buddy,
if u want to get a loan, go to the bank, ask loan for civic and putra.
if u got 35k cash, then it is all about your own preferences.
modding and performance, i can say both can make you a very happy.
civic will be NA vtec power as far as you can go turbo upgrade which going to cost you as much as 50-70% of the price of the car itself.
putra will enjoy both of NA and turbo arena. mivec rojak / gsr / evo1-3. king of turbo or NA, you like it.
my choice, i will go for putra. because of loan and low interest.
even eg u can get a loan, the interest will be high and the amount of d/p will be high. if you pump a lot of cash to d/p later you will have to struggle for the repairs / touch up later on.
putra itself is considerable semi sport in the mind. choices of powerful NA and turbo can be easily obtained when you get extra cash for modding later. As stock putra is a sweet sensation. even with lowered suspension and a set of sport rims will satisfy your feel of having a sport car.
for civic, if i dont get full potential of DOHC VTEC, i rather not having 1. to me, honda is DOHC VTEC. if i am to go for honda but without VTEC power and growl... i would just set with a normal sedan car.
that's why i end up with putra and not honda. btw i get full loan + extra couple of grands minus off the car. :_:
i save all my cash to mod my car with extra grand for my shopping spree. for your info, putra can get as much as 35k full loan + less than 3.5% interest. what else can beat this? EG6? :_: