I’ve owned my current Honda Civic just shy of 2 years and I love it. It’s not a brand new car but it’s got lots of character and plenty of potential. I’ve done lots of work on it for the last 2 years and would do it again if I had to.  It’s easy to work on, parts are decently priced and you can’t beat Honda quality. It’s a 17 year old car and I know there are better models available now but for what I need it’s perfect.  I have owned previous models of Honda Civics and have always loved the design and quality of each one.

My first Honda Civic was a 1982 4 door hatchback that had to be fixed before I drove it. The engine was in pieces when I bought it so I had to get a friend mechanic to help me put it back together and I learned a lot during this process. I drove this Civic for a number of years and I believe I put about 30,000km on it. It was a fun ride and cheap on gas which was great while driving around. The engine was a 1.3 Liter 8 Valve Honda Motor that put out about 55hp which was plenty back then.

My 2nd Honda Civic was a 1986 2 Door Hatchback that was light blue and had a 1.3 Liter 8 Valve 60hp Honda Motor. It was a nice improvement from the 1982 as it was easier to start and a little more roomy. When I bought it, it was already 12 years old so it needed a little TLC but I was OK with that as I loved working on it. About a year after owning it the transmission input shaft bearing gave out and not knowing how to fix this I was in the midst of junking the car. But luckily with some advice from a friend I bought another Honda Civic, took out the transmission and used this to fix mine.  Doing this with the guidance of my dad I managed to put the transmission back on the my car and got it working. It was such relief to get my baby back on the road. I spent about a week and and a half doing the transmission swap but during the process I got lots of hands on experience that would help me in the future.

My 3rd car was not a Honda Civic but rather a 1987 Acura Integra which was actually very similar to my 1986 Honda Civic but with a lot more options. The frame design on the Acura Integra was actually very similar to my 1986 Civic and the engine was made by Honda.  After 1 month of driving it the rust ate the clutch shift fork so again I had to pull the transmission off. I put a new clutch into it and this time I had air tools so I was a lot quicker doing the job. This car was from back east so it had lots of rust on the under body but I fixed this and drove the car for the next few years.

After my Acura Integra I had a few Mazda’s but never had the same feeling about them as I did with my previous Honda Civic’s and the Acura Integra. So finally on March 27, 2007 I bought my 1993 Honda Civic and have loved it ever since.