Alright guys! I'm 19, live in Cheshire, England, and spend too much money on Hondas.

Copied and pasted this from another (UK) forum so some stuff might be unfamiliar to you guys, but here goes:

Picked my Civic up nearly 2 years ago, after using my 6N Polo whilst on my provisional. VWs had never really been my kinda thing and I'd always been into Jap stuff, so was on the lookout for an EK Civic. Had to be a facelift in either Supersonic Blue or Lightning Silver. Missed out on a Lightning Silver for about a grand by a few hours, local too. A few days later I saw a Supersonic Blue on ebay, in Grantham, one of the very last made being on a Y plate. I've seen EP shape Civics on X plates so mine would have been one of the last.





The reason I wanted this colour: (ignore the swirl marks )



All the time I had it, I was absolutely desperate to modify it but insurance would have been too expensive, so I just put up with the standardness until I could insure mods, which was around October I think. So £700 later:



MeisterR Zeta R coilovers and 15" Rota Grids with Yoko Paradas. All secondhand, from a turbo EG Civic that was being broken. Made so much difference to how it looked and drove. It's still a bit understeery if you REALLY push it, but it's miles better than standard. Still rolls though, even when the coilovers are on full hard. (adjustable damping) Uprated ARBs are needed methinks.

Had gained an OEM Honda mid-wing by this point too.



Love how it looks with no front plate...



3 wheeling:



There's another pic somewhere of the big chunk of ground that it ripped out just after I took this one:



A bloke I work with got an absolute shed of an Ibiza TDi, got a text off him asking if Volk/Rays SE37Ks were worth anything and asking if I wanted them (dont know why they were on that car, they're worth more than that car was!) - here's the result of that:







They're 17" though which is too big for an EK, my Rotas are 15" and it drives so much better on them. Looks amazing IMO on the Rays though....

Also got some Bi-Xenon projector retrofitted EK9 Type-R lights from a K20 converted EK, along with wind deflectors and import plates. Headlights are absolutely epic, they give a completely flat beam pattern so aren't blinding, but visibility is amazing. Also really like the look of them and they're the only set in the UK, possibly worldwide.




Sums it up:



Civic is getting pretty tired now, rear arches are rotting nicely, paint is getting a bit shoddy, loads of suspension bushes are knocking, etc.

A couple of months ago I was offered an Impreza for £1000 so got an insurance quote. Obviously it was stupid money, so I tried some other cars that I liked. ITR DC2 came in at £2.5k, couldn't afford to buy one though. DC2 Integra SiR that I could afford to buy, was £14k to insure despite being slower and less desirable to thieves. Loads of silly prices came through, over £10k for a 1.3 turbo Starlet Glanza V but £2k for a 300ZX Twin Turbo.

Tried an Accord Type-R and it came in at £1700, so was straight on the hunt for one. Always liked them and was mega happy I could insure one. Looked at a few, including a crash damaged shed for £3k...

Started to go off the idea and was looking at MB6 Civic VTis, in hatch and Aerodeck form, just because they'd be incredibly cheap VTEC fun. Until I realised the hatch was £3k to insure and the Aerodeck £2k....

Accord hunt was back on, I was after a Vesuvio Red pre-facelift, had seen one on a forum that kept getting it's price dropped. It had a leaky footwell caused by corrosion on the bulkhead, but it was a very good price, red, and had a full Honda history. And 171k miles :D

Went to see it, and ended up putting a deposit down...

3 days later my mate took me to pick it up, here's the obligatory motorway services shot:



Couple of days after that I took it upto the Evo Triangle with a couple of lads I know from the Civiclife forum. Performed brilliantly and I love the way it handles. Was a brilliant day and perfect to get used to a new car.







This passed when we stopped for pics:



Was really pleased with how it compared to the EP3 (55k miles IIRC), they were identical on acceleration and I have no doubts the Accord would be just as good at cornering, if not better.



With my mate's MX5 at Japfest 2 on the Civiclife stand:



That's me, the funny looking thing in the Superman top:



Really happy with how it comes up after a claybar, couple of polishes and a few coats of wax. This was done by me, not the place in the picture, I was only there for a local meet. It's not mint, but from a few feet away it really does scrub up well. Front end is the worst.



Facing a bit of a dilemma with it tbh, paid shed money for it and there's a fair few faults developing. Remember that leak in the footwell? Turns out it's starting to rot on the bulkhead. £1000 to repair. Dash out, loom out, brake master cylinder out as it's in such an awkward place. Gearbox is whining - input shaft on it's way out. No evidence of the dreaded 5th gear synchro being fixed in its life, so that's a £400+ bill I'm expecting at some point. Clutch release bearing has started rattling. Never had a clutch in it's 173k so that WILL go soon. Not massively expensive, still £2-300 that could be better spent. Engine is getting tappety and I keep getting paranoid about it, thinking I'm hearing rod knock now and again. Uses a fair bit of oil, but I'm not too worried about that yet, VTEC Hondas do use it. My head's saying break or sell it but I won't be able to bring myself to do it. Especially with it being one of 6 (possibly less) S plate ATRs left on the road. Quite attached to it already (only had it 3 weeks) but I wish I could make it a bit less standard...

Realistically it needs £1500-£2000 spending on it to make it spot on, something which I'll probably end up doing. And then the mods can start :D Not going to do anything too drastic, mind.

Need to find a way of getting my 4x100 SE37Ks onto the 5x114.3 Accord hubs as they'd look EPIC, and would be a good size for the car.

Which brings me back to the Civic. It's stashed on my drive awaiting some love, I have pretty big plans for it over the winter. Already miss driving it even if the Accord is technically better, in pretty much every way.

This arrived in the post the other day and is the first part of my plan for the Civic, a very vague clue as to its fate....

 

look at it this way, what you save on insurance over some of the other cars you listed, is money you can use to get this ATR fixed up and in proper form. as for the Civic, i fully expect to see a build thread when you get around to it.

 

Would kill for an ATR.

 

I couldnt figure out the point of the off roading in that type of car. Surprised your front lines up after that.