Lt. Dan

Hey everyone, I am sure this has been asked before, but what do you think the best year (least problems, lowest cost of ownership) of 7th gen Civics is?

I am in need of a commuter car to supplement my truck and am looking to spend in the $4000 range. Auto, manual, coupe -doesn't matter, just looking for cost effectiveness. Also, any problems to watch out for would also be appreciated.




Yes, I know there is a search function but it filters out "best" so it's not very effective. I am no stranger to forums, I know how annoying I am haha.

If anyone is interested, I have a 2002 Ford F250 Crew Cab with the 7.3L diesel which is my dream vehicle but I'm now facing a 500mi/wk commute. 14miles per gallon of diesel doesn't make me happy so a commuter car is in the works. I did a ton of research before buying my truck and I knew every problem it could possibly have but I don't have the luxury of time to do the research on this one.

Thank for all of your help,
Dave

mikey1

in my opinion 2005,

i think they got most of the common issues of previous years (auto tranny, head gasket) sorted out by then

Lt. Dan

What are some of these issues, more specifically? Should I be looking at an auto or manual, in your opinion?

mikey1

blown head gaskets are common in 7th gen, but i would say more so with the earlier models, same goes with the auto trannys,

if you want a 7th gen, personally i would look for an 05 auto, and have the tranny fluid changed right away, along with the timing belt if the seller can not provide PROOF of when it was changed last

CraigW

iTrader: (1)

As with any purchase....... buyer beware.

04-05 better.

Reverb2005

I have a 2005 and I can testify that I have not really had any major problems since I bought the car in 2008. I use the car every day to travel to work, totaling about 210 km/day, 5 days a week.

To be honest, the only things that I have had to "fix" are things I had done TO the car, poor bugger.

The key to getting a 'good' used car that is now >10 years old is finding a person who maintained their vehicle well.

I had to do the input shaft bearing on my manual tranny, but I really blame that on my driving habits as I used to downshift to slow down for some stupid reason.

Literally, no component has yet to fail that wasn't already past it expected lifetime anyway. I would say 2005 is a nice year, just get a car with a good history!