2001 Honda Civic LX Car Review

2001 Honda Civic LX Major Features:

Good gas mileage/fuel economy
4 Door Sedan
Power windows
Power Brakes
Power Steering
AM/FM Stereo
Cruise Control
Front Macpearson Struts
Rear Wishbone Suspension
4 cylinder 1.7l ULEV engine
4 Speed Automatic Transmision

My experience:
I bought this car new back in October 2000. I was rushed a bit since my van got totalled out by the insurance company and I needed a car right away. This is my first Honda by the way. I test drove the car near the dealership and everything was fine so I bought the car after some negotiation. To keep your car looking like new you may want to protect your Honda Civic with a car cover. On the way home, I got on I-95 and AGGGHH! What horrible road noise!! I thought I was in an airplane. It's that bad. Lesson learned - Always test drive a car on the highway. If they refuse, run away. I called the Honda dealer the next day and they said all the economy cars are that way and to upgrade to a Honda Accord would be $6000.00 more (Later I did test drive other economy cars and found this to be true - in fact the Ford Focus and Mazda 5 were even louder. I decided to keep the Civic. The Honda drives ok, it's under powered but I have gotten used to it. The stereo is below average. It is underpowered - it can't cover up all the road noise. The brakes are very good compared to other economy cars. The transmission is a bit weird. Sometimes it takes longer than expected to downshift when accelerating. It also will occassionaly jerk while braking - like a manual downshift. But no breakdowns. I received two recall notices - one for the computer and another for loose clamps on the fuel filler. The computer was replaced and the clamps were tightened for no charge. At around 40,000 it started making a clunk sound when making turns.

I never took it in for this. I have yet to have this fixed - but research on the internet implies the lower control arm bushings (AKA compliance bushings) are worn out. I was also told this when I had the timing belt, cam seal and crank seal changed at 86,000 miles. The Civic had also developed an oil leak around the oil pan before that. I changed the oil pan gasket (twice) myself and it still has a leak. I don't know where the leak is coming from so far. The leak is minor, I can go 4,000 miles and not see any noticable drop in oil level. At 90,000 when I changed the oil pan gasket, I discovered the timing cover is cracked. Holman Honda replaced the timing cover for no charge - even though they insisted it wasn't possible. At 94,000 the check engine light came on and the engine ran very rough. It was the camshaft position sensor. That was replaced and the problem has not returned. At 98,000 the SRS light came on. I reset the light based on a procedure found on the internet and the light has stayed off so far. Now I'm at 102,000 miles and it developed a vibration while braking. Research indicated it was probably the rotors. So I bought replacement rotors and pads. When I took off the driver side rotor, I noticed the rotor was worn down on one side and the seal was bad on the brake caliber. So I went back to the auto parts store and bought two calibers also. I installed everything, bled the front and rear brakes and now the brakes are back to normal. Well, the SRS light came back on again 2 months later. Resetting it doesn't work now. I let it go for 6 months. Now there is a recall for the air bag inflater module. I took it in for that and they offered to check out the SRS light problem for no charge. It turned out the SRS light problem was caused by a bad seat belt buckle which as it turns out has a lifetime warranty. No charge at all and the pesky SRS light is now off. They also told me about the compliance bushings - again - and said the oil pan was leaking - again. When I told them it has been changed twice then they said the rear cam plug is leaking. This may be true since now there is a small puddle of oil on top of the transmission right behind the engine. The car now has 111,000 miles and no additional problems so far. 2009/10/09 - I changed the cam end plug - very easy, pop it out with a thin screwdriver and pop in the new one. I was only able to find the part at a Honda dealer. The mystery oil leak remains. 2009/10/21 - I discovered the timing cover has cracked and separated from the bottom of the engine again. Holman Honda would not cover it under warranty. Interesting they didn't mention/notice the crack when I brought the car in 3 weeks earlier for the SRS recall since they performed their multi point inspection. They did offer to replace it free of additional charge if I had the oil leak repaired. They figured the leak was the oil pump seal. I find it disappointing that the oil leak existed prior to the timing belt change and that Holman Honda did not check for leaks in that area. Especially since they changed the cam and crank seals at the same time. This brings up the question, did they change those seals? - since to me it would seem logical to check for leaks after the procedure. Regardless, I had the oil pump seals replaced, new timing cover and oil pan gasket again. Cost: $647.00 - After a week, so far no oil leak. 2010/12/15 - a new oil leak has appeared - this time in middle front. 2010/01/02 - A humming noise has appeared when reaching approx 40mph and increases with more speed. I'm also sick with a cold so I can't hear normal. It will have to wait. 2010/02/03 (approx. 115k miles) - I finally bit the bullet and had the compliance bushings replaced. Cost was $363.00. It turns out this is not the cause of the clunk noise after all. I had them check where the oil leak is coming from. I was told the valve cover. Shouldn't they have replaced it at least once when they did the timing cover 3 times? I haven't fought with them about it. 2010/02/15 (approx. 115k miles) - I had the front struts replaced elsewhere and got the first alignment ever on this car. Cost $520.00. The clunk is gone now and the car drives better. I also had tires replaced since they were worn out. I was also hoping the humming noise would go away. It did not. It sounds like it is the wheel/hub bearings. I checked all four wheels and found no play or roughness. It could be they aren't far enough along yet. 2010/02/21 - I changed the valve cover gasket myself - Honda dealer gasket cost is $45.00. It did fix the middle oil leak - YEAH!!! 2010/05/02 (approx 116k miles) - Radiator started leaking along the seams. I got a NAPA replacement radiator for $105.00 and installed it myself. A Honda Dealer replacement radiator is $314.00 (not installed). 2010/06/18 (117,800 miles) - Check engine light came on - code reader shows P1456 - Reset gas cap and cleared code to see if it comes back. First time ever for this code. 2010/10/05 - Had right front wheel bearing replaced - noise reduced 60 percent. 2010/10/08 - Had left front wheel bearing replaced - abnormal hum now completely gone. 2011/03/25 - Check engine light came on - code P1456 again - this time the gas cap was actually loose. Seems the cap may be developing an issue that causes it to loosen up.

2001 Honda Civic LX Pros:

Excellent gas mileage/fuel economy - I get 34mpg (70% city & 30% hwy driving)
Great brakes when new
Tires still wear evenly - first alignment was at approx. 115k miles!
Only $1500.00 in unexpected repairs up to 80k miles
Paint has not faded, peeled or chipped other than from road debris

2001 Honda Civic LX Cons:

Horrible road noise
Leaks oil from annoying places
Compliance bushing issues
Front strut noises
Stereo needs more power to cover the road noise
Starts developing problems after 80,000 miles
Starts developing even more problems (and more expensive) after 110,000 miles
Uncomfortable seats
Did I say ROAD NOISE

2001 Honda Civic LX Spot Rating: 3 spots
Overall this is a good reliable commuter car - it has not left me stranded so far. I give it 3 spots since it has terrible road noise, leaks oil and had some abnormal repairs. I would not buy it again unless the road noise annoyance was fixed.