If you're in the market for a used car, you can't look past a Honda Civic. My dad owned a 1997 Honda Civic CX Hatchback. He drove it everyday to and from work, about 40 miles, and I also used to drive it a fair amount.
With my dad commuting between work and home, he dealt with a fair amount of traffic, and along with my driving the car, it averaged about 32 mpg.
I can remember going to buy top soil, and I remember loading the car to its weight capacity, but it had plenty of room for those top soil bags.
It also has no tape or cd player, although they can be options, don't get it from Honda. They'll be expensive, so just go with aftermarket.
If your looking for a car to work on, the CX is a pretty good place to start, since you'll probably be putting on some better rims and tires anyways.
Our CX had an automatic, and I'm sure it made the car slower, but it accelerated smooth, and the transmission shifted smoothly.
With 2 people, I think you could make a cross country trip fine, or a decent commute to work.
If you don't have a jack, don't attempt it (and don't even think about using that emergency jack that comes with the car).
The oil filter is up high in the back of the engine, and somewhat hard to get to, and you always get oil on yourself when you pull it out.
I suggest both of these if your area is prone to heat, and that cover for the rear will hide stuff from prying eyes.
Also, the center arm rest was an option, and for the first few days we didn't have one as the dealer was ordering one, and it was uncomfortable.
And it'll probably have better reliability than a Chevy Cavalier. Just think, how many older generation Cavaliers do you see compared to older Civic's?
It was the love of my life, my first car with the best sound system I have ever heard in any car even up to date.
I would drive to the lot in my Mother's car after work and walk around it just imagining life on the road, wrapped in it's cozy interior.
I even had a dream about it before I learned it was actually going to be mine, where a young blonde from my school had driven it and scraped the underside of the front bumper during a test drive.
It turned out that she had indeed test driven it and scraped up the underside of the front bumper pulling out of the lot.
So long as regular maintenance is kept up, this car runs perfectly for years.
My friends always wanted to go in my car instead of theirs because the sound system was so good.
A feature I really loved about the sound system was that the CD player was set into the console behind the cupholders.
The cupholders had a flap that covered them, and so when it's up, no one peeking into your car can see the CD player - hence no one thinks there's one to steal.
Another nice feature was that the CD's were able to eject even when the car was completely off.
The pick-up-and-go on my Civic was smooth and just flew, perfect for the highway and on-ramps in busy traffic.
It felt like silk and responded immediately.
Even the cruise control was smooth on the take, and the brakes had a lot of grip.
I must admit, the brakes saved me on a number of occassions.
I've driven a lot of cars, and none of them ever braked as well as my Civic or responded to quick yanks on the wheel as well.
It has such great balance and braking and crisp handling that its easy to not lose control in bad situations.
The gas mileage was even better.
The factory sticker said city: 28 and highway: 32 - It was true!
Even after 8 years I was still getting that sort of wonderful mileage out of my tank!
The paint held up very well after 8 years of college campus parking lots and constant sun exposure.
Only the seals suffered color loss, and even then it wasn't much.
I never had a problem with any of the seals leaking, not even on the moonroof.
The seats also held up to constant use for all those years as I spent almost as much time in my car as at home, since I lived out in the country and everything was an hour away.
Unfortunately, the backseats are a little more difficult to get into as is typical (in my experience) with any 2-door car.
Only the passenger-side front seat would move forward enough to allow someone to slide into the backseat.
There is a latch/lever that you pull that releases it all the way forward to the dash.
The driver-side chair does not have this ability.
Personally this was a good thing to me, as on cold days I could drop into my spot and let the others worry about how they would get into the back.
This is not a great thing, however, when it's raining, not if you are as paranoid as I was about door controls short circuiting!
Overall, the backseat was pretty comfortable.
The seats were well padded and more nestled than hugged you.
I don't think you could call it bucket seating, but it had a similar feel with a slight hump between the two main seating spots.
For small children this would be great with lots of leg room and cupholders on either side; but I would not rate it very highly for infant car seats.
I'm sure they could fit in the seat itself, but good luck actually getting it back there!
For adults, unless they have very long legs, the seating is comfortable but a bit cramped and not too terribly easy to get in and out of without use of the roof handle to help pull you out.
The front seatbelt also tends to get in the way of the feet, and was notorious by my friends for tripping on, mostly because that particular belt had trouble retracting sometimes.
Never failed to happen when I had multiple people in my car, yet almost never any other time.
On the plus side, there is room to stick your feet under the seats in front of you.
The seatbelts in the back were actually more comfortable in their fit across the chest then the front seatbelts since the top-most point was set lower.
The two main sides of the back had the lap/chest type belt with the 'grab' feature when the brakes were used too roughly, while the middle spot only has a lap belt.
The trunk held a lot of space, and best of all, for those oversized items, the back seats dropped down, and the spare tire was hidden under the trunk floor panel so it didn't get in your way.
I actually used the space inside of the tire for storage occassionally.
(On a side note: the trunk will also fit a 5'6" person, as we discovered one night during a practical joke on a close friend.
We then dropped the back seat and he climbed in and popped it shut to join us up front!
We already had three people in the car, so this should say something about the interior space!)
I never had a problem with condensation in my head lights either as the rest of my families vehicles tend to do.
All in all it was a very worthwhile car!
It more than held up to years of strain from a first time driver/high school/college student.
It handled well in wet weather as well as high winds.
Living in Texas I haven't used it much in icy weather, but the few times I have I had few problems (the problems were other drivers!).
96-98 HONDA CIVIC HEADLIGHT RH (PASSENGER SIDE), COMBO (1996 96 1997 97 1998 98) 20-3161-01 33101S01A01
The only reason I had to give up my car was because another motorist traveling from the opposite direction lost control in wet weather and T-boned into my lane at the last second.
My airbags deployed and I never felt a thing.
The other person, who didn't have airbags had to go to the hospital with no major injuries and was fine, but sadly, neither my car, nor hers survived the accident.
The actual damage on mine was minimal and I believe would have been fixable, but because it was almost 9 years old and the expensive airbags deployed (it costs over $4000 to replace those on top of the rest of the repair costs)it was labeled totaled and so I had to give her up with much crying.
I loved that car so much that I feel like I've lost a close family member.
In fact, we've had such a great experience with Honda that my Mother bought a 2002 CR-V that she absolutely adores.
It too is unbelievable on gas mileage (city: 22 HWY: 28 according to consumer reports) and the handling is peppy and fun.
I tried to talk her into letting me finish her payments after I lost my car, but she's just too attached!
