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I've been having a number of troubles with my car, so I took it in the dealership to have my car looked at by their mechanics.
I was shooting the sheits with one of the mechs, and asked him "How are the 7th Gen Civics compared to 6th?" and he said the 7th are significantly less reliable... there's been apparently a ton of complaints about rattles and transmissions.
Not a good sign for Honda. Need to pull their act together. There was a Toyota dealership next door, so I checked out the new Corolla, and DAMN is it sweet upclose. Tried opening & closing the doors, it felt like a german car. Not nearly as tinny feeling as our Civics. I'm so tempted for a trade in...............
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you sometimes have to gauge the "reliability" with the driver.... my toyota 22r powered 88 pickup went 300k b4 i sold it, and its still strong... but it was driven nicely... hondas are extremely reliable but placed in the hands of a 16 year old they crumble like all the others...
remember folks, the motor likes to rev for power, but be easy on it when you don't need it
I 'd definitely call my '97 Civic reliable. Sold it last year with 140k mi. and the only thing that went wrong with it was a speed sensor (speedometer wasn't working). Now that's reliable! It even had the original brake shoes in the rear, original clutch, etc..
My new '01 Civic with 24k mi:
Replaced evaporator shut valve (check eng. light)
Replaced evap. bypass valve (check eng. light)
Dropped the gas tank to replace a bad clamp (another check eng.light)
Replaced the ALTERNATOR at 22k mi!
Got a ton of DEBRIS in my engine bay from the crappy desing and I know something else will go soon because there's just too much road crap flying into the engine bay and everything is constantly covered with mud!
This gen. is definitely the least reliable one compared to the 5th & 6th gen. I can't believe I talked my sister into buying an '02 EX. She 's picking it up tomorrow. If I have one more fricking problem, I 'm going to check out the new Corolla S. We priced it out with spoiler, alloy wheels, CD, etc. and sticker was only $16,100!! Carsdirect.com price was like $15.4K! Try adding a spoiler and alloys to an EX 5-sp. Price shoots up to over $18k!
<< Try adding a spoiler and alloys to an EX 5-sp. Price shoots up to over $18k! >>
Add $300 for an automatic tranny. [IMG]i/expressions/face-icon-small-tongue.gif[/IMG] (I dunno!)
Ah, maybe I should go for that ITR that turns me on... I don't have the stock spoiler or alloys, though... and the ITR is runnin @ $20k for 00. I could try to find a 98, though. Still, I'm not too eager to sell the Civic for a car that's even more eager to be stolen and competely stripped to it's nuts. (And bolts.)
DON'T buy the ITR if you intend to use it daily. You 'll drive yourself crazy if the car is going to be there when you get back, like at Mall, store, supermarket, etc. I 'll be buying my brother's '98 ITR in the fall but it 'll be my weekend/race car and will replace my GSR. It's very difficult to have an ITR as a daily driver. Most of the guys I know or race with, that have ITRs have other daily drivers and keep their ITRs in the garage all the time. My brother's only has 12k mi. on it and he 's had it almost 4yrs! He just uses it on the weekends when the weather is nice and when he goes autocross racing. Many GSRs have been stolen in my area too so I started using my GSR as a race and wknd car too and garage it the rest of the time. The Civic is a good commuter (I do 160mi/day!) but I 'm very disappointed that I 've been at the dealer 4 times already with 4 different problems and I 've only had the car since Aug. '01. The only thing I got going now is the good mileage (average 36+mpg on the hwy) and resale value, reliability I think is no longer a good excuse to buy a Civic. And when compared with other cars out there like the Protege (handles better), the new '03 Corolla (S or SE can't remember) that come standard with more options, more HP, more torque, (usually 1.8L engines) for LESS, it would be hard right now to justify buying a Civic for more $$. My next car in 2-3yrs will probably not be a Honda unless they 've major improvements. I think this is the reason you can have a Civic for invoice or below right now. I got my sister an '02 EX coupe auto for invoice $16,260 and we picked it up today. She came to the dealership with a quote from carsdirect.com on the '03 Corolla sports Edition with spoiler, alloys, sunroof, CD, A/C, auto, etc. for $16,230! She was having 2nd thoughts about the Civic.. We sat in the lot before we went in and she talked about it. I did not encourage it to buy the Civic this time but told her the Corolla was a good deal especially with the spoiler (which the dealer wanted $600 for) and the alloy wheels for the same price as the Civic EX auto. The only reason she bought the Civic was because she didn't want to go through the buying experience again and dealing with new dealers, etc. and needed a car asap. I kind of felt sad for her. She 's not thrilled with her car after she saw the Corolla for the same money with more stuff on it. BTW, the automatic Corolla's MSRP with the options I mentioned above was $16,950 while her EX coupe Auto with NO options was $17,750! I think this new Corolla will difinitely steal sales from the Civic. It has just as good a resale value and is probably more reliable right now given the reliability record of the 7th gen. Civic that's we 've seen and experienced.
I got my EX coupe for the resale value, and resale value only. This is going to be my commuter car, until I can afford a Lexus, Mercedes or a BMW, and since I'm starting college this fall, it's gonna take a while (even with a full scholarship)... the reliability records of new cars like the '03 Corolla and the '02 Camry have yet to be seen, and it looks like Honda might have fixed at least some of its screw-ups with the 02's. Civics over here still sell like hotcakes, and I got my car on a very busy day for $15,000 flat. (my friend got pissed me a few days later, 'cause I got the last EX Coupe, which also happened to be the last 5spd w/ black interior ) However, remember that though the Corolla has that long list of options for less than a Civic EX, most of those come standard on the Civic. A bare-bones Corolla should be compared with an LX, or even a DX, not the EX, which, IMHO, is pretty loaded.
I could've gotten a GSR, but I probably wouldn't have it right now, since cars get stolen so frequently down here. my friend got his (stock)rims jacked during the 15 minutes he was away from his car, which was parked in broad daylight in a moderately patrolled parking lot. I'm gonna keep this car until I can afford something that typical carjackers won't bother with.
Yep I hear ya there, I bought the last models of 2001 that were manufactured so most of the problems would have been fixed. But there are issues with my car but I am still happy with it. I just never really drive it since why go somewhere if I have no reason to be there LOL [IMG]i/expressions/laugh2.gif[/IMG] Plus wanting to sell this car for the new Acccord Manual V6 so want to keep the miles down. But the 6 th gen civics had a lot of issues like I was riding with my bud in his civic and the A/C dropped out of the car and so they had to put in a new compressor and everything for over 1,000 dollars he had to pay. He is a rich boy so it didn't bother him.
Well 7th Gen has issues and maybe one of these days they will be put together better and not have so many issues, but who knows honda has that great reputation now so they don't have to work as hard.
<< But the 6 th gen civics had a lot of issues like I was riding with my bud in his civic and the A/C dropped out of the car and so they had to put in a new compressor and everything for over 1,000 dollars he had to pay. >>
ok first of all you wanna know why civic's cost more? POPULAR MODDING DEMAND!!!!! Who the **** wants to race a Corolla???? Wheres the Aftermarket for those cars? Can you swap a cheap b16, b18c, or h22 in those cars and make them fast as ****? NO. Now all of you having all these problems, I have been reading over this forum and I think I know you problem, you guys buy the car brand new and beat the **** out of it day 1 when the engine is not even broken in!!!!!! God dont you guys know anything about new engines? It takes 30,000miles for a Honda to completly "BREAK IN" Within that period dont redline the damn car because your only digging your cars grave. I had my 94 accord lx automatic that was driven "NORMAL" until 30,000miles then after that I modded it and raced the **** out of it. And guess what? 80,000miles later its still running perfectly strong and is still just as fast as its allways been. No problems to report. My other friend got a 2001 Mirage LS Coupe 5speed w/1.8L motor and the day he got the car he drove the **** out of it and started modding it. Well its not a very fast car at all now, when he first got it, it felt stronger then it does now. I also got another guy with a 95' Acura Legend GS Automatic that was driven hard from day 1 and he has had Tranny Problems, Engine Piston Ring Problems and he has barly 100,000 on it! Now your telling me a 94 accord lx is more reliable then a $45,000 luxury car? Pfft whatever. Just use common sense be nice to your cars and let the engine's break in properly and you will save yourself the trouble.[IMG]i/expressions/face-icon-small-mad.gif[/IMG][IMG]i/expressions/face-icon-small-mad.gif[/IMG]
<< ok first of all you wanna know why civic's cost more? POPULAR MODDING DEMAND!!!!! Who the **** wants to race a Corolla???? Wheres the Aftermarket for those cars? Can you swap a cheap b16, b18c, or h22 in those cars and make them fast as ****? NO. Now all of you having all these problems, I have been reading over this forum and I think I know you problem, you guys buy the car brand new and beat the **** out of it day 1 when the engine is not even broken in!!!!!! God dont you guys know anything about new engines? It takes 30,000miles for a Honda to completly "BREAK IN" Within that period dont redline the damn car because your only digging your cars grave. I had my 94 accord lx automatic that was driven "NORMAL" until 30,000miles then after that I modded it and raced the **** out of it. And guess what? 80,000miles later its still running perfectly strong and is still just as fast as its allways been. No problems to report. My other friend got a 2001 Mirage LS Coupe 5speed w/1.8L motor and the day he got the car he drove the **** out of it and started modding it. Well its not a very fast car at all now, when he first got it, it felt stronger then it does now. I also got another guy with a 95' Acura Legend GS Automatic that was driven hard from day 1 and he has had Tranny Problems, Engine Piston Ring Problems and he has barly 100,000 on it! Now your telling me a 94 accord lx is more reliable then a $45,000 luxury car? Pfft whatever. Just use common sense be nice to your cars and let the engine's break in properly and you will save yourself the trouble.[IMG]i/expressions/face-icon-small-mad.gif[/IMG][IMG]i/expressions/face-icon-small-mad.gif[/IMG] >>
Ummmm........ don't forget the fact that Honda isn't building Civics for rice racers. It's *NOT* a sports car. They build it, because majority of their clients use it to get from Point A, to Point B.
As pissed off as you are about hearing this, the fact is simple: a ton of 7th Gen Civic owners are having problems with their BRAND NEW cars. I am comparing a COROLLA to a CIVIC, simply because a COROLLA has a better reliability record than the CIVIC, which in turn happened to be the biggest competition to each other.
I can see you are hardcore into racing... well.. I don't know man, I'm not sure why the heck you bought a 7th Gen Civic. There are a plenty of other cars out there that's faster than your car, for the same price.
I'm sure there are going to be lots of parts out eventually that will make the 7th Gen Civic a serious performer, but why spend outrageous $$$ on turbokits, exhaust, intake, blah blah blah... when you could've gone out and bought a WRX in the first place? You're going to lose all of your Honda "qualities" as soon as you souped up the $hit out of your car. It pretty much becomes a Mustang.
Sure it's fun to do, but if you want to have fun, you should've bought an older Civic, with TONS of addon goodies available.
I think I can speak for a lot of people on this fourm that they bought it because reliability of the car was definitely a high priority. But for many of us, Honda has failed to deliver that. It is even more frustrating for us to be told by their mechanics that there is nothing wrong, even thought clearly, something IS wrong.
umm read my post again , I dont have a civic I have a 94 Accord LX, also swapping engines is a cheap way to make power and a WRX isnt that great for pure speed, sure its got nice handling but performance wise its sorry for a turbo car. You can go get a 5th or 6th gen civic and drop a B18C5 motor in it and run 13's in the 1/4 without any mods to the engine with a good driver.....hummmmmmm plus honda swaps are DIRT CHEAP, they can be had for as little as $600 to $1500! In the long run a 6th gen civic with b18c5 hooked up will cost less then a WRX and kick the hell out of it in all area's performance wise. If your into AWD pick up a Eclipse GSX Turbo. Much cheaper than the WRX and performance is MUCH better with minor tweaks.
) However, remember that though the Corolla has that long list of options for less than a Civic EX, most of those come standard on the Civic. A bare-bones Corolla should be compared with an LX, or even a DX, not the EX, which, IMHO, is pretty loaded.
I'm gonna keep this car until I can afford something that typical carjackers won't bother with. 
