Faults:

This "certified pre-owned" vehicle came with:

A falling headliner.

Bad alignment.

Fabric peeling off the doors.

A fan-a/c-dash light out.

And a very uncooperative dealership.

General Comments:

The Honda "Certified" program is absolutely worthless. Nothing is covered because everything is classified as "wear and tear." I'm not sure what kind of "wear and tear" preceds a nonfunctional dash light and a falling headliner, but Honda does and they will not fix it.

They said that the "bumper to bumper" warranty I was told that I had is more accurately known as "engine and transmission." What the heck is power train then??

I've had this pre-owned car for 6 weeks and I am already looking for a different car.

Faults:

Car began making a creaking noise coming from the right side under dash at about 35,000 miles.

Air conditioning failed completely at approx 60,000 miles. Took the car to the dealer and was told the entire system needed to be replaced. The cost was over 1,000 dollars. I opted to leave the AC broken until I can buy parts and fix myself.

Front struts on right began leaking at 50,000 miles. This I hear is typical of the cars of this year. I had to get the struts from Honda and had Meineke do the replacement.

General Comments:

Car handles well for the most part though the ride was better on my 1997.

Issues I've had with this car I wouldn't expect until the car was over 100k.

After reading reviews here it seems 2001 was a bad year for Honda Civics.

Faults:

The alternator bracket came loose shortly after delivery, my local dealer reattached it quickly.

Major brake problems surfaced at about 18,000 miles. After driving for a short while severe vibration happened on brake application. The dealer said that I needed a brake job, I didn't really agree, but some research with other Honda owners tended to confirm this. But this did not solve the problem. Despite several test drives that showed that the brakes were sticking, all the dealer did was resurface the rotors. 6-7 total visits had the rotors resurfaced each time. Finally the regional troubleshooter found that there was a sensor between the brake lights and the brake pedal that caused the pedal to be depressed about 1/2 inch. Easily fixed, they replaced my new pads (from the 18k mile mark) and rotors and I haven't had any brake problems since. Part of this I blame on the dealer for not doing a better job of diagnosing a recurring problem, part of it I blame on myself for not being on them more. Remember, the squeaky wheel gets the grease! I should have called the service manager, but I did sue under the lemon law & got a fat check.

General Comments:

Good switchgear as usual.

Fairly comfortable for someone 6 ft 2.

Very reliable aside from teething problems.

From day 1, in comparison with my '88 Civic, I felt this car (made in Canada) was not as well built as my Japanese built one. Good build quality, just not as good.

Faults:

Honda recall for fuel system safety hazard. Dealer repaired for free.

Shift gate on manual transmission fell apart and needed to be replaced. Dealer repaired for free.

The car failed an EPA air emission test because of faulty gas fill cap. Had to purchase one new.

Struts on front end failed. Dealer repaired for free, but forgot to align the front end. Another trip back to the dealer for alignment.

Front passenger door panel fell apart. Replaced by dealer for free.

Honda headlight switch recall. Dealer repaired or free.

Front seat "rocks". Dealer repaired for free.

Car difficult to start runs rough at idle. Dealer refused to fix as there was no computer signal stating a problem.

Rattle in back of car that cannot be identified.

Rattle in dash which cannot be identified without total dismantling by dealership.

General Comments:

We thought Honda produced a quality care-free product which would provide years of service. The car is definitely an adventure, you don't know what will go wrong with it next.

To date it has less than 35,000 miles and had all regularly scheduled maintenance performed by the Honda dealership.