1994 Honda Civic Ex Coupe review from North America

A/C compressor went out a month after I bought it, and I have yet to replace it. Driving around in Houston with no A/C is no fun...

Previous owner hadn't performed maintenance so I had to replace the timing belt and gaskets.

The D16 started leaking a VERY SMALL amount of oil down the back side of the block, from the head gasket, which I can understand seeing this car has over 100k miles.

My transmission grinds into reverse some times.

THIS PART DOESN'T APPLY TO *MOST* Civics:

These cars are VERY popular to be modified. If you buy one used, try to find one that is STOCK. Mine "seemed" stock with no performance modifications at all, but when I went to change the timing belt I found that the timing of the engine had been advanced, and that the car would not run on stock timing settings, I found out that my ECU had been reprogrammed... and in all honestly I don't know if it runs better or worse than a normal Civic Ex now. But that's besides the point, the point is look out for modified civics, most of the time kids or inexperienced people will try to modify them and will do things wrong and will end up destroying the car. Then when they find out their car is falling apart they sell it to suckers... so yea look out.

This is a VERY economical car. Especially with these gas prices. I can get by with only paying $10-$15 dollars a week, and I redline EVERYWHERE.

The car has a very sleek design, and can be made even sleeker with accesories/ body modifications. My car came with wheels and tint already. And I also added: JDM (Japaneese Domestic Market) corner lenses, tail lights, fog lights, and a Civic Type R lip to the front. And the car looks awesome now.

The interior is a little cramped, when ever I have a passenger in the car I usually end up hitting their thigh when I put the car in neutral and wiggle the knob from side to side (natural tendency to know if your in neutral or not). The car comes with no console/ arm rest and the cup holders are kind of small. The speakers and tweeters are a nice touch, but you won't get much use from them unless you upgrade the headunit. The back seat doesn't seem to have too much room for passengers. The stock Civic seats are a little cheap and the comfort is bearable, but nothing amazing. I have Integra GS-R seats in my car and they are pretty comfortable and stylish.

The car has NO torque, especially from about 1200 - 3000 rpms. Don't expect to be able to "launch" this car from a dead stop, even though you can do a burn out in it (laughs). But if you care to be driving at ~4000rpms in first gear and then just slam on the car you will be thrown in your seat. 125 HP may not seem like a lot, but in a 2400lb car that's already moving 125 is more than enough to take the car from 20-60 in mere seconds. At roughly 5k rpms Vtec (Variable Valve Timing and Electronically Controlled Lift- only available on d16 (Si & Ex) and b16 (Si-R) models) engages and makes the car scream to its 7,200 redline, BTW in a car that revs this high, it is VERY LOUD (high pitched) especially with the windows down.

Even though my model does not come with 4 wheel disc brakes, my car can come to a stop with ease due to my front brake rotors being upgraded to drilled and slotted ones.

Power features have held up well, this car is over 10 years old and all my windows and even the sunroof still open and close fine, power windows work, etc.

One problem I have had though is traction turning right. It is predominantly the passenger front wheel that pulls the car, so when turning right from a stop or accelerating through a right turn, the tire/ wheel has a tendency to spin, and if it is not caught/ corected soon enough the car can slide sideways or even spin out depending how fast / out of control you are.