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Well, I looked at this 2005 Civic EX SE today. What a letdown.

http://www.cars.com/go/search/detail...nal&listType=1

The body was in great shape, surprisingly. I didn't notice any questionable or problem areas. Unfortunately, aside from the price of $6950 ($6850 he would let it go for), that is about the only GOOD thing about this car.

When I popped the hood, I should have just walked away then. Sitting on top of the engine was a hacked together intake tube/boots with a SPECTRE (cheap AutoZone ****!) "air filter" sitting on there. Who knows how long it's been there. It was dirty on top of that. I was pretty let down when I saw that.

While the interior didn't smell, it did have hazy windows, and a couple cigarette burns on the back seat.

- The tires are dryrotted and have maybe 2/32's left.
- The rotors have grooves, pads are thin.
- Brake fluid at 'min' line (poor maint).
- Coolant reservoir empty (poor maint).
- Washer fluid empty (who cares, still poor maint).
- Wires to the coolant temp sense had been cut, and just twisted together, bare, and corroded.
- Tach display was sitting past 8K at idle, and going up the wrong/opposite side of the display.
- Felt sluggish, slower shifting compared to the other car that I drove.

Really a bummer, I was hoping this would be the car. After seeing that **** under the hood though, I couldn't bring myself to get this car. Who knows, maybe it's actually a good deal, but, I didn't get a warm fuzzy.

If you're looking for a clean solid car for some sort of engine swap, this would be a good candidate, or if you want to take your chances on this IMO low-maintained vehicle.

 
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Man, I feel your pain, I looked at over 30 Civics before buying mine. I never even drove ONE OF THEM since they were all hacked up, wrecked, smoked out inside, riced out or just generally beat to hell and had 300 owners lol

Mine is a 2 owner(including me) 0 accident car and 100% non smoker 2001 Civic. Power windows/locks and cold A/C with a smooth shifting trans and zero issues. Only has 117k miles on it and looks fantastic. Has a couple of door dings as expected and I am about to list it for sale locally for $6400 here in OKC. I am not in a hurry to sell it, just want something bigger. I feel like what they are asking for some of them is a bit high, so is mine for the year, but I am figuring in that I know there is not one of this year cleaner or well maintained with a new timing belt/water pump/belts that has not had a rough life. Just tinted the windows and did a full buff job on the paint and modded the headlights as well as installed HID's and LED's in them. Installed a new head unit and still have stock as well as upgraded the door speakers with Orions....oh and put some 17's on it with new tires.

Feel like mine is pretty competitively priced. I would just continue your search. I looked for 3 months before I found one that I liked. To me the # of owners and low miles on mine, it was a no brainer.

Good Luck in your search!
Dave

 
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I found my 2003 EX with only 34k miles on it a few months ago. I paid $7,500. Had all the maintenance records and new tires. Was in great shape from an elderly man who was the original owner. His daughter talked him into selling it since he had two other vehicles. He was asking 9k. I talked him down and he agreed because it was the first day he had it out for sale and didn't want the hassle of showing it to potential buyers every day.

 
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That is a pretty smokin deal!

 
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Buy new LX for $19K.
Drive 6 years @ 15K miles/year = 90K miles
Sell for $9K.
Spent $11K driving, over 72 months = $152/month.
Believe me, it's tempting! Of course, then I could keep it and get 200K out of it and still apparently ask $6K for it. Going new, I'd have to check out the Elantra and a few other models.

This just popped up today. I've been avoiding Hybrids because of battery replacement costs, but I hear they have come down a lot. Looks clean. I want a clean nice car.

 
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If you really consider a new car, take a look at a Subaru Legacy. When we bought a new car for my wife in '09, I liked the the Legacy much better. She had her heart set on a Civic tho.

I thought the Legacy was much better appointed than the Civic EX-L we ended up buying. The deal breaker for my bride was the estimated 5 mpg fuel economy difference between the two (the Subaru is a full time AWD).

Honda is very good at making reliable, functional cars that last a long time. I'm afraid they're not very good at making... nicely appointed cars. Sure, my wife's EX-L has leather, sunroof, heated seats, etc. But there's still so much... plastic. For essentially the same money, we could have gotten a Legacy that was nice, man. It felt nice. And IMO, the Subaru's ride was much smoother.

But momma wanted a Civic. So she got a Civic.

 
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Woops, my link didn't work:
http://annapolis.craigslist.org/cto/2852406927.html

Yeah if I buy new, I'm really going to need to check out everything. I'm torn right now.

 
Rep Power: 204

DON'T BUY A HYUNDAI!

I know a bunch of people that have bought 2005+ Hyundai's and even though they look nicer then the older gens they are still just as cheaply made. A friend has a 2005 Sante Fe and the clutch went around 100k kms cost him $3000 to repair. Another guy I know used his 2005 Elantra to move so he was loading it up but it ended up throwing a rod and cost him a new engine. That's really poor performance for relatively newer cars IMHO.

I know another lady that just went from an older Subaru to a 2009 Elantra and she hates it. Just told me it's no good in the snow, rain, ice, hard to see out of, etc, etc, etc

 
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It looks like I bought that 05!

 
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Haha, so the place with that silver SE e-mailed me that they still have the car. No kidding! Because it's overpriced junk.

 
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Bought this one. 05 Hybrid, 101K, $6500. Car is super clean. Wasn't shooting for a hybrid, but, couldn't pass up on this one.

Haven't washed or cleaned it yet.

 
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Serious? But Hyaundai has been the most soaring company in the past 3-5yrs. They are taking off and outselling Toyota, Honda in the past 3 years. Ive heard nothing but rave reviews about the 2010-2012, Elantra, Sonata and Genesis. Many have said Hyaundai are better quality than Hondas now.

 
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Nice find! congrats!

 
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I agree on the Hyundais. My family rented a new Elantra when we went to Arizona a year ago and it was awful. On the highway It would suddenly downshift because it didn't have enough power which would send the rpms up to 6k or so before it shifted back again. This happened ALL the time. Not just a few times... ALL the time.

 
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Sonatas are alright but i like the genesis... A lot less now than like a year ago though

 
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Well what year? Ive heard nothing but great things on elantras. Suppose to be higher quality than civics.

 
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Says hyundai?

 
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...because they are the cheapest cars on the market right now.

 
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... And times are tough. People want new cars that look good but r cheap, hyundai is a great confidence boost in shitty times!

 
Rep Power: 204

exactly!