1993 Honda Civic Hatchback

In My Humble Opinion
1

I met a girl in New Orleans who had a 1991 Honda Civic Hatchback. On one of my visits we drove from New Orleans to Winston-Salem, NC. She drove 100 mph much of the way. (I kept it down to about 90.) This little car handled very well at those speeds. And it was capable of sustained operation at those speeds! I couldn’t believe it. Very impressive. Sadly, the car was totalled later in New Orleans when she ran a stop sign.

I really like the shape of that car. But more, I like the little tailgate. Unlike most cars – or the newer Civics – the hatch was in two pieces. The glass went up, and the tailgate went down. I can think of times when this would be very useful.

When it became obvious that the 911 wasn’t practical with my film equipment, I decided to look for another car. I went shopping in late-1998 and early-1999. Having had such a good experience with this girl’s Civic, I naturally looked at Hondas. But I ended up getting a Jeep Cherokee. For one thing, the Jeep can carry more. In 1999, it was okay to get 20 mpg (or a little more – I’ve averaged up to 25 mpg by controlling my speed). I liked to go offroad. But in the end I chose the Cherokee for the most stupid of reasons. The 1999 Civic wasn’t available in white, and I didn’t like the other colours. (The Jeep is dark purple, BTW.)

Now with gas prices at $3/gallon (and even before, when it was a buck and a half) I’d really like a more efficient car. Don’t get me wrong: The Jeep has been great. I had a good time on motorcycle trails snotty with mud. It was indispensable on my move up North. I still need it to tow my trailer and to carry some of my more bulky gear. But for everyday driving, it’s just not efficient.

So I’m thinking about that Honda with the tailgate. According to this site:

Those are some pretty nice mileage figures. (Note: There’s no way I’d buy another car with an automatic transmission.) But there’s a problem. A 1993 Civic Hatchback is pushing 13 years old. Finding one in good condition is not really a problem, but finding one without a ton of miles would be rather difficult. And the bluebook value is around $4,000. Pretty expensive for an old econobox!

So why not consider a different car? I like the Civic. I like Honda’s reputation for reliability. The Civic is the right size. It looks nice. Friends have a Kia. Seems to be ‘okay’, but it just doesn’t do anything for me.

I suppose I could look for a newer Civic Hatchback. (Since it’s not new, colour isn’t as important as when I was looking to buy my First New Car.) But I haven’t looked at gas mileage figures yet. (And they’re bound to be more expensive to boot.)

2

Make that According to this site.

3

I have a 1996 Honda Civic hatchback, and it doesn’t have the tailgate. But I just passed 100,000 miles last week, and for the most part it has been safe, cheap, and dependable.

4

A friend had an '80s Accord that he got from his mom. Last I heard it had 350,000 miles on it. The car was ratty, but it ran.

5

I had a 1993 Honda Civic DX hatchback, and I loved it. I bought it new, and when I donated to the Salvation Army last year, it had over 230,000 miles. Until the last couple of years, it got close to 40 MPG on the highway. It wasn’t a hot rod, but it was so small that it had plenty of pickup. And it could hold an amazing amount of stuff for its size. If I could have bought another car just like it new, I would have, but Honda has since redesigned the Civic: it’s now bigger and higher-performance than I need.

I like my Subaru Impreza just fine (it gets over 30 on the highway), but this $3 gas has me pining for my old Civic.

6

I know what you mean about being bigger and having more performance than needed. I used to drive Chevy Sprints, and they were just fine until I came to a long hill.

So would a '93 hatchback be worth buying? How many miles are too many?

7

Jeeze, John, considering some of the other cars in your collection (cough-triumph herald-cough) there is NO point at which a Civic would be a worse investment. :wink:

8

Hey, now! :mad:

Seriously, though, my cars are not investments. The MGB might be worth what I paid for the restoration in five years or so; but I can’t imagine selling after waiting so long for it. The Herald was bought accidentally, and it was sort of because I was jonzin’ for a convertible for the summer. I’d like to restore it and keep it – if I had the room – just because it’s funky. But right now I need function over funk.

9

I drove a Honda CRX (it was in the Civic family) for over 10 years. It got over 40mpg on the freeway, and over 35 on city streets. Honda stopped making that one too, in about 1992. If someone would start making those again, I’d trade in my Saturn in a heartbeat.

10

Johnny, one thing I would recommend is to steer clear of the smallest-engine Civic hatchback (I believe it was the Cx). The displacement was something like 1.2 liters, while the Dx was 1.6 liters (IIRC). The Dx’s engine was powerful enough, but just barely, so I wouldn’t want to bank on the condition of a high-mileage Cx engine.

There was also the Vx, which used the then-new Vtec engine that got really high mileage. I don’t know anything about those.

11

Wow, my '93 Honda Civic DX hatchback just passed 130K! Looks like I may have it for two decades (which I wouldn’t mind–that little car is amazing in how much it holds and where I can fit it).

12

Erm… So you don’t want to sell it?

13

I don’t have much to add except that my main car is a 1987 Civic Sedan, with 122,000 miles on it, and it runs like a dream, and the gas mileage is fantastic.

The only issues I’ve ever had with Hondas (this is my fourth) is that the CV boots tends to wear out a little quicker than most (although that’s a cheap and easy fix - even the joints themselves aren’t that bad, pricewise) and this is the third Honda I’ve had where the first sign of wear tends to be in the exhaust system, right around the catalytic converter. Again, a cheap and easy fix, relatively speaking.

14

My 94 Civic LX as within shoting distance of 250,000 miles.

I bought it used, so the issues it has have been due to the previous driver.

It looks like crap, but it runs well and gets great mileage.

I want a better looking one though, I have to admit.

15

I really like the little tailgate, but the '94s and '95s without them are the same shape. I could go for one of those.

16

Could I prevail on you knowledgeable Honda owners to look at this thread I just started in GQ? Any of you guys would know more about cars than I do.

17

Sorry, not for a long time yet…

18

I have a 94 Civic DX hatchback, and it has the little tailgate.

it’s got about 170K miles on it, runs very well, and gets 45-50 mpg highway, 35-40 otherwise.

and, no, i don’t want to sell it. i love that car.

19

Bummer.

I’ve e-mailed the local Hondamonger to see if they can get one.

Usually I think it doesn’t make sense to buy a new car to save money; but then, I usually think of a very efficient gas-burner vs. a hybrid. Let’s say I can find an old Civic for $5,000 and that it gets twice the mileage as the Jeep. How long would it take to ‘pay for itself’ (maintenance, licensing, etc. aside)? $5,000 divided by a savings of $1.50 is a bit over 3,300 gallons, right? So I’d have to drive it almost 70,000 miles before I reached the break-even point, right?