Faults:

Brake pads and shoes replaced.

Rear light cluster corroded and leaking.

Anti roll bar replaced.

Power steering failed briefly one day for about an hour.

General Comments:

Reliable to a fault, always starts first time. Starting to show the first signs of rust over the rear wheel arch. Tried to source a new rear light cluster, but 3 door and 5 door cars have different lights. It's not worth paying £200 for a new one from the dealer for a car of this age, but I can't find one yet.

Wearing well otherwise, air con needs topping up, and the transmission fluid might need changing to enable quicker gear changes.

Fuel consumption round town is only about 25 MPG; improves to 35ish on the open road.

Faults:

Junk, stay away. Worst Honda Civic ever made.

In the 12 000 miles that I owned the car, the following things broke:

Interior fuse box; the car died.

A/C compressor clutch wouldn't engage when it's hot. The Freon was filled to the max.

Steering rack started leaking fluid.

Random misfires, clogged catalytic convertor. CEL was on, the car went into limp mode sometimes.

Input shaft bearing noise, needed the transmission rebuilt.

Engine mounts; the car jerked badly when in 1st and 2nd gears at low RPM.

Seat belt buckle switch, SRS light stayed on.

Power locks failed.

General Comments:

Horrible handling.

Cheap interior.

Faults:

Nothing so far.

General Comments:

I don't like this car. It's reliable, always starts first time, hasn't let me down yet, but I just don't like it.

Steering is woolly and approximate. A very poor turning circle for the size of the car, almost catastrophic understeer at any reasonable speed. Makes maneouvres such as parallel parking, or reverse parking very difficult. More four-acre field than sixpence turning.

Acres of grey plastic, very dull and uninspiring interior.

Bits break off the interior, switches, vent nubbins. I have a pile of stuff waiting to be glued back on.

Revs up to 3500 before it will change from 1st to 2nd gear, pouring fuel through the engine. May just need the transmission fluid changing.

Thrashy and rough at motorway speeds, never quite knows which gear to be in, and top gear is too high; it needs another gear to make it run smoothly at cruising speeds.

Equipment levels are way behind similar cars of the same age.

I bought the car because of its reputation for reliability, but that comes at the cost of an interesting or comfortable drive.

Faults:

Transmission popping out of 5th; $800.00.

Front end repairs (ball joints/stab links/align); $650.00.

Battery replaced (maintenance); $100.00.

Timing belt/water pump/drive belts (maintenance); $600.00.

Now needs compliance bushings/rear stab kits; $550.00.

SRS light on. Needs driver's side seat belt latch; $300 (not covered by any kind of goodwill or safety related warranty).

Leaks water (typical apparently).

General Comments:

The car was super clean, cert & emission, and Car faxed when I bought it. I even bought a warranty (wouldn't cover the transmission, so it was wasted money).

Has been a wallet sucking pig ever since (I've only put under 28000km or just over 17000 miles on it in 4 years).

In all fairness, the cars runs great and has only left me stranded once when the battery died. Everything works as it should, even the A/C, knock wood.

The ride is rough, but it handles amazing around the traffic circles and corners. The acceleration is all over the place (again, typical), but decent around the city. Not so good on the highway though. Very noisy and poor mileage at higher speeds, say 120km/hr, but still not terrible.

Generally I like the car, but my wallet hates it. I drove a Lincoln MK VII LSC for ten years that didn't cost me nearly as much overall as this car did in 4 years. I thought I would save money.

And yes, Canada made an Si in 2001.