Faults:

Nothing.

I bought this car used, and have had it for two years now, and so far the things I've spent money on were standard wear items such as timing belt and water pump replaced before failure.

The oxygen sensor failed at about 95,000 miles, which was a bit out of the blue, but wasn't a big deal.

What I need now are getting the suspension done, fuel filter and brake pads replaced.. all stuff every car needs replaced several times within its lifetime.

General Comments:

Low horsepower, but acceptable tradeoff.

Good gas mileage.

Decent cost to insure.

Looks good with basic care such as semi-annual wax and frequent washes.

7 years old and still looks great simple mods such as window tint, wheels, and rear wing spoiler.

A great starter car and beyond that.

Reliable.

Parts commonplace, and just about every mechanic is knowledgeable about repairing a Civic.

Transmission layout easy to follow, so it's easy to do self service such as oil changes and coolant changes.

Faults:

Uhh, nothing, only it didn't have a CD player or Radio. Honda knows how to build a reliable car.

General Comments:

Well, buying this car was a hell of an upgrade from my 1990 Civic base model. Now I finally have options that didn't come with the '90 Civic. I'm glad that I bought it from some owners that took care of it, and knew how to mod it. Now I'm the only civic in Boise with dual exhausts.

The motors in these little cars look tiny, and not very powerful, and yes they're small, but they have a hell of a lot of power for the size. I went from under 90 HP in the old Civic to 160, adding about 25-30 MPH to my top speed.

Faults:

The CD player is quirky. When the interior gets hot from being parked in direct summer sun or after one, or two Cd's are played, the player ejects the CD with an error. It plays fine in winter or when I first get in car. Very strange. I have the key-less entry with this car. But now the passenger side front door lock won't operate with this feature. This just started acting up a couple of months ago. But these are, to me, just minor annoyances. I can just reach over and unlock, or lock the trouble lock manually. The engine could use some more torque, but I'm guessing that's the trade-off if you want great fuel efficiency. Some road noise intrudes, but not that much.

General Comments:

This is one peppy puppy. And very mechanically reliable. Of course, this EX model has the upgrades (power windows and locks, AM-FM/CD, power sunroof, 127HP VTEC motor, cruise, etc). This has been my daily driver for almost 3 yrs. I've put over 40k miles on it with just normal maintenance (front brakes, oil/filter changes at 3k, air filter, 4 new tires, wipers) and even at nearly 81k miles on the ticker it still averages mid to upper 30's in MPG. The worse average was 27MPG, my best was 38.5.. This car drives arrow straight without any rattles or squeaks. Engine can get lightly buzzy at high RPMs and you can feel the high cross-winds on bridges. This is, by far, the best car I've owned to date.