1992 Honda Civic DX 4 cylinder

Summary:

It's a good little car :)

Faults:

Bought car with mostly cosmetic flaws. Biggest and most baffling is why is keeps overheating. Had the thermostat replaced. Radiator flushed and checked for leaks, water pump checked for leaks, basically had the whole cooling system worked over, and still it overheated. Other than that the ac does not work due to a leaky compressor, the transmission jerks a little, and it seems to strain on the freeway. The body and interior is in fair condition. Radio works, but speakers are cooked. So far I have spent 400 dollars on repairs. Plan on spending another 600 or so to fix the ac.

General Comments:

This car is a great gas saver in these days of 3.00 a gallon gas. Small, agile and comfortable. Reliability has yet to be proven since I have not owned it that long. But it's history precedes it. I believe this is a great car that I got for a great price, and after the initial repairing and tweaking are taken care of I think it will run for at least another 200,000 miles. Every Mechanic I have shown it to says it is I fabulous condition, and can't understand why is is overheating. Honda Civics are one of the best cars made.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 22nd April, 2006

27th Apr 2006, 18:20

I had the same problem with overheating on my civic with the ESI engine. You need a new radiator or you can replace the existent one with a used one from the Vti civic, it is much thicker.

If you drive with an overheating engine you will damage piston rings and the engine will consume more oil, watch out for that oil level.

4th Feb 2007, 16:26

For the overheating, also check that head gasket. They can be a problem on these engines when they get very high miles, especially if it's been overheating (sort of a problem that makes itself worse). Luckily they're really easy to replace on these cars, and once you take care of that you'll get another 100,000+ miles out of your Civic with basic maintenance (assuming that you didn't let the engine overheat too badly!!).

Good luck!

1992 Honda Civic DX 1.5L Reg Gas

Summary:

Best car I have ever owned, hands down

Faults:

Distributor Cap replaced twice, computer board had to be replaced (I think that an after-market cruise control caused it).

Both front CV joints had to be replaced.

The LCD in the radio failed and I replaced the radio rather than having it repaired.

As far as I can remember, that is the extent of the repairs.

General Comments:

I believe that the 110 hp rating was a gross understatement, I was driving on I-95 one afternoon and needed to get out of the way of traffic, I didn't even down shift and it went from 70 to 100 mph and still climbing in a flash! Very good handling and the hatchback would carry almost anything!

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 20th March, 2006

1992 Honda Civic CX hatchback 1.5 SOHC

Summary:

Headache

Faults:

Transmission has loud spinning grinding noise in every gear, seems to be going out.

Head gasket blew at 93,000 miles.

No matter how well the exhaust is sealed or muffled, it still sounds like a crappy old Toyota.

Rattles of body panels keep the audio system from sounding good.

Body was meticulously taken care of, and still rusts.

You need to kick the fuse panel in order to get the climate controls to work sometimes.

Driver's side seat has the common wear found on all 5th generation Civics.

General Comments:

The car has pretty unexciting performance.

If it wasn't geared so long it may have somewhat decent performance.

Great mileage even when driven to the edge, still get about 38/41 when driving hard.

There are too many rattles and squeaks of various things when driving.

A good beginner car, but overall a big pain to deal with.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No

Review Date: 5th February, 2006

13th Oct 2006, 20:38

If you want good performance, don't you want long gears, so that you don't have to shift really quickly?

6th Jan 2007, 17:53

My experience with a '92 Civic CX 5 speed has been very good. I've been driving it for several years and have put something like 60,000 miles on it for a total of almost 130,000. It was in great shape when we bought it from someone who rarely drove it. I think she had replaced the clutch (she lived in San Francisco with those famous hills). Aside from routine things, the most major of which was the usual timing belt and water pump at 90,000 miles, it has been trouble free. Although it will probably need a CV joint or two soon. It's a great comute car. In mixed freeway and city traffic driving it gets 36 mpg without trying. Careful driving yields 40+ mpg. With only 70 hp, it's not exactly a dragster, but I have no problem getting up to freeway merge speed. For several years it was our "good" car that my wife and I took on trips up and down the state of California on all roads ranging from interstate to dirt. While it's a very basic car, we had no complaints.

Only a few things minor things wrong: The seat fabric is not in great shape; I'll probably get some sort of cover for the driver's seat before too long. There's a harmonic vibration somewhere in the exhaust system at a certain rpm, but it's easy to ignore. It's also due for new shock absorbers soon with all the potholes we have on San Francisco Bay Area city streets.

In reply to 6th Jan 2007, 17:53

12th Feb 2012, 16:21

Update 5 years and 20,000 miles later on my 6th Jan 2007 post:

This continues to be a great city/commute car, with combined city/freeway mpg consistently around 40. While it doesn't have much power, it handles very well and is fun to drive on winding roads.

After years of listening to a loud rattle at certain RPM, I finally got under the car and wrapped some wire around the heat shield that was causing the harmonic vibration that I haven't heard since.

The distributor shaft wore out - it ate up the gasket and threw oil all over the place - and had to be replaced last year.

Other parts - CV joints/half shafts, radiator, seat covers, battery - have been replaced along the way.

The dimmer switch for the dash lights just burned out, but that's cheap and I can replace it myself.

It will probably get new struts soon.

Some bad patches in the roof paint, but nothing unusual for an old, dark colored car that is always outside.

Here in the San Francisco Bay Area, rust isn't a typical problem, so I can't comment on that.

Not bad for 20 years on a car that was the least expensive Civic. I do wonder why there is nothing like it, a simple basic car that gets 40 MPG, available today.