Ownership Verified: 2005 Honda Civic 1.6i Executive

A reliable car for Cap'n 70s? Awesome! One of us, one of us... :p

I know! This doesn't look like a piece of rotten junk at all! What the hell happened to you? :p

Congrats on joining the OAP transport club :wheelchair:
 
Holy fuck dude, that is niiiceee. The "more wagon than hatch" looks appeal to me just like the Honda Fit does.

Honestly, this is a great car for you cap'n...you'll have bulletproof and comfortable transportation while you work on your projects.

I see that the stress of dealing with a car that constantly needed work and money that you don't necessarily have dumped into it is gone too...trust me, been there done that.

May you have many years of stress free motoring.
 
I'll just wait around for the inevitable thread where you categorize normal wear and tear as unreliable, sell it at a loss, and burn more money on cars not worth the effort of keeping on the road or restoring.
Do yourself a favor and do not buy that third car, just tell the owner you don't need it anymore.??
 
I'll just wait around for the inevitable thread where you categorize normal wear and tear as unreliable, sell it at a loss, and burn more money on cars not worth the effort of keeping on the road or restoring.??

Damn, someone's not optimistic...
 
I like this car. Like I can see this becoming a long term sort of deal where I keep it until it goes wrong in a horrendous manner, people seem fairly confident that the engines can do 150-200k so hopefully it'll last.

There are a few upfront costs to contend with, on a long trip to Glasgow the rear silencer of the exhaust came loose a few miles outside Aberdeen, it sat weird and melted the rear bumper a bit. Around about Dundee it separated from the rest of the system entirely and hid behind the bumper. The novelty of having a car that sounded like a Type-R got old after about 5 mins of driving at 70mph down the dual carriageway... I splurged out and spent ?350 having a new stainless system fitted, given that the mid section was 10 years old and the rear section that failed was a replacement mild steel one fitted just three years ago!
I'll also have to get the timing belt replaced with the next service as it's overdue, I reckon that'll be another ?350 or so, also the clutch is getting very high on the biting point but I'll deal with that when it starts slipping. It also has an odd habit of blowing the O/S dipped beam headlight bulb, it's eaten three of them so far.

Overall I'm hoping that spending some money on it now will mean it lasts longer but there is still a voice in the back of my head saying I'm throwing money at a decade old car. It's already one of the oldest cars in the works car parks if you don't count the winter beaters. My co-workers think I've lost the plot blowing all this money on such an elderly motor but most of them drive financed 1.2 Corsa Ds, so fuck it.
It's actually a weird having a car capable of transporting me to Glasgow (200 miles from home) and back without issue, when the Dolly 1300 was my daily driver the furthest I dared to take it was Aberdeen (65 miles from home). Even then it'd use a litre of oil sitting at 50mph, on brief 70mph stints on the dual carriageway it'd leave a distinct blue haze in it's wake like a 2-stroke motorcycle or a Trabant...

One thing I do like is the instrument panel, it's very clear, concise and lights up nicely.

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I'm afraid I don't really have any pictures of it as while it's fairly nice to drive, will happily rev to 6k (avg mpg has fallen to 42.8) and never goes wrong it really is very boring to look at (although I do like the colour). :lol:
 
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My Accord had 200+ k on the clock - engine itself was fine, I think you'll be alright if that longevity is anything to go on.

I agree with the gauges - the Honda's were easily the best on any car I've personally owned. Nice font, nice white backlighting, just enough information.
 
I'd get the timing belt done ASAP. It's a hell of a lot cheaper than a new engine or is that a non-interference lump in there?
 
Screw the fact that it's a decade old - where's the problem in that? You bought it, you can afford to run it, way better than financing it. At least you own yours 100% - they don't. ;)

Also, it's a god damn Honda Civic. It will last forever, if you take care of it.
See Rick's car. :D

How many miles has it done now?
 
I'd get the timing belt done ASAP. It's a hell of a lot cheaper than a new engine or is that a non-interference lump in there?
Nope, it's the sort of engine which flings it's valves into the pistons when the tensioner/belt dies.
Screw the fact that it's a decade old - where's the problem in that? You bought it, you can afford to run it, way better than financing it. At least you own yours 100% - they don't. ;)

Also, it's a god damn Honda Civic. It will last forever, if you take care of it.
See Rick's car. :D

How many miles has it done now?
Currently reading 72,600 miles.

Oddly the car's manual says the timing belt should be replaced at 62,500 miles but the service book has the place for the timing belt stamp at 72,000 miles. The 62,000 mile service is the last one stamped in the book but it's also the only one that lacks a receipt which details what work was carried out.

Meh, my nearest Honda garage is only a 10 minute drive away. I'll get it serviced at the start of Feburary after I get paid, if the belt/tensioners haven't been done then I'll get that sorted too. Going to suck being deep in my overdraft two months in a row though, that's the glory of Christmas, a 5 week month and an unexpected exhaust escape attempt! :lol:
 
Is there any possibility to contact the place where the 62,500 mile service was carried out? I would imagine they could have a record of what has been done there.
 
Wow, 42+ mpg! That's awesome! I didn't know that generation of Civic's could get that high without being a hybrid
 
I agree that the car being a decade old should be no point to stop servicing and spending money to it. You can spend quite a lot of money servicing an old car, and it should still be much cheaper than depreciation alone on a new car.

I think the good point about owning a new car is that you know exactly how much your motoring will cost. There should be no surprises, you just pay the regular financing and service fees - and you know that it will be expensive. Whereas when owning an older car you have to account for surprises. But still the surprises have to be quite a big ones for an older car to cost as much to own as a new one.

Enjoy your Civic. At 72K miles it still has a lot of more in it. Servicing it is a much better investment than buying a new Corsa. There might be other valid reasons for buying a new car, but when looking only at the financial side one would almost always be better off just using and servicing an older car.
 
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I shiver slightly and glance at the instrument panel, the green lights flash rhythmically, the steady "click" of the hazard warning lights that are the soundtrack to my life lull me into a drowsy state. I smile. Yes, I've broken a Honda.

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On my way back home from a LAN party (yes, I'm that cool) between Aberdeen and Dundee I decide to swing by ASDA to buy some shoelaces. Pulling onto a roundabout there is a muffled bang from under the car and I lose all drive. I manage to get the car half on the centre of the roundabout and some helpful passers by give me a hand pushing it fully out of the road.
I assume I have some sort of clutch problem, I pop the bonnet and try to see if I can see anything, what I can see is something spinning beside the engine, I put the wheels on full lock and have a look inside the wheel arch to confirm my suspicions. Yes the the O/S driveshaft is no longer connected to the wheel.

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I send a photo of the car to my supervisor at work and say I won't be in on Monday. He says that's fine.

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A long while later this occurs:

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The car is dropped off at my local Honda garage at about 1:20am, I shove the keys through the letterbox with a report from the recovery driver and a note. The driver likes fixing cars and has owned Triumphs so we have good conversation material. My parents arrive and we load my PC into the back of their CRV and they drive me home. I unload the car and go to bed at 1:40am.

At around midday the garage phones me, ?400 for a Honda driveshaft or ?200 for a 3rd party part. I go for the third party part because I can no longer extend my overdraft. By the time the car is back it'll have cost me over ?1,000 in repairs in under 6,000 miles. I still suppose that the general conciousness of the Honda Civic 1.6 is that it's a good car, I agree with them. MY Honda Civic 1.6 however is a complete dog.
 
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Welcome to the flatbed club. Look on the bright side, at least it isn't boring any more. :p
 
Cap, you weren't ever swallowed by a whale at some point were you?
 
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