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I'm in the market for a used 4 cylinder car and I've been looking at Civics. My first thought is that a Civic would be a good buy because of gas mileage and reliability.

However, EVERY CIVIC (yes every single one, I've looked at about 15 so far) has been in **** poor condition. My friend bought an 02 civic last year and already put a new clutch, suspension, shocks and brakes on it. The previous owner beat on the car to DEATH!!

I've noticed this is a recurring trend with civic owners. They do not take care of their cars at all. 13 of the 15 Civics I looked at had mods and as soon as I saw appearance mods I started looking for problems. And boy are they there. Lack of oil changes, dry oil deposits in the engine bay, worn clutches, worn interior. And most of these cars didn't even reach 80k yet (civics are supposed to go to 200k no problem).

It's no wonder there's constant posts on here asking for mechanical help. If you took care of your car and stopped redlining it at every green light, your car would last.

I'd love to find a well maintained civic but it's just not a car bought by 30+ year olds. Every one I looked at was owned by someone 18-28 who treated their car like it was a red headed step sister.

 
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....and your looking for comments on your statement?

 
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then don't get one breddah it's that simple...

 
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Same thing could be said about Scion tC owners Etc.......

It's because the Majority of Civic owners/buyers are young high school students and it's mostly their first car.

constantly stomping on the accelerator and brakes, Etc..
Some of these previous owners didn't properly maintain their cars.

replacing tires, brakes, clutch, and changing the oil is called Maintenance. It has nothing to do with Honda,Etc... No car will last forever with out proper maintenance and some TLC.

But in General, Honda builds reliable cars.

 
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I treat my Civic like my red-headed blood sister, but we do things a little differently where I come from, unlike ya'll...gotta keep it in the family....just don't get em pregnant.

I beat the **** out of my car constantly. I'm over 30. Then again I'm also a maintenance **** and if I notice something is wrong with my car, it's fixed as soon as I get the parts in the mail.

But yeah, reliability is directly related to maintenance and if the manufacturer gives you a good starting point, then everything is good. If I didn't wrench on my wife's Blazer near-constantly, that thing would have been in the junkyard 4 years ago. But since I do, it runs decently and only gets shitty gas mileage (cuz I don't feel like replacing the O2 sensors, all four of them).

Go somewhere else with your tirade. If you're looking to come down on a bunch of Civic owners, hoping we'll see the error of our ways, you're in the wrong place. 99% of the folks here love their Civics and are here to make sure they last, improve them, fix the problems caused by a previous owner, or all of the above. Notice you don't see any threads like "25,000 miles and I still haven't changed the oil!".

 
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You sir are a *** now **** off!!

 
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That is great, you have just generalized a whole group of car owners. Bravo. I beleive you are confusing irresponsible young 1st car owners, or just people who run into hard times and cant maintain the car, with enthusiasts, who, while may beat on the car are always IMPROVING them. Remove your head from your ***, it smells better out here with the rest of us.

 
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a) they are

b) your friend's a moron for buying that piece of **** in the first place

c)stop looking at cars owned by teenage ricers. there are plenty of adults that own civics too. maybe if you were willing to look at a car priced at more than $2000, you could find one owned by an adult, and in good shape.

d)your point here was just stupid. you're visiting a civic forum. it's a place to post opinions, and questions. my guess would be that at least a third of our members sought out, joined and posted on our site, because they had a problem. i'm sure there are plenty of people out there driving perfectly sound and reliable civics, that have never had the need to look for our site.

in conclusion, you, and your friend, are both idiots.

you need to......

 
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All in know is that there are many high mileage civics out there in very good condition. Ever here the saying you get what you pay for, well if your gonna only pay $2k for a car dont expect it the be in show room condition. I got my 96 civic two years ago for $3500 with 152k miles. Now i have 220k mile on it and mabey put $1000 into it for repairs such as a clutch head gasket water pump and timing belt(most of I did myself), AND i beat the living **** out of my car every day and it still get 44mpg and its never ran better. Plus my mom just got herself an 04 civic cause she loved mine so much

 
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Hey,

I am in the process of selling mine and I think your own PM to me explains a lot. One, a car that mas been taken care of will sell for close to KBB. So when you PM me saying my car is overpriced at $750 less than KBB, I think your expectations on a car are a bit low. Yes, as you said in your PM, there are 05 Civics from dealers out there for $9-10k, but the condition of them are probably pretty terrible as your finding. If you are willing to pay a bit more, you will find you get a bit more.

I have not modded my car or done any work to it other than preventative and needed maintenance. As the old adage goes, you get what you pay for. If you are looking for a $6000 2003 Civic, expect it to be beaten on and higher mileage. There is a very good reason why Civics keep their value so well. You won't find many Fords, KIAs, or Daewoos with 175,000 miles worth more than the shiny side of a penny. The Honda Civic is consistently one of the highest rated cars in reliability and safety reports. Hell, look for yourself at the last 10 years of Consumer Reports. If you are looking for a $11,000+ 2003 Civic, it will be much better taken care of and much less worn.

My parents had a 2001 Civic DX that we drove over 200k miles in 5 years (and it had the infamous Honda Automatic Tranny too!). The thing finally died not of anything catastrophic, but of a failed oil pump that caused the engine to sieze.

As I said before, you get what you pay for. Raise your price and put your wallet where your mouth is and you will be pleasantly surprised with what you get. I know I have. Almost 50k miles and all I've ever done is tires, brakes, and oil changes every 3k miles religiously. Never have had an ounce of trouble that wasn't my fault.

 
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alot of the 01-02 have serious problem yes. just look at the 50 tsbs everything from tranny going out to shocks and rattles. but you get that with any car. lots of parts means lots will go wrong. owning a car means you need to maintain it, alot. you cant expect it to stay new and nothing will break lol

 
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+1 and I too agree that you need to


And $20 says he will never be back here to this site either... so many words can describe how I feel towards people like this, but I will let it go... ha.



Wagner

 
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I Have a 2000 Honda Civic I am Trying to sell but It has 190K on it But It runs PERFECT And I mean Perfect... But everybody wants to low ball ya when it has that many miles... The Interior is Perfect... (this is my 3rd car... 1st car: 81 Subaru GL Manual, Beat the Heck out of it... Cause it was 4wd and I live on 20 acres of perfect off roading trails... 2nd Car: 95 Ford Escort Manual Treated it pretty Good, Tho it only cost me 500 bucks and had 160K when I bought it... 3rd Car, 2000 Honda Civic 4dr Auto ;( but I treat it like its a top of the line BMW Because I like stuff to last a long time and I want to be able to sell it when I'm done with it...

Moral of the story is: Most people with destroy thier 1st couple cars because they don't know any better... and Later most people realize that cars are expensive to maintain if you beat the heck out of them... And yes it usually gonna be lot better if you buy a Civic that has been owned by an adult who cared for his/her vehicle...

 
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I'll sell ya Mine if you are intersted... lol...

 
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There are good Civics out there, but you're right a bunch of them are going to be beat up peices of junk. There are some cars that are like that. There are good ones but you're going to have to be patient in your search.

Honda's reliability is based off of regular maintenence and fairly normal driving conditions. I don't care what car you have if you beat it and neglect it it's going to be a peice of crap.

80% of a cars reliabiltiy has to do with the owner. 20% is how well the car is built.

There is a news story out there about a dude with a '91 Chevy Silverado that has a million miles on it. The guy changed the oil. It makes a difference.

 
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Oh and I forgot to mention. 15 isn't really that many. There are more than 15 Civics in a 2 block radius of me.

I was shopping for a used car for my wife last month. I finally found one, but not before I went to every dealers website in town and checked their inventory. Called several places and got my name out there to salesmen. We finally found her new car 30 minutes away in the next town.

Sometimes finding a good car isn't easy.

 
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i don't beat my 02 civic and it is still a peice of junk

 
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to be honest, almost every 01-02 civic i see around here looks trashed. completely not taken care of, like a pos beater from 20 yrs ago with yellowed headlights, messed up body panels, rust, etc.

 
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ive see about equal amounts of clean, modified oem style 7th gens and piece of **** ones in my area.

 
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You would be out of your depth in a parking lot puddle. Clearly, the full area of your ignorance is not yet mapped. We are presently only exploring the fringes of that vast expanse. Well, you're certainly thoughtless; I just wish that you were keyboard-less, too.

 
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I think I have the nicest Civic in my area. Everyone around here rices theirs out. A lot of them are missing bumpers, flat black paint, primer instead of paint, cheap wheels, chrome tail lights, etc. This one that rides around it is yellow and red. The actual car is red but everything else is yellow. It has yellow hubcaps, huge *** wing, and it is ugly as hell.

 
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my first car i bought wa a 2000 civic ex. (bought it from my cousin, it was in good hands) i bought for $10,000 (60,000 miles). i was 15 when i started making payments on it. turned 16 drove it nice never beat on it. 17 now and the only problem i had was just replacing the muffler, which needed to be and other maintenance things. you get what you put into