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I bought a 2001 white lx coupe automatic when they first came out. The car was great. Had very little problems with it, except for the tranny! It shifted like crap. BUYER BEWARE, if you are picky like I am about how a car shifts and when it shifts, make sure you drive the particular car you are going to buy for a while! to make sure you like the way it shifts, mine never wanted to downshift at the right time, if it ever did, it would stay in that gear just long enough to shake the car, and then go back into the higher gear. There was other shifting problems, but, from what I hear, that is just the way Honda Civics shift.

So I traded it in a week ago for a Civic LX silver coupe with a 5 speed. It seems to shift the way a manual should, it is a little more difficult to shift into 2nd smoothly than a lot of cars I've driven, but pretty good so far. BUT the quality of a lot of the part is BAD. The trunk lid did not align correctly, so I told the dealer that it has to be realigned like new. Well, after the dealer has now replaced a tail light, and bent the trunk lid, they are ordering me a new one.

There were clips missing from the interior, Missing floor mat hold downs, Raddles under the dash board, Paint does not match correctly between the quarter panel and the passenger side door. I asked the dealer what ever happened to Honda quality?

I found out from the service manager that the Civics made in Japan (J in serial #) have many times less warranty work done on them compared to the ones made in America (H in serial #). Too late for me! but maybe not for others. If you are in the market for a Civic, get one made in Japan! not in USA. They build them better over there. From what I hear, all the Civic SI's are made in Japan.

This is from a service manager that knows! and I've seen the quality defects with my own eyes. I just pray that there is no loose or missing pieces in the drivetrain like there was on the body.

David

 
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thats one hell of a first post.....

 
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all coupes are made in the US.

 
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Oh, I guess some of the 4 door civics are made in Japan.

 
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TYhe Hondas and as well as many other cars are nade in different places all over the world parts from Japan and then other countries as well but i would love to get a JapSpec Civic

 
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Hey man, dont be bashing the quality of the civic's made in marysville ohio, I have about 50 friends that would love to beat the snot out of you for saying they made the cars crappy.... BUT.... they make so many cars there a day, there are bound to be a few things wrong here and there. Its normal, think about really how many freakin civics there are out there

 
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funny how the 6th gens were made here and no one complains (1 as the first digit instead of J, not an H, H stands for Honda as the manufactuer). Also the Civic Si's are not made in japan. The EM1 99-00 Civic Si was made here in the US, and the EP3 Si is made in the UK. The things that came from Japan were the tranny and engine...then the car was assembled in Ohio.

 
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True, don't want to **** your buddy's off, BUT THEY DIDN'T PUT MY CAR TOGETHER RIGHT! about 4 thing were messed up or missing.

YES I know, no car manufacture is perfect, but I went and looked at all the silver civic coupes at the Honda lot, and everyone but 1 had misaligned trunk lids!, one even had a run in the paint. I'm sure Honda makes good cars, but the Silver 2door coupes (where I live at least) have obvious flaws that should have been caught before they left the factory.

I looked at the Accords, civic si, cr-v though, and I didn't see any problems on the exterior.

 
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The Si is made in England. I really think you just had a little bad luck. Maybe you should have really looked the car over as well before buying. Such as when you test drove it.

 
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leave him alone.. he a newb at buyin cars too.... didnt know you were supposed to examine an drive the car you want before you buy......

 
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Misaligned trunk lids? That's the biggest problem you have with your car? You need to go find other cars that catch on fire, have trannies fail in the 1st year, and generally roll over unexpectedly. Complain about those cars not misaligned trunk lids.

 
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Well, I KNOW that I don't know where all Civics are made, I apologize for not being correct on everything. I am going on information from the service manager. His words were approximately:

"cars with H in the serial number mean they were put together at Honda , American division, J means they were put together in Japan. The ones with J in the serial number have MUCH LESS warranty work done on them."

That's all I'm sure about, and I don't have any reason not to believe what he said.

I did test drive the car, and it drives like a dream so far! and it still does right now, but you don't notice missing clips, hold downs, small raddles, and very slight paint discolorations on a test drive. The trunk lid I assumed that the dealer could fix in 15 minutes of adjusting the trunk lid, so that was not a big deal. I expect a new car to be very close to not having any defects, this car does not quite meet that requirement, mostly due to the trunk lid being warped, not just misaligned. Unfortunately, I was not aware of them until after I bought the car. Thank goodness they are just superficial defects though. I am much more concerned about the quality of the drivetrain. So far, the drivetrain seems to be pretty good.

Has any of you ever installed the keyless entry system that Honda sells?

 
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True, trunk lid doesn't seem that bad, but I just built Honda up so high after reading all the good things about them, when I could finally afford one, I expected it to not be like that. Once all of it is fixed, I will be happy (but still will be leary)

 
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I find this almost funny.. My DX Sedan was made in Japan... Serial # 000136 . My car was 136th Sedan off the assembly line in Japan..I've had TONS of problems...now I don't even bother taking it to the dealer I just fix em myself...

 
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Read this before talking about vin numbers.

 
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Actually if you look at a lot of cars out there, more often than not it seems their trunk lid is misaligned, regardless of who manufactured it, even BMWs and such. Most of us here pay a lot of attention to our cars and we notice these details which someone else likely would not. My moms Acura's trunk sits to high, and my Civic sits pretty weird too, kinda droops as it goes down, and too low at the left edge by the tail light. I might address it when my car is serviced, but that won't be for at least 2 more months.

 
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I have an American built 01 Sedan and as far as quality I do complain about interior assembly, its very poorly put together. And I can actually compare it to a 6th gen 00 civic from my brother, the 6th gen, been its last year had worked out all the little flaws of new cars and its beautifully put together, not a single rattle! And that what made Japanese cars famous for "quality".

So after almost two years out, I bet the 03s are going to be excellent cars since they probably worked out the little flaws. And being honest, interior rattles are a very minor yet annoying thing. As a good thing to say, my car´s engine has worked perfect as well as my auto trans.

Thing is, with auto trans you have to "train" them to your driving style and it takes a couple of weeks for it to catch on when you want to shift. After almost two years of driving my car it shifts at my will all the time, downshifting and upshifting just by controlling the gas pedal.

 
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Yup yup! Liberty City, OH for my car...12K miles and still going well...just regular stuff so far - gotta love my 6th gen!

 
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glad i didn't get the 01.. my 02 hasn't had a single problem! except cheap paint (i curbed my car [IMG]i/expressions/face-icon-small-mad.gif[/IMG] , but that's to be expected)