I was searching for a decent used car to replace my tired '97 Ford Ranger, the Ranger could have kept going for many years to come but we do want a family sometime soon. So, my search led me to a 2003 Honda Civic LX coupe, very basic, with low miles. Problem was I had no experience with hondas at all. Naturally I turned to the faithful epinions community for some real world reviews of this car. Sure, hondas always look great in tests and on paper, but what did real people think?

Almost every review I read praised these little cars for everything from build quality and dependability to being an enjoyable driving experience. Well, you were all right! This little car is GREAT!

I had always thought that economy and fun would have a very hard time coexisting...boy was I wrong. My wife and I went to look at the car this past weekend, test drove it, and really liked it. We still weren't sold immediately, and looked at couple other used cars the dealer had, test drove a '01 Nissan Maxima even, and still came back to this little honda saying "I don't think we're going to beat the value of that car."...

I have only had the car now since Saturday afternoon (3 days), and already I think this is going to be a long lasting relationship. I drove it on a 350 mile sales run for work, and it performed flawlessly on the highway, it's no huge V8 car so it did get blown around a little by semis and such, but it is very smooth and has plenty of power on tap.

1. The car handles very well, sporty even, it is a blast to drive on a twisty road. It is easy to navigate parking areas. The daily commute is no challenge for this car at all.

2. Everything works pretty much as it should with only a few complaints here and there.

3. Excellent fuel economy. Within the first week, including a 350 mile road trip, I have put 401 miles on it and JUST TODAY stopped for gas. That equals 37.2 miles per gallon! And it's not a hybrid!

4. Cost of ownership for these is supposed to be fairly low...we'll see.

5. Manual transmission has short shifts and feels very smooth.

6. This little thing is quick. Not throw you back in the seat power, but plenty enough to get you in trouble if your not careful. Very spirited little engine for a 1.7 litre. It does like to rev, so be warned. If you're not used to revving up to between 3500 to 5000 rpm to shift it could take some getting used to. The horsepower and torque ratings don't even kick in until around 6500 rpm. (I don't recommend shifting at that high of rpms though if you want the thing to last.)

Now for the dislikes:

The gripes I have so far can be chalked up to owning an economy car of any make, as they all share certain traits.

1. The interior can be somewhat noisy on the road, and not just on the highway either, all roads. It is much better than the Kia Spectra I owned back in '02 but that is to be expected (if you've ever owned one, you'll know what I am speaking of).

2. The interior is mostly solid and of good build quality, however you will get those loose bits of panel and trim which is to be expected from an economy car. Honda has done a decent job of keeping this to a minimum though.

3. The center A/C vents are so loose that they won't really point at anything other than the headliner. I read about this in another review on this site, so I expect it is very common. The outer most vents function fine though.

4. The steering is a bit of a reach once you get your legs comfortable...your arms will get tired on long drive. Newer models will probably have tilt AND telescopic steering. This would not be an issue if I weren't almost six feet; shorter drivers would be ok.

5. Hard seats and a low seat height. If you're not used to sportier styled cars or are coming into it from a truck, this will take a lot of getting used to, they are FIRM and LOW. I felt more like I road the Iron Butt Rally than traveled in a car after four hours.

6. It's a bit busy in city traffic. The little 4 cyl needs a lot of shifting when the going gets slow and congested. This is a trait common with almost any 4cyl 5spd car.

Conclusion:

Overall and so far, the car has met my expectations and even exceeded them in many areas. The handling is superb, it is very quick for such a small engine, it seems solidly built, and you get the feeling that it will last a long time. I would recommend searching for the EX trim level, if you can find one with low miles these have more amenities and are purported to be even better performing than the mid level LX. All in all I am very happy with this vehicle, and should you choose one I'm sure you'll say the same.

(Update: 28 October 2008)

Just wanted to give an update and say that I have now owned this Civic for 7 months and am still juct as happy with from the day we picked it up. I have been averaging 32 - 36 mpg in town and up to 40 on the highway, very impressive I think.

I have not had any trouble to report and actually the maintenence on this car is very reasonable, almsot baffling really. The owners manual states that it can go 10K miles between oil changes and 20K miles for oil filters. I don't reccomend going those lengths as they never relate to driving in the real worl (stop and go, gridlock, hot days, etc...). I aim my maintenece intervals at 5K miles or 7K miles with full synthetic, and I have had no issues at all.

I stillstand by my original reccomendation of this little Honda that could.

Amount Paid (US$): 8900.00
Condition: Used
Model Year: 2003
Model and Options: LX. 5 spd man/pwr wnd/pwr drs/cruise/tilt/CD/AC