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:

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:

Power steering rack and pump.

Power steering rack and pump... Again.

Clutch master cylinder.

Clutch slave cylinder.

Brake caliper.

The paint has peeled off the bonnet and lacquer in other areas!

General Comments:

Absolutely terrifying build quality! Surely Honda got their reputation for building good cars from somewhere other than the Civic?

The dealer couldn't be more useless, they are quick to charge you for a diagnostic, but don't seem to understand their own results?

The power steering won't self centre; they told me that they nearly all did this, but decided not to recall them, and instead wait for owners to bring them back and complain, otherwise they just left them until the warranty was out, and then state 'sorry out of warranty'. You're looking at about £1500 to fix a fault that the car was sold with when new!

The fuel consumption is also about the same as a Range Rover. I do a regular trip in a Skoda Octavia 1.8, and it usually costs me between £35-£40; the Honda used £75, and gave me a numb backside.

If you are thinking of buying one, I strongly suggest you have an independent inspection, as the prices for spare parts are through the roof, and also check the steering feels as it should. Apparently this was a very common fault, and is very expensive to fix, or very annoying to live with.

Also the boot release handle feels like it was made for 50p, and needs WD40 every 2 weeks or so, just so the spring flicks it back, otherwise you find the boot opening when you least expect it!