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04-22-2017, 04:36 PM
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#1
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Registered Member
Join Date: Aug 2014
Posts: 169
Country: United States
Location: East Teggsas
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Hi again
So, I have been absent for a good while. Without going into details, my Toyota Echo has been sent to auto recycler heaven. (AKA I sh!tcanned it after quite patiently waiting for even a minor excuse). I ended up with a '97 Civic DX coupe 5-speed. I thought I'd be settling after trying for more quirky and/or fun cars such as a Saab 9-3, a low-mile-but-beat stick Chevy HHR, and a Mazda6 wagon, V6/stick, but after about 500 miles, I'm genuinely starting to see why Hondas used to be so worshipped.
I haven't been able to recalibrate my UltraGauge for this car yet, but if it's close then this Honda is better than my Echo, especially at middle-speed cruising. It has some great potential since it has manual steering and a manual trans. Hope it stands up!
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04-23-2017, 01:19 AM
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#2
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Registered Member
Join Date: Aug 2009
Posts: 3,385
Country: United Kingdom
Location: Mid Wales
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Hey what's up, I remember you. The Toyota did you proud, get a pic or two up of the new ride. Honda's are solid, reliable and easy to work on thanks to build quality and carefully thought out placement of parts.
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04-23-2017, 04:44 PM
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#3
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Registered Member
Join Date: Aug 2014
Posts: 169
Country: United States
Location: East Teggsas
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04-23-2017, 11:03 PM
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#4
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Registered Member
Join Date: Aug 2009
Posts: 3,385
Country: United Kingdom
Location: Mid Wales
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Ah it's one of those, rare beast, Civic with a boot (trunk) as I call them here. Looks in good shape, i'd sort those rims out though, would look fresh with a nice set of 5 spokes perhaps?
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04-24-2017, 12:50 AM
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#5
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Registered Member
Join Date: Aug 2014
Posts: 169
Country: United States
Location: East Teggsas
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Ha, the three-box Civics are mostly all you get here. I'd have preferred either the four door or the hatch just from a usability standpoint, but again, I was shopping cheap and knew the trade off was not being too choosy.
I'm still thinking about the wheel situation. I actually think it's exceedingly charming to find a car which still has its original wheel covers after 20 years, to the point where I might clean these up and paint them closer to their original look; they're kinda close to aerodynamic pizza pan covers, too. Or, I remove the wheel covers and run the steelies underneath with the little Honda steel hub covers and fresh chrome lugs, as I have always liked the street-tuff steel wheel look. There was a 6th gen Civic like mine up the street a couple of years ago like mine with the seekie/center cap thing and it looked decent.
I think they only way I'd be able to justify shelling out dough for a set of wheels on a cheap car is if I lived in the snow belt where I'd be running a set of snow tires. It would just make it easier to switch back and forth from season to season and the expense would then be totally worth it.
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04-24-2017, 03:27 AM
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#6
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Registered Member
Join Date: Aug 2014
Posts: 169
Country: United States
Location: East Teggsas
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I forgot to say though that were I to get a set of wheels, I agree a nice simple set of 5 or maybe 6 spoke wheels would be the ticket. I really don't want to rice this thing out at all beyond maybe some bracing and good suspension bushings. It's a simple chassis but they managed to dial in a fair bit of fun, so it would be a shame to waste that.
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04-29-2017, 05:47 PM
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#7
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Registered Member
Join Date: Apr 2015
Posts: 169
Country: Canada
Location: Oakville, Ontario
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Welcome aboard, Jcp385!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Draigflag
Hey what's up, I remember you. The Toyota did you proud, get a pic or two up of the new ride. Honda's are solid, reliable and easy to work on thanks to build quality and carefully thought out placement of parts.
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Dang, Paul, you're such a likeable guy ![Smile](https://www.fuelly.com/forums/images/smilies/smile.gif) Fuelly at its finest!
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04-29-2017, 08:44 PM
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#8
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Registered Member
Join Date: Mar 2012
Posts: 249
Country: Canada
Location: Halifax
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I used to like Hondas a lot, but nowadays everything that they make no longer appeals to me. I was a big Honda fan and even had a 1998 Accord with 220,000 miles still going strong. After around 2004, Honda has not made a car that I wanted to buy. Maybe Chris Bangle the BMW designer went to work for Honda / Acura after he left BMW.
My brother's girlfriend had an Echo and I kind of liked it in a weird way. It was very light considering it was a newer car and had very skinny tires with great fuel economy. It was kind of fun to drive. I also like the fifth generation Tercels that came before the Echo, they tend to last forever and are very light (2,000lbs).
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04-30-2017, 04:14 AM
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#9
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Registered Member
Join Date: Aug 2014
Posts: 169
Country: United States
Location: East Teggsas
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Quote:
Originally Posted by luv2spd
I used to like Hondas a lot, but nowadays everything that they make no longer appeals to me. I was a big Honda fan and even had a 1998 Accord with 220,000 miles still going strong. After around 2004, Honda has not made a car that I wanted to buy. Maybe Chris Bangle the BMW designer went to work for Honda / Acura after he left BMW.
My brother's girlfriend had an Echo and I kind of liked it in a weird way. It was very light considering it was a newer car and had very skinny tires with great fuel economy. It was kind of fun to drive. I also like the fifth generation Tercels that came before the Echo, they tend to last forever and are very light (2,000lbs).
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I agree, Honda lost its way and doesn't build cars with that light slick feeling that made them so appealing. The newer Hondas I've rented felt rather pedestrian. I actually wanted to like the previous-gen Bangle Accord, but I just couldn't after driving it. I myself have never been a fan of Hondas of any kind, but I confess they had something good going during their golden age in the 90s.
I felt the same way about the Echo. It's hideous, and I wanted to thoroughly hate that thing, but I too ended up liking it, though I'd be a bit of a punk to really hate a free car which fell into my lap. It had great packaging, tons of room for something which has such a small footprint, and it's almost as light as the Tercel - curb weight for mine with auto was 2080lbs. The 1.5 was pretty plucky too with VVTi, I read a test somewhere which claimed it was capable of sub-8 second runs with stick, not bad for a bargain basement thing almost 20 years ago. Packaging and engine excepted though, the Civic is a better car in every way.
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