Absolutely nothing. It gave faultless reliability over 20,000 miles of hard driving.
What an engine! 170 bhp from just 1.8 litres, yet smooth, refined and utterly reliable. It was perfectly tractable and quiet in normal driving, yet provided superb performance and excitement when asked. 0-60 in less than 8 seconds and I've personally seen an indicated 140 mph (on track). In the VTEC zone (5800 - 8500 rpm), more than capable of frightening many supposedly faster cars (as I regularly did!) and what a great noise!
It gripped and handled very well, if not quite up there with the best handlers in it's class (eg 306 GTi), but also had good ride comfort.
It was also comfortable and well equipped with very reasonable running costs given the performance. Only a high insurance group (15) let it down.
My only criticisms would be that just occasionally, you felt the need for more mid-range torque, and secondly, the car was crying out for a sixth gear to calm down it's busy cruising nature (over 4000 rpm at 70 mph!)
Performance, reliability, build quality, practicality- a great all round package. I've regretted selling mine ever since!
Further to my original review above:
My brother in law bought the same model on my recommendation. It is a 1998 car that he has had for almost 3 years. Although the car is now looking pretty dated, particularly the interior, he has been just as pleased with his as I was with mine.
He has replaced various items such as brake discs, suspension bushes etc through simple age and wear & tear (his car has covered 85k miles), but aside from these and regular servicing, he too has experienced total reliability, and believe me, it gets driven hard!!
He is replacing it in a couple of months with the newer shape Civic ('01 on). Which one? Well of course- a Type-R!!
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