2007 Honda Civic 1.8 i-Vtec SE - Insurance Group 21??

johnson293

Hi,

My dad is currently looking for a new car, and has a Renault Megane at present, so will be looking for a similar mid-sized hatchback, nothing too fancy.

He isn't sure what he really fancies, so I was looking to give him some ideas at the weekend, and suggested a recent (ish) Honda Civic, with a 2007 1.8 SE model availabel for around £6000-7000 (on auto trader).

The garage listing said it was Insurance group 9, so we checked Parkeres online guide to check out other data (fuel economy, etc), and Parkers says it is actually I.G. 21!! :eek:

Went to an online Honda Dealer and looked up similar aged cars at Honda dealers, and they also said it was I.G. 21.

Can anyone confirm this is the case, and if so, why is it so high for what isn't a sport model (Type-R).

Cheers

mattyprice4004

There are 2 insurance groupings, the 'old' system (1-20) and new system (1-50).

That's why you're getting those figures.

21 for a 1.8 in a small-ish car is about right.

johnson293

Ah right - just read something about that, and says with the new groupings, they have roughly doubled (i.e. previous group 4 might become group 9 or 10) - so where the civic may have been group 9, it is now group 21.

So, the actual premiums should be roughly the same then?

Dad was worried he was suddenly gonna be paying for something with a high grouping - we weren't aware they had changed them.

savemoney

They are great cars I got one recently a 2008 only pain is getting stereo updated due to expensive fascia £200+ ended up with a xcarlink for usb/ipod. I heard many times how reliable Honda are that said my focus was reliable. I am not sure of insurance group as I just looked for one of cheapest but with NCD and protected claims. My old insurance hiked up premiums when I changed car from Ford focus 1.6lx to Honda civic 1.8se, managed to get it down to around same shopping around

Oh and suspension is soft for civics but they are great cars to drive

edit also forgot car wont go up my driveway with front end slightly catching on the drop kerb. Its not all that steep but goes slightly off at one side the driveway, focus went up know problems its the very small mudflap under the front of the front wheels that catches

Biglad_3

savemoney wrote: »

Oh and suspension is soft for civics but they are great cars to drive

I'm surprised you say that, when I went to look at new cars I test drove a civic and actually thought the opposite. I thought it was a hard ride and very fidgety, I always felt I was having to correct it. I also would not get one without reversing sensors as the view out the rear window is terrible especially when you cannot see out of it when it was wet as it had no wiper !

savemoney

Sorry biglad might have got my terminology wrong yes you can feel bumps a lot. I try and avoid speedhump that said I did in my old car due to damaging suspension despite going slow less than 20mph and also its quite low down on civic. I dont want to damage car

Dont have problem looking out of rear window but I do know what you mean its not as good as other cars and I do miss wiper for rear window I am going to get a product to put on glass g3 they call it is better than rainx last around 3-4 months

scheming_gypsy

To be honest though, in reality insurance groups mean shite all when it comes to getting an insurance quote. Base your decision on an actual quote rather than a rating system that doesn't take everything that insurers take into consideration.

rodenal

savemoney wrote: »

Sorry biglad might have got my terminology wrong yes you can feel bumps a lot. I try and avoid speedhump that said I did in my old car due to damaging suspension despite going slow less than 20mph and also its quite low down on civic. I dont want to damage car

Dont have problem looking out of rear window but I do know what you mean its not as good as other cars and I do miss wiper for rear window I am going to get a product to put on glass g3 they call it is better than rainx last around 3-4 months

Yeah think you got your terminology slightly mixed up as my civic diesel has far from soft suspension, I like a firm ride though......;) Personally I still find the car perfectly comfortable, the trade off being a bit of noise over bumps, I generally own more "performance" orientated cars though so if coming from a big soft motor it would be a shock. You're right in that it's not got alot of clearance for a modern car - it's not that the actual underbody is low it's more bumper clearance as there are 2 little flaps to direct air (i assume) that catch on everything, not really a problem though.

I've never found the rear window a problem at all, at night it blocks out headlights from the driver behind which I like - I did install a camera though (£20 to do if you have a sat nav car) with markers as I simply couldn't tell where the back of the car was. Nothing to do with the rear view just a combination of odd mirror magnification and poor judgement from me (I was leaving far too much room)

The above is correct in that insurance groups mean very little - I've no idea what group the diesel EX is but I pay the exact same as I did for my mk3 mr2 and more than I paid for an mr2 turbo, e36 328i or corrado vr6 - go figure

johnson293

Cheers for the replies, and the opinions on the Civic - all very helpful.

As I said, the car is for my dad, and he really doesn't know what he fancies next, but I like the look of the Civic, and suggested it to him.

He will need to have a look and try one fo them for rear visibility, ride, etc.

His main priority is reliability (coming from owning a Renault, which is developing faults), so I also suggested Mazda 3 to him, but its also about finding a decent car, with not too many miles on.

His current car is a diesel, but he doesn't do enough miles/type of journeys to warrant the extra fuel cost anymore, so is looking towards a petrol this time.

I think his budget is gonna be about £6k (ish) top end, so looking at cars around 2007/08 is at newest.

Anyway, Cheers again..

MJ

bloss0m

The civics are great cars. I was told this by a mechanic they are very reliable I think they won an award for reliability. The parts arent all that cheap but wouldn't say all that expensive either.

Top 13 here

http://www.reliabilityindex.com/top-100

top one here for 2010

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/articles/2010/08/cars/audi/britains-most-reliable-cars-named

Honda has been named as the most reliable manufacturer for the fifth year running, with the top seven spots being dominated by Japanese manufacturers.

bloss0m

You might be pushed 6k for 2008 civic unless it has high mileage