USED Honda Civic Hatchback (00 - 06)

My car

I've owned this car for 7 months, and it's been great.

Performance/handling - She handles like she's on rails! Bear in mind, it is a VTEC engine, therefore has to be rev'ed to get the power; below 3,000 revs there is very little power. However, drop down a gear and open up the throttle at 3,500+ revs and there's bags of power. The sports suspension set up means it's great on the country lanes. Very nippy little car!

Running costs - It's not that economical. However, my previous car was a Golf GT TDi, with an average MPG of 48, so... most cars wouldn't be economical compared to that. Service costs are about the same as any other car in the range.

Insurance - Group 6, so cheap. You get a lot of car for the insurance.

Exterior - The normal Civic isn't the best looking for the range. But, the 'Sport' has the type R styling and as result, is far better looking car.

Interior - Very well thought out. The seats are supportive and comfortable, even after a 4 hour drive. The central console drinks holder slides back for larger bottles, but, the normal ones can hold starbucks, mcdonalds etc.

Cons -

As mentioned in the main review, road noise on at the higher speeds is noticeable, but not enough to put me off the car.

My car

I owned another civic hatchback in 1993, and it had much better suspension than this 2003 model. The wishbone suspension was superior to the 2003's mcpherson struts.

Very good and very reliable car. I had only two faults with front and rear oxygen sensors.

My car

I have previously owned a 2001 Civic 1.6 SE which I was happy with and in 2006 purchased a one owner 2004 Civic 1.6 Sport with 25'000 miles on the clock. I noticed that the build quality didn't seem as nice as my earlier car.The car was quite reliable apart from the gearbox having to be dropped to lubricate a squeaking clutch fork (under warranty). All was going well until 3 weeks ago when the gearbox input shaft bearing failed at 59'000 miles.I checked on the web and It seems the bearing can fail at any time after 39'000 miles. My car has been serviced and well driven so I contacted Honda as I felt that it was reasonable to expect a "quality" car that was under 6 years old and with less than 60'000 miles not to suffer what seems to be a known issue. Honda disagree and continue to say it isn't a known issue for my model and that as the car is more than 18 months out of warranty they don't feel any help is warranted. In my opinion Honda should acknowledge they have a component issue and support their customers.For the sake of a failed bearing the gearbox needs to be removed,stripped down etc.A Honda dealer will probaly ask for circa £700-1000 for this. So beware potential buyers of any Civic aged between 2001 and 2005 as you may get a nasty surprise if the input shaft bearing fails and Honda wont be interested in helping you. I will never buy Honda again

My car

Had the car 5 yrs, and proved to be a nice little runner. Easy to drive, and handles well. Reasonably economic, and spacious interior for a car this size.

Downside is that it's a bit tinny, and the gearbox bearings failed, despite full honda service history, and average mileage-£620 to repair! Would have to be persuaded to buy another.