Honda Civic

[yzguy15]

After dealing with the mechanical headache that is my truck (94 S-10) I think we've decided to try and unload it for a car. For that car I'm leaning towards a Honda Civic. Anybody have any experience with these things? We're looking at something cheap, like 95-97 with probably at least 100k miles on it, how much longer would you expect it to last? There are no major mechanical failures after a certain number of miles that maybe I should be aware of? Anything in paticular to look for in an used one?

I'm sure some of you are wondering why I'm going with a rice car such as the Civic. Basically, I want to lower it, add a body kit, huge wing, exhaust tip, and huge system. No, just kidding. :laugh: Actually, we don't really need a truck around the house anymore. Plus, this car will be passed to my younger sister when she starts to drive next year (when I'll get something better, I'm thinking Jetta, to go to college in), and I'm tired of getting 16 mpg on the frickin highway. As much city driving as I do (90%) I need something with good gas mileage.

 

[Joepro9]

I will get yelled at but here it is:

I have experience with hondas my father is a service director for a 9 franchise dealer, and the honda is by far the most reliable. If you maintain the car properly, you can very easily get another 50-100 thou out of it. I have seen hondas in the shop getting oil changes and the millage is over 200k. Most any car will last if you maintain it, and yes hondas do break, but they break down far less than almost all other vehicles. The bottom line is if you take car of the car it will last.

P.s. Your not a ricer if you have a civic, your a ricer when you drive like ans a-hole with a catback exhaust and an intake. They just give honda a bad name.

 

[ktmboy]

My Civic has 138,000 miles on it ('99) and still runs great. I've got a single cam hatchback, and it gets about 30 MPG around town and 32-40 on the highway, depending on how fast I'm driving it! ( 32 @ 80 MPH running the A/C, 40 @ 65, no A/C, short-shifting.)

 

[MONKEYMOUSE]

Hey civic's arnt the only thing that lasts a long time! Fords do also! My dad's '89 F-150 has 200,000+ miles on it and has broken down once in the 9 years weve had it. Sry I just had to put that in lol.

 

[ktmboy]

I was gonna suggest the Toyota Corollas also. Very reliable and economical.

 

[MONKEYMOUSE]

Or even a VW and also I would strongly consider an Acura, considering there made by Hoda

 

[yzguy15]

Well, I'm not driving a Ford. We're a Chevy family. The VW Jetta is one of my favorite cars and when I get one to go away to school in, that'll be it. However the older VW's in my price range are butt ugly. Same for the older Corolla's. The new Corolla is a great lookign car, but the last body still was poop.

 

[MikeT]

I loved my '93 Civic. I will say that it did blow the tranny at 95,000 miles, but it was probably a rare occurance. I did have the tranny fluid changed in it, however not as frequently as Honda wanted.

I now have a '93 Accord with 168,700 miles on it with no problems on it until recently. The EGR ducts got clogged which the mechanic told me happens as just a normal condition on my car model year. $170, and the problem is gone. I am changing the tranny fluid in the Accord with Mobil1 synthetic, about every 15,000 miles. :)

The HONDA is a VERY good car. I have had very good use out of both of my Hondas and have bought an Odyssey van. I highly recommend them.

 

[jeffd]

Originally posted by yzguy15
Well, I'm not driving a Ford. We're a Chevy family.

Lol! A Chevy family that is trying to ditch one that breaks down all the time so you can go Japanese! Phhhht! Tell me again how great those Chevy's are Eric and why you would pick a Jap car over a Ford?

I'm turning Japanese, I think I'm turning Japanese, I really think so....

-jeffd

 

[MONKEYMOUSE]

jeffd you picked that jap bike over a . . .umm wait are there any american dirtbikes left. . .lol

 

[yzguy15]

That song is pretty cool. I like the Incubus version.

Jeff, as I've already explained to you individually and on this thread... the move to a Japanese car is the practical thing to do. Now maybe a Ford person like yourself would be blinded by the whole Ford thing and not see that this is the smart way to go. Also, I didn't care for my Chevy S-10, not from the beginning. I simply drove it because it was my dad's and was handed down when I turned 16. It also has been a great truck up until about the 135000 mile mark (we're now at 137k). However, when I'm grown and on my own, the first vehicle I'll buy will be a Chevy SUV or truck, don't worry. For right now this is a good move because Civic's last a long time (as you can tell from this thread) and when you're shopping in the $5k range you're gonna get crap unless you go the Honda route. Then for the next vehicle, which I'll be leaving to go to school in, I'm also going to need something economical.. which any truck or suv, Chevy or Ford, is not.

And anyhow, let's not forget what is the longest lasting truck on the road.. My truck will live to more days, just not parked in front of my house.

 

[Glitch]

Most cars today are like dirtbikes, give them good, regular maintence, and they will last a long time. A friend of mine has a ~'94 Ford Taurus SHO 5spd, its got 230,000 miles on it, on its third clutch, but still looks and runs great. Mainly because his dad took care of it when he had it before passing along to son. Well, my other friends dad has a ~'98 Ford F-150, its got a 130,000 miles on it and aint doing so good. The transmission needed an overhaul, and the torque converter needed replacement. Plus the engine likes to knock about half the time, not only since running on regular gas but is just worn out from serious abuse. His dad doesnt do good maintence, maybe gets oil changed every 7,000 miles, and only takes it in when something went wrong, doesnt do preventive maintence. We have a '94 Jeep Cherokee with 200,000 miles on it as of last week. We do good, regular maintence which is the main reason why the engine still sounds and feels practically new, along with the rest of the car. Then you got my cousin whos got a '94 Pontiac Grand Prix that was in awesome running condition when she got it about 2 years ago. But now it runs like ****, you wanna know why, because she waited 15,000 miles to change the freaking oil. The oil has only been changed once since she got it, and now its on like 8,000 miles since last one. The poor thing jerks when you try and accelerate. Back to civic's, my sister has a '00 Civic EX coupe 5spd, with 80,000 miles on it. The thing gets 40mpg, so you refill it like twice a month, costing $15 to fill. She brings it back to dealership to have maintence done at every intervil and the thing runs awesome, and I expect it to go to atleast 250,000 miles.

 

[Brian]

Originally posted by yzguy15
when you're shopping in the $5k range you're gonna get crap unless you go the Honda route.

Only if you don't do your homework and keep looking and find what you really want. When we bought my truck I looked every day on the Internet, in the paper, and we drove hundreds of miles looking at what was 90% junk. What we ended up with is a great, dependable, good-running, good looking, fully-optioned truck at the same price as the crap we had been looking at before. We knew to jump on it when we came across it. True, Jap cars are usually better, but that certainly not always the case. We looked at countless Nissans and Toyotas with low mileage that were just plain junk.

Seeing that you're a Chebby guy, you may want to look into getting a Camaro, or something like that. Just because you look at five of them, and five of them are junk, doesn't mean that if you look at 100 of them, 3 of them won't be junk.

 

[Brian]

And whatever you do, don't put yellow stickers, a body kit, fart can, and a wing on it. ;)

 

[yzguy15]

Yea, thought about a camaro, but insurance would kill me for sure. My dad drives a Z28 (maybe you saw it at Thump's house?) and anything less than that would be boring to me. At least a Civic gets good gas mileage. Camaro's aren't really known for terrific mileage ya know.

 

[RPJ]

If you are looking for a maintenance free car, stay away from a VW. I had a mid 90's golf, and the thing was a nightmare, parts costs are astronomical compared to domestics. Granted I bought it used with 75k on it, my best friend bought a TDI Jetta new in 2000, it's on it's 4th set of wheel bearings, 3 power windows have failed, leaving them buried in the door and the worst was the MAF sensor failed 4 months after buying it. VW response was that it was a wear and tear item not covered under warranty, $900 CDN out of pocket.

 

[MONKEYMOUSE]

Yeah my cousins VW ('96 golf bought in 2000 with about 80K on it) had ALOT go wrong with it in the first year he had it. But I also it can be just the opposite. My friends got a realy nice '86 I think VW GTI. The thing is just like brand new. If you just looked at it you would never know it had over 70K on it. Hasen't had a thing go wrong with it. . .yet.