Civic Horror: Would You Pay £400 for this Hot Mess Honda‽
At what point would you give up on this 2000 Honda Civic? Rotted exhaust, bad fuel lines, air leak, toothpick-thin lower control arms?
Grab your wrenches because our friend Matt from High Peak Autos is gonna need all the help he can get if he keeps stumbling into these kinds of projects. Imagine this: You’re lounging around, scrolling through your dozens of 10 percent off “waifu” decal emails, and BAM! Lo and behold, someone has just offered you a busted 23-year-old Honda Civic for a mere £400 ($508.92 in American money).
Would you be mad enough to take it? Well, our fellow Matt across the pond, was game.
Email of Destiny
“Hey. Wanna buy my 23yo Honda Civic. It’s got a flat tire, dead battery, blown exhaust, and no MOT? Thx <3.” — We’ll never know exactly how they convinced Matt, but it probably read something like that.
Anyways, who, in their right mind, would respond? Apparently, Matt. But we’re pretty sure he wouldn’t be the only one of us to take the plunge. We’re here for the carnage.
First Impressions on the Civic
So, right off the bat, we learn this Civic had clocked a mere 35k miles in its two-plus decades. Math wizards, that’s an average of just over 1,500 miles a year. And get this: only 500 of those miles were in the last four years. You might think this car’s been pampered, but take just one look and ‘oof.’ Think of a jalopy in a horror movie, and you’re close.
No MOT (and if you didn’t know, that’s a mandatory safety test for UK cars older than three years), so it had to be towed away. No drive-off purchase. Not exactly the start you’d hope for.
Complete with a rough exterior, remnants of a removed spoiler (why, just, why?), and in desperate need of a deep clean and detailing.
Silver Lining
But wait, there’s hope! Slide inside this bad boy, and it’s like Marty McFly took you back to… the ’90s. That gorgeously nostalgic interior, surprisingly, smells like it just rolled out of the showroom, according to our host.
Surprisingly, all Matt had to do was give the battery a jolt, and the thing came to life. Well, kind of. Between the erratic idle revs and blown brakes, this Civic was begging for some TLC.
Heartbreak
But sadly, this won’t be a transformative fairytale. Despite the potential, the Civic’s life on the road was cut short. After getting a once-over by a mechanic, the laundry list of issues reads like a horror story:
- Corroded lower suspension arms (snapping imminent)
- A rusted-out exhaust
- Mysterious air leak
- Corroded fuel lines
Oh, and let’s not forget that lovely busted brake line. Ultimately, it was sent to car heaven, parted out for whatever was salvageable.
Moral of the Story?
So, what did we learn from Matt’s £400 adventure?
Sometimes a bargain isn’t really a bargain.
But it sure makes for some entertaining YouTube content. Props to Matt for taking the plunge, giving us all a laugh, and reminding us that even in the roughest rides, there’s a story to tell. And sometimes, that story is: “Don’t buy a car from a weird email!”
Photos: High Peak Autos
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