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Hello everyone,,
I've been looking through forums comparing the 7th gen to the 8th gen and such. One trend is the the amount of hate of the 7th gen. Why? I own a 2003 7th gen (Acura EL 1.7) and love the hell out of that thing. I put a head gasket in at 210,000km and now I'm up to 250,000km with no other problems. People hate over the McPherson struts, I don't mind them, they are easier to work on and with both front and rear I find it handles better than the 8th gen. I am not 100% bias tho, I took my moms 8th gen (2010) a total of 9000km on 2 road trips. I love the cluster in them. I don't like the feel https://100001.onl/ https://1921681254.mx/ https://happymod.site/ of the shifter (5speed), it feels super clunky. And the power difference, on the highway the 7th gen feels like it has a lot more passing power, less down shifting, in the 8th gen, almost every pass or hill I had to down shift. Please leave your 2 cents! Thanks!

 
Rep Power: 225

Bad head gaskets and auto transmissions really put a damper on the 7th gens. A bad head gasket isn't a big deal to me because I can fix it myself, but to the regular person that's a ~$1k repair.

I've owned my '02 for nine years now and have loved it the entire time, still drive it everyday.

 
Rep Power: 134

I've got an 03 ACURA EL as well. Bought in 2010 and now has 230K kms. Auto trans with no issues. ATF changed frequently with Honda DW-1.
For a 17 year old car - it is still reliable and in good running condition. I do put time and $ into though - it is not abused.
I did have the head gasket repaired in 2015 and at 140K kms.
Other than that she is one reliable vehicle.

Currently addressing small issues like the wires breaking in the driver's door jam area causing no power windows (I should look into replacing the whole harness now) and a creaking brake pedal - driving me nutz and have lubed the heck out of it and see a solution is replacing the whole brake pedal.

 
Rep Power: 126

My first car was an ‘01 coupe with a manual. Bought it for $500 with 150k miles because it needed some work. Redid all the brakes, drivers side window regulator, and did quite a bit of rust repair. Took it to almost 200k no issues then my timing belt snapped. One timing belt/water pump later and it’s at almost 210k miles. I gave it to my brother as his first car. It burns a ton of oil, it’s high mileage, and it’s had the crap beaten out of it, but the damn thing just won’t die.

The 7th gen is the bastard child of civics because the aftermarket is by far the worst out of every civic. That’s another reason why people don’t like them.

 
Rep Power: 512

It wasn't a powerhouse from the factory, nor did it respond well to bolt on mods
VTEC doesn't kick in like previous gens
AT failures
prone to head gasket failure

But man, I loved my 2002

 
Rep Power: 368

?

Don't know what you call hate.

It's just an intermediate car between the light, double wishbone with peppy engines that were on the 6th gen, and the more "luxurious" 8th gen, so conflicted personalities in the 7th gen.

earlier cars were light, nimble and potential for being very sporty if modified properly.

7th grew a lot in side, except the engine, downgrade in suspension.

8th grew even more, turning even more into just another camry in the road.

 
Rep Power: 211

Agree. The subjective "hate" was probably more-so between the 7th & 8th gens compared to 5th & 6th gens.

I've owned a 5th gen 95 Civic EX and two 6th gen '98 Civic EX's. My mom owns a 7th gen '04 Civic VP. I've worked on and driven all of them extensively and they all appeal to me in different ways.
5th gen: IMO has the best styling of the three. Best headliner (canvas, not cloth). Rectangular glass headlights and not sealed plastic, somewhat dopey roundish headlights.
6th gen: Nice styling but not as nice as the 5th gen. obd2 ecu. A slightly softer ride than 5th gen. A bit more power than comparable model 5th gens.
7th gen. Boxey and mostly reliable. Better a/c system than previous models. Softer but more boring ride/handling than previous models. Early years '01-mid '03 automatic transmission subject to failure. Headgasket failure fairly common at 100k+ miles.

I prefer a 5th or 6th gen around town and a 7th gen on the highway. Never owned an 8th gen but did test drive a couple and didn't like them much. They seemed heavier and less responsive than previous models. Now I drive a big old 2000 Buick Century boat of a car and I definitely miss my glorified go-kart: '95 Civic EX with JDM B20B/LS head, LS 5-speed.

 
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We loved ours. Just sold it. Had 304K miles, had original head gasket, never overheated, had original Cat conv.
and... with the backseats down I was able to haul all kinds of stuff in that car. Very roomy!
The car never let me down!

 
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I got my 2002 EX coupe (MT) over 18 years ago and still love it. Only 125k miles or so and yes, it's gotten pretty rusty underneath (from parking outdoors and driving around all the salt in Chicago, Boston, NYC, etc. over the years) but it still works great overall, despite some non-major problems over the years that mostly required reasonable repairs. The 5MT is super smooth as most Honda MTs are reputed to be, so no complaints there and definitely not "clunky."

My SO has a 10 year old 2010 LX sedan (AT) and even when new, the lesser quality was evident (started rattling the first year while my 2002 still has no rattles), especially in the interior with the horrible stereo (replaced long ago), hard and cheap feeling plastics, etc. The slightly higher power (20 HP or so) is negligible really, especially since it's an AT vs my MT '02. The 8th gen sedan though has such a great, classic exterior design that still looks better than all the civics that followed it and most that preceded it (at least post 5th gen).

 
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Love my 7th gen

 
Rep Power: 195

When I bought mine, I loved it. It looked so nice, I got a lot of compliments on the car, and a few other people I knew bought it as well. But, over the years, it has had a LOT of issues from window regulators that keep breaking to tranny issues. Luckily, I never got a head gasket problem, and I'm kind of surprised I missed that one. Now, our 09 Civic has been a lot more issue free than my 01 Civic, but that gen has an even bigger problem: engine blocks randomly cracking.

The most surprising thing I've learned is that made in Japan doesn't mean ****. My 01 Civic was made in Japan, and the 09 Civic is made in the U.S. We'll see how the 09 Civic handles, but my 01 Civic had window regulators breaking after just 10 years. And then, I felt like the power steering somehow got stiffer in that car around then too. I could never figure it out, but it was quite noticeably stiffer. I just drove it that way all the way till when I finally sold it this week.

 
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Well , i own a 2005 em2 coupe , while it'd true that the aftermarket support isnt great on that car, and especially the d17 engine isnt a great engine (head gasket failure, crankshaft bearing failures).

But the bodystyle is SSOO beautiful
I swapped a k20a2 in mine , and fully upgraded the engine , brakes and suspension/chassis.
now it's an amazing car, fast, AND reliable !

+- 275 hp & 296 Nm

 
Rep Power: 305

I miss my EM2 I always compliment anyone who brings one to any meet I go to.

 
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I love my 7th Gen Accord. This car has taught me lots of patience and taught me about working on cars. Put lots of blood, sweat, stress, and money into the car. This is truly the first project car that I have ever owned where I did everything on my own.

 
Rep Power: 126

That’s great, but this is a civic forum. We’re not talking about the accord.