6th Gen Honda Civic

MadScientistMatt wrote:

beans wrote: Buy an Accord. Seriously... 98-02's with a 4cyl/5-speed are the way to go. i wish i would've held out for a 98-02 for multiple reasons.

Not intending to threadjack, but I've been contemplating an Accord as there's another baby on the way, and I'd like my DD to be able to carry the whole family in a pinch (rear facing car seats in a 328 'vert are a royal pain). Could you elaborate on what specifically the '98-'02s have going for them?

Best as cast f-series head, nice, roomy interiors(that still are the 'squishy' dash and not some dumb bean-counter hard plastic), SCCA STF legal, better shock and rear sway bar options, very easy to convert to 5-lug, most came with ABS, no stupid hub over rotor discs of the earlier cars(same rotors/calipers as the ITR's!), 6 disc in dash, much simpilier parts(one piece headilghts and bumpers as an example), last of what i consider the 'true' Honda's. Plus, the 98-02 coupes are just gorgeous. They're right at the bottom of their depreciation curve, and don't seem to be rusting as bad as the earlier generations.

Opti, sounds you got a bad, poorly maintained one. Ive had to do my fair share of maintenace to my 97, but being an almost 20 year old car with virtually no record history, its to be expected. Mine's been great, best MPG is mid 30's.

FYI the 95-97 V6 cars are terrible and slow, the 98-02's have a VERY high failure rate of transmissions. All v6's up to 02 came with an auto from the factory.

Thanks for going over it - I'm a fan of the styling myself. My BMW is pretty much stock except for some Koni orange shocks, but I have a feeling if I go with an Accord, I may be a bit disappointed with it in stock trim and want to throw some upgrades at it.

I looked up the brake parts diagrams on Alldata to see what you were talking about with the hub over rotor system. It looked as if some draftsman drew the brakes assembled backward and they failed to notice until they were on the production line.

In 2002 I bought a 1994 Accord EX 5spd from my buddy who was going to trade it in at Carmax. They were going to give him $1900 for it. It had 175k and the clutch was 'going out.' It grabbed at the very top of the pedal and was very chattery. I drove the whiz out of it for 4 years and sold it to a friend...told him the clutch was going out. Only repairs in the first 225k were a wheel bearing and CV boot. Said friend just got t-boned, taking the car off the road at 415k miles, still on that original clutch. He replaced another cv boot and the tstat. So in 415k miles it had less than $400 in non-maintenance work.

It was a very fun car to drive, to boot. Honda quality nose-dived in the 2000's and has kept getting worse. Had a non-enthusiast buddy whose parents bought he and his sister brand new matching Accords in 2008. Both of those cars have been uberturds. Excessive brake issues. Vtec solenoids have failed. Consume 2+ quarts of oil every 3k miles. Aircon failures. Every bad stereotype that GM cars have been painted with. Goes to show the marketing halo from a previously good product.

I grew up in a 91 accord sedan. First car i learned to drive stick on at age 11. My dad never had major problems with it, handed it down to my sister, then my brother, then me as our first car. After 11 hard years and 250k on the clock, he just got sick of seeing it rust, so he donated it. It was a pretty sad day for everyone in the family. When my sister started driving in 98, he replaced it with a dark green 98 Ex v6 coupe. Loved that car until it started developing transmission issues when my brother passed it on to me in summer 2002 after he graduated, around 120k. Delt with it for a few years, then got fed up with the issues sold it. As far as i know, the guy who bought it still drives it and it had over 200k on it when i last talked to him about a year ago. Mine has 205k and is just starting to show its age, but has some upgrades. Love the car, much more than the Civics and Integras I've owned previously.