1999 Honda Civic Si 1.6 DOHC VTEC from North America

Summary:

Great all-around performer that won't leave you stranded

Faults:

Nothing serious has gone wrong with this car.

The only "part" to "fail" is the material on the driver's side sun visor, which has degraded from 6 years' exposure to the Florida sun.

General Comments:

I use my '99 Si for daily driving and local autocross competition (1 or 2 events a-month). Many mechanical and electrical upgrades have been made with no negative effects to reliability or fuel efficiency. The car is currently producing between 155-160 front-wheel horsepower (approx. 20hp over stock). Nothing serious has gone wrong with the car. The transmission is taking the abuse of additional power and an ACT clutch with no issues whatsoever.

The factory suspension has been replaced with Tien Basic adjustable "coil-over" units mounted to in the stock position for competition in SCCA's SoloII STS class. The car is very fast on-course and I am frequently able to turn better times than people in much more expensive sports-oriented machines.

I heartily recommend this tried-and-true platform to any enthusiast looking to compete in grassroots-level motorsport. They can be found relatively unmodified for reasonable money and are quite capable without any upgrades at all.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 11th January, 2006

14th May 2006, 15:11

My 2000 si was great, till the crank pulley just fell off. i would like someone to explain this to me.

14th May 2006, 21:52

I nearly had the same problem on a totally different kind of vehicle. I felt an odd vibration and noted that only 2 of 6 bolts were holding the pulley onto the harmonic balancer, and one of those bolts was only finger tight. When I attempted to replace the bolts, I discovered that the holes were stripped out, and I'd probably been driving with only 2 bolts for 80,000 miles. The only thing I can figure is that when the previous owner replaced the timing chain, either an overzealous grease monkey stripped out the holes using an air wrench (those damned things should be outlawed), or somebody ignored the 200 in.-lb. torque specification and cranked them down like they were holding the earth from spinning off its axis. It may be one of those things under the category of "Stupid Things That Happen, But Aren't the Car's Fault."

31st May 2006, 12:20

The same thing happened to my 2000 Si where the bolt (s) holding the pulley to the the crankshaft popped out while I was driving. I thought it must have resulted from some unscrupulous mechanic applying too much torque to the bolts during a previous repair. But, even without the bolt connecting the crankshaft to the pulley, I was still able to drive to the local repair shop to have the entire assembly replaced. It's not that big of a deal if you can limp your car to your mechanic or to your house to have it fixed. It only cost $200 to have the whole crankshaft pulley assembly replaced with a new one, and this was also inclusive of brand new drive belts.

10th Mar 2008, 16:13

It makes about 160hp- (not whp). whp is about 15% of that, which is roughly 136. so it makes about 136whp...

In reply to 10th Mar 2008, 16:13

25th Sep 2011, 10:39

You need to read his post a little closer because you missed something.

1999 Honda Civic LX` 1.6 Liter from North America

Summary:

Honda lemons do exist. I had one.

Faults:

1,200 miles, there was a recall on this car regarding the alternator or something to the likes of it.

30,000 miles, there was another recall concerning the airbags, or the airbag sensor.

37,000 miles, ignition failure, needed to replace coils and switch which totalled about $800. It was just out of warranty.

60,000 miles, airbag light came on and stayed on. $400 to reset the sensor.

97,000 miles, car completely died. I'm not sure what happened, but there is no electrical power whatsoever to the car. I replaced the battery, but that didn't work. I tried a lot of things and still haven't been able to fix the problem. I gave the car away to my dad, who still can't figure out what's wrong.

General Comments:

I don't like this car. I never did, I assume I never will.

I bought it because my with my credit and 0 down, it cost me only $197 a month.

This car gets great gas mileage, 34-39 mpg, and it has a lot of pep for a little four banger.

I don't like how the seats are (hard), just because I am used to the giant plush American cars.

I don't like how noisy this thing is, whether it be on the freeway or anywhere for that matter.

I am quite disappointed with the reliability of this car, just because "after all, it's a Honda." It hasn't given me a ton of problems, but it hasn't been what I expected either.

I assume I received a lemon. Everyone seems to love their Honda's, so I hope this review is just a reminder that every lineup of cars has their lemons. I'm not criticizing Honda or shooting them down, I'm just saying that I'll go elsewhere next time for a vehicle.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No

Review Date: 3rd November, 2005

12th Mar 2007, 23:21

I would say that these problems are not that major and you should expect a machine to eventually fail, in one way or another.

13th Mar 2007, 09:41

Unless you are an able mechanic I would take the car to a repair shop. I have a friend who knows nothing about cars at all and his broke down in September 06. It was a Ford Taurus and it would have probably cost 500$ to fix it, but he had it towed to his brothers home to be fixed where it is still sitting to this day broken down. He has so far spent hundreds of dollars trouble shooting replacing parts that did not need to be replaced. What an idiot! He has been bumming rides off everyone for the past six months and he is almost 30! Save a few hundred dollars--take it to an able mechanic -- it will save time and your friends won't have to hate you.