Project "Save the Flea!" Winter beater: 2007 Civic 1.8L, 5-speed

[California98Civic]

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

Well, it's not quite a screaming deal considering tires...

But you would probably need snow tires for a WINTER car up there anyway. Are the spent tires snow tires?

[backpacker3]

I always forget about the emissions and inspections and stuff. That's why I love michigan. You can put just about any car on the road. For $200 I could have my pick of hundreds of cars on CL that are total hunks of junk but if I insure and register them I can do whatever I want with them.

[MetroMPG]

Lucky you! That's why I love Michigan too! "...O'ER THE LAAAAAAAND OF THE FREEEE..."

That's just not an option here. That's why I figured $1500 was the minimum for getting a road-worthy beater around here that can pass both mandatory inspections.

Are the spent tires snow tires?

They're all-seasons. I've done some checking and there are good used tires in this size (205/55R16) available locally. And lots of winter tires, some on rims.

Seems like people sell their cars and either forget about the winter set in storage in the garage, or they hold on to them to sell separately.

[MetroMPG]

Ironic things about my new "winter beater"...

- It's arguably nicer than the car it's "protecting"... it's going to spoil me. Lifestyle inflation!

- It's the second most expensive car I've ever bought (after the Flea).

- It's the newest car I've owned.

- On the eco front, it will be the heaviest car I've ever owned (1224 kg / 2700 lbs), outside of my 1964 Pontiac.

It may teach me to despise Honda's low geared, high revving manual transmissions. 2750 RPM @ 100 km/h.

But the price was right, it passed mechanical & emission inspections with no big surprises (needs tires, rear brakes & a battery), and if all goes well I will be able to re-sell it next year and recover my costs.

Or maybe it's all going to go haywire and make me appreciate automotive simplicity again!

I'll probably put it on the road around October, when the weather's still nice enough to fabricate & test some ecomods for wintertime duty.

[Daox]

Uh oh, Darin's getting all fancy on us!

[backpacker3]

Awesome! But 2750 rpm at 100 km/h (62 mph) that's really high my sunfire doesn't even hit 2500 rpm at 70 mph and that's with only 4 gears!

Still a great deal though.

[MetroMPG]

Yup, that's Honda gearing (TM)!

But I'm looking forward to driving & modding it, and seeing what it can do.

[MetroMPG]

Of course, now that I've done this deal, I found an unmodified, local '96 Civic CX 5-speed advertised today with only 125k kms (78k miles) for 700 bucks.

Note to self: time to stop looking at the classifieds.

[dirtydave]

Nice new car! looks nice!

[MetroMPG]

Photos always hide the details. It's actually a little rough around the edges...

The front bumper is "sandblasted" with a hundred rock chips and needs repainting (or a bra). Previous owner must have lived on a gravel road.

And there is a collection of deep scratches on various panels, some with surface rust starting (prev. owner seemed to give up on touch-up paint after a while).

And a pretty big rock impact/dent on the quarter panel just above one headlight (both of which are sandblasted/cloudy), and a slight crease in the leading edge of one corner of the hood...

I could go on.

It'll clean up with some work, but in person it's clear why the dealer opted to put it out back in the boneyard instead of out front with the "nice" used cars.