How do I get my hands on a Civic VX

[ian]

Hi All,

This is my first post here. I've been watching autotrader and searching the entire western united states on Craig's List for three weeks now looking for a stock Civic VX and haven't been able to get my hands on one. Most of the ones I've found have had their engines swapped out for higher hp/lower mpg engines and the ones that are still stock sell in the first few hours of being posted.

If anyone here has one they want to sell or knows of another marketplace where I should be looking Please lit me know. I'd really appreciate any leads.



Thanks,
Ian

[Ryland]

The right time was when gas was cheap.
If you do want to buy one now there is one on Ebay, but they tend to sell for the highest price on Ebay, last one sold for just under $5,000 with 200,000 miles.

http://motors.shop.ebay.com/i.html?_...506.m270.l1313

If you are searching Craigslist, search for Civic Hatchback, skipping the VX part and just look for the VX wheels in the photos.

Otherwise we all have our price, mine doesn't have any rust and only has 222,000 miles... $6,000?

[ian]

ya, it's definitely a hot market now; I wonder what the gas price point was where these things really started taking off. Also, do you know what the deference is between a 49 state emissions compliant and a 50 state emissions compliant VX is? I saw somewhere that the California emission standards brought the mpg down. I live in California, so I'm wondering if I can get the 49 state mpg here.

[phoenix_fire2005]

I recently started looking for one myself. I was originally looking for Si models from 5th gen but saw a VX on the local Craigslist (Charlotte-area) in good shape and discovered just how good the MPGs on the VX are... unfortunately I was just a day late on getting it... darn it... but now I am checking all the nearby Craigslist sites a few times a day for one.

[Ryland]

The big difference in the 49 state vx is it has lean burn so it gets about 3mpg better mileage, the CA only apparently doesn't have an up shift light either and I'm not sure why that is.

[Sporty Modder]

If you have a smart phone? There is an app called craigslist notification. It updates every 15-30 min and gives you instant access to whatever you search for. Those fast moving car parts,cars ect... Check it out it might help in your search.

[phoenix_fire2005]

Originally Posted by Sporty Modder

If you have a smart phone? There is an app called craigslist notification. It updates every 15-30 min and gives you instant access to whatever you search for. Those fast moving car parts,cars ect... Check it out it might help in your search.

Yeah, I was about to build my own app for this, but this one does basically everything mine would have. Still would like to code my own though, as I'd like to have more control over what results I'm notified for (there are lots of false positives when searching entire posts, but searching just titles misses some).

[Iexpedite]

I recently purchased one and was surprised to hear lean burn economy only equates to 3 MPG. I have an MPGuino (not perfectly calibrated) and I see a jump of 10 MPG when the lean burn kicks in. I know the EPA standard reflects the 3 MPG difference. However, I think with an attentive driver the federal version is capable of a higher percentage over the EPA standard than the California version is.

BTW...good luck to you sir. Every car I seem to find says "VX w/some JDM motor in place of the original".

[basjoos]

If you can't find a VX, you could always go for the less sexy CX. Same weight and transmission as the VX, but with a 70hp non-lean burn engine. Mine got 44 to 52mpg before I aeromodded it and had a VX engine swapped into it. The CX has a simpler interior than the VX, which means there are less do-dads to break and you can always get VX parts at a junkyard to upgrade it to VX standards

[ian]

Hi all, it took almost a month of searching, but I finally got a VX. Thank you to everyone here for your advice and to Ryland for his generous offer to sell me his (honestly Ryland, I wouldn't be surprised if you got close to that price for yours. I've seen ones with over 200k mi. go for $5,000 as soon as they’re listed.) Now I just need to un-rice the one I bought; I'm hoping that selling the racer parts will generate enough cash to pay for putting the car back to stock, but we’ll see. Anyway I'm happy to have found this forum and I'm sure I'll be posting again soon looking for advice on putting my new car back to stock.

Thanks all,
Ian