Justin Jones

here's the situation, guys: (please note that i am in Canada to account for the high prices!)

CAR #1

1996 Honda Civic Hatchback CX, silver, auto, a/c, CD, silver, very nice condition throughout. bone stock. $5900

This car is at a used dealer.

CAR #2

1993 Honda Civic Si hatchback, 5 speed CD, intake, exhaust, lowered, rims (nice very light looking 5 spokes) new brakes, tires and more. original paint, no rust safetied. $5500.

This car I BELIEVE is being sold by someone who repairs write-offs.

CAR #3

1992 Honda Civic Si hatch, JDM lip/headlights/corner lens, chip/computer sway bar, CD, Power steering, powermirrors, cruise control, aftermarket rims (look like they're painted black, look pretty good. not as good as the 93, though.) Tail lights (can't see in picture, don't think they're altezzas, though. not with the rest of the car being pseudo-JDM) exhaust, gauges. $6998

This car is at a dealer as well, they have another modded EK there that is out of my price range and ugly.

okay, now a little about the buyer. I don't want A/C, I don't want powersteering, or any of that stuff. I'm going to stay with D series for now due to money and probably boost it via a really good "home made" T3 kit with a good front mount (thinking of a powerstroke IC since my friend won't sell me his Starion) but I'm keeping an eye on the salvage listings for a wrecked K series.

I like the EGs because they're lighter and OBD1, but I like the EK because it's newer (duh) and I like the look of the EK a lot. I don't think the 93 is going to be in the classifieds very long, it will probably sell. But the 96 has been in there for a while... it's an auto, though. But if I can talk the guy down to 5K then I'm in good shape and can easily convert it.

okay, thanks very much. look forward to your replies.

kKdARIAN

what are the mileage on these cars.

With a bone stock car, you've got a fresh piece of honda to start with...

the modified car, more expensive for more mileage (prolly) and some mods? Use the $1100 difference between 1 and 3 to add some mods, or piece together that T3 kit your speakin of'

civic-si-2000

i'd go 2 b/c the first car is automatic. not hatin just don't like em. and the 3rd car is way overpriced.

Powered by Honda

go for the EK. The auto won't make a difference if you plan on swapping a motor in the future. Just do the 5spd conversion when you swap

Built Beast

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by civic-si-2000 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i'd go 2 b/c the first car is automatic. not hatin just don't like em. and the 3rd car is way overpriced.
</TD></TR></TABLE>

Agreed...plus gettin a sunroof on the last two...but the third is way overpriced. Personally I would get a bone stock civic and hook it up the way I want it. You can do the same with these just sell the parts you don't like or want to change.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by SoichiroH &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">go for the EK. The auto won't make a difference if you plan on swapping a motor in the future. Just do the 5spd conversion when you swap </TD></TR></TABLE>

just a waste of money, if you want an manual get a manual...no auto to 5-spd bullshit, unless you can do it yourself...many people can't swap their own motors much less a tranny conversion. Plus he said he was going to stick with the D-Series and probably just boost it later down the road.

Justin Jones

Thanks for the comments guys. highly appreciated. keep 'em coming!

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Personally I would get a bone stock civic and hook it up the way I want it. You can do the same with these just sell the parts you don't like or want to change.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Exactly. Besides, it seems that stock civics are actually more expensive than modified ones unless they've got body kits and neons and the such. Then they're like $16,000.

Milage on all the cars are about even. 142000 kms for the last two, and the first one is a mystery. it's not in the ad. doesn't matter to me anyway. I don't care how many kms are on them.

I really like car number two, and car number three really isn't that much of a rip-off, it just needs to be negotiated down to 6K or something. There's a lot of money sunk into it already, what with the lip, gauges, intake, exhaust, rims, tires, system, suspension, tails, headlights/corners... There's probably more stuff than just listed in the ad, this was somebody's real hot rod, not a simple rims exhaust intake job... Besides, they're good modifications, too. Keep in mind I'd be selling the exhaust, intake, rims/tires, etc... so I'd make some money on that stuff probably.

I'm going to go look at car #1 tomorrow, I'll be working right by there. My dad went and took a look at it yesterday and took a picture of it. oh my god he's funny. he didn't even drive into the lot, he just took a picture of it from the driveway of the dealer, you can't even see the civic, LOL. He really wants me to buy an S-10. I want something good on gas, good in the winter and fun to work on... In a perfect world (California) I could just build a bobber (motorsickle) and ride that around. hehe.

Car #2 is sweet, if I bought it I would powdercoat the rims black and sell the exhaust and intake, though. I'll phone the guy tonight and get the low-down on how many owners it's had, what kind of rims, springs, exhaust and intake it's got...

Powered by Honda

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by R33CIVIC &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
just a waste of money, if you want an manual get a manual...no auto to 5-spd bullshit, unless you can do it yourself...many people can't swap their own motors much less a tranny conversion. Plus he said he was going to stick with the D-Series and probably just boost it later down the road.</TD></TR></TABLE>
well, he did also mention the possibility of swapping in a K-series motor sometime down the road as well if the price is right. That's why I mentioned the tranny swap since everything would be coming out anyway and the tranny swap is rather straightforward.

dantastic

id say go for the CX.... but i'd keep on searching for a manual one. dont buy modded vehicles. you never know how half-assed the mods might be

Justin Jones

hmmm... good point about the half assed mods, like on car #3. however, finding a manual EK that's not overpriced might be out of reach for the time being... I haven't seen any. However, I want to get a D15B7 LSD tranny from a local JDM importer that everyone's singing praises about. here's their site:

http://www.evogarage.com/

Also, the CX comes with a 3 month powertrain warranty. Let's say I get my entire T3 setup done sometime before then... blow the tranny, remove all traces of my turbo kit or any other mods... then take car into get fixed... tell them I want a manual and I'll buy/install the clutch pedal, slave cyl. for the hydro and all that crap... sweet. brand new tranny for free (let's see if I can get a Y8 or something!)

thanks again for the comments. you guys are really helping me decide.

Justin Jones

Okay, I went and looked at the EK and it wasn't quite in that good of condition as the advertisement led me to believe. "very good condition" was definitely incorrect. There was 187,000 kms on it and there was definitely a good bit of early rust developing everywhere. The interior was worn a good bit, the transmission didn't seem that good, the gas pedal had a bit of "dead play", The brakes made weird noises at first, the tranny seems weird and they need to take it to Honda to fix the SRS light because it won't turn itself off, the rear badge was glue-gunned on there...

Should I run a carfax I wonder? The dealer claim they have no idea of the car's history because they just buy what the dealers don't want to sell. Is this worth it? I got the Serial number off of it... But they don't seem to be the best at lowering prices... How much do you think I should offer them?


things I liked:

Handled like a go-cart compared to most of the other vehicles i'm used to driving like jeeps and trucks. I really liked how it handled pot-holes, too. I deliberately drove it over a small one and the suspension worked really good. thumbs up to that. I noticed a good bit of negative camber in the back end? is this normal for a stock 96 civic?