Hey, new on here. I own a suzuki swift GTI road race car, and was hoping to find one for a street car, but they are really rare.
Soooo, I used to own an 88 crx si back in the day before I sold it with 190K on the odo.

It was always very reliable, except for the dizzy freezing up on me on a road trip...

Even had the original clutch/release bearing, which I thought was amazing.

So, now I have given up on a suzuki and am looking at the 88 thru...about....94 civic/crx's. No engine swaps for me...or turbo's...or whatever.
I'll be running it in the occasional auto x, but will pretty much be a dd that gets great gas mileage

Found this one http://www.autotrader.com/fyc/...st=24

I think I may already know the answer, but wanted to bounce it off you guys first....
Do you think a car like this...assuming I go over it and find it in good condition...has a lot of life left in it?
I guess if the motor/tranny goes, I can find stock replacements pretty easy with so many doing engine swaps.

Is this car a decent deal?

preciate any input.

 

at 170k i personally wouldnt worry about motor and tranny but more so other things like brakes and wheel bearings and axles, etc. it looks pretty clean though.

 

all depends on how it was cared for. if they have any records of matinence, oil changes ect.. price sounds about right though if its in good condition. take her for a test drive.

 

I'm a pretty good mechanic, so axles and bearings and such are not a problem.

I think I will go test drive it.

My only other concern is, after checking on fueleconomy.gov I found that for some reason these earlier models get only about 28/33 hwy?

Whats the deal? I know they are lighter than newer models...and they are fuel infected...so why the shitty mpg's?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by mattbatson &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
My only other concern is, after checking on fueleconomy.gov I found that for some reason these earlier models get only about 28/33 hwy?

Whats the deal? I know they are lighter than newer models...and they are fuel infected...so why the shitty mpg's?</TD></TR></TABLE> The government changed their testing method a year or two ago, dropped all the old cars across the board.

EDIT - Just checked and saw those numbers are for the autos, while the manuals were 33/37.

 

I know of many people who consistently get better gas mileage then that. The fuel injection system on the DX is pretty shitty. It might as well have been a carb.

My old sedan used to get high 30's with mixed driving.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 91_shoebox_Si &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">all depends...</TD></TR></TABLE>

Exactly!

Some thoughts:

I bought a 'new' CiViC HX in 2000 and drove it 178,000 miles - got 45-ish MPG - and it drove and looked like 'new', even though it had 78% more mileage than the average 2000 CiViC (according to Edmunds).

Then, again, I babied it - ran Mobil 1 in the engine, Redline MT-90 in the tranny, K&N panel filter, et cetera, from day one!

I digress...

"170K" is considered low miles on a Mercedes. I've seen lots of then with 300K. But, Mercedes owners usually take great care of their cars, sooo...

I'm driving a '98 CiViC HX with a '99 Si B16A2 now...

The body has 106K and the motor has 75K - and I'm running Mobil 1 & Redline MT-90 in it. If I keep my foot 'out of it', I get high-30s MPG.

It would be safe to buy a car from me with "170K" on it, but I can't speak for others, because...

IT ALL DEPENDS!

Personally, a lot of miles doesn't mean jack to me. The fact that the car has survived that long says something for it, yes?

If it was a POS, it would have been scrapped long ago!

I dunno... all you can do is go check it out, drive it around for an hour, and so forth, and so on.

I certainly wouldn't buy a high-mileage car sight unseen on eBay or whatever...

Happy hunting!

 

Yeah, went back and read and it does look like I could expect high 30's mpg...
Good enough for me.
I've always liked this generation of civic/crx. I'll be looking at this car in a day or so and will pay attention to C.V.'s, tranny shifting/clutch, exhaust smoke, etc....

Thanks for all the advice and help.

Looks like I'll be a regular on here...

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by mattbatson &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Yeah, went back and read and it does look like I could expect high 30's mpg...
Good enough for me.
I've always liked this generation of civic/crx...</TD></TR></TABLE>

Yeah, I'm a big guy, and fit like a glove in 6 Gens...

I just looked at a 2008 S2000 - couldn't get my leg under the steering wheel - so 'F' S2000s...

Tried a 2008 CiViC Si - my head hit the roof - Aaah, no dice!

I fit in a 2008 Accord EX-L V-6 tank - OMG!!! No thanks...

Soooo...

6 Gen - 37-ish MPG - slammed and shaved with a B16A2 - scares the hell out of the sheep! And, it fits me like a condom!

Whatever...

 

went and test drove it today...
Brakes are seizing up and drag as you drive...
Steering pulls and shimmy's....
There was a light collision at front end, but looks like only the front bumper was pushed in a little....looks mostly cosmetic....didnt see any frame damage

A/C blows mildly cold, could need recharge or worse....

Everything else seems very doable.

I was surprised to pop the hood and find a carb on a 91?. My 88 was fuel infected....
how are these carbs? Stay in adjustment? Or lots of trouble?

after I do a carfax, I'm gonna offer him 1550...

Whatcha guys think?

 

it's not carb. it just looks like it. it's a dual point fuel injection. for the ac, you're going to have to flush and refill it with the new r13 cause these old civic's used r12 which is illegal now. and you'll also be fine after you fix all that stuff for it to be a autox'er. i have a 90 ex with 240k+ miles and i autox with it. it's held up for two seasons(on its third now) and it still runs pretty strong. so after you've fixed all that is wrong with it, you'll be fine.

 

so that IS fuel injection...
I wonder why they use a different one from what my old 88 had?

Anywho, I'm not concerned about what kind of injection it is, as I have no plans to mod this car engine-wise.

preciate the advice and I agree that it sounds like stuff I can fix myself pretty painlessly.
AND I think the price is decent....

so, I'll carfax it and go make an offer....

 

yeah, that's fuel injection, and your 88 was probably a SI, right? SI's in those years were the only ones that came multi point fuel injected(mpfi) the one you wanna buy is a dual point fuel injected (dpfi). and why it's like this, have no clue.

 

Ok, did a carfax and here it is

http://www.carfax.com/organizer/generateReport.cfx

So, the used car lot it is at now is claiming 170K. As you can see, it had 170K back in 02.
Well, when I went to look at it, it showed 150K on the odo.....

Soooo, I'm thinking it has been messed with.
I'm also thinking that it has much more than 170K at this point in time...

this may be a deal killer for me...

 

i would use an in-person inspection of the car over any mileage...30k or 300k. personally, i've had about 10 cars and the bulk of those were around 200k. all of them are still on the road as far as i know. it really depends on how's it's been maintained and the current condition. fyi, i had a dpfi crx that got 47mpg. i would just tell them what you know and beat 'em down on the price. good luck with your decision

 

Hey that looks like mine LOL but serious though..170 k is just barley breaking in.lol
I bought mine with 200K plus with a really wore out motor. I drove it or 3 moths like that before I replaced the motor with another stock one. My 200K motor had never had the oil changed in it. I had to do the ol screw driver threw the oil filter trick just to ge the filtr off. Its still ran good just pumped a lot of oil..Replaced the motor and still going strong

 

okay, you guys talked me into it.
I'll take the carfax report and armed with what I know about the problems and see if he will take 1500.

I have to say, I really enjoyed the test drive. Reminded me of my 88 si with the manual steering that gave great communication with the road...even with skinny tires it felt so tossible...
And the light weight at 2100 lbs is just icing on the cake...

thanks for all the responses guys...

 

The one thing to change would be that damn dpfi injection to a mpfi (multi-port) fuel injection. not only do you get better gas milage it has more power and just drives better, its a very simple conversion if you look around and do a search you will find its just a matter of swapping intake manifolds and adding a couple wires, you can even get a premade wire harness. just something to consider

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by mattbatson &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">okay, you guys talked me into it.
I'll take the carfax report and armed with what I know about the problems and see if he will take 1500.
</TD></TR></TABLE>


id say 1000, or i'll report your *** to the cops for tampering with the odo(which is illegal) gotta carfax for that.

 

my crx had 240,000 on it when i swapped out the engine and it was still running like a champ. Original clutch i believe too

 

car looks pretty solid. from what i can see no rust on the fenders. I bought my rex with 194,000 miles on it and a trashed interior for 2 grand and dont regret it one bit because of how good condition the body was in. iv since swapped out the engine but the car is still holding togeter for the price they want i would buy that.

 

i bought an '86 civic si about a year ago w/ 205k mi. on it in roughly the same condition you're describing... bad brake hardware, front end collision, otherwise pretty clean. i paid $500 for it, fixed the brakes, beat the front end back into shape and drove it for 20k miles before selling it for $800.

for the mileage discrepancies you're describing, i wouldn't offer more than $1k. i just picked up my '91 CRX Si (clean body, 135k miles on the chassis) for $2k, and it's mechanically perfect

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 90_EX_Civic &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">yeah, that's fuel injection, and your 88 was probably a SI, right? SI's in those years were the only ones that came multi point fuel injected(mpfi) the one you wanna buy is a dual point fuel injected (dpfi). and why it's like this, have no clue. </TD></TR></TABLE>

HF models also came with the MPFI (even in 1988)

I have a 90 DX with the DPFI. It's got 184,4xx and still runs good. Mileage is awesome. 40-42 MPG Hwy (i drive about 90 miles a day). When I lived closer to work, i drove mostly city and got about 30-33 MPG. The only mods are lowred about 1.5" in the front, running Del Sol Mini Fat Fives on stock Del Sol tires, and ZEX airfilter. (BTW, good mod with the filter. More power AND better mileage. Jackson Racing drop in filter was like running a stock Fram filter in the airbox)
The axles need replacement, and I believe the wheel bearings do to.

 

found a 94...here's the ad

""1994 Honda Civic Hatchback. Runs great. 5 speed manual transmission. Very fuel efficient. gets around 35 miles per gallon. 183,000 miles but still running strong. Mostly highway miles. Hood is dented but everything else is good. ""

He wants 2K. The paint is not faded like the 91, and it has no brake problems, etc.. like the 91.
I'm going to look at it tomorrow and I'm bringing the money.

I would have prefered the earlier Honda models without power steering and lighter curb weight. You just cannot beat that road feel that the earlier models provide....

I guess this will put me in another section of this forum also

Watcha guys think?

 

I think BOOOOOOOO

LOL - It's all good, man. Get something you're comfortable in. EG Civics still offer a ton of potential and probably have more aftermarket support.