After some annoying problems with my previous car, I decided to just go out and pull the trigger on a new car. I wanted something reliable and bulletproof, and I thought Honda.
A lot of family members – uncles and aunts, cousins – had Hondas, and were repeat customers. I’d driven some of their Accords and Civics, and they were all well-made cars. I figured if I was going to do it, buying a new car, I might as well do it right. I went to the dealer in town, and took a beige SE-model automatic Civic for a drive. It seemed to be good to me – nothing fancy, so I decided to deal on that one. I’d known the salesman for a long time, and he had a demo unit they were getting rid of. It was a LX-G – almost fully loaded. All it was missing was the automatic and the VTEC engine. I tested that one, and really liked it. It was a lot nicer, and was the first vehicle I’d seen with the light up backlit gauges.
Ooh, pretty!!
I’m a sucker for a well laid out dash, and this car had it. Everything fell easily to hand, and felt nice. The engine was quiet, the shifter had a positive feel, and the sunroof just added to the whole deal. I made the deal, and went home with it. I loved the car. It was a good handler, and when driven normally would return almost 40 MPG. I only had one issue with the car over the 2 years I owned it – the shifter got jammed up. Somehow a rock got lodged in the linkage on the top of the transmission, and bound the shifter up.
About a month after buying the car, I went on my first date with the woman I was to marry. We realised very quickly that we were compatible with each other, and got along famously from the start. She had also bought a new car about a month before our first date, a car that would show up some of the Honda’s shortcomings.
On our Honeymoon on Mount Washington. It’s telling we didn’t take the Honda.
She had just bought a new Mazda 3. A midlevel model, automatic, it was a great little car. I found that the seats were more comfortable, the engine had more power, and was more solid feeling than the Civic. If we needed to go somewhere, we would more often take the Mazda as it was just a more enjoyable car to drive. It ended up giving her 3 years and 150,000 KM of troublefree driving, and we were sad to see it go. We needed something bigger for her with a baby on the way. Another Mazda was on the way – a 5 – and it was terrible.
The Honda I kept for two years total. It served me well, but I wanted to get a car that she could drive – an automatic. I put it up for sale, and I was able to sell it for what I owed on it after the two years. One of the benefits of a Honda is the resale value…they hold up well here.
The only other picture of it I could find, there in the background.
It was an unassuming little car, and even 13 years after the last one of this generation was sold, they are still pretty common here. I’d buy another one in the future for a cheap beater, but to me there wasn’t anything “fun” about them…no sporty note or performance to the engine, or good looks – just a reliable, unassuming little car.
A friend of mine just bought a used Mazda Axella thats the JDM 3, 5 speed auto 2.0 engine it does go quite well and drives quite well, she let me have a turn in it, I hope for her sake theyre a good car. Hondas well Ive had a couple older than yours though they seem ok but I wouldnt consider another unless it was beater level pricing ie under $500, but I dont need or want a throwaway car at present.
Rust was the worst enemy of those here. Hers was 4 years old, and was getting pretty scabby around the trunk and doors. I doubt that’s much of a problem in NZ.
So do we get a TOAL on the 8N?
I’d like to read it
+1
Yes we will – I’ll write one once I get through with the cars. We’ve had a few tractors over the years – an English Ferguson TE20, a Ford 2000, the 8N, an American MF135 (My favourite), and a Kioti DK40.
Having driven both cars myself, I’d go for the Mazda as well. There’s nothing wrong with a Civic, but the ones I’ve driven were kind of dull. As for the Mazda 5, we rented one for ten days a few years back, and for our purposes (a weekend of camping with friends followed by a trip to the cottage) it did the job. There was plenty of room for my wife and I along with our stuff, and with the sliding side doors and seats folded down it was easy to load. The conveinience of a minivan in a smaller, more sporty package.
You nailed it. There was nothing about these Civics that said to me, what a great car. It was competent, reliable, trouble-free. The Mazda was a good-handling car with an eager engine and a nice interior. Just a great car for the same money as the Honda.
In my family, over the years, we have had a share of Mazda’s and Honda’s, allowing comparison of driving dynamics and longevity/rust resistance here in the Great Lakes rust belt and New England/Boston. The current long term seemingly salt resistant survivor is my youngest daughter’s 2002 Civic EX which was bought as a new car. An amazing 16 year salt belt survivor with minimal rust bubbling of the left rear fender lip–my daughter loves this car.
The Mazda MPV’s, Mazda 6’s, and Mazda 3’s (including another daughter’s current Mazda 3) that varying members of the family have bought and driven have been pleasures from the standpoint of driving dynamics. Surviveabiity is another question.
Salt resistance hasn’t been a Mazda characteristic, far from it. Typically our Mazda’s have been driven side by side with the Hondas in Norther Ohio’s winter time salt rich driving conditions. In our experience Mazda’s have been like short lived, short half life radioactive isotopes, like Technetium 99M, typically melting away and disappearing with rusting typical of 1960’s or 1970’s American cars after 5-6 years of usage. Our Mazda’s have needed seemingly premature replacements compared to our Honda’s .
In side by side comparison, the Honda’s bodies/chassis have remained surprisingly intact with reliable mechanics. One by one the Mazda’s are being replaced or have been replaced by Honda’s, in our experience.
Your pick: reliable Honda durability versus rust disappearing Mazda drive-ability. My daughters and sons are picking Honda’s as the long term ownership winners.
My experience echos yours, Vic. Mazdas seem to rust more than almost anything else made today. I really liked the Mazda3 of the late 00s but I hardly see them anymore. Civics are still everywhere.
I drove my daughter’s 98 Civic to the CC meetup in St. Louis this past weekend. (A CC with cruise control). I was happily humming along at 75 mph on I-70 in the middle of Illinois when I was passed by another Civic of this generation that must have been doing 85. What they give away in driving dynamics they make up for in longevity – and not in a beater sense but in the sense of being a fully functional car.
You are right. Mazdas just dissolved here on the east coast. You still see a lot of these generation Hondas on the roads, but it’s rare to see a Mazda 3.
After the Mazda 5, we bought an 2011 Escape V6. It was a blast to drive, but after the AC packed up at 60,200 K and the dealer wouldn’t do a thing despite them servicing it, it wasn’t going to be another Ford. We put another 40 K on it, and it was starting to give some transmission trouble.
We figured the best bet would be a CR-V, and in 2014 my wife bought one. She’s since put 171,000 K on it, it also gets serviced at the dealer, and the only thing we’ve had to do was replace the brake pads. It’s been flawless. It consistently gets near 30 MPG, and is as tight as when we got it.
We have a well used and low specification example as our kids car. It is a 2003 and has an automatic transmission. Like most small cars with a traditional four speed automatic a lot the performance of the engine is lost. The chassis is still nice but not nearly as sporty feeling as earlier Civics.
I don’t know David, if the Civic of which you speak is the same one featured here….
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/blog/road-trip/the-great-beater-challenge-2017-vehicle-selection-and-preparation/
…I’d say it’s very sporty! The pallet wood wing, the paint pan hood scoop, and those gauges! It’s even participated in a prestigious road rally event. 😀
Yuo – it is the same. It has lost the wing and hood scoop but still has the rally history.
I think in 2001 they went with a conventional suspension setup, with a MacPherson strut. My brother had a worn-out ’95, and it was sportier than my ’05.
I was actually torn between these two cars when I was replacing my Mustang as my DD retiring it to pleasure status in 2016. While I liked the 2016 Mazda 3 and came close to pulling the trigger on it, I ultimately went for the 2016 Civic Coupe after driving it. I liked the handling of the Mazda 3, and while my stepson’s previous generation 3 really feels sporty with its 6 speed manual, the turbocharged engine and sporty coupe styling sold me on the Civic. It really is a hoot to drive.
Reliability was another factor in the decision to go with the Honda, as my stepson’s Mazda doesn’t seem that well screwed together. His is a 2012 (I think), and already there are trim pieces loose and other stuff.
Of course my Civic has had its own gremlins. Just recently, with less than 1,000 miles left in the warranty, all the idiot lights and failure warnings started going off. After two tries (they replaced a valve assembly that had something to do with the waste gate after a code told them to do so on the first try), they traced it to a bad connector in that area causing the electrical glitch. That kind of crap gives me pause regarding ‘reliability’. Reading David’s travelogue the other day about his friend’s bike with a similar issue, really makes me wonder about all of the electronics in today’s cars. YIKES!
That’s a COAL Twofer! Thank you, Marc! No surprise you called the Mazda 3 a Great Little Car. I don’t know if you did this on purpose. I think they should have kept the GLC name all the way to this day.
Indeed, with Mazda it is “’til rust does you apart” way to early.
I had a feeling that play on words was intentional. 😉
It must have been in my subconscious – I didn’t realize I did it, and I love a good pun!
There are still a lot of these Civics on the road here in Wisconsin; they have stood up well. Never driven one, but always kind of liked them.
Our 2006 Mazda 5 also started rusting at the rear wheel arches. Its suspension was also lightly built, needing struts and sway bar links around 50K miles. Disappointing, because we liked the car.
I still see a lot of these in the Northeast – decent basic transportation. You have to admit, though, that the 2006 Civic was a quantum leap styling-wise.
I feel like these were some of the last traditional, simple Japanese compacts. Small, basic, boring, no screens, low belt line etc. My dad had a 2005 hybrid though and the transmission and engine had endless problems. Didn’t stop him from buying a 2010 Insight (almost the same car with a new body) to replace it!
I agree with this. I owned two Civics from the previous generation and have driven one from this generation ’01-’05. The ’96 through ’05 Civics were stone reliable, efficient and easy to service. Simple and honest, I believe these to be the last Civics offered in the original ‘tone’ of the Honda Civic – A small, efficiently packaged car that will never ask more from it’s owner other. The highlight was the 5-speed manual – truly a joy to row.
But…
The Mazda3 of this ^^^ generation was mighty beguiling, and a ’07 hatchback became the first brand-new car I had ever purchased. The interior was lightyears ahead of anything in the compact class and it was a highly capable mile-muncher on many 1000+ mile jaunts. Lovely dynamics on the highway, and very comfortable seats and ergonomics. Unlike the Civic, however, it was not as good of a of a ‘city’ car, and Chicago potholes in the winter did in multple 17″ alloy wheels and shock absorbers. The prospects of living six blocks from my job and no plans to do another road trip anytime soon ultimately forced the 3 out of my life.
Afterwards, I ‘bought’ the 2nd ’96 Civic. In fact, it was given to me by my then-wife’s boss. He wanted nothing to do with such a plebian vehicle rotting away in his driveway any longer. I offered him $1000 for it regardless, and he flatly refused to take the money. We both agreed that one was doing the other a favor. Although whooped, addressing a few maintenance issues resulted in a fine running car that got me through a couple of years in Chicago, and an especially bad ’10/’11 winter. I sold it when I moved to Los Angeles – I actually made money on a vehicle sale!
I looked at a ’01 to ’05 a few years ago as a replacement vehicle, but they appear much smaller and slower now in the context of compact cars offered in the last 10 years. Maybe that’s a good thing.
I got a 2005 Civic LX with automatic last December. My previous car had been rear-ended by a drunk driver while I slept, and I needed a replacement car in a hurry. The Civic does the job, but it doesn’t set my pulse racing.
The last paragraph of this article also perfectly describes my feelings about my 2011 Toyota Camry.
The 2001-2005 Honda Civics are the last ones to feature a traditional analog instrument cluster. I like those more than the later Civics with the funky dashboard with analog tachometer combined with digital speedo and bar graph fuel/temp gauges.
This model was the end of Honda’s marketing slogan of “We Make It Simple”.
NOT a fan of the later models digital “Pac Man” dashboard.
I’ve owned 3 Civics and an Acura Integra. The Civics belonged to the 4th,5th, and 6th generation and the Integra was a 2nd generation model. All were fairly unassuming cars and went about the business of providing reliable transportation without problems. That said, the Integra had an automatic transmission that sucked most of the fun out of the car below 50-55 mph, yet a newer (97) model Civic with automatic was a joy to drive…go figure. The 92 Civic hatchback I owned received an engine and manual transmission from an Integra soon after I bought it. Talk about a night and day difference.
If I were choosing between a Civic and a Mazda3 today, I would rather have the Mazda3. Mazda, if you believe the advertising, builds cars to drive while Honda (seems to) build cars to be steered.
It is unfortunate, Honda has built some great cars, but nowadays they seem to be building Toyotas with a tiny bit of brio, and yet even stranger styling than some Toyotas.
I bought a 2001 Civic DX new in late 2001, a 5 speed. On occasion I have gotton stuck in traffic, but I love the trans, it makes the car fairly quick and alot of fun. While this car is no sports car, its reliable, economical and it was paid off after 3 yrs. On the rare occasion Ive had to get it fixed, I check when it was in last, hmmm? A year, 2 years? Wow, there’s something to be said for consistency…
I have a 2004 Civic LX with an automatic. It has been a good car, but not a great car. It never handled as well as older Civics and always felt sort of “tippy” when aggressively cornering. Over time the gas mileage has gotten worse, but I partly blame that on how E10 has replaced regular unleaded and on the fact that the highway speed limits have been raised where I do most of my driving.
I was especially annoyed when the exhaust manifold cracked, which was the only real mechanical problem. (Apparently this is a common problem with Honda Civics. The catalytic converter is part of the manifold and it gets very hot. It is a comparatively expensive item to replace.) The car was also among the many recalled for having defective Takata airbags.
Once, when the Civic was way-laid by an accident, I had the pleasure of renting a Mazda 3. The Mazda was definitely sportier, quicker, and handled better, but it was also a bit noisier and the gas mileage wasn’t as good.