1996 Honda Civic DX from North America - Comments

I have continually had problems with this car since I bought it. Before the car reached 100,000 Km the head gaskets and two wheel bearings had to be replaced. Luckily this was covered by the dealership.

After 2 years of ownership the car has had some electrical problems where the dash lights will flicker on and off when the car hits bumps.

Recently the transmission had to be replaced due to a bad bearing and a CV joint replaced as well.

As well the suspension is making some creaking sounds when hitting bumps.

Aside from fuel economy the cars performance has been anemic at best. Other surveys comment on the performance being great, I suggest they try a any v6 or v8, a 4cyl car doesn't compare.

This model is very cheap on interior quality, items such as a trunk light are missing, the radio buttons don't light up at night. The quality of the sound system is very poor.

I also found the dealers in my area opened too late and closed too early and found myself taking time from work in order to have maintenace performed.

As for this car and Honda in general I am going back to Ford where I still have an 1989 thunderbird with 360,000 Km that passes the emmisions better then the Honda, out performs it, out handles it and has more interior refinements. The only things I've replaced on it were the water pump and alternator.

I am very unimpressed by Honda, the quality, the lack of refinements and the treatment from the dealerships.

Well to tell you I'm a technician that owns a Honda civic and I've had nothing but great things from that vehicle... Head gaskets don't just blow chief... They blow when people drive their vehicles with out coolant and over heat the motor, wheel bearing are going to go bad as well as cv joints, now your lighting problem I can't help ya there Honda makes a very well built high mileage reliable vehicle, so try taking care of your car a bit more.

For the Honda techs comments. The head gasket went before the car had 10,000 Kms on it, sounds like a factory defect Right Chief? Or is it because of the lousy cooling system? Where would the coolant go? A leak in the system? Or maybe the engineering of a iron block and an aluminum head, different expansion rates?

So the Wheel bearings, CV joints (and Boots), Timing belt, alternator and water pump are all standard things to replace at regular intervals? The running costs on this car are much higher then my T Bird, its bigger heavier, but built stronger.

As there is more market dilution of Honda's we will see these types of problems become much more common.

I bought a new 1996 Honda Civic DX in June 14th, 1996.

As of June 21st, 2003, I've had absolutely NO problems!

As for maintanence costs, an oil change at an average

4500 miles. Never brought it in to the dealership.

Got 2 new tires for the front, rotated, and now about to

get 2 more. Just got new battery. (Original lasted 6 years!)

This is a 6 year old car with 50,000 miles, and will blow

some old T-bird doors off! And it isn't a VTEC engine!

Give me a break! A fatass T-bird out handle a Civic??

Dream on pal!

My friend, I live in the

deep south, where the interior temps get to 120 degrees plus, with shades, and while I do rub some silcone based products, very occasionly on the "plastic", it looks as good as new. The price of my Civic was "cheap", but inside and out, it wasn't. I bought the bootom line civic, and my plain ole' sound system (AM/FM w/4 speakers) is still great.

My parents own a 92 Honda Accord, which had to have a new muffler, computer chip, and starter only after being under water!!! I have four friends with Hondas, and have never

experienced the problems you've said.

Hey, go with Ford, and those LOW resale values

Come on man First of all it's a automatic what do I have to say!!! That's why you hate the performance

.

A lot of people are defending there Honda products which is nice to see. I was one of you, but after 200,000km I couldn't anymore, wait till the mileage builds up.

For the guy who made comments about the Tbird, unless you've driven one you can't even begin to compare, don't assume. Look at the stats, the tbird out powers it, out handles it, its more delux while the civic is better on gas.

106 hp even in the light car is very weak, standard or auto. I was willing to compensate the power and handling for economy and 'quality' with the civic, but in my case the car wasn't that great. 421,000 Km on the 1989 thunderbird and running strong as a second car, all I put into it was water pump and alternator. It still has the original stainless steel exhaust and radiator.

I love the resale value because I bought it used. Its been the perfect car and at 15 years old is starting to show the first signs of rust. A great value.

OK... your just a honda hater hatin... Just because your T-Bird is a lead-sled and the civic is a nice, reliable, and zippy car, doesn't mean you have to talk trash on the civic.. I think that you wish your ford was as good as the civic.. If you knew ANYTHING about cars, you wouldn't have problems.

You have to compare Apple with apple no apple with Pineapple. You have to compare the performance of this car with cars in its class. So I don't think that comparison you did is valid.

It looks like generation X is really a big fan of the civic, not sure why they like the stickers and big wings, mutton dressed like a lamb. Unfortunately they've only had the pleasure of driving 4 cylinders and minivans up till now and see these as sports cars and any attempt to give a critical account of problems relating to the civic is met with "Honda Hater". Stay in school kid.

Otherwise most of the people that defend them have low mileage cars or leases where they never experience high mileage problems. Trust me, its too soon to judge.

For the last comment, you can compare two different cars when you look at dollar value. Upfront what you get for your money and as well running costs.

This civic was poor, by the other reviews some people have had good luck. For me I'm through with Honda, the dealership experience has ruined it. I also noticed my Honda dealer uses GM trucks and vans, it makes your think!

Something tells me those people with their Thunderbirds had the 5.0L V8 version. If so, then OF COURSE a V8 is going to outperform (speed-wise, at least) a 4 cylinder Civic. However, I doubt that a Thunderbird would out-handle a Civic. The have a longer wheelbase and over-all length. (At least I think that would affect handling... I could be wrong, though.)

Wow, this ford lover really crack me up. I have seriously never had of so much trash talk. Let me ask you are you a tech? Probably not because if you were you'll notice how many POS ford and many other domestic cars come in the shop. Anyways before you start calling other people names. I have owned a 1997 Acura CL 3.0 200hp auto (acura = honda) 107k miles no major problem except replaced a new radiator. 1994 Acura Integra LS Manual 114k miles replaced a new radiator and minor maintenance. Currently own a 1992 Honda Civic Lx manual 161k miles still on original motor no problems yet. Seriously if your talking about civic having low horse power, stop being cheap and buy a accord or something. Just because you had problems with it doesn't mean everyone else does too. Do some research Honda have better fuel economy, performance, and more are reliable then your ford. Now if you only knew how to mod a honda vtec engine, it will leave your heavy ass fords in the dust.

My first car was a 1997 Honda Civic LX 4dr auto with 84,000 miles.

At 98,000, the motor threw a rod during the middle of a snow storm.

I also had a 1996 Honda Civic DX 4dr auto with 46,000 miles, & at 53,000 miles, the motor clunked & died. I brought it into the shop & guess what? They took off the oil pan & a chunk of a rod had fallen out.

Before this happened on both of these cars, I had checked the oil 2 days before hand & they were fine.

My 1996 now has a tranny that slips on occasion, & the "new" motor has got a knock to it on occasion, & also uses 1.5 - 2 qrts of oil between uses.

My 1997 had been in the shop 12x's in 12 months; once a month for something different! I have been left stranded by both of these cars!

The A/C will cost at least $500 to fix & it didn't work in the other car either.

Things that needed to be fixed on both:

A/C

CV joints

Catalytic converter

Sunroof

Power windows

Transmission

Motor

Brakes

Rear defrost

Radio

Radiator

Torque converter

& more!

I have friends who have Civics, & can't wait to get rid of them! They've had bad luck such as I...

Also, the best mpg that I have ever gotten has been 33 on the hwy @ 55 mph with very conservative driving! Friends have gotten about 30!

Your VTEC has 1.6 Liters? My Pespi bottle has 2 liters, what's your point?

I own a 2005 Nissan Altima 3.5 SL that will still destroy new Accords and Civics. 250 HP, 250 Lb/Ft of torque stock wth 5 speed. Imagine if I actually modified it and riced it out! This engine puts out well over 300 HP in any Infinity or 350Z. If I put dragon decals and an airplane wing on it, I know I can get another 20 HP!!! LOL HA HA HA HA HA!!!

Hondas are slow, underpowered, outdated, overstated wimpy junk! You keep on driving them, and I'll see you in the slow lane kids, I'll be passing you soon!

I'm betting none of you folks have driven a Ford or a Honda in -30C (that's about -13F) weather.. If you've had the opportunity, you'll quickly discover that a Ford (Regardless of Model) won't even start in that weather. So yeah.. great performance on the T-Bird.. looks great covered in 4 feet of snow. Civic any day for me.. mine starts at -40 (which is the same in F and C) with only a little complaining. (AND IT'S 12 YEARS OLD!)

And in case your wondering about how many people ever have to start a car at that temperature.. there are about 30 million of us up here in the frigid north and NOBODY wants to walk to work or wait for a bus because their POS Ford is too sissy to start up in the winter.

So you can keep your so-called performance vehicles in the South.. They're all just paper weights up here.

My wife has a Honda Civic; it is a good nippy car, and nothing's gone wrong with it.

And Fords, come on, we know they're cheap. Unless it's a GT40, but we're not talking about cars in that class.

And for that Thunderbird, my Nissan Skyline R32 twin turbo world eat you for breakfast.

I got a 1996 Honda Civic close to 300.000 miles. Never been tampered with. CV joints have been replaced, spark plugs have not changed, oil every 3000 miles, 38 miles to a gallon gas, does not smoke or use oil.