All cars are pretty good these days. Want some protection from repair
costs - consider an extended warranty (get a quote on-line from
Warranty Direct).

 

Yeh, but at the 15,000 miles / year I drive it will take 13 years to
put on 200K miles. Man, I just get bored sooner than that and want to
try something new. That probably has something to do with why I'm
getting a new car now since there really isn't anything wrong with my
ride. And new cars are so shiny...

 

Yes, they are.

A Civic sedan is probably going to be cheaper to insure than the
coupe. More passenger friendly, too. There are minor suspension
differences between the coupe and sedan so a test drive of both over
the same roads should indicate to you which you prefer. If you can't
detect a difference, go with the cheaper-to-insure and easier to
resell sedan. Or not.

Buy a set of performance tires at your earliest opportunity for either
the coupe or sedan. Good tires will make a big difference in
responsiveness, especially on wet roads.

Now the BIG QUESTION... what color? Show-off red, blend-into-the-
background blue or wash-me black?

 

I'm thinking techno-silver. I actually liked oversold-grey but it's
just to ubiquitous in this area (northeast usa).

As far as insurance, i checked it out and the coupe is $50/year more
so it's a non-issue to me. I agree on the point about tires - they
make a huge difference. Like with sandwiches it's all about the
bread, carpet is all about the padding and cars the tires.