1980 Honda Civic 1300 DXCC review from North America

Had to rebuild carburetor - $70 kit from dealer and an hour of time. Had to put new front brake pads on it, then the rotors warped because of the extra heat caused by the non-asbestos pads. So, had to replace the rotors with new ones. Can't blame that on Honda, the pad material change was required by US law.

No other repairs required, to nearly 190,000 miles.

I had sold my '82 Audi 4000S and got this car because I had changed to a lower-paying job and wanted out of the loan I had on the Audi. I expected the Honda to be a disappointment, but it surprised me. On the down side, the Honda was noisier than the Audi and the seats not as supportive. But that's all. Even though the Honda had a smaller engine than the Audi, it also weighed less, so it was every bit as fast. And, the Honda routinly got 45 miles per gallon on my mostly-highway commute. It handled GOBS better than the Audi - Audis in general are decent handling, but they try to isolate the driver from the road too much. The Honda was far more nimble. The manual steering on the Honda gave the driver a lot more useful road feel than the Audi's over-boosted power steering. The little 12" tires only lasted 20,000 miles, but then it was only $125 to get an all new set, and they never needed to be balanced, either.