Faults:

Normal wear items: timing belt, water pump replaced at 325,000.

General Comments:

328,000 miles and still going great.

It burns no oil and still gets 38 MPG.

Honda's are built to last with normal oil and timing belt changes.

Faults:

Replaced timing belt and water pump around 130K

Have gone through several CV joints probably from driving over bumps too fast. replaced brakes.

Original Muffler lasted til' 205K!! just replaced it with a new one.

Going to replace Valve Cover Gasket and plugs and wires.

General Comments:

Little 88 Honda Civic first gen has the best gas mileage ever!! fun little reliable car to drive around town and everywhere. I'm thinking about buying a new one and keeping the 88' as a back up.

Funny thing is you can rip one of these cars out of the junkyard for around 100 bucks and replace every thing on the one you have. I see people laugh at me on the road for driving it, but I don't care because I'm laughing at them at the gas station from all the money I save on gas getting 40 miles to the gallon!!! lol. 20 dollars you can fill it up and drive it all over the place. Sometimes at a red light car kind of rev.'s engine like it's ready to go. lol. Probably best car I've ever owned.

At first it had a hard time getting on the highway, but over the years I've broke it in slowly where its pretty zippy now.

Faults:

Since I bought the car over twelve years ago, I've had to replace three mufflers (typical) and the usual regular maintenance things: brake pads (twice), spark plugs, filters, timing belt (twice) etc.

Had a small crack in the the top radiator housing. When my thermostat stuck, the car ran warm and the crack split open. I replaced the radiator, hoses, thermostat, drvie belts and (while I was at it) water pump and timing belt.

Replaced alternator twice. Need to replace struts and front left CV joint + boot.

General Comments:

Reliable car for over twelve years. Except for the radiator, very little unexpected maintenance.

Driven it from San Diego to Chicago, Albuquerque to New York, and Chicago to Portland, OR, no problem.

I drive it EASY (<70mph, usually 65) and get 40+ mpg.

Faults:

Front seat vinyl is completely dead (I'm looking for another)

CV boots on the drivers side wore out and had to be replaced.

Other than that, there really hasn't been much wrong with this car.

General Comments:

This is an excellent car. I am 17 years old and worked for 2 summers to afford this car, and it hasn't left me stranded once. It is incredibly cheap to maintain, and to buy gas for (It gets around 35-37mpg). Perfect for a teen that has a tight budget.

Drive performance is pretty good. The automatic transmission tends to waver sometimes at highway speeds, but acceleration, turning, and power delivery are all really good considering the car's size.

The ride is OK, better than a truck or van. It handles small bumps and railroad tracks with ease. However, large slopes and driveways can be a problem (sometimes the car scrapes going down my steep, oddly shaped driveway).

Overall, I love it. I have tinted windows, AC, and a CD player. Couldn't ask for much more. This definitely won't be my only Honda.

Faults:

Radio/Cassette Deck only works sometimes.

CV boots/joints seem to wear out, although the car is very old.

The battery wasn't secure in its cage.

Burns oil. People behind me on the road cover their noses and mouths - it's that bad.

The vinyl on the seats was quite worn.

Parking break broke.

General Comments:

I bought this car old, and didn't drive it very much, but I'm impressed that any car this old and this poorly maintained can take me where I need to go, without fuss. Things continued to deteriorate, but only minor inconveniences.

The burning oil was the major problem. I've heard others Civics of the same age have that problem, too.

But I got excellent gas mileage - I'd fill the tank only once or twice a month, and I drove every day.

Never had a problem getting it started, even in New England winer.