Faults:

Nothing.

General Comments:

My wife and I are both 70 and retired.

We downsized our cars from Acura and Honda Accord EX to the Civic 2003 we now share.

We are very happy. The Civic has plenty of pep (thanks to the VTEC, I am sure), it is reasonably comfortable (ample space inside fore and aft, and in the trunk), and the high mileage is a God-send these days.

The a/c and the sound system are the only areas where we have had to compromise a bit, but no big deal.

Faults:

Nothing so far.

General Comments:

Everything you need to know about a Civic.

Pros:

Average priced economy car with well thought out equipment options. My model DX-G is the base model, with the G option package. AC, CD player, body coloured door handles.

Excellent gas mileage, but only if you don't drive at more that 110 km/h. At around 120 km/h the mileage goes way down.

In my opinion, it is tied with the Mazda Protege for Second in terms of interior looks and quality. I think the Corolla has unmatched interior quality.

Has many nice security features that you don't find in other models.

Somehow the engineers eliminated that large hump in the middle of the floor in front of the back seat. Nice touch for your passengers.

Has a good mix of tight suspension for corning and loosness for bumps and potholes. I've notice some people complaining about the rough suspension over bumps. But they've all owned gigantic cars in the past, I noticed one guy complain how terrible the suspension was, but then in the next breath say his last 5 cars were Cadillacs, Olds and big Fords... It's a small economy car, the suspension is fine.

Transmission is by far the smoothest and smartest in its class. Absolutely brilliant feat of engineering if you ask me.

Has a nice punch from 0 - 40Km/h, fun to drive around town.

Cons:

Nice punch from 0 - 40 but after that the engine really shows its tiny size.

Engine is very very noisy under hard acceleration and you'll notice it a lot because you need to floor it just to get decent speed. Noise is still better than other small cars.

Service department is well run... but you pay through the nose to own a civic. Recommended maintenance is very pricey at Honda dealerships and I hear parts are expensive too.

Car is much lighter than other models, which helps the small engine and gas mileage, but causes the car to swerve a lot in high winds.

Big complaint: Tires. The wheel covers and the tires themselves are surprisingly cheap looking. The tires also have poor traction I find. This car does not handle well under icy conditions.