I had the same press car for a week recently. The Kona (brown) colour suits the Civic pretty well.
Few details not mentioned in the article:
- the Touring's leather is luxury-car fragrent, no other compact has leather that looks or smells like this - the cabin alone is worth the upgrade to Touring;
- around town in snow, like for most Hondas, turn off the traction control as the car won't allow required wheelspin in deep snow with it on (and the car had Blizzaks during my time with it);
- beware of convex surfaces like speedbumps and track crossings - the front struts lack travel and the wheels bang down very loudly;
- tested nav and it was spot-on;
- sweeeeet seat heaters;
- bi-level dash allows smaller diameter, thick-rim steering wheel - me like;
- climate-control knobs feel smooth and expensive;
- could use more sound proofing at speed (or maybe is was the Blizzak + concrete slab highway combo in my commute).
Some may (will) complain about the price of the Civic Touring. We had this Civic in a 12-car compact comparo, and it was 3rd cheapest after Corolla and Sentra (all three were pretty close in price as-tested).
The CVT was definitely smoother at low speeds than Honda's 5-speed slushie. Small engines and automatics make for awkward moves at times, and the CVT smoothes these out. I didn't mind the CVT during my time with the car.
