Looking to buy a Civic Hatchback 92-01 on Craigslist... help!

[kitkit201]

Well, I'm looking to get rid of my accord 2000 and give it back to my folks, so I'll need a car for myself.

Right now, my SO has a Toyota Matrix, and we both require cars to commute. Despite living about a mile away from transit, most of the time, we drive to the transit station and park our two cars there to take bart.

A little bit about me: I am an IT Administrator and sometimes my duties requires me to stay late or get in early. My SO has a regular fixed day job (8-5).

My state of the union is that I am looking to purchase a used Honda Civic Hatchback from 92-01. That spans two generations of course, but I was hoping to buy one and not spend more than $5000 on it.

Anyways, I am an automatic driver, and been itching to drive a manual for the longest time. I did learn how to drive one back in college, but... I don't know what to look out for when test driving a car.

Any help would be appreciate as I'm trying to find any common problems with the Civic Hatchback..

Thanks
Wilson

Edit1: Not really interested in souping up the car... just need a car to drive that looks clean you know..

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

Ask a friend who drives a manual daily to drive it for you and give his opinion on it, check out everything else in the car though.

 

[fitzov]

My advice: as the proud owner of a 92 who had another engine installed--buy a shell cheap (500$ or so) and have a ZC or b-series DOHC put in with the tranny from a crx si. Total this should cost you from 3000-4000, including labor. This way, you don't buy the car with 300K miles on it for 2500 and end up having to replace the engine anyway. There are alot of people that do this kind of work in CA.

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

The resale on a car like that won't be that great, especially with a non-standard motor. It won't be as bad as if you installed it yourself so it's still a good choice having someone else do it, but I think you'd be better off spending $1k more and getting something reliable from the start and not having to mess around with it. By the way the OP sounds, he doesn't want to make any major modifications or anything.

 

[thomsbrain]

you should start by not looking on CL. nearly all the civics there are either salvage titles, riced-out pieces of dog sh!t, or both. you're much better off looking in the San Jose Mercury News, because the people who advertise there are more likely to be older folks and/or dealers with trade-ins they are looking to get rid of, and none of those will be riced out. i was looking for a similar car for my GF and flat out gave up, because they have ALL been ruined by ricer fvcks. now we're looking for turbo volvos instead.

 

[thomsbrain]

Originally posted by: fitzov
My advice: as the proud owner of a 92 who had another engine installed--buy a shell cheap (500$ or so) and have a ZC or b-series DOHC put in with the tranny from a crx si. Total this should cost you from 3000-4000, including labor. This way, you don't buy the car with 300K miles on it for 2500 and end up having to replace the engine anyway. There are alot of people that do this kind of work in CA.

this is my point exactly. guys like this who think their issue-ridden chopped up frankensteins are somehow worth more than a prinstine car.

 

[fitzov]

Originally posted by: thomsbrain

Originally posted by: fitzov
My advice: as the proud owner of a 92 who had another engine installed--buy a shell cheap (500$ or so) and have a ZC or b-series DOHC put in with the tranny from a crx si. Total this should cost you from 3000-4000, including labor. This way, you don't buy the car with 300K miles on it for 2500 and end up having to replace the engine anyway. There are alot of people that do this kind of work in CA.

this is my point exactly. guys like this who think their issue-ridden chopped up frankensteins are somehow worth more than a prinstine car.

If the job is done right the car will be as "pristine" as it once was. Where I come from mechanics can replace an engine and transmission without adding dice to the rearview.

 

[kitkit201]

I did find some legit people without riced out Civics on CL, (dad and mom) kinda people, which is what I am looking for. I can rice out my own car later on (if i choose to) but I simply want something that is more reliable than my current car and that wont break the bank.

 

[lightpants]

I bought my 94 civic ex on Craigs list with 160,000 miles for $12002 years ago. It is a great commuter car and I have just over 190,000 on it now. You can find them, you just have to keep looking until you do.

 

[EarthwormJim]

Look into a Civic HX or Civic VX if you're not looking into souping it up or for speed (who looks for speed in a stock Civic anyways).

They were the VTEC-E based Civics.

The Civic VX is from 92-95 and is a hatchback. It gets 48 city 55 highway mpg.

The Civic HX is a coupe, from 96-2000 I think. It gets about 5mpg less than the VX but is newer.

Also when looking at a used Civic make sure the timing belt has been changed if it has above say 80k miles. Make sure the clutch is not mushy, has a fairly high engagement point and easily returns back to position. Also make sure it shifts fairly smoothly into gears.

Get it inspected at a local Honda dealer too. An inspection is usually under $100 and well worth it. Would be a good idea to get a compression test too.