I've been reading a lot today about buying used Civics. One thing that's come up is that I had a '91 Accord 5-spd for a few years, but I found I concentrate on the road better driving an automatic.

So, I decided my Civic would be an automatic. However, reading about how to test transmissions, it's almost all about automatics. Are they inherently more prone to failure? If so, I can live with a manual transmission.

Oh, yeah, and I read about the 7th gen transmission problems, but is that only for automatic? I had the impression it was for both types.

thx!

Kristen

 

From my opinion, I'd really just stick with automatic. Unless you're really planning on pounding that engine with horsepower, automatic is the way to go! Automatic/Manual from my experiences haven't really compared to failure since I've worked with them. None of my friends have had problems with their 6th/7th gen Civic with stick and my other friends who have owned an automatic. So it's really up to you! All I know about transmission failure are the 98-02 Accords which go out in under like a few months. :P

 

Yeah, those are the ones that I was worried about. What I read was '99-04 automatic Accords and Civics, which is my exact price range. gah!

thx,

Kristen

 

In my opinion driving manual is more fun. Get a little bit better gas mileage. And as far as reliability id say a manual is more reliable the one big thing ya gotta worry about is the clutch as long as you dont abuse the hell out of it and keep fluid in it you shouldnt have to worry about a manual transmision to much. automatic trans is more complicated more stuff to go wrong manual trans is simpler and less stuff to go wrong. Thats my 2 cents on the subject. Some people may disagree but thats my story and im stickin to it.

 

the 01-up civics have all kinds of auto transmission issues. So many that people are considering a class action lawsuit gainst honda for not doing anything about it.

and I could be wrong, but the issue may also happen in manuals?

I'd stay away from 01-up civics unless it is an Si. (which uses a different motor and tranny all together)

 

Go with a manual tranny. 01-03 civics are KNOWN for having a huge problem with 2nd gear in automatic trannys. They start clicking and pretty soon it's a little louder than just clicking and the tranny has to be completely rebuilt. I learned stick AFTER I bought my 01 civic and I would never go back to automatic. Although I find I actually pay more attention while driving stick. With auto I would tend to just hammer the gas b/c I was bored while driving.