Hi again

[Jcp385]

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!

[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.

[Jcp385]

Ha! I see you're still active here! Thanks!

Asketh, and ye shall receiveth:

[Draigflag]

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?

[Jcp385]

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.

[Jcp385]

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.

[SteveMak]

Welcome aboard, Jcp385!

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.

Dang, Paul, you're such a likeable guy Fuelly at its finest!

[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).

[Jcp385]

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).

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.