Hi guys. My name is Mike, and yes, I'm a rookie to tuner cars. I have a chance to trade cars with my step-dad and am looking for some opinions. If I do trade vehicles, I would be receiving an automatic 2002 Civic LX. Is this car mod worthy? What I mean by that is will putting money into it show some nice performance gains? I'm not looking to set any new records or stuff like that. Here's my early stages of planning:

1.) Cold air intake + catback exhaust (Would spending money on a hi-flow cat be worth it?
2.) Body kit + paint
3.) Suspension
4.) Wheels, tires and brakes
5.) Drive train?
6.) Interior

I'm looking for suggestions. My first two vehicles were trucks. I can tell you $3k goes a lot further here than a damn truck... at least it looks that way so far. Comments are welcome!

 

The most you might gain from bolt ons is 5 HP. The fact that its an automatic makes it worse.
The 2 options most effective in extracting power are boost and tossing the engine all together for a K.
Body and paint aren't really my area so I won't touch it
the suspension leaves a lot to be desired. It can be improved, but its a pretty bad design by honda standards.
Wider wheels and sticky tires always help. Brakes beyond new pads and fluid is excessive for general use.
Do what you want with the interior.

Don't mean to pee in your cheerios, but the motor just doesn't do much.

 

So would an EX be a better choice, given the option? Also, would boost be a good upgrade or a waste for this car?

 

the motor that comes in the 02-05 civic and up non Si is not really a motor favored by tuners...the best thing to do would be to swap out the engine and put a K series engine it or since your new the motor from an RSX, preferably the type S. Not a lot of people really fix up that model civic. If you decide to fix it up you'll be one of the few...the proud EM2 owner.

 

Thanks a lot guys. Looks like I'll just keep saving for a new car.

 

I have a 2002 Civic LX(manual), and I love my car. I have an intake and cat-back exhaust. My car runs great. I think it is worth the boost, although I think it would be better if you swapped engines. I would swap but I don't have the money at the moment. There are lots of mods you can still do to it, but alot of the stuff would have to be custom made.