Used 2012 Honda Civic Sedan Consumer Reviews
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Nice redesign
eddyc1, 05/04/2011
2012 Honda Civic EX-L 4dr Sedan (1.8L 4cyl 5A)
5 of 5 people found this review helpful
Took delivery of a beautiful blue EX-L last night. Love the redesign. The 5 inch information display is a very nice addition. Performance and fun to drive didn't get high marks. I mean, it's a Civic and my other car is a 335I. But for what I was looking for in a commute car, it fills the bill. Hitting the ECON button does in fact make it noticeably harder to accelerate, but it should be great for best mileage and you can turn it off quickly. Seats not all that comfortable, but my wife thinks they're fine so could just be me.
No odometer
softailguy, 08/27/2013
2012 Honda Civic LX 4dr Sedan (1.8L 4cyl 5A)
13 of 16 people found this review helpful
I purchased my 2012 Civic LX in July 2012. It now has about 19,000 miles on it. It does well on gas but I think the fuel guage is inaccurate. It supposedly has a 13 gallon tank yet even when I'm on E and the range says 9 miles I am never able to put more than 10 gallons in it. And then today I left work and noticed I had no odometer display, no maintenance minder info, no fuel mpg info or range info. It just disappeared from the menu. So now I have no way of knowing what my mileage is or when to change my oil. This is my first Honda after driving Hyundai Elantras for 15 years. I should have stuck with Hyundai. Better car for less money.
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Electrical problems have plagued this car
Honda_dad, 08/07/2016
updated 08/28/2017
2012 Honda Civic EX 4dr Sedan (1.8L 4cyl 5A)
7 of 8 people found this review helpful
The only problem we had with this car was going through three batteries from the dealership within the first six months. What we found is the batteries Honda puts in these vehicles are apparently the least they can get by with. After replacing the third one and taking it to an auto parts store to have the alternator checked (which was checked and found to be ok) I bought an Optima Yellow Top battery for it and after three and half years we have had to replace it. Now it's a toss up as to whether or not the air conditioner will work. Electrical issues seem to be getting worse with age.
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It's The Best In It's Class
dagoomba, 07/04/2011
2012 Honda Civic EX-L 4dr Sedan w/Nav (1.8L 4cyl 5A)
38 of 51 people found this review helpful
I have had my 2012 Civic EX-L W/Navigation for about a week now. I have never owned a Honda before and for my 65th birthday I decided to get me a new Civic. My criteria for a new car was fuel economy, performance and resale value. The cars I considered were Elantra, Focus, Cruze and Civic. I read volumes of reviews and came to the conclusion that the so called expert reviewers felt the 2012 Civic did not make much of a change to the previous years and therefore they felt that Honda had taken a step back to the other models I was considering since they had surpassed the Civic in styling. Since styling was not one of my criteria points those reviews did not stray me away from considering a Civic. In fact since I never have owned a Honda I thought the styling was perfect for best fuel economy. Without going into all of the reasons I decided to buy the Civic (Elantra comes without a spare tire) I will give you my impressions of the first week of owning one. The Civic is very roomy and comfortable. I do wish the glove box and center console were a little bigger, but I can live with the size they are. The I-Mid and navigation screen give you more data than you could imagine. Some reviewers call it cheesy. I think it's pretty cool and very informative. Civics come with an "ECON" button that optimizes your fuel economy. When your ECON button is activated your performance takes a hit and acceleration is not as good as it would be with the ECON button not in use. Some reviewers say they can't see any difference between having the ECON button on or off. Well, I'm here to tell you there is a difference and it's noticeable. But, if you are trying to get the best possible fuel economy that you can then using the ECON button will save you fuel. On my first tank of gas I used the ECON as much as possible in city and highway and got a combined 34.3 mpg. In that first tank I drove from Sacramento to Reno and got 37.5 mpg ( lot of driving uphill and ECON was off while climbing those hills) Coming home from Reno I got 45.5 mpg ( lot of going downhill and had ECON on) So far I am very pleased with fuel economy. The Civic handles well in the turns and with the ECON off it has plenty of pep as far as I'm cornered. The air conditioning works great and cools off the cabin nicely. Those in the back seat were very comfortable in 97 degree weather. I do see me tinting the back windows though. The Bluetooth was easy to sync up with my Droid and call quality is very good. I'm impressed with the sound system and love being able to use a USB drive. I still have much to learn about this car but so far it is everything I was hoping it would be. I got the EX-L W/Navi for $22,500. I added some other accessories and of course tax, license and doc fees. I also got an 8 year 100,000 extended warranty for $1,200. If you decide to get yourself a 2012 Civic you will not be disappointed. You may not have the sexiest looking car on the road but you will have a solid car that you can depend on now and in the future.
Civic - better than ever!
winkr22, 11/03/2011
2012 Honda Civic LX 4dr Sedan (1.8L 4cyl 5A)
12 of 15 people found this review helpful
We bought the car a few months back with overall value in mind. Overall value, for our purposes, was defined as a combination of reliability, gas mileage, safety, long term cost of ownership, and comfort. I would say in that order -- but really all of them were high on the order list. We were not looking for the type of car to modify or look thuggish, and we did not want the type of car that gets stolen for that purpose like some of the older Japanese models like Civics did. As a VALUE oriented car, this vehicle is spectacular and exactly what we wanted. We have stopped subscribing to CR as their quality of reviews over the last couple of years has gone more the way of sensationalism
Best in Class!
kaneohe00, 07/05/2012
2012 Honda Civic LX 4dr Sedan (1.8L 4cyl 5A)
22 of 29 people found this review helpful
I test drove a hyundai elantra, a corolla and corolla S before I drove the Honda. Didn't bother with Ford, Nissan or Kia because I wanted a car that would last for a long time without a doubt. The Hyundai drove well and had a lot of extras but based of past performance and current reviews I felt like they were trying to sell you with extras versus a solid performer. So it came down to the corolla and civic. The civic drove better, had a more attractive and functional interior and I felt Honda put a lot of effort into the design of the civic while it seemed Toyota hasn't done anything to improve the Corolla since 1985. It reminded me of the Tercel my mom had when I was 10 years old.
I Love My little Civic
99eclipses, 12/12/2011
2012 Honda Civic LX 4dr Sedan (1.8L 4cyl 5A)
9 of 11 people found this review helpful
To tell you the trusth i hated the last civic. So when the dealership initially showed me this Civic i was thinking in my head, "Im going to hate this, this is a waste of my time", till i actually looked at the car and drove it. My wife also didnt like it till she sat in it, and she fell in love with it after driving it. I had also takin the Nissan Versa out for a drive and when i got in it it was huge! But after 20 mins of sitting in it I absolutly hated it. So we ended up getting the civic for $1k more. The technology in this car is absolutly amazing. Its 3 times what the versa will EVER be.
2012 Honda Civic 4 Door
JSmith, 04/08/2022
2012 Honda Civic EX-L 4dr Sedan (1.8L 4cyl 5A)
4 of 4 people found this review helpful
Overall, I love my Honda. I have 278+k miles on it. I've driven from TX to NV, FL, SD, and the Gulf several times. I bought the car used with 36k miles on it. I have never replaced anything on it except oil changes and spark plugs 1x, and passenger wheel bearing. I live where there is plentiful game so I have hit a hog and 2 coons. The coons did more damage than I expected. Just tore off plastic wheel covers and the second broke the front bumper cover. The hog messed the radiator up. I've had a deer run into my door. I didn't fix that, but my key wont unlock it now. I had to buy a new key with the buttons. That wasn't originally given to me upon purchase. At about 170k miles I had to replace the passenger wheel bearing. The motor is great. No problems. The only problems I do have with it is wear and tear because my road is a rock county road, and my driveway used to be a cotton and soy bean field. There is now a vibration or a shaking on decelaration at interstate speeds (75-85 mph). At 278k miles, I'm still getting 37.3 average mpg. Dislikes: windshield slanting, 1.8L = slow acceleration, loud road noise, passengers can get uncomfortable after 1,000+ miles per day, one door key lock. I read some of the other reviews on here. I use micheline tires, so I don't hydroplane. I have used cheaper tires before and could feel slight hydroplaning. Just let off the gas in large puddles. I was comfortable in my driver seat, even on the long trips with 4 buldging disc. I think the trunk is large enough considering an econo car. I've gone camping and traveled America in this car. We all packed what we wanted, coolers, baggage, fishing gear, etc. This has been a very dependable car that has never failed me yet. It has always gotten me from point A to point B. It may have its slight downsides, but I bought the car for dependability and it has done that for 8 years.
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Wasn't very reliable or cheap to maintain for me.
Mike B., 12/05/2020
2012 Honda Civic EX-L 4dr Sedan w/Nav (1.8L 4cyl 5A)
4 of 4 people found this review helpful
This 2012 Honda Civic EX-L just didn't give me the durability or the low maintenance costs I desperately needed it to. It did, at first. Then around 80,000 miles or so, it started falling apart at the seams. While the fit and finish/general build quality inside remained rock-solid, the exhaust manifold cracked, the clearcoat paint faded badly on top, the throttle body & position sensor gave me issues, it constantly went through batteries, and worst of all, the 5-speed automatic transmission was on its way out with just over 100,000 miles. I have been left stranded more than once by this car due to premature battery failure. I bought this car in 2015 with 39,600 miles hoping to get 200,000 trouble-free and cheap to maintain miles, and instead I had to get rid of it (and saddle myself with another car payment) before paying it off due to how much of a money pit it was. I took good care of it, too... In terms of driving experience, there's a reason Consumer Reports stopped recommending the Civic for 2012. I didn't give a crap about the cheap, hard plastic interior (it was one of the few things that held up on this car), but I did give a crap about the wallowy, boat-like handling, the lack of steering feel, the general noisiness, and the uncomfortable seats. None of this would have really mattered if the car held up as expected, though. If you must own a 9th gen Civic, get a 2013 - the first year bugs were rectified, many subjective qualities were improved (interior, ride, handling), and it still keeps a 5-speed auto compared to a CVT in the 2014-2015 Civics.
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Honda Fan
watersonclan, 03/04/2014
updated 09/07/2016
2012 Honda Civic LX 4dr Sedan (1.8L 4cyl 5A)
4 of 4 people found this review helpful
1/2014 - This is my sixth Honda in 30 years. I researched what I wanted very carefully and decided on the smaller fuel efficient Civic for commuting back and forth to work. With gasoline prices continuing to inch up, this is the best model available without having to go to a hybrid. I have put 1,200 miles on my car so far and am happy to say I am getting an average of 42 mpg on a tank of gas. I am very happy with my purchase and after shopping at every dealership in the Inland Empire, I was glad to finally find a reputable dealership in Pasadena who did not try to play games or sell me something I didn't want. 3/2016 - I have been driving my 2012 Civic now for two years and am still as much in love with it as I was when I bought it. I love the size, the handling and most of all the fuel economy. The least I have seen on my mpg was 38. I average 41. We also still own a 1993 Honda Accord and it is still seeing 28-30 mpg after nearly 24 years! You just can't beat Honda for style, fuel economy and reliability. I am a Honda owner for life! P.S. We also own a Ford Ranger pick up truck, so we have tried other car makers, Honda is just the best! 8/2016 - Still a huge Honda fan and proud to say it runs in the family. My daughter is in the market for a fuel efficient car to drive back and forth to work and what is she looking at, the Honda Civic. Thinking about giving her mine and buying a new one, but we'll see. Love my Civic!
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