2000 Honda Civic Sport Si 5 door 1.4

Summary:

A nippy little can that looks more than it is

Faults:

The upholstery on the doors has come loose.

General Comments:

Nice sporty looking car, but without the additional costs of having a flashy car.

It is very nippy around town and on short journeys, but as it has only got a small engine lacks acceleration when traveling on motorways.

It is also roomy inside and I manage to carry 3 adults bikes in the boot with the back seats down.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 4th August, 2004

2000 Honda Civic VTi 1.8

Summary:

A superb engine in good all round car

Faults:

Absolutely nothing. It gave faultless reliability over 20,000 miles of hard driving.

General Comments:

What an engine! 170 bhp from just 1.8 litres, yet smooth, refined and utterly reliable. It was perfectly tractable and quiet in normal driving, yet provided superb performance and excitement when asked. 0-60 in less than 8 seconds and I've personally seen an indicated 140 mph (on track). In the VTEC zone (5800 - 8500 rpm), more than capable of frightening many supposedly faster cars (as I regularly did!) and what a great noise!

It gripped and handled very well, if not quite up there with the best handlers in it's class (eg 306 GTi), but also had good ride comfort.

It was also comfortable and well equipped with very reasonable running costs given the performance. Only a high insurance group (15) let it down.

My only criticisms would be that just occasionally, you felt the need for more mid-range torque, and secondly, the car was crying out for a sixth gear to calm down it's busy cruising nature (over 4000 rpm at 70 mph!)

Performance, reliability, build quality, practicality- a great all round package. I've regretted selling mine ever since!

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 3rd December, 2003

21st Feb 2006, 10:09

Further to my original review above:

My brother in law bought the same model on my recommendation. It is a 1998 car that he has had for almost 3 years. Although the car is now looking pretty dated, particularly the interior, he has been just as pleased with his as I was with mine.

He has replaced various items such as brake discs, suspension bushes etc through simple age and wear & tear (his car has covered 85k miles), but aside from these and regular servicing, he too has experienced total reliability, and believe me, it gets driven hard!!

He is replacing it in a couple of months with the newer shape Civic ('01 on). Which one? Well of course- a Type-R!!

2000 Honda Civic VTi 1.6

Summary:

A fantastic mix of performance, practicality and price

Faults:

There have been a number of rattles and squeaks from the interior fittings, all of which have been fixed at service time.

One of the bolts holding the driver's seat to the floor came out while I was driving.

Other than that, it has not missed a beat.

General Comments:

The performance is enough to keep up with 2.5 Litre V6 Vectras & Mondeos, not bad for a 1.6.

The ride is a touch harsh and it's surprisingly noisy above 60mph.

The standard fitment Dunlop tyres are fine in the dry, but seriously lack grip in the wet, they also add substantially to the noisy ride.

I got the car, Ex. demo, with Air Conditioning and a 12 Disk CD changer, for £12000, an absolute steal.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 20th January, 2002