Civic VTEC Turbo’s ‘Rear Entertainment Unit’ – A Useless Feature?
So now that 2016 Civic is finally and officially here let’s talk about the stuff that comes on board. Apart from the build quality concerns circulating Civic since its launch, there is one more point of concern for the VTEC Turbo variant of the new Civic. To blow off your suspense, I am not talking about the 91-RON fuel requirement of VTEC Turbo what I am about to discuss is the “Rear Entertainment System” which forcefully comes installed in the top of the line variant of the new Civic.
Civic’s Rear Entertainment System comes in as a standard feature on the VTEC Turbo and Honda Atlas is giving its buyers no option to avoid getting one. Making a feature like this standard on a variant raises two issues,
- First, you will not be able to get rid of it from factory
- Secondly, if you want it in your Civic, you will need to buy the top of the line VTEC Turbo trim to get one since it’s not an option on both i-VTEC and i-VTEC Oriel variants.
Also Read: Honda Civic i-VTEC Oriel VS Toyota Corolla Grande – So They Meet Again!
So it’s simple, if you want the VTEC Turbo engine you will need to live with a feature you never asked for, and vice versa if you want a factory installed rear entertainment unit you will need to buy a PKR 3.0 million VTEC Turbo to make that happen else third party installations are your last resort!
The point I am trying to make is not the quality of the system (a brief review to follow this week) or anything in that regard. What makes me sad is the imposing attitude employed by Honda Atlas which is a slap in the face of a loyal customer who reserved one by paying an upfront non-refundable PKR 1.4 million without seeing the car, merely on the basis of the company’s repute and ends up getting a feature he is least interested in, which apparently has caused the PKR 100,000 price hike in VTEC Turbo’s price when compared with its tentative pricing from last month.
Have a Look: 2016 Honda Civic in Pakistan and its Questionable Exterior Build Quality
Honda Atlas and their customers would have been much better served if they would have simply kept it as an elective feature for all three variants or better by giving an otherwise left out feature in PKDM Civic, in this way they would have avoided the third party installations which will continue to thrive even now as VTEC Turbo’s owners who do not need it will get it stripped off and at the same time the users of the other two variants interested in getting this feature get it installed through third parties and spoil their warranty.
These are small things to consider, however, from the looks of it Honda Atlas just wanted to justify the PKR 100,000 price hike of Civic VTEC Turbo from its tentative pricing by giving an “exclusive” yet unwanted feature. Here’s my take on this controversial inclusion, what are your views on this matter? Let us know in the comments section!
Read More: The Fragmented Lineup Of 2016 Honda Civic In Pakistan – Explained!
Yaar Kiu is car ke pechay paray Ho. Thora appriciate karo ke first time itnay features Wali car Pakistan mai launch hoi hai
Well it looks cheap.
They would have given lcds on the headrest like any other normal car.
Honda sensing would have been better option than rear entertainment. There is no mention of Honda sensing anywhere in Pakistan.
Civic mein betho to pta lgay ga aap ko…. best , best and best…… durable and comfortable…….
But in Pakistan there is too much advanced technology at pak suzuki he reaserch how to fool pakistani and loot pakistani awam and earn money .
Mera ek cousin pak suzuki factory gaya tha sales person ki job ke silsilay main gaya tha tu wahan ke ek manager ne bataya ke idhar Japanese asool ke buhat paky hain agar aap ek minute bhe late eye tu job se nikal dye jaoge.
Wow asool ke bohat paky hain waqai mehran tabhi tu bana rahe hain abhi tak waqai “old is gold and mehnga roy ek bar sasta roy baar baar”
I Don’t understand why Pakwheels Blog writers are negating the new Civic so badly. Since it’s launch, I haven’t seen anything appreciating enough. All what’s out their are blogs on pathetic build quality of the car which you would find in any Pakistani manufactured vehicle. I am not saying that it’s good for a PKR 3 million car but if you are living in this country, you should expect these things. I haven’t seen blogs on Toyota Corolla’s build quality when it was launched. I am sure it would also have such defects but it seems like you guys don’t bother what other car makers are providing us with. I am just saying that if we want to improve the built quality of these cars, we should equally oppose other car makers as well, i.e Suzuki and Toyota. I request you guys to please write a blog on Toyota Corolla Altis Grande and highlight the defects of this car as well so that in future, we Pakistanis might not get the crap which the automakers here are providing us with.
it seems that pakwheels’s been sponsored by toyota to defame honda but onething is for sure that civic users like me don’t bother these blogs because they know that unit they’ll get will have nothing like this if this is even a fault. Moreover most of the stuff present here don’t own civic. they are most of those who just have seen it in the showrooms or they are bound to have toyotas only due to some reason or the other. the genuine civic users know very well what it’s worth of as against toyota’s n most of them don’t even bother to visit pakwheels for such useless stuff like one have claimed the credit of few specs issue on honda’s website which were corrected on his point of order. what a joke.
its a cool car……….the rear entertainment has not increased the price of the car by 1 lac rupees….the cost of the unit should not be more then 20 thousand rupees…its a good feature but should have been optional……Atlas Honda should sell car 20 thousand cheaper for those who don’t want it……….if somebody does not want to use it, he can simply fold it and it would’nt be visible………….it is very useful to watch movies when your driver is driving and you are relaxing at the back seat……….Good Atlas…….Thanks for introducing so many features like rear AC vents and entertainment……
This is useless article. Writter chai, when buy ur turbo civic, you can get it removed on 1st day. Stop sharing negative article and positive criticism is ok. Article about quality r worth discussing and batter to compare things with other local car manufacturer. What is quality of toyota corolla and suzuki? Did u guys wrote single article about their quality? Pak wheel is obviously biased and advertising some agenda by rivals of honda civic. Think 100 times before sharing ur dirty motives or thoughts.
I think you are right. This unit probably costs around 30K but Honda would have added to the overall price of around 80K. Secondly not only it is useless but it is also doing bad to the shape of rear of arm rest.
Learn from India…. How good their car export policies, how good car companies there , how good their EXPORT PROMOTION BUREAU…. in Pakistan, Government is corrupt, they ask commission from Car companies to set up plants…. Pakistan has much much more RAW MATERIALS to manufacture cars as compared to India. but the issue is illiteracy…. Adan Ali is one of the best writer from Pakistan
100% agree with the author. It should be an optional feature if at all…
Seems like Pak wheel is biased and sponsored by Toyota
The same writer Adan Ali took the spy shots of the car and has supported Civic before launch and read that Clash of titans waala article he said that Oriel is better than grande….. jo ghalat baat hai woh ghalat hai par jo sahi baat hai woh bhi dekho!!
exactly, pakwheels is the only platform that kept majority updated with civic x, almost a year before its launch. pakwheels’ issues aren’t with Honda (International, Japan) or Civic but with what Honda Atlas is providing us which is sadly not upto mark. also the quality of previous generations wasn’t as low as this. 8th and 9th gen were best of the Civics churned out by Honda Atlas.
or anywhere outside U.S.
2 maheeny pehly tak paglon ki trha pichey parrey hue they, ab aa gayee ha tu chutiye ban gaye hen!
Lun ee oo tussi pakwheels aalyo…..!!
If you cannot understand, surely your skills are not up to mark.
1. The build quality of Corolla has also decreased, but not to the extent that major blobs of welding material be seen in main, presentable places.
2. Civic X had a lot of hype, and it has award winning interior and exterior all over the world, yet Pakistani audiences did not receive the goodies.
3. Atlas’ quality of manufacture generally used to be better than Indus or PS, but now it is worse than those. Not only did Civic X not live up to its international name, it did not live up to the expectations Atlas has built over the last 20 years they have been working in Pakistan.
I clearly remember when current gen Corolla was launched, there were articles on PW Blog discussing build quality of materials such as arm rest, the dashboard which comes which conventional FM radio and no MP3, and the ugly space between the rear wheel and wheel arch. And Corolla did not have the ugly blobs of welding material, true?
On PW Blog, there are lots of articles about the build quality of Suzuki and Toyota. In fact one of the successes of PW journalistic support is that one of the guys whose car had dented fender, bonnet, headlight from the factory, PW covered it and forced Indus to correct it.
You obviously have short term memory. “Batter”[sic] for you to improve your quality of English and quality of thinking.
It is true Pakwheels blog has pathetic English (and these days lots of click bait articles), but it is also true that PW Blog is the only sane voice in our automotive industry.
Afford kar sakay to beth bhi jaengay.
Utni he peson main merc ya audi men na beth jaen?
Another cheap tactic by Atlas and now it is blindly following two other assemblers — Indus and Suzuki and competing with them in bad workmanship and poor quality and stripping down cars to make bucks.
One fine day, a “loyal” customer will turn up and demand he wants manual windows coz he likes a casual workout while driving or he wants a turbo without the cruise control. Come on guys, these are standard options and they do not deserve such hue and cry because corolla ain’t offering them and we see it unwanted in a civic. Progress should always be appreciated, crying over a few thousands charged for an accessory while spending three million on a car is unreasonable. If you don’t like it just keep it stowed under the armrest and you won’t see it :). In my humble opinion, this argument is totally uncalled for. Civic is one of the favorite passenger cars of middle-high class families and I think this option will be applauded by the majority for keeping kids busy in the backseat. Having said that, I totally agree with posts addressing the below average quality of production.
Civic is no doubt a nice car, but not in the long run. Many of my friends who bought Oriels for 2.7 million a couple of years ago (on road price) are now facing up to six lakh loss. Last month I sold my Altis 1.6 after driving it for one year for 21.05 million rupees while I bought it for 19.72 million. Previously I kept a Corolla for 10 years. Bought it for 849,000 and sold it for 1.1 million rupees 134,000 kms driven. So Corolla is value for money and king of all kinds of roads.
while i will be silent on standard option for TURBO but I think that they should have given option to other two variants VTEC and Oriel too for this rear entertainment system.
It’s still a “Civic” guys. 3 million for a paki built 1.5 liter Civic is insane. It’s a price of an Accord in the rest of the world.
Agreed x 2
Pak wheels is still operating today because it is fully funded by Indus Motors.
Keeping in mind the price one pays for a Mehran and the price one pays for a Civic … the Mehran is more value for money than Civic
You’re getting a brand new merc or audi for 3 million? Kidhar say bhai, mujhay bhee bata dou 😛
Its your choice eIther you go for saving (by thinking about its resale after 10 years of use) or for comfort, luxury & features (say for 10 years) 🙂
Agree and second your response
Sorry the article is totally based on useless logic. I think i didn’t get the writer’s logic exactly as it seems he wanna say that an extra features in honda civic is useless because its not provided with corolla. strange
go for 3 million Mercedes or Audi 😀
It is not just about saving, but value for money. As far as comfort is concerned Corolla has a very comfy ride, rear reclining seats and rear flat floor, leather seats with later door trims, cruise control, dual airbags, climate control, sunroof, pedal shifters, retractable auto rearview mirror, wow meter with colour Imid are all there. In Civic you even don’t know which door is open, just Xli like door open indication. Trunk liner, trunk tray (mat), original Toyota floor mats come standard. In 2.8 million Civic, you even don’t get matching door handles.
From the picture it looks out of place and something that is so crudely put in may be in reality it doesn’t look as bad but a price tag of extra 100000 is too high
honda has messed up big time……………..:(
No one in their right senses would pay this amount of money for a half baked tin can
Guys… seems that Honda has copied Tesla: at least in the pix taken from the front n side it looks like a Tesla. ……
Listen friend let me tell you one thing corolla is a piece of shit car and always will be . I mean the paddle shifter is just not worth it. No performance no safety just bit easy on the parts and value for money that’s it. I drove a new corolla the 1.8 Grande and it sucked bu big time. I couldn’t feel the wow factor that people made it sound like instead I got bored of the car and left. I’m not saying that I’m a honda lover or die hard fan but corolla still offers the cheapest drive I mean look at the torsion suspension at the rear it has it is the cheapest thing they have I mean where is the safety in that while Honda offers double wish bone so that the car stays stiff and grips and doesn’t roll over and also with independent suspension I mean you don’t see that in any corolla and never will even the damn prius or other Japanese cars of Toyota has the same thing cheap torsion suspension at rear. So please don’t compare a cheap ass corolla with a civic cause civic is very comfortable when it comes to smooth roads like corolla is good on rough roads.
So, if I’m not wrong, it depends how you define value for money either good resale or comfort level. For me value for money regarding car is comfort & drive experience.
I do agree, corolla is best in terms of first definition and of course, the rough roads we usually have in our small towns, villages & hilly areas.
For me some of features you mentioned earlier are more important (i.e. comfort, seats, floor, cruise control, safety, climate control, pedal shifters, auto mirrors, meter) than floor mats and matching door handles 🙂 I’ll really don’t care about floor mates and matching door handles if I’m buying a car worth more than 2 million. My focus will be towards driving experience
But the price hiked due to Govt policies and custom and duties applied on cars.
i don’t think the price difference of 100k is for the rear entertainment system
well i wouldn’t say messed up. its a pretty cool car but i agree that they haven’t come up to the expectations. lets hear from someone who has driven the new engine, what they have to say about the road test..
i think the what the writer and others like him are trying to say over here is that there were better options available for rear entertainment system. however we must keep on pointing out the short-comings so that Atlas should improve their build quality..
i think if the government has any soft corner for local car customers, they should relax the taxation and let the PKDM put money in the quality of cars they produce, rather than their pockets..
A3 Sedan
Price from PKR 3,850,000
the engine is from the old civic …………..so you should not expect anything new from it ………….it will be the same good reliable engine but what about all the other things ………………were they making toys or a car
ur figures are amazing 21.05 million……grt
Audi A3 = 1200 CC!
You comparison is flawed. If you had sold a grande after a few years, like you friends you would have lost similar amount of money. You had a 1.6 Altis, compare that to honda city, it too has very good resale.
Leather seats, Navigation and Sunroof should be optional on all cars, and should not be shoved down every consumer’s throat by force. These are not necessary features, these are optional luxuries.
It looks unnecessary and ugly from the first sight ! Also a safety threat, it’ll hit the rear occupants in case of a crash face-first… it can be fatal as well… Atlas make it optional else go to hell !
I bought a turbo and I am glad to use rear infotainment. It has wonderful features that nobody know about it. When I read its user manual and do practice then I understand the amazing features of it.
It’s very good because your family can enjoy and your kids love to watch cartoons. etc.. and you can enjoy the Radio.. i will try to share more detail soon and hope guys you will like.
Pak wheel should see the below link.
I appreciate you sir
This is actually a good feature for company, pool & uber/careem/radio cabs/cars. Mostly where drivers are not the focal point. Good article none the less. I agree with you as it should have been an option.