1994 Honda Civic DX from North America - Comments

Problems:

I had both of the front CV joints go out on me after owning it for around 2-3 years. The price you pay for being 20 years old and having a car way too fast for your own good. The car loves to slide around corners, and if you know how to handle it, it does it well. But this is what caused my front axle to go out. (About $350)

Blown head gasket about 6-7 months after that, but thank god the pistons and cylinders didn't warp... didn't have to get them resurfaced. (Around $450)

The clutch doesn't release fast, so unless you get a quick shift kit you'll grind gears when shifting fast. THUS! New transmission. (About $900)

The car *is* shaky on corners if you don't have performance tires at all. Basic $50-$60 tires from Goodyear will skip when you're cornering harder than usual. Also, right now my shocks are going out... but I'm to the point where I don't drive as hard or fast.. so I'll probably just let the car fall apart and buy a new car.

During long drives though, my knees can start to hurt. I'm not terribly tall, just 5'11", for short drives and overall handling the car is great... but when driving for several hours on end I sometimes will switch my legs off and on because my knee will hurt pretty badly. (Maybe it's just my knee though!)

Currently it's 2005, I've had my 94 Civic for the last 6 years... meaning it was 5 years old when I got it. It had about 54k miles on it when I got it, and I've put over 100k on it in the 6 years I've had it.

*My* Civic has no A/C, which is my biggest beef with it. The car is relatively light, but heavier than you'd think given its size. The trunk has a ton of room and then some (again, for its size). I had a huge dual 12" box and amp in there and stuff still behind it.

It's got a small engine, easy to get around and work on, etc.

All in all, this has been a great car... and she just keeps going and going. A few problems with it, but I'm quite sure that if I attributed it to my driving style that it would be appropriately placed.

The car still gets over 30mpg (I had 370 miles in 11.2 gallons last time I filled up), and the regular maintenance costs are pretty cheap.

This car isn't *the* fastest car... but given that I have a manual transmission I can red-line it and beat most cars that try to drag against me. Which is fun... a 10 year old car beating newer Civics and older Accords and Preludes, and the big "jerk" trucks like Dodge Rams.

Wowsers... you've really abused that little Honda. Mine averages 35 miles per gallon. 1.5 liter automatic 4 cyl. Never had these problems.