Posting in secrecy here. haha... ok not really.
Anyway, my name is Derek. I'm definitely not new to cars. I'm the type of guy who has always been pretty open minded about vehicles in general, having worked at a few dealerships I'm not really biassed towards any specific make... I am however biassed against hyundai *cringe*.
Anyway. All I have owned has been Ford models.
Long story short my daily right now is a 1999 ZX2. Its been wonderful and I have enjoyed it. But its pretty much paid off. It started as a daily, became an autocross car, and is back to a daily. I've never been a "fan" of honda, but once I got into bikes and bought my own bike and have been riding now for roughly a little over a year I researched some of the different things available I started noticing honda engineering a bit more. A friend of mine actually recently just explained how the vtec cam thing works in the different cars and stuff... but anyway, I've been noticing a bit more and trying to research a bit on honda engineering.
So what i'm looking for a light car.. my ZX2 weighs in at about 2400lbs right now... so something comparible to that. Been looking around and the newer civics appear to be right around that, with about the same specs.
Basically, I would be lightly modifying the car.. something simple like full suspension, brakes (rear disc would be nice... is that available on the civic? and I don't want abs.. i hate that...), shifter and bushings to stabilize it, sway bar(s) if necessary, bushings, a pulley kit, intake, and maybe strip the trunk and part of the interior and call it good. I'm more interested in having the car modified for just a tad bit of fun at autocross, but more or less worried about mileage. Right now I'm getting roughly 35-37mpg with the ZX2 due to the mods and my lightened up style of driving (only due to a $421 speeding ticket... a while ago). The ninja is my toy right now, so i just feel SLOW in my ZX2 anymore, so i've stopped modifying it, but am looking for a car that will last for about 200k-300k miles in regards to the engine, that is EASY to work on in terms of the engineering layout of the engine, tranny, etc. The ZX2 has been a wonderful wonderful WONDERFUL car for me and has been so efficient and reliable but Ford engineering has caused me a headache when its time to actually work on the little SOB and get under the sucker the way things are laid out. I'm just fed up with it, and by the looks of it, Honda appears to have their head together both with efficiency and the layout of their cars.
So... I was curious if anyone had any good referrals in regards to any info to point me in the right direction. I'm not looking for biassed opinions saying "this or that sucks" or blah blah blah how dare you say this or that... But I came to the Honda-Acura forum because I wanted info ON Honda and Acura because instead of looking the other way like I have for so long, I'm actually turning my head in that direction due to aftermarket support, the engineering side of things, reliability, etc and am sick of working on cars that are good to drive but a pain to work on. Anyway, I realize I'm going to get more honda/acura opinion because I'm here, but thats why I'm here
A few questions though, for those that are the DIY type...
- Clutches and flywheel... on the 00' - '05 models, how easy is it to install yourself? Is it a simple job or does it require something crazy like dropping the whole wheel/transaxle assembly to do it (like my car
gag), because my car is a PITA.
- Engines, with good maintenance and great care how long do you think you could reportedly last, 200k-300k?
- How much mileage can you absolutely squeeze out of a 00'-05' civic?
For anyone who has been patient enough to read this post I truly appreciate it.
Either way my next bike will be a ducati or a honda
Starting to lean on the honda...