For me, there were several factors. My mom had an 81 Civic after owning several other small Japanese cars and before owning a K-car. She loved that car! It was so small but she would take the three of us kids on road trips to her parents' small town 400 miles away. She never got over that car, her first Honda. She said it had "pep". The whole time she had the K-car afterwards, she moaned about missing the Civic. She finally bought another Civic in 1992. She bought it new and it now has 380 000 km (about 235K miles) and she still loves it. It's still on the original drivetrain.

Then there was the Honda-Michelin Challenge, a race series which ran in Quebec from about 1976 to 1991, using only Civics. As a kid, I already thought of the Civic as a potential race car because of that series. Just put in a roll cage and go.

Finally, in my local Solo 1 club, almost half the members drive Honda products. They've won in so many classes with the cars. The main reason I didn't have one yet was because I couldn't afford a good one. Then last year I found an old (1988) Michelin car and I couldn't resist. I bought it at the advertised price and this year realized my (short-term) dream of obtaining my road-race license. I love the car, the way it looks and drives and runs on and on... That's my story



[Modified by Civic44, 6:50 PM 11/1/2002]

 

-Practicality (race tires and the kitchen sink fit in back with ease)
-Bang for the buck (the cheapest car to autox in a prep class imo)
-aftermarket support
-reliability
-easy to work on
-a look that "grew" on me (the hatch anyway)

I dunno what order to put these in because at some point, all of them have been #1...

 

Good question. I guess what first attracted me to Honda was a single car, not the brand. My loyalty to Honda followed that first car. When I was approaching my 16th birthday, there was only one car that I wanted. An '88 or '89 Integra LS 5spd in black or red. I found one two weeks before my birthday in perfect condition at Davis Acura (who knew that they would end up being my race sponsor 10 years later).

That Integra swayed my father over to the Honda side of thing (he had bought 3 Nissans/Datsuns in a row prior to that), and he got an NSX. Then I replaced the Integra with a '94 Prelude VTEC. Since then I've bought two CRXs and now a Civic hybrid for racing purposes. All because of that one Integra....


Matt

 

I always liked the way they looked, heard they drove well and lasted forever.
Plus I knew a guy in highschool (1989) that drove one and got a lot of girls. Turns out it was in spite of the car

 

Karl Shultz.

r2x ~ who knows too much about Hondas for never having owned one.

 

Uncle's company had a '95 Integra RS company car for sale for cheap. Inexpensive, reliable, great fuel mileage etc. appealed to my parents. From what I'd read they handled really quite darn well, were pretty peppy in VTEC or non-VTEC form, and they had a HUGE aftermarket. I was already pretty familiar with aftermarket stuff from dabbling in motocross and jetski racing, just didn't realize how much of the stuff was non-functional My other car option was a '66 Mustang that had been restored by my dad's friend, but it was 6-cylinder, automatic, and I knew I wouldn't be able to autocross/beat the snot out of it

 

I grew up in a VW family... My dad has owned 11 different VeeDubs in my 25-year lifetime... Before that, he drove Fiats, a Porsche 914, all small, 4-cylinder cars that handle pretty well. So that was the theme that I adopted.

When I was looking for my first car out of college (spring 2000) a car that had caught my eye was the Civic Si coupe... I read a comparo between it and the GTI in Road and Track where the Civic spanked it in the subjective categories (plus I thought it was sexier). Also, my dad's 99 Jetta was soft, underdamped and overweight, so I was down on VW. I test drove a EBP Si, and ALMOST bought it. Then I read about the Integra, and went and drove a GSR. Drove it off the lot that night...

[Edit: spelng]


[Modified by allenp, 8:38 PM 11/1/2002]

 

Aftermarket support.

And frankly its the post practical.

Parts are relitively inexpensive when compared with other car parts.

And look good

 

I am an oddity in this group; I really don't have any allegience to any one make of car; if it performs, I will drive it (and probably like it).

I currently have a Ford/Mazda (Probe) race car (in the process of building), a Honda Civic H1 race car, and a Lotus Super Seven race car. I enjoy all of them in their own ways.

I guess I like the Honda because it is cheap. Cheap to initially buy, cheap to run, cheap to repair. Its also fairly fast. And fun to race wheel to wheel. I don't feel too bad pushing it to the limit (and beyond) during a race.

It has no finess, or elegant feel. Its roots are from a commuter car, and you can feel it when you drive it on the track. The Lotus is much faster around most road courses. It feels light and delicate. It has a wonderful racebred feel. It oozes elegance and precision. It is also finicky to tune and parts are very costly. I can't afford to replace parts in the event of a collision like I can with the Honda. I only race the Lotus in the Historic series. They are very very very serious about contact in those races. There is very little chance of damage in a Vintage race if you drive with car preservation in mind, as most drivers do. If you don't, you will be banned in a hurry.

 

Reliabilty and great mileage. Long before I was a car enthusiast, with the purchase of my first car, I bought it for these two reasons.

 

My wife bought the car before we were married. I ended up driving the Civic when she was pregnant with our first son. Went to an autocross, then an open track event. I ended up stripping it and turning it into my ITA car. Kinda became a Honda fan after getting into racing.

 

my first honda was an 81 accord hatch! that thing surely didn't get me into honda for performance reasons, but it was easy to drive (i learned stick on it the day i bought it), got great gas mileage, and parts/labor was cheap. my mother drives a modern day accord and it's just as reliable, never been to the shop, bla bla bla.

i bought my rsx partially because it's a honda (acrua badges are lame...who are these American-I-Gotta-Have-a-car-with-a-special-name anyway? the rest of the world doesn't get caught up in marketing b.s. like we do...and they get better versions of our cars...so we make it seems better with a name while they just drive better hondas...ok done with my rant), it looks great, and it's the future of Japanese import cars for this decade. aftermarket's gonna be as hot as for the B series. you cannot beat all that honda offers.

 

wow, very similar to my family, though in a different order... my dad had 2 consecutive datsun b210 (i think that was the model) prior to, and just after i was born. then he had a 200sx that had both nissan and datsun badges on it (1984 was the transition year), then my mom got an 87 maxima. that later became my first car. we were realizing it had problems, and my dad replaced the 200sx with a 95 integra gs-r (he likes to hold cars a long time). my mom got a 95 legend shortly after, and when the maxima seemed to be costing more than it was worth (summer of 98) i got a 96 integra rs with 22k miles. it was advertised as an LS, and being the dummy i was at the time, believed it was due to the leather and sunroof (both aftermarket). the lack of cruise control should have tipped me... when i discovered the lack of abs, we complained to the dealer and got some money back.

so, that is still my car, and with only 57k miles, hopefully will be for some time... maybe until the 5th gen "integra" arrives, or if i get used to the front and rear lights on the new Z (loyalty only goes so far i guess...)

incidentally, my dad thinks he'll get the rsx next.

cheers,
phil


[Modified by Philbert, 1:16 PM 11/1/2002]

 

You like something because it is cheap?!? I find that hard to believe! (Todd would race in the K-Mart cup if it existed!)


Matt

 

My first "fun" car was an 88 CRX Si. It was light and handled well, held a lot of stuff, and looked cool. Damn I miss that car.

 

100k+ miles in my wife's '97 CRV, with:

* 1 ea. new set of summer tires
* 1 ea. new set of winter tires
* 1 ea. set of pretty Konig wheels for the summer tires
* 1 ea. new set of brake pads/shoes
* Buckets of oil, boxes of filters
* A dozen or so wipers
* Regularly-scheduled maintenance from a good dealer (Renton, WA) and an independent Honda specialist (Charlottesville, VA)
* 1 ea. rear end dissambly and lube, to get rid of a squeak

Kirk