I have never had a civic. But I am looking at trading my current vehicle for a 99 civic ex. It has 125,000 miles on it. I looked at all the fluids they are all clean. It looks to be in good shape, so my question is there anything that usually goes out on these or anything I should be looking for? It does have the VTec motor tho and an auto tranny. How reliable are these engines and over the civic stock? I am not looking to modify it maybe a intake/exhaust but nothing more.

 

Well i for one can tell you alot about a Honda as i have personally owned about 15 Honda Accords and another 10 or so Honda Civics. I have seen lots of things in honda that a normal person wouldn't see. In my experience a Honda will never ever fail you down. I have had about 7 honda's of which one was a civic that overheated and never ever gave me a dead engine, it ran until i sold it. Anywayz to make this short. A civic will last you 300,000 miles and more if you take care of it. They are very easy and very inexpensive to maintain and are great on gas, i get 31 MPG on my civic. Some common problems are overheating, starter going dead, and distributor going out too.

 

Any of you guys fit carseats in the back ok?

 

they'll definitely fit


do all regular maintenance (spark plugs, spark plug wires, air filter, distributor rotor and cap, timing belt, water pump, tires, brake rotors, brake pads) as needed, and don't let problems go unfixed, and your civic could last 300,000 miles.



P.S. brake fluid breaks down over time and even though it may appear clean it may need to be flushed

same with automatic transmission fluid

 

Coincidentally i bought some Genuine Honda Brake Fluid yesterday and i was gonna add some brake fluid to my car since it's a little low on fluid. Is it easy to do the flush myself? I talked to the parts guy yesterday about it and he was telling me i'm better off letting a shop do it because of the valves that need to be open and i guess their locations. Any insight as to the difficulty of doing it myself?

 

It's very easy to do. You need an assistant though, to pump the brake pedal while you repeatedly keep the level on the master cylinder up and open or close the bleed screw when necessary.

There's a certain order you have to do the brakes in, but I don't remember it off the top of my head. I think it was rear right, rear left, front right, front left, but don't quote me on that.

 

seems like decent mileage for that year... and with the EX, you're getting the best of all worlds, unless you step up to the Si, which isn't necessary if you don't need the extra boost in power for a good chunk more in terms of $$$.

additionally, my buddy had a '99, and he loved it. the only reason he got rid of it it because somebody smashed into it, and it was totaled... but it actually held up pretty well with him in it, and he walked away safely! talk about an advertisement for Honda

 

It sounds ok, just missing a price.
About that baby seat, there is plenty of room. But i would get one of these.

 

haha thats like a luxury baby seat.

 

xdime, I think Civics are great. I have two.

What vehicle are you trading?

Items to consider before buying:

1) Does the CEL turn ON for 2 seconds and then turn OFF when the ignition key is turned to ON(II)? Does the dash D4 light blink?

2) Do the SRS, seatbelt, battery, or oil pressure light remain ON when the driving?

3) Has the timing belt/water pump/belt tensioner/drive belts been replaced?

4) Are the axle CV-joint boots or steering rack boots ruptured? Is fluid leaking from the steering rack?

5) Crawl under the engine. Is there any evidence that fluids (oil, coolant, transmission fluid) are leaking?

6) Is the engine idle steady (~700-800 rpm) or does it make unusual noises when running?

7) Does the transmission shift relatively smoothly?