Quote:
Originally Posted by Old Mechanic
The question is do you want a 10 year old car or a 20 year old car?
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To be fair, she's looking at a '99 Civic, and Echo's go back to '01. So it's "do you want a 13 year old car or a 15 year old car?"
Quote:
Originally Posted by Old Mechanic
2001-2005 Echo or Civic?
No timing belt
Simple beam rear axle
I like the instrument layout completely out of the line of sight of the steering wheel
100k mile plugs
Better ignition system
It would seem to me that those who enjoy, and are physically capable of working on cars should consider the Civic HX or VX from earlier years, CRX HFs but those are rare as hens teeth.
For those who consider a car an appliance and want it to be trouble free, get the Echo. They are hard to find for a decent price, but there is a reason for that they are just about the perfect "appliance". I actually enjoyed driving mine.
regards
Mech
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Many of those points are somewhat subjective (I dislike beam axles, and prefer the Civics gauges), I think the one that carries the most weight is the timing belt, which will certainly add maintenance costs over the Echo.
The OP seems to know her way around a car and I thought I read in previous posts that she works on her own car, so I suspect she doesn't fall into the "appliance" category. But again, it is ultimately her choice to find a car that suits her. I don't think she would go wrong with either the Civic or the Echo.