RogersParker

I am in love with this car! I test drove another one of the same year, make and model. There was major discrepancy between odo reading and Carfax report, so I let it go even though I really liked the car.

THIS one is on its second owner. First owner drove mostly highway miles for 12 years. The car has about 126K miles on it, no accidents, according to Carfax and sounds like it has been maintained well. I will have the car checked by mechanic before I make an offer....

I guess I'm here to ask what I can expect in the way of maintenance in the next couple of years. This is a 14-year-old vehicle with well over 100,000 miles on it with 5-speed manual transmission. Will it hold up for another couple of years without needing major work? I read on another thread I should get the timing belt changed right away if it hasn't been done yet. What about the brakes? clutch? cv joints? I haven't bought a used car in many years and am a little anxious about shelling out a couple of grand for a vehicle that I may wind up having to invest another $2k into... Any insight you could provide would be greatly appreciated before I take the plunge. Thanks! :-)

Stock 99

I've owned a '99 DX coupe now for 3 years. I bought it with 100k miles on it off the original owner (well maintained). It now has 125k miles on it and the only things I've done besides regular maintenance are (recently) upper control arms ($300) and spark plug wires and even they had a 1/2 life left in them still. Mine doesn't burn or leak oil at all and I've aware of several around where I live that have 250k miles on them and still run well. Find out when the timing belt was last changed (tolerance is 7 years/100k miles) if you can't get that information verified then change it.

As far as the rest of your questions either take it to a mechanic that you trust or take your chances, frankly. Nobody (not even a mechanic) can say for sure how long a clutch will last without visually inspecting it. You can put it under load and see if it slips. Lots of way to do that, park on a steepish hill and pull away, get a rolling start and then put it in 4th and step on it, etc,etc. Brakes, take the front wheel(s) off and look. Ball joints and suspension - go to a parking lot and do circles both ways (not doughnuts) listen for cracking/popping/grinding noises. My upper control arm bushings/ball joints were obvious because every time you hit the slightest little bump it would make huge clanking noises (metal on metal).

I didn't have any money to spend on repairs when I bought mine and felt the same way you do right now. I haven't regretted this car at all and frankly I still pull 40 mpg with it all the time. Just do your due diligence and everything should be fine.

RogersParker

Thx, Stock 99! Unfortunately, the deal didn't go through. In fact, I was 5 minutes from owner's address and texted him as much. Got a call back 30 seconds later from the BUYER! Owner didn't even bother to let me know he had a sale pending! Round trip took me 1.5 hours in a rented Zipcar to go see a car that was sold out from under me. Welcome to the world of private owner used car sales, I guess. It just wasn't meant to be.

On the plus side, I went to look at an '02 Civic LX today...much closer to home so it won't be a big deal to take it to my mechanic in the morning. And I gave the seller a little hold money this time. Wish me luck!

Thanks again for sharing your experience. This forum is awesome!

Stock 99

Just a heads up 2001 and up Civic's had some issues. auto transmissions being a big one.

Yes, more difficult to buy privately but I feel it's better value when you do finally find what you want.