VTECsam

As the title reads I'm going to check out an 00 Civic SI at a used car lot tomorrow and I figured you lovely folks might have some firsthand experience in this car and what you wish you would have checked before purchasing. Apart from the basic things to look out for when buying any vehicle I'm looking for some SI specific words of wisdom here.

First off the whole thing seems just a tad sketchy by the price: $3500 @115K miles
That seems a bit low when the KBB value, at it's lowest setting, is $4500 for trade in value in fair condition and goes as high as 9K+ retail value in excellent.

I'm looking at the carfax report right now and I'm seeing 1 accident where the vehicle struck an animal front right side with 'mild to moderate' damage. But the report shows a clean title.

So I'm thinking either this car is a re-badged LS and this dealer is either retarded or lying, previous owner hit a cow and then paid to have it repaired out of pocket, the previous owner just needed money and got raped by this dealer or is just a great find.

So I turn to you civic owners to help out an old accord guy with some questions.

1: what would the USDM SI block and head be stamped? Will it say B16? or is that JDM only?

2: Any discerning qualities I should look for in the interior? I can see by the crappy pic that it's got the SI gauge cluster but that's not that hard to swap.

3: Would you yourself pay 3500 for an SI with 113K miles if you needed a daily driver and it was in fair mech. condition?


Opinions, words of warning and any other advice is welcomed. I just REALLY need a car and this one seems like a 'too good to be true' find.

Thanks guys

~Stephen

edited for spelling failure

Burnt Toast

Make sure the vin starts with HGEM1....... The EM1 is the important part. That signifies it is a USDM Si. The motor, if its the original, should have a stamp on it that reads B16A2.

Now it could be a Canadian Si which is equal to a USDM Ex. The Canadian SIR is equal to our Si.

Interior wise, it should be dark grey, not light grey. The seats should have cut outs in the headrest and all gauges and climate controls should light up amber.

ricin4ever

iTrader: (1)

A. Its at a used car lot and sounds too good to be true so it probably is.
B. That price is really low.
C. I almost bought a similar car to the one you are thinking about buying this one had similar price, mileage, and a clean carfax but still wasnt convinced it wasnt a scheme so it took it to a local body shop and had it looked over and they said the car had significant frame damage and secondary damage from a hard hit that buckled the roof and had been repaired. needless to say i didnt buy it.
D. Drive it, check all of the fluids, and take it to a body shop to have it looked over to make sure you arent getting screwed.

VTECsam

Thanks for the info guys, I'm gonna check out the vin and pop the hood and if things dont look on the up and up I'll walk my *** home.

EDIT: the VIN reads on the website 1HGEM1158YL04**** so it does appear that the car is atleast a USDM si. Still want to bring it to a body shop and check the engine stamps to make sure the B16 was pulled and replaced with like an ls engine.