A friend of my wife is looking for a car for their teenager since their Santa Fe died. They are looking to spend $3500 max. I found a 2005 Civic Hybrid local with 132k miles on it for about $3500. Anything to look out for? I figured this would be a good appliance.
I bought one a few years back thinking it just needed the battery replaced. It turned out that The EGR had clogged up and the resulting lean mixture burned an exhaust valve and killed the 1st catalyst stage.
I spent a bunch of money refurbishing the battery with a grid charger, and then replacing it. The replacement battery was only marginally better.
The 7th gen chassis tends to eat front control arm bushings and ball joints, but is otherwise fine.
They’re really slow, especially once the electric assist is depleted. Mine had a difficult time on extended climbs at highway speeds. Youd be wide open in 3rd gear and barely maintain 55mph. The CVT might be better at that.
Once mine was sorted out, I put 20k miles on it and averaged 42mpg, so it was competitive with my current Prius.
The real problem is that my 2002 ex pulled down 41mpg in its 148k with me and never needed anything beyond typical maint. I’m not sure why people over look them so easily as appliances.
As a rule of thumb, on an early Honda Hybrid, don't pay a lot more for the "hybrid-ness". The mpg increase is not that great while given added complexity could actually be a detraction.
Said another way, if the same $3,500 will get you a non-hybrid Civic, I would choose the non-hybrid Civic.
My recommendation... In your area, how much of a Pontiac Vibe will $3,500 buy you?
And in my area I can find 20 2nd gen Prius for that price point. Those just don't die..
Only an enthusiast should own them at this point, in my opinion. All the first gen Honda hybrids have batteries that will need attention, and as you mentioned the EGR and cats are other, far less major gotchas.. usually...
Garbage. I'd take any Prius gen or the Insight over it
Here is the car in question:
https://philadelphia.craigslist.org/ctd/d/feasterville-trevose-2005-honda-civic/6917448451.html
My wife had one when we met. An ‘05 with 80k. They aren’t great. The CVT had a few issues when she owned it. It would shudder from a start and it was a known issue that couldn’t really be resolved. I had a shop reglaze the friction disc, or whatever it’s called, that mates to the flywheel and that helped. I remember the tech who worked on it said, get a Prius, and this was an all hybrid shop. No one was impressed with the early Honda hybrids. We sold it before the battery bonked. The mileage isn’t much better than the standard Civic.
chandler said:The real problem is that my 2002 ex pulled down 41mpg in its 148k with me and never needed anything beyond typical maint. I’m not sure why people over look them so easily as appliances.
Headgaskets and automatic transmission issues are issues on the 7th gen. Of course a manual should be more reliable
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