1990 Honda Civic 1.5i from Finland
Summary:
Economical, speedy, fairly reliable
Faults:
Rust: Both back wheel arcs were quite rusted, so swapped them out. Lots of rust a little here and there that I've fixed.
The original petrol tank corroded and got a small hole, so I swapped it to another used one. Probably around 330000 km.
Drivers seat was slightly worn when I got it, but I didn't much mind.
Scratches and stuff on back doors, doesn't look nice but doesn't bother either.
Check engine light has been coming and going sometimes for over one year. I suspect it's due to bad cables to the lambda sensor. The oxygen level is OK and the ignition plugs look OK.
The handbrake wire got dirt in it and stuck, and I had to repair it at a quite hefty price; 300€.
One light bulb at back of car had blown. Piece of cake to fix.
At 348500 km we noticed that the front left drive-shaft outer CV boot had gotten worn out recently.
General Comments:
I've absolutely loved the car!
It was a Sedan model, and with one single person and not much luggage it accelerates at a really lovable rate. However with a moderate amount of luggage and a few persons, the acceleration drops quite significantly. Still I could do quite good passes on the motorway through flooring the gas pedal and letting the automatic gearbox shift and speed the motor up to 6000 RPM. But I dare say there's a tremendous difference between being empty and with some 150kg of luggage and stuff in that car... I even noticed a difference in acceleration with an empty petrol tank. :D.
Despite the few major rust problems I've had, it's been a fairly good vehicle. I've not had any really serious problems passing the car tests here in Finland, and that's made me happy.
The automatic gearbox shifts fairly OK, but flooring the pedal at low speeds and not releasing it causes quite unpleasant jerks when the automatic gearbox shifts gear. This hasn't bothered me much as I typically release the gas pedal a little to allow it to shift in peace, and then push the gas pedal normally again...
What I've best liked about it however is the fuel consumption. Driving at 120 km/h the fuel consumption is around 6-7 litres per 100 km, and IMHO that's good! I've metered the fuel consumption for some 25000 km, and my average is 7,01 liters per 100 km.
I think the car handles quite well, and it's stable on the road. However the noise from my dubbed decks (winter tyres) on bare asphalt can be heard quite audibly in the car, as well as the motor at the motorway. I always look forward to changing to summer tyres...
I'm now about to switch to another car due to the outer CV boot problem. The car is still technically in a good shape, and I don't doubt that it'd go still to 400000km, but I'm looking for a family car with two airbags. So currently trying to get a Toyota Carina E 2.0 Gli Automatic. ;)
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes
Review Date: 17th April, 2009
18th Sep 2010, 22:33
CV boots are a bit of a pain to replace, because you have to stretch them, but they're cheap. Replacing a complete axle isn't that expensive, either. Replaced mine from NAPA for about $56 plus core. Car has 250,500 miles now, gets 39.7 mpg (new fuel filter), and burns less than 1/2 a quart. They do rust badly, though, but it has been 21 years.