You’ve probably noticed that over the past two decades, all manner of gadgets from flat-screen televisions to bluetooth speakers have grown rather cheap. Unsurprisingly, that’s filtered into cars, and as a result, it’s been a while since we’ve seen a heater-only compact car. Well, a 2006 Honda Civic DX Coupe recently sold on Bring A Trailer, and it really reminds us that it wasn’t too long ago that base really meant base.
The cars that aren’t inherently special due to rarity, performance, beauty, engineering prowess, or what have you, are almost never preserved. Instead, they’re just used as cars, from the showroom floor to an eventual demise at the hands of the crusher. Ferrari 308s? Even though they never sold in huge numbers, they aren’t hard to find. Now, when was the last time you saw a Buick Skyhawk?
The small handful of regular cars that stay cached away and largely preserved are both great vessels of joy and massively important, as they give unadulterated perspective of how we used to drive. This 2006 Honda Civic DX Coupe doesn’t feel particularly old, but 2006 was 18 years ago, and the entry point of the automotive landscape has changed vastly in the years since.
So what’s on the list of standard features for the 2006 Honda Civic DX Coupe? Well, it gets power windows, daytime running lights, a tilt and telescopic steering column, and that’s about it. It wasn’t that long ago when cheap cars were rather fairly spartan, and the list of equipment simply absent is astounding by modern standards.
For a kickoff, whoever bought this Civic DX new didn’t get a stereo. Sure, there’s an antenna, but that’s it.
There’s just this giant blanking plate in the middle of the dashboard where a radio would’ve gone, a reminder that for about two pizzas a month, you could’ve had something to listen to that wasn’t road noise.
Then there’s the cheapness of the passenger seat. This may be a coupe, but its front passenger seat doesn’t include a tilt-and-slide walk-in function for easy rear seat access. That’s mildly annoying, just like the lack of a one-touch driver’s power window, or cruise control.
So how much did this run someone in 2006? Well, according to Honda’s official price sheet, this thing retailed for $15,155 including freight. Adjusted for inflation, that’s $22,905.55. A brand new Civic LX costs $2,139.45 more than the inflation-adjusted price tag of this 2006 DX Coupe, but when you look at all the stuff you’re getting, that doesn’t seem like a bad deal. I’m talking about a four-speaker stereo, phone mirroring, body-colored door handles and mirrors, automatic climate control, cruise control, two extra doors, an automatic transmission, an improved crash structure, LED headlights, power door locks, stuff that makes a real quality of life difference. By the way, that new Civic LX sedan works out to be $807.82 cheaper than an inflation-adjusted 2006 Civic LX Coupe, and while that 2006 LX does come with a radio, air conditioning, body-colored door handles, and cruise control, it doesn’t get all the kit of the new one.
Mind you, while the base-model Civic of today is objectively a better car than this 2006 DX, it doesn’t do much to appeal to enthusiasts. There’s no tantalizingly impractical coupe bodystyle on the new car, nor a row-your-own manual transmission. Curb weight has ballooned by 284 pounds, the wheelbase has been stretched by 4.4 inches, and overall length is up by a whopping 9.2 inches. That compact feel of old has more or less vanished, but it’s what the bulk of consumers want.
The base models of today are far closer to the range-toppers of yesteryear than the entry trims, and much of that is due to how cheap little electronic gizmos have become. However, if you do still want an absolute base model car, gems like this are still out there, and thanks to automotive progress, a 2006 Honda Civic is still safer and better-equipped than its predecessors. I mean, just check out the IIHS crash test footage.
Above is a 1997 Honda Civic hitting an offset barrier at about 40 mph. Just look at the way that A-pillar bends. Now, let’s see how a 2006 Honda Civic holds up in the same test.
Yep, that looks a whole lot better. I certainly know which Civic I’d rather be in. Plus, one of the nicest 2006 Honda Civic DX coupes in the world with just 7,000 miles on the clock went for $8,150 on Bring A Trailer. That’s not a bad deal.
As ways of getting around, new and used cars have never been objectively better than they are today. Sure, the floor of pricing is up, but when you look at what you’re getting for your money, the typical car has never been safer or more comprehensively equipped. When it comes to tackling the commute, that’s exactly what matters. This rather spartan Honda Civic DX Coupe offers a bit of “they don’t make them like they used to” without any qualms of “I wouldn’t want to crash that old beer can.” Let’s hope it stays preserved as a reminder of how far we’ve come.
(Photo credits: Bring A Trailer)
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In all fairness to Honda with regards to the crash test, the 97 model was the sixth-gen model, and the 06 is an eighth-gen model. The seventh-gen (01-05) did significantly better in crash testing.
“Well, it gets power windows, daytime running lights, a tilt and telescopic steering column, and that’s about it. “
A base model with power windows and tilt steering? Such luxury. And looking at the specs listed here:
https://www.edmunds.com/honda/civic/2006/coupe/st-100653374/features-specs/
It also had ABS, dual airbags, an engine immobilizer (something recent Hyundai/Kia products didn’t have), power steering, remote trunk release, Dual vanity mirrors, a driver and passenger exterior mirror and a clock.
My first car, a 1990 Ford Festiva L, had NONE of these features.
Yup… that’s right… no airbags, no ABS, no AC, no power windows, no clock and not even an exterior mirror on the passenger side.
And there was a time further in the past (like in the 1970s and earlier) that my Festiva would have been luxurious… with it’s standard heat, front disk brakes, rear defroster, FIVE speed manual, fuel injection, radial tires, carpeted floor, halogen headlights and other features we take for granted.
There was a time when a base model would get you a 3 speed manual, no heater, drum brakes only, no rear defroster, a carb instead of fuel injection, sealed beam headlights, no carpet and little upholstery.
“As ways of getting around, new and used cars have never been objectively better than they are today.”
+1
I completely agree. When people have said “They don’t make ’em like they used to”, I respond with “And thank god for that! Old cars are shit compared to modern cars.”
I have some opinions: (not all are necessarily good)
Base cars like this are gone for several reason. The savings in manufacturing for a super base model is gone at the scale the cars are made at and the volume of base sold. The incremental cost of a few cheaper items in the interior are vastly outweighed by the rest of the costs of the car. I know one person who bought a cheap-base model car new, (rio), and they immediately regretted buying that instead of a same value used car.
I believe part of the the point of these super cheap base models was to attract people to the lot, then sell them a better one. “New civic for 15K?!?!?! I can afford that! My friend has a civic and it is great!” get to the lot and see what the 15K civic gets you, then the salesman say the monthly difference to the higher trim. I test drove a Prius C and felt the only reason it existed was to sell regular Prius’s.
Used cars are better than they were 25 years ago. A car from 2006 is better today than a car from 88 was in 06. People have been expecting cars to last longer, and they have.
But I am not saying cars should be as expensive as they are. I appreciate models like the Maverick that manage to be engineered to be inexpensive, not cheap.
I don’t know if my rant is even related to the article anymore.
I disagree. I wish we had something like the 2006 Civic Coupe available. This base model may be almost ridiculous in it’s spartan-ness, but it’s an affordable car that looks good, is safe enough, and you knew that if you had to keep it for a real long time, you could.
These ultra-base models were also fairly rare, I remember there being one sitting at our local dealer once, but otherwise these weren’t exactly being pushed by Honda.
I also miss coupes.
Thomas, if you want to experience a true base model. Drive my 2003 Tacoma. It has crank windows, no AC, no intermittent wipers, no tach (with a 5spd) and no power adjusting anything, no tilt wheel, etc. It also can be fixed by ME with a 10mm I pick up off the garage floor. I added a nice stereo, some fake grass for carpet and my dog and I love it.
I have a 10th gen civic LX. In my opinion the 10th gen is peak civic at least for the regular trims. Still small enough and fun to drive, while being modern and standard with everything you could want, including adaptive cruise and lane centering. My buddy has an 11th gen sport. I drove it and it felt way slower, heavier, and not very fun to drive. All for a minimal amount more comfort.
This reminds me of the current nonsense about certain legislators screaming about manufacturers not putting AM radios in cars, for reasons. Those clowns need to be reminded that it wasn’t very long ago that you could buy a car with NO RADIO.
I assume the motivation is to have a communications path in the event of an emergency like severe weather. The additional manufacturing cost per car should be very close to zero. But would anyone be listening?
That’s the presented motivation. The issue is that it reportedly takes some additional R&D investment to make AM radio feasible for a given EV. (Some kind of interference the electric drivetrain creates? I don’t fully understand it myself)
So if adding AM is just something “off-the-shelf”, sure, why not leave it?
But for EVs, I almost sympathize with the manufacturers…having to spend engineering time to come up with a solution is a tough pill to swallow for something I’ve probably used 4 times in my entire life.
And yet, AM radio has a far greater range than any other type, and in some kind of emergency where phone towers go offline or phones are otherwise unusable, far fewer sources of AM need to work to maintain nationwide coverage.
Tough spot, honestly. Don’t know how I feel.
Good point. I had forgotten about the electrical interference issue. FM would be less subject to interference than AM, but of course the range would be much less. It would be interesting to know the actual cost to take care of the problem, and if it can be achieved within the radio itself or if the stray EMF has to be contained at the source.
A different set of trade-offs but I think Apple has successfully resisted the government’s efforts to have a radio built into every IPhone.
There is value in knowing what you can afford to repair.
When I bought my Durango used the CDJR dealer had a sign on the wall to help push aftermarket warranties. “Last infotainment repair: $3,526”.
My mega van has a double din. I was pretty happy to see that.
What’s more amazing is that, even if the current Civic is only ~2K more than the inflation-adjusted 2006 one, think of the economies of scale that allow you to get so much stuff standard for just that extra 2K
$15,000+ for this was highway robbery, more than 12 years later you could get a base Kia Forte for ~$15,000 that had, Bluetooth, cruise, four doors, and was likely better in nearly every way.
There is no metric by which the Forte is better than a Civic.
You’re telling me a 12 year old Honda is better than a brand new Kia? It’s not exactly rocket science to make a two liter four cylinder and a 6 speed.
Not that it was the volume trim on older models, but by the 2000s, DX trim Hondas were just exceedingly rare in the US*. I know people are going to say “it’s all you REALLY need” but DX Hondas didn’t have A/C, once you added that it pretty much evaporated any meaningful savings over an LX. And meant the dealer was going to have to open up the car to install it.
The black door handles made it easy to spot on a 6th & 7th gen Accord too but I think I’ve seen more 06-07 Value Package Accords than I’ve ever seen a DX of those gens, and the DX was dropped after 2005. They seemed to be more common on Civics up until the 8th gen like this one here, I don’t know if I’ve ever seen one, even though it ran through the first year of the 9th gen in 2012 too.
*I specify US because I know base DX Civics enjoyed more popularity in Canada, I want to say I’ve heard Quebec specifically where of course A/C is a bit less needed. Honda offered the DX Civic in Canada all the way through 2020 – still without A/C although with a radio, heated mirrors, and Bluetooth.
There are a number of states in the US where selling a car without AC should be punishable by law.
“…when you look at all the stuff you’re getting, that doesn’t seem like a bad deal.”
Here’s the thing though, I don’t need all the stuff.
Just the cheap base model for a few thousand less. Work truck spec cars.
All I really need in my cars is AC, cruise control, power steering, windows, and locks, FM radio, rear defroster.
Want to know the weather? Look out the window – check
Want to know where you are going? Lookout the window – check
Want some tunes? Learn to sing – check
…and so on.
Thanks Dad.
Shouldn’t you be working on something instead of lollygagging here on the internet???
It’s been awhile on the Skyhawk, but how about a 1981 Skylark? I met car and owner at a local Cars & Coffee last summer. It was his parents’ car when he was growing up, he took his license test in it, and has maintained it in simply stunning condition.
I wholeheartedly agree with this sentiment, which is why The Regular Prize is awarded at every TriangleRAD event.
Sort of a Festival of the Unexceptional?
Here’s your next rabbit hole. Enjoy it: https://www.hagerty.co.uk/official-events/hagerty-festival-of-the-unexceptional/
The clean styling is refreshing and those seats look rather comfy. Older gen DX’s even had black bumper facias to announce to the world you got the el cheapo model
Older DXs didn’t even have the passenger side-mirror.
As a rapidly aging millennial I am growing frustrated with all of the attempts to cash in on our nostalgia…whether it’s goddamn Emo cruises, the endless remakes of movies we grew up with, or these pretty much perfect examples of regular ass cars popping up on sites like BAT.
The old German lighting site recently ran an article on a showroom condition second gen CRV (with a manual OOOOO ahhhhh OOOOO ahhhhh MANUAL) that got listed and most of the comments were people wanting to buy it and ranting and raving about how THEY DON’T MAKE EM LIKE THEY USED TO! And “but bro…it’s a STICK bro! B r o ! You CAN’T GET those anymore!”
You’ll even see nice condition family haulers from this era selling for irrational sums of money because a lot of us are of spawn producing age and people want to haul their kids in what they were hauled in. It’s a little weird to me to be quite honest, especially when you consider the types of interiors pretty much everything that wasn’t a luxury brand had 20 years ago. Hell, the 996 911 has an interior that wouldn’t feel out of place in a base trim Hyundai Venue or something.
In conclusion: get off my lawn! I will NOT let people enjoy things! Do not overpay for stuff because it makes you feel warm and fuzzy inside thinking about when your dad hauled you and your buddy to Six Flags in it. Thomas is right…this thing kinda sucks ass compared to what we have today.
Emo cruises, where passengers are expected to either toss themselves overboard or never leave their cabins.
When I bought a Civic in ’98, the passenger side mirror was an option on the base trim.
….Is this in the U.S.? Coulda sworn that’s a legally required feature…
Two rearviews are required; the centre one counts.
Huh. TIL.
I still dream of one day importing a base model BMW E34 from Europe. I’m talking a 518i, with a 1.8L SOHC 4-banger under the hood, a 5-speed manual, crank windows all around, no sunroof, no radio, no cruise control, manual cloth seats, perfection. The only option I’d want is AC because I’m in Phoenix.
A friend of mine just did this with a base E30. The car is so ridiculously slow to accelerate. Not fun for everyday use.
Psh, a 4 cylinder in an E30 is downright peppy in comparison. Just gotta rev it to redline in every gear, that’s the whole fun in it. I had a 92 525i with an M50NV engine with 189hp (when new) that had 312k miles on the original motor, and it made no power or torque until like 4000rpm, so it was quite slow. Like, 10+ second 0-60 with a good launch kinda slow. I had to dump the clutch at like 4500 to make it do a one-tire burnout. Never stopped me from enjoying it though, I commuted in it and put 45,000 miles on it, including taking it to the track a bunch.
They could have saved the money from the silly digital speedometer gimmick and provided a radio.
That radio for some reason really sticks in my craw. A $100 part *at retail*, who knows what it costs Honda to plunk in a unit.
My truck is a similar spec, no cruise control, nothing but AM/FM. I had to change it out within a month, but it was literally a uhaul fleet vehicle – just the thing you’d normally forget 20 minutes after you returned it.
They did it because they knew whatever they put it in, kids would replace within a month with a much better radio of choice. Hence the prewired 4 speakers. Trust me, in a OEM that $40 radio delete is a huge source of profitability increase to make this a little less of a loss leader than it actually could be. You can “that’s just $20 more” yourself into losing money on everything.
I know, I know. 100,000 units without a $40 radio is $4 million, so I get it. It’s just that the same is true in the other direction; it’s only 4 million dollars, to Honda.
They could have raised the base price by $60 and recouped and then some. I can tell I’m just floundering around trying to quantify the feeling “seems cheap,” so I’ll stop there.
I don’t even think it was near that many, DX was pretty low volume at that point. You could tell some things they left in just because it was probably cheaper to do so rather than design a whole new part to delete it. Like the fact this has power windows (rather than design a different door card for the crank) and driver’s seat height adjustment (just a few years ago not even a guarantee on an LX). Chris mentioned below this was the same dashboard as the cars with nav, I bet if Civics only had the same dash with integrated radio this would have had one.
You are talking $4M just for the radio – others would say the same thing about headlights, exhaust, fabrics, painted door handles, etc etc. Adding $60 to the car times 4 different things just puts the DX closer to the LX, and suddenly the starting price is too high.
Honestly – the point IS to feel cheap. You’re buying a DX. Honda didn’t want to sell many of them anyway since they were probably losing money on every one of them, but need the low starting price to avoid the “OMG the new version is SO MUCH MORE expensive than the old one” kind of articles.
Fun fact, because of that blanking plate, this Civic DX has a dashboard that’s only shared with Civic EX-L and Hybrid cars from the era. Civic LX and EX came with an integrated radio, while this dash was used for cars getting navigation.
The Si could be had with Nav as well. But yeah, that stuck out to me too. Surprised they couldn’t at least do the 2-speaker stereo from the GX (Natural Gas) or something equally cheap.
GX might have been low enough volume, and different enough that it got a dedicated (and limited) production run whilst the DX could easily be mixed into regular production runs without concern (same powertrain, same interior, etc… ).
Likely a cheaper way to make the DX than if they had a separate wiring loom or needed to mix it with a dedicated GX-run.
You’re right on one point, anyway. The bulk of today’s car buyers has definitely affected car size. We’re talking literally.
Ha, I thought the same thing when I read that turn of phrase
Very true. It is unfortunate that the cars themselves have grown similarly obese to the people using them. The new Corvette E-Ray is slightly over 2 tons, which is roughly what a Ford Explorer from 20 years ago weighed…
2 tons is also more than my fullsize long bed pickup weighs.
There’s just something seriously wrong with that picture…
The original C1 was a svelte 2500-ish lbs, for comparison.
Given this is the lowest weight version, it screams for a K-swap because racecar.
“body-colored door handles and mirrors” this used to be how you cold tell upper trims from the base-spec, but now black (I guess it’s still painted and not just plastic) is a feature on upper trims for brands. I’ve found this to be weird trend.
These 8th generation Civics were awesome. Wish I would have known about this auction, as this would be an awesome daily.
I loved mine, should have kept it longer.
At 15,000/22,000 dollars they massively overpaid for that thing. They don’t have base models anymore because apparently it doesn’t save you enough money to be remotely worth it.
This is the real reason they’re gone. With used cars being a viable option, who’s going to put up with all this car is missing when a 3 year old, low mileage Accord with normal equipment was the same price?
Some people are bizarrely particular about buying new cars. Or musical instruments. Paying 10-20% in depreciation to get what, a warranty that would cost less aftermarket (or in likely repairs)?
Depends how long you keep it. Music instruments almost never make sense to buy new.
If you keep it until the vehicle becomes unreliable (say, 10-15y), then the depreciation hit is meaningless over that time but the potential of increased turnover of the used vehicle may balance out the lower cost of purchase as well as the increased repair frequency in the first few years vs new.