Automotive

Is Honda Sensing worth investing $1000?

  • Last Updated:
  • Sep 29th, 2016 6:49 am
Deal Addict
May 17, 2012
3199 posts
2222 upvotes
ontario
How the heck did ppl drive without these features back in the day?

Being sarcastic. Less toys equals less stuff to break.
Deal Expert
Aug 22, 2011
41802 posts
30056 upvotes
Center of Universe
Here's a thought, forget that it costs an additional $1000 and offer the dealership your OTR price with everything "all in".
Jr. Member
Mar 10, 2006
189 posts
49 upvotes
Vaughan
Collision mitigation is a great feature(have it on mine). Like other have said adaptive cruise and lane keeping isnt as important. Adaptive cruise is nice to have though! It's great they are offering the feature on the very basic cars. An msrp of 21290 for a civic lx with the sensing features is great option to have for people who want the extra safety features. If I had a son or daughter driving the car, I would add this in a heart beat.
Deal Guru
User avatar
Mar 28, 2006
12225 posts
2957 upvotes
Q1. Yes and I wish car makers will make this available to all trims.
Q2. Unlikely. You are paying for the added safety.
gushingtears wrote: I'm single with no children.

My workplace is not that far from my home, and I use my car for mostly for grocery shopping and commuting.

Q1) Are all those cool features Honda Sensing worth investing $1000?

Q2) Would a car with Honda Sensing sell for $1000 more than the ones without in the used car markets?
Deal Expert
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Dec 7, 2012
32228 posts
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GTHA
2016 Honda Civic’s Adaptive Cruise Control comes with learning curve
http://www.torquenews.com/1574/2016-hon ... ning-curve
In the words of deevel79: “This past weekend I was driving south on the West Side Highway in NYC and I ended up behind a vehicle that was driving extremely slow. When the left lane opened up I slowed down a bit to give myself some space to switch lanes then briskly accelerated.

There was a vehicle approximately 3-4 car lengths ahead of me and Honda's sensing must have sensed that I was accelerating too quickly and applied the braking system so hard that it felt as if the car was going to do an endo!”

“My plan was to accelerate around the car in front of me that was going very slow and instead the car's braking system kicked in so aggressively that it could have actually caused an accident had I decided to switch lanes at that point or if someone was following closely behind. I slid forward in my seat and my chest had it not been for the seat belt would have hit the steering wheel. That's how hard it was.” Said deevel79
Member
User avatar
Aug 28, 2005
400 posts
178 upvotes
I have a Volvo S60 that has adaptive cruise control and forward collision mitigation (warning and full auto-braking). The adaptive cruise control is a convenience feature, but I look at the forward collision mitigation as insurance. My opinion is that you won't get any money back for the features in the used market. I bought my S60 used and didn't pay anything extra on top of comparable S60's that didn't have this feature.

However, even if I did pay extra for the feature, it would have actually already paid for itself by preventing me from rear-ending someone at a right turn with yield last month. Yes, it would have been completely my fault, but the car in front of me started the turn, so I assumed he went. My mistake. I checked left to ensure there was no on-coming traffic and then started to accelerate forward. Turns out the car in front of me hesitated and stopped for some reason (it was clear as far as I was concerned). My car started beeping at me loudly drawing my attention to this and I stopped safely before hitting the car in front of me. Without the forward collision mitigation, I would likely have rear ended the guy in front of me.

I have no excuse for what happened, and these types of features are no substitute for good driving habits. But people make mistakes, and in this case, the technology prevented my mistake from ruining my day and someone else's day. Not to mention probably $1000+ out of pocket for fixing my front bumper and the other party's rear bumper if a collision actually happened, or an increase in insurance.
Deal Addict
May 21, 2015
1293 posts
952 upvotes
Sarnia, ON
I still think that as more cars become equipped with the autonomous braking and people get accustomed to having it that it will make a difference (maybe slight) in the used car market prices. In a recent CR article they found that a goodly percentage of people who had cars equipped with it didn't even know they had it. It's not that hard to believe when you really think about how little some people know about the car they're driving.
Deal Addict
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Mar 4, 2011
1247 posts
770 upvotes
Kitchener. Ontario
Honda sense is like an extended warranty imo. You'll never realize it's worth the $1000 until one day, the system saves you from an accident, saving you $1000s if dollars.
Jr. Member
Sep 11, 2012
136 posts
36 upvotes
MISSISSAUGA
I have an Accord with it and it's great. Well worth it
Deal Expert
Aug 2, 2004
38395 posts
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East Gwillimbury
nayan97 wrote: Honda sense is like an extended warranty imo. You'll never realize it's worth the $1000 until one day, the system saves you from an accident, saving you $1000s if dollars.
It is nothing like an extended warranty. It is just one more thing to repair as the car gets older

But I do agree it is money well spent. It may save you one day
Jr. Member
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Jun 11, 2009
182 posts
28 upvotes
Toronto
I too think, it might cost more to repair, but still got it because it might save me one day!
Deal Addict
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Nov 13, 2007
3749 posts
6586 upvotes
Calgary
If it saves my behind just once, I'd say it's definitely worth it vs. dealing with autobody repairs/dealing with insurance/expecting an increase in insurance premiums the following year/driving a POS rental while your car is in the shop/taking a hit in the resale value of your vehicle.

I have AcuraWatch on my TLX and Eyesight on my wife's Outback. Both are great for everyday driving. Adaptive cruise alone is worth the cost IMO. Highway driving is less fatiguing on those long trips.
Deal Expert
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Oct 13, 2009
21200 posts
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Iqaluit, NU
I'd rather reinvest the $1k into some custom Honda badges and vtec stickers
Re: Procurement, Life & RFD
nasa25: say you won it in a raffle. That's what I do with like 86% of my purchases
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nasa25: lmao
Deal Fanatic
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Nov 18, 2002
7041 posts
652 upvotes
BC Interior
It's worth getting. From my experience on two cars, if you're paying full attention you will be quicker on the brakes than the computer particularly as you as a driver can read conditions ahead of the car in front but there will be that time when you're not and it helps.

Tech is still young though, lots of false alerts and over cautious triggers.
Deal Expert
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Apr 21, 2004
58648 posts
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There aren't many features in luxury cars that haven't seeped into mainstream autos.

When I decided on my wife's RAV4, I went for the limited with technology package for the auto emergency braking and Blindspot warning. The dynamic cruise control is great to have too. We keep our cars for a very long period of time.

You can alway turn them off but when the time comes you want them, at least you don't have to buy another car.
Deal Expert
Feb 29, 2008
30106 posts
5547 upvotes
Montreal
This tech has been available for some time. I have active braking (city safety) and the only it ever saved me from coming too close to my own garage door.

ACC is only worth it if the system will fully slow down your car to a stop and re engage with the accelerator pedal above a certain speed. It can then be used in rush hour traffic. Half baked implementation like Infinitis system are worthless.
Deal Addict
Dec 27, 2007
4867 posts
2067 upvotes
Edmonton
the more tech you have, the more tech to break down and fail.... whatever happened to just driving and paying attention? My vehicle still has roll up windows and none of the auto locking locks....

Funny part is, fixing a benz (09 benz needed new engine with only 114K on it) and the battery doesnt hold charge you can't open the door cause the driver key lock doesnt work, no other doors have key lock cylinders..... so only way to actually get into the car is to boost it, but what happens when you close the hood and cant open it? dum dumdum dumm....... Too much tech = fail
warming up the earth 1 gas fill-up at a time...
You only live once, get a v8
Deal Expert
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Apr 21, 2004
58648 posts
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Don't most accidents happen when the driver thought he was paying 100% attention? Also, if these safety features fail, can't you drive like the car wasn't equipped with them? I mean, we can turn every one of these things off, can't we? So if they break, even have them fixed or don't bother. :)

Yeah, I have an 02 Civic with manual everything, except power steering and remote unlock. Don't experience much of a battery drain issue. I don't need Car Play or Android Auto but I'll take one with electronic stability control (mandatory since 2011) over a car that doesn't have one. Feels much more confident and sure-footed on ice / snow, with decent winter tires of course.
Deal Fanatic
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Jan 6, 2002
6834 posts
7575 upvotes
Toronto
I was recently cross shopping the Honda Pilot and Ridgeline with Honda Sensing, and read a *lot* on Honda features in these vehicles. Common opinion was that Honda Sense was:

1. Quite nerfed compared to AcuraSense, despite it basically being the same hardware; in other words, Honda tunes down the software on Honda vehicles compared to what is possible

2. It's Version 1.0 technology, relatively crude and a fair amount of false positives. Still works well, but not as well as some other car company solutions, but not the worst of the bunch either.

3. Reliability is unknown, but should be good (all solid state stuff)

4. It is likely to be considered part of the "original safety equipment" of the vehicle, as applicable to certification and transfers -- ie, in jurisdictions that have strict used vehicle transfer safety laws, all original safety equipment must be demonstrated functional to "pass" -- so risk of needing high cost repairs if the stuff dies and you want to sell in those jurisdictions.
Si Tacuisses, Philosophus Mansisses

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