Honda Civic Freaks: Customer Review of Honda Civic 1998

The first Civic, introduced in 1972, was a small, inexpensive hatchback that came along just in time for America's first fuel crisis.

Each subsequent generation of Civic raised the bar for compact cars, leading the way in performance, refinement and fuel economy.

Base Civic engines were the first to meet California's Low-Emission Vehicle (LEV) standards, and Honda offers the industry's only Continuously Variable Transmission (CVT) in its Civic HX coupe.

The sixth-generation Civic, introduced in 1996, has greatly increased interior space even though its exterior dimensions have grown only slightly.

The model I have is the dealer special edition VTI-S, I believe 200 were sold in the UK. This means that the car has a different gearknob to the standard VTI and a set of bumper lips front and rear as well as a mid level rear spoiler.

96-98 Honda Civic 2/4DR Urethane Rear Bumper Lip Spoiler

The car was fitted with the Honda Accessories lowered supension option too, but in my opinion this makes the car sit a bit too low.

The standard alloy wheels are very heavy and not good for acceleration so I replaced these with a set of 15" Rays TE37s in gold, these are extremely light and made the car feel a lot better.

I've swapped the motor out for a B18 out of the Integra Type R as well, I had the block stripped and pistons etc replaced with Spoon Parts. I've fitted a Mugen 4-1 exhaust manifold and full Mugen twin loop exhaust with decat, an AEM V2 intake and had the car unichipped.

I can recommend going to the 1.8 from the 1.6 as the added power especially off VTEC makes a huge difference to the way the car drives and did not effect fuel economy.

Brakes are excellent too, but do get hot a little quicker then one would like, if track days are your thing then I would recommend swapping the brakes for ones out of the MG Rover as they have bigger discs and calipers that are not so prone to brake fade.

Hawk Performance HB275Z.620 Performance Ceramic Brake Pad

Project Mu FS4S-H113 Forged Sports Big Brake Kits

Fuel economy is good, I get about 30-38 MPG on average depending on how hard the car is driven, motorway MPG is around 40 MPG.

Before this I had a Pulsar GTi-R that was heavily modified, running around 350 BHP. Although the Civic is slower (actually not that much slower!) The Civic is the better handling car, far more fun to drive and gets considerably better MPG (Pulsar was 8-12 MPG!)

It has a nice tight wheel base that lets me corner easily - on ramps and tight parking spaces are never a problem.

People who want an automatic will be disappointed in the slow acceleration the 115 horse power engine gives, but with a 5-speed stick transmission, I have no problem zipping through traffic.

Between road noise from the tires and the so-so quality of the speakers, you won't enjoy listening to your tapes or radio as much as you should.

By the way - for people who mentioned a cup holder: it is a nice feature in that it slides in and out quickly and silently and it's right where I need it.

The console is simple and easy to use, and passengers ranging from 5'5" like me or 6'4" like my husband will find the seats and passenger space very comfortable, even when traveling long distances.

I can't tell you enough how much I like my Civic. I get about 38 mpg on the highway which is a pleasant contrast to the 22 mpg I got with the Buick. It handles excellently, looks great, and has never let me down.