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I have a 2001 LX Sedan 5 speed and it is reasonably "peppy". Does not have a problem maintaining 80 MPH with AC on. The new LX's are equipped with rear anti-sway bar - mine is not , wish it did have it.

The only drawback to the moonroof to me would be that it cuts into your headroom slightly - if you are tall in the upper body like myself - it is noticeable. But I still would not mind having one!

If I were looking today - I might consider spending the extra cash and get the EX , probably the coupe this time - really like the looks , much nicer looking than the sedan. I would have to drive one of the new EX's and see how it compares to the my LX. May just do that next time I am at a Honda dealership!

Would not even consider the Si. At 30 MPG hwy it is a bad joke. Something like a Grand Prix with a 3.8 V6 can match that plus blows the doors off the silly Si.

 
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I like my EX a lot... the sunroof is a lot of fun while goin on summer drives and stuff. I didn't have ABS in my last car and i love having it on this one especially with the rough winter we had and all the rain lately. I bet whatever one you choose you'll be happy but why not just pay a little more and get that little more like ABS and the sunroof with the EX?

 
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Si should be a hair quicker than a Grand Prix/Grand Am GT, not the GTP but the GT.

 
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if its only $1800, and you finance the car...how much more is that per month? i bet its not even that much more per month.

 
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The 80mph thing is key. I have a Saturn SL2 automatic and with the AC on in cruise control the damn thing downshifts on me when going up inclines (around 10-15%) on the interstate. That really annoys the hell out of me. Now granted, with a manual, it won't downshift on its own, but I also don't want my engine to be mad at me, either. If the LX can handle that, then it might be good enough.

That's an interesting point you make about the Si. Probably a better comparison would be against the Accord V6 6-speed Coupe which also does 30 MPG hwy. Now, THAT'S a car I'd MUCH rather have, and I think is way cooler than the Civic Si.

 
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I say screw the little extra HP and ABS and get the LX manual. But pretend to yourself that you bought a EX. With that $1800 that u would have used, put it towards savings for a turbo.

 
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With interest over 60 months, it comes out to a little over $30 per month.

Hmm... EX or free internet for 5 years?

 
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You said you didn't like the moonroof because of previous problems with your old cars. In my experience, I have never had any rusting problems with the rails with any of the Hondas I drove. The only reason you should not want the moonroof is because you're tall and want more headroom. Other than that, the EX is a much better car to get if your going to keep it stock. The alloy wheels are nice looking and won't cost you much in the future to change tires.

 
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i say get the lx, tho the ex has ivtec, is it really worth more the extra money, plus u dont want a sunroof. so juss add the 1800 to mods.

 
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Yeah, the wheels are probably my 2nd reason for considering the EX. I know if I get the LX I'm probably going to want to get wheels for it since I think covered steelies are kinda silly looking.

Of course, I could get them added as an option from the dealership, but at over $800, I'd almost be just as well going with the higher trim.

I guess if I think about it, though, the stuff that the EX brings is mostly stuff I WANT rather than NEED. It's different with the DX vs LX because the LX gives me stuff I know I'll need like cruise control, A/C, and a tachometer. So I guess it's all about whether I can afford to treat myself.

It would be nice if they broke up some of these options so you could get them seperately and customize a little better. But then it would be a pain to find exactly the right combination. Toyota is kinda like that and that's one reason I've kinda given up on them. None at my dealership seemed to have the combination I wanted, and I hadn't even narrowed it down to color choices yet.

 
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what were ur previous cars?

 
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Cambo is clueless as to power gains. I have an LX and I put in the C/A intake, full pulley lightening kits (crank, A.C., Alt.) and a fulle exhaust, headers for the EX custom fit, w/ racing catback and single racing muffler, w/ 2.5" pipes and believe me for the 1800 or less I spent on it, there is a huge difference. The car feels more like the RSX-type s(210), but is probably really only as powerful as the RSX(160). And any one who shops around can find a good deal on rims, which I got MOMO Racer's for 1000 w/ Falken Ziex tires. If you drop it on to these spec.'s you gain even more with the lower base and less drag, just don't be stupid no more than 2" should do.

 
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there's no way you can even touch an RSX with pulleys, intake exhaust. you have 115hp to start. i bet you gained 15hp tops. putting you up at an ex. you certainly didn't get 45hp from that. lol. that's just funny.

 
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really, that is cool, but you should probably not get cocky w/ me and just find out for yourself somehow, b/c I have no reason to lie to you. It sound's like you believe that the only real modifications that can make big differences are turbo/superchargers and NOS kits from the Fast and the Furious.

 
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hahahaa yeah right. Powerful as a RSX my ***

 
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Well, first I drove an 85 Chevy Cavalier which was a crap heap, but it got me through college.

Then I got a Chevy Beretta V6 (3.1, 160hp) which I enjoyed the hell out of for less than a year until I wrecked it by rear-ending a Saturn. The Saturn was unharmed, so my I decided my next car would be one of those. By the way, it turns out the Beretta had ABS, but they didn't save me that time.

I currently drive a Saturn SL2. It does the job. As I mentioned, the downshifting with the A/C on annoys me but otherwise it's been mostly reliable. I say mostly because I have had issues with it burning oil. You just have to stay on top of it and check it often. Also the sun roof tracks are rusted to the point where it's useless and the transmission is starting to act funny when it gets hot from driving long distances.

All of the above have been automatics.

I want my next car to hold its value better, offer even better gas mileage (I'm currently getting around 32mpg on the highway), have a manual transmission, and free me from engine/transmission worry. I figure if my next car has to be another econo-box, I may as well make it more fun, so the manual (and possibly the coupe body style) will be what I do to fill that requirement.

 
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try it yourself, if you really want some power for this price just take the throttle body off of the Type-S and mod. it in there for pretty cheap, although it is a bit of work. We did that on one of my teammate's vehicles

 
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i wasnt' trying to sound cocky, but your not one of those people that believes a muffler adds 15hp, like they advertise, are you? alright. so from a Cold air intake you gain about 4hp, catback exhaust 3hp (mind you yours is a 2.5" which will make you loose torque, you only need bigger than 2.25 if your running F/I, which you aren't), new cat converter (your best mod) 6hp, headers, well say another 5hp to be generous.

so your car was putting about 100hp to the wheels stock, and now it should be putting somethign like 115-120 to the wheels. not terrible gains, but it's not like night and day. show me a dyno that says you have 145whp and then i'll believe you are as quick as an rsx, but for now, it probably just feels fast because of all the noise it makes.

 
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well, my .02 worth. I really needed and wanted something cheap, efficient, and an AUTOMATIC (traffic sucks). So, I looked at 1-2 year old Civics that were still under the factory warranty. I found an LX in very good condition for a good price, and the owner had a Clifford Alarm and Alpine 6CD changer installed.

Sure, a sun roof is nice if you use it, and (particularly with the auto) the Civic is pretty slow compared to what I am used to. The used EXs were more expensive and not worth the extra money to me.

I understand you wouldn't buy used (normally I wouldnt either). I ended up purchasing a 7/100k HondaCare warranty after I bought the Civic, so this way its got some potential for resale. I sure wish Honda would offer 5/60k on the powertrain instead of their 3/36.

Anyhow, the car has been great for the past 6 months. Sunroof? Don't care, our other car is a Mustang GT convertible -- plenty of sunroof action that way.

I wish I could have found an HX CVT, but they are pretty rare. Overall, I'm happy with the LX over the DX (power windows, mirrors, tach are nice). Otherwise, I don't miss any of the features of the EX. My mom owns a 97 EX coupe and the sunroof has been opened twice by me in 6 years that she has owned it... She never uses it.

ABS is a nice safety net, but I've driven the Civic plenty hard in regular driving and intentionally locked the tires in the wet. It takes some pretty deliberate force to lock the brakes. Its a judgement call, as I've had performance cars where you didn't even use the ABS on the road courses. Its basically a matter of how skilled you are (although one can't always be ready for the panic stop).

One thing to note, my insurance is higher on an LX than an EX because the LX has no ABS... I don't know by how much, but you might look into that.

 
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The pulleys combined w/ all of that and the right ride height and camber adjustments (which don't add engine power, but do add whp) can also make somewhat of a difference. It is actually not that loud b/c I got as quite of components as possible. My brother owns the RSX and I have test driven the RSX-typeS, obviously it is not as fast w/ the low end speed but, the high end (off-the-line) is comparable to the RSX. This is what I mean. The RSX is definately a more tunable car, but I still know that I have something similar to such w/ about $4000 less money, which could buy the turbo/intercooler stuff. I have also been interested in putting in an exhaust dump just before the cat-back which I could switch on to make it have a little more force (if I were running 15psi), but that is all future stuff. Anyway the LX can be tuned up to be faster that the EX with less than 1800$

 
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I'd say equal. but you've got 17s. so you loose whp there.

 
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Yeah, everybody tells me I'm going to hate the manual when I'm in traffic. I don't care, though. I'm so bored with automatics. Plus I want to learn to really DRIVE my car rather than have it drive itself. The ABS is another factor in that. I prefer to be in control of what my car is doing.

About the warranty, that's one thing that puzzles me. Why is Honda's warranty so short? It's not like they break that much anyway.

Thanks for the tip on the insurance. I hadn't considered that.


Also, for the rest of you, I am not modding it.

Please take the intake/exhaust/pulleys/turbo discussion out of my thread; thanks.

 
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It actually does depend on the car. My previous car was a Subaru WRX which was horrible to drive in traffic. Clutch/tranny just was clumsy and not smooth. It got worse after the TSB was performed to get rid of clutch noise (TSB said to replace the clutch).

Before that, I had an S2000 which drove and shifted nicely. No complaints there. I've owned a total of 7 cars in my 12 years of driving. Of them, only the Civic is an auto. Its my first auto.

Traffic depends where you live. I live in Portland, OR which is ranked 11 in terms of the worst traffic in the nation. Most days, my 13 mile one way trip takes me 25 mins, and its 11.6 miles of Interstate Driving, 1.6 miles of side streets. This trip has taken 45 mins sometimes.

The next time I buy a car with a manual transmission, it will be a sports car that actually will be shifted for fun, not necessity

I plan on keeping the Civic as a "beater" car. This way I could justify a sports car for play...

In the mean time, mind numbing driving works great with a mind numbing car

Honda warranties -- Honda has always been slow to give good warranties. They were quite late in adopting a 3/36 warranty as well. Good thing the cars are dependible.

 
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MrDisco99!! HEY it's OEMByron from the something awful forums !! HAHAHA

 
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here's my opinion:

if money's not tight, and you're definitely not modding it, go with EX cause you get ABS!!

BUT!!! you gotta know this... civics come with the crappiest stock firestone tires!!!

so if you go with the LX.. use the $1800 on a set of DECENT tires... i think that's just as good (or can be better) than ABS with stock tires...

i have LX coupe (i live in canada, so might be a little different than US lx), and it's pretty good.. pretty much same performance as ex (si here)

 
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i agree with all the other lx owners. i have an 02 lx coupe and its nice but like someone said before i look at other ex's and kind of snarl knowing they have that extra vtec kick. other than that the sunroof thingie isnt all that. as for the abs i would have to agree with everyone else. not saying the brakes on the lx are all that bad either (knock on wood) but there are a few advantages to the lx over the ex (just cant remember at the moment)

 
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I went with the Ex....top of the line for a Civic Coupe....but not torqy or quick for my style of driving....especially when I have a buddy rollin around in a 98' Supra with 760 hp on the dyno rollers....its just not fair.

 
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I say screw all this Civic talk and just get the new Accord coupe!!!

But if you still really want a Civic, I think you're better off with the EX since you are already set on not making any modifications to it. It'll probably end up being a much car, considering all the extras (ABS, better engine, etc.) that the EX has over the LX. I'm one who just really wants that sunroof though. I don't even care much about the added horsepower. Ha!

 
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Heheh... hey goon! I was wondering what your login was here so I could put you in as my referrer.

 
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Ha! If I could afford an Accord coupe, do you think we'd be talking about this?