Ain't Nothin' Makes as Much Sense as a Honda!

I bought my silver 2002 Honda Civic LX/G for $11000 in May 2007. It had 125K Km (I live in Canada), and was in excellent shape. For that price, I insisted on a set of 4 brand-new Michelins as well. The car came with alloy 5-spoke Honda wheels that usually would only come with the EX; they are 15 inch wheels; stock would be just 14's.

I immediately replaced the timing belt and had a new battery installed, just because a Canadian winter in Winnipeg is not to be toyed with! So I figure it won't need anything more for a long time. A mechanic friend took off the wheels all around and pronounced the brakes great and all else in good order.

The car is a great city car. Very nimble and quick. Good visibility, easy to park. The tight suspension is great in the city. And you feel like you're hauling just the right amount of metal around.

As a highway car it's a bit bumpy, unless you live where roads don't freeze in winter and crack apart. The suspension is just a bit too tight for comfort on rough roads.

Fuel economy is excellent. During a week when the mercury never got up to -25C (that's cold!), my daily 20 km (one way) commute, mostly through 80 km/h speed zones, including 18 red lights as a rule, produced 26 MPG (that's on our Imperial gallon, 20% bigger than the anaemic US version). With temps hitting around the freezing mark, running around the city in mostly 50 km/h zones, uses about 30 MPG. On the highway, summer gets me 46 MPG; winter more like 42 at best. The cruise control on the wheel is very handy on the highway.

The interior is well laid out and durably made. The heater blasts hot after just 5 min on even the coldest days; the A/C also works very well - our summers have 13 days on average over 86 degrees F (30C).

The car looks clean and snappy - plain enough that it won't look like a '61 Chrysler after 7 or 8 years. Mine came with the spoiler and front air dam and rocker panel bars to make it look like I'm 26, not 56 (which I am).

This be my 3rd Honda. The others were a brand-new '83 Accord, and a 3 year old '91 Accord. Honestly, I liked the Accords a bit better. And I got 317K km out of the '83! But then, I paid $11000 for the '83, and it had no Power Steering, Power Windows, Air, Cruise, or Automatic. Not even a CD, as they hadn't been invented yet. So the value has definitely gotten better in 25 years.

I expect to drive this car to 250K km. Unless it gets stolen - we have a lot of car theft here, and the punks like Civics. Hence insurance is high - my only beef.

I've driven 16,000 km in the past 10 months; no trouble in this my first year with this car.