1999 Honda Civic Reviews

My alternator was rebuilt at 180000km.

The parking brake line was replaced a couple of times.

Air conditioning recently stopped working, but has worked great for 10 YEARS.

Excellent vehicle. Very reliable. Good in snow with proper tires. Fun to drive.

No rust on the car after 11 winters on salted roads.

I an the fourth owner of this car in 10 years. Nothing major has actually gone wrong with it yet.

Radio aerial fails to come up, but it could be due to faulty wiring, since the entire sound system was changed.

Fuel efficiency is not what it once was, with only about 10.5 km per litre as compared to more than 12.5 when it was new, according to the specifications.

The upholstery tends to get dirty easily for some reason.

Fuel tank only holds 45 litres, while most other cars in its class hold at least 50 litres.

Fuel gauge is not very accurate. It still has 10 litres in the tank when the fuel light comes on. The needle reaches empty when the tank still has 12 litres left.

Only SOHC instead of DOHC engine.

You can take reliability (engine, electrics etc.) for granted.

Engine, transmission and gearbox are excellent.

Accelerates quite fast despite SOHC non-VTEC engine.

Stops in a short space thanks to disc brakes all around, something that many other comparable cars don't.

Climbs steep slopes well.

Handles surprisingly well, despite not having an ABS thanks to a double wishbone suspension, the last generation of Civics to have it.

Sadly, does not have ABS and VTEC, both of which are available on the VTi.

Small hole in the exhaust, nothing to worry about, it happens to every car. Hoping to put a stainless steel exhaust system on this car as it deserves one.

I feel I will never get rid of it as I love it.

Apart from that, there will be the usual wear and tear; brake pads etc.

I had a Civic previous to this one, and was so impressed that I bought the present one.

It's a Civic Jordan:

- A limited run of 500 cars in 1999 only.

- Based on a Civic 1.6 VTI.

- Sports the Type-R body kit (minus the boot spoiler and front grill).

- Interior is full 2 tone leather in Black and Yellow.

- 15" Split 5 spoke alloy wheels as standard, but I put 17" alloys on mine; well able for them, with a 1.6 VTEC DOHC

- Air conditioning, electric sunroof and windows etc.

The radiator cracked at about 80k miles.

The cooling fan has had to be replaced. And then had to be fixed a second time.

The rotors started having problems at 60k mile area.

The oxygen sensor had to be replaced.

The drivers seat is defective and moves on stops.

The automatic door locks, stopped working within a few years. And the struts went bad at 70k.

I'm not very happy with Honda's quality. Aside from the major things like the radiator, struts, rotors, the car has too many annoying problems. It's a bit too rough on the freeway, and too noisy.

Also, the drivers seat should not slide on stops. I've heard this is a common problem on some Civics. The same with the automatic door locks breaking. Just not what you would expect from Honda.

I think Toyota has Honda beat on quality. I would not buy another Honda.

The Good:

Good MPG, VTEC, smooth manual shifter, shifts are effortless, but getting into reverse takes some skill and time. Cheap parts and very simple car to work on.

Bad:

Rattles, good amount of wind noise, interior can use a touch up.

The following are for my car, not in general:

The CEL (check engine light) came ON after 2 weeks of ownership, granted I bought the car used and should have done a more detailed check. Haven't figured out the problem, but it seems I am going to need a tune with new distributor cap, wires and plugs. Relatively cheap fix, but still money and time need to be spent. The car is leaking transmission oil, not a lot, but a cause for concern.

I like the car and would keep for a while as my primary work-home commuting car. I expect it to last a few year, and still have very good resale value.

Overall I am happy with my Civic and would definitely buy another.