Some of you guys might find my story interesting.
I just got rid of my 2007 Civic Si coupe and got a 2008 GTI.
I've had four Hondas and always loved them. When I wanted a sporty car in that price range, I considered both cars. They seemed to be equally impressive to drive, in different ways. But I went with the Honda for reliability reasons.
Well, the car had an oil leak from when I got it. It took months of visits, letters and phone calls to get it fixed. And the third gear issue kept getting worse. Honda finally issued a TSB (not a recall, which would have forced dealers to do the work) on it. But it's very hard to get them to perform the TSB work. They like to say they can't duplicate the problem.
Honda CS only offered me a loaner car and wanted me to keep bringing it back until the tech found the problem (i.e. admitted it and felt like taking a gearbox apart that week).
It turned out to be the most troublesome car I've ever had. Honda has really slipped. The dealer/service attitude is rude and arrogant. And no one from Honda ever admits to even hearing of the 3rd gear issue, even after the TSB.
When the Si was working properly, it was a great car- a real taste of the sports car experience at a fair price. But I spent so many days at the service center trying to get them to admit there was an oil leak and then admit there was a gearbox problem, that I never had much time to enjoy it.
I remembered how much fun it was to test drive the GTI, so I leased myself one. The dealer actually seemed to WANT to sell me a car and even make me happy. Honda hasn't been eager to please in years.
The GTI is great so far. I'll never buy another Honda.