I posted a while ago about pricing while I was deciding what to buy or lease, I finally ended up buying a new 09 HCH in white with leather and nav. It replaced a leased Infiniti M35X, wonderful car, but horrible gas mileage. And almost 3 times the price, more or less. I never got more than 18 mpg either no matter what I did. SO I save 2/3s on the car, and probably more on gas.

HCH likes: Price was great, about $4500 less than list. fit and finish are exceptional. It looks really nice. Nice ride. Not as nice as the infiniti, but much better than rentals when I've travelled. I expected a soft and very slow car, but I have been very happy, it is neither soft nor slow (I drove my son's regular civic and a demo before buying, so I had a pretty good idea before). The navi and bluetooth are good. In some ways better than the infiniti, in some ways worse. Gas mileage for my first tank is about 44. I guess that will get better, I have been driving reasonably carefully. Still 2.5 times better than the infiniti, and using reg, not premium.

HCH dislikes: Not really dislikes, but missing stuff. I do not miss the sunroof, I never use them (I am sun-phobic). I do miss the backup camera. I do miss opening and starting the car with the key in my pocket. The seats in the infiniti were more comfortable. (they also went back and forth on car open and close to make it easier to sit down, but I am in excellent shape, ha, I can sit down with no trouble). tires, hm, they were terrible in the infiniti, no worse in the hch. If they are as bad as people say in winter (I am running about 41/38 psi), I will get nokians for the winter.

The 44 mpg will get better, right?

One other question: Does this car come with a 'card' with the radio and nav codes on it? the dealer wrote it down, and mumbled something about a card, but I cannot find it in the papers in the glovebox. Should I hassle the dealer?

thanks,

Mark

 

I did not get a card! One thing I did to improve the seat comfort was make two brackets 1 1/4" long and installed them on the forward mounts of the seats. By raising the seats your hips fit into the seats and your right knee is now above the e-brake and not resting on the brake. By lifting the front of the seats the comfort level improved from 3 to 9 , a big improvement! I hated the seats, but I can drive for hrs. now! Hal

 

Mark, nice write-up and congrats. I have the same car, same equipment but in Polished Metal. It's a heck of a bargain and won't disappoint even those who have 'downsized.'

Check your owner's manual and related paperwork for the code. I'm pretty sure you can also retrieve it from Owner's Link online, but expect you'll find it in your papers.

Many owners say that MPGs improve at about 5K miles, but 44 MPG is excellent. Average for all users is about 47 MPG. Be sure to read this article for many good fuel-saving techniques specific to the HCH.

(By the way, I find the seats to be very comfortable.)

 

Harold and Steve,

Thanks for the replies. I believe I have the correct Nav and Radio codes, written down by the dealer, but since they are not very official looking, I am not sure. I will ask when I visit to get my plates (and the touchup paint I ordered).

About the seats: I think I've found a very comfortable seating position after several tries, but I did an unfair comparison, kind of, against the huge and very comfortable M35x seats. These are good and I do not think I will do more adjusting. And I just made a run with my wife to Costco, we got a bunch of stuff: The trunk is WAY easier to access than the M35x (which was very high and hard to load).

Mark

 

When I got my car, the code number for the radio was handwritten by my salesman in the car's manual. Like Steven says, if you sign up on the Honda owner link website, they will provide you with your car's code, and you will know whether that matches the number you think the dealer gave you.

44 mpg sounds pretty good to me too. Remember the car and the tires haven't been "broken in" just yet either. Best of luck to you with the new car.

 

Thanks. The dealer did write the code for both (radio and nav) in different places, but I am not sure where he got them from: Neither the radio nor the nav have their serial numbers where they were supposed to be according to the honda site (or the manuals). I will talk to the service dept when I visit them.

I am enjoying this car immensely,

Mark

 

I called the dealer's service dept, he looked up the radio and navi codes for me, it turns out that they were both wrong as written into the manual/keychain! The service guy gave me a 5 digit radio code and a 4 digit navi code, can someone confirm that these are the correct lengths?

thx,

Mark

 

Screw all of that. The codes should be on a card slipped into a clear pocket on the back side of your owners manual folder. Then it should be written in the owners manual.

Make the ****ed dealer produce the card and prove its the right numbers.

 

We got a credit card sized white plastic card titled "Identification Card" and "Anti-Theft Radio", plus a peal-off sticker with the same numbers as the card. It's worth noting these numbers, plus the Vehicle Identification Number, plus any-and-all numbers on the key, in several places. I put ours in opening page of the Owner's Manual, inside the front cover my duotang of receipts for the car, and in a log file on our pc as well.