Last week I was in a Honda Civic. I know a lot of people love these cars, so forgive me in advance for my review. On the positive side, from the rear, it looks like a spacecraft. I thought perhaps they'd given me George Jetson's car. Alas it did not fly. It did, however, have an automatic setting for lights. They went on when you turned the car on, and off when you turned it off.
There were one or two things I didn't like about it. They hide the phone charger outlet way under the steering wheel. It took me a long time to find it. It was also pretty hard to figure out how to pair my phone, because being a rental all the slots were taken. I had to look up on Google how to delete one of the existing phones.
It rode like a toboggan. I felt at all times like I was directly on the ground. Also, I'm a little tall and I felt like I had to contort myself each and every time I got into the car. It was very good on gas. I'm not sure exactly how good, though. Unlike my car, and the one I had before it, there's no reading for how many miles per gallon.
One thing I really didn't like was the radio. On the highway there was excessive road noise, and the radio turned up all the way could barely mask it. I thought they could've at least equipped the car with a radio that would wipe out the road noise. Also, I have this little thing with which I hook my phone to the car vent. The Civic has recessed vents so you can't do that.
I'm pleasantly surprised with my little Versa. Though it's a sub-compact, the driver position is a little higher up than the Civic. It's easy to get in and out. My phone thing hooks right onto the vent, and I can look at Waze whenever I need to. The lights are not automatic, but there is a nag tone whenever you turn the car off while leaving the lights on. Also, the cupholder is in an odd place, and it's hard to put the cup in it when you're driving to work in the dark.
It doesn't have the same road feel either. I'm kind of surprised to find that the tiny Nissan has better suspension than the Civic, and by far. I like a little more space than this car affords me, but riding it doesn't feel bad at all. I'm fairly confident I won't end up pushing it to work tomorrow, but again, if you see me doing it, please wave.
The best thing about it is the stereo. It's easily 50% louder than the one in the Civic. And there's less road noise too. I would've expected to like the Civic better. I haven't priced these cars but I'll bet the Civic costs a whole lot more than the Versa, let alone its big brother the Sentra. So if you're renting or buying a small car, don't overlook the Versa.
And if you're driving something else, be careful when stopped at red lights. I used to think stopping at red lights was the safe way to go but I'm not so sure anymore.
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