ARZ's 2001 Honda Civic EX

[arz]

Been a member for quite a while, have taken some stuff to heart, implemented other stuff on other vehicles, and yeah...

So, just graduated from nursing school, and my 81 Pup, while awesome, needs more work than I care to get done in the next month. I was suppose to inherit my wife's Echo (she just upgraded to a 2014 Mitsu Mirage), but due to a fender bender, it's been totaled (didn't realize we still had full coverage on it, 13 years old and 200k miles ).

So, off to craigslist. Scored a low mile 01 Civic EX with a 5 speed for $5500. 71,000 miles. Babied, but could use a bit of updating. Looked for an HX, but everything I found had near triple the miles and was the same price.

Going to run as is for a tank or two of gas to get a good baseline. Going to use separate GPS to see how accurate the odometer is as well.

Planned mods:
Replace stereo with in dash with Nexus 7 (2012 version) android tablet
- this will be running Torque Pro for vehicle monitoring
- will also be running BT and Pandora for my listening pleasure
Needs tires before snow flies. Going to bump up a size.
Might get lighter rims if I can get a good price.
Window tint - hate untinted windows. Not limo dark, but needs some.

Off to read about more stuff.

[arz]

Finally some pictures!

Low miles. Nice and clean.

[arz]

Apparently I saved two posts for a reason.

Here are the boo-boo pics.

Before the repair:



During the Repair:



After:



$100 trunk deck off Craigslist.
$120ish tail lights from Amazon.
Couple hours work, including sledgehammer massage
--------------------------------
Hard to tell the back was bashed. Slightly uneven gaps around trunk, but ehhh... it'll work.

[Vman455]

Too bad about the HX; you can get decent mileage out of an EX, but with the shorter final drive you'll always know in the back of your mind it could have been better.

[arz]

Yeah, I know. However, I'm not averse to swapping the transaxle, if I find the right deal.

[Chrysler kid]

Great find, any civic with under 100k is a rare vehicle on the used car market. Don't be too upset about the hx, unless your commute is completely flat and all highway you won't notice much difference in gas mileage. Just be sure not to use cruise control and practice active driving and you will be maximizing the fuel you are using.

[MetroMPG]

Looking forward to pics & baseline info.

What do you think of the Mirage? Which transmission did your wife get & why?

[arz]

She picked out a 2014 Mirage with the 5 speed. Reason: she prefers to drive a stick than a manual. She's not a hypermiler of any sort - just likes little cars that get good mileage. Nothing more than regular driving. First couple tanks were just shy of 50mpg calculated by miles driven / amount of fuel to fill up to full. She's more than happy. Convinced her that the extra couple bucks for the ES trim level would be appreciated in the long run as she'll keep this car until it's used up. The BT integration with the stereo is what got her. And it's red.

Edit: because of where we live, there is no trip that is shorter than 10 miles round trip. Her work is 25 miles from home. I'm just starting to look for a job, and anything I find will be at least that far. Need DDs with good-excellent mileage.

[MetroMPG]

LIKES TO DRIVE STICK! Awesome.

Also, manual Mirage drivers are beating CVT drivers at MirageForum.com, despite the higher EPA ratings of the CVT:

CVT - 27 cars: 42.1 MPG (US) = 17.9 KM/L = 5.6 L/100 km = 50.6 MPG (UK.)
5-spd - 33 cars: 44.2 MPG (US) = 18.8 KM/L = 5.3 L/100 KM = 53.0 MPG (UK)

Source.

No surprise there: http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...ing-27416.html

[arz]

So... had this for a week (literally, picked it up last Thursday) and some jackwagon hits it in the parking lot. :/

New tail lights and trunk decklid are in order. Should be a sub-$200 repair. But still pisses me off.