2008 Honda Civic LX

[PlutoPony]

One of the big things I looked at for my son's first car was safety features. Specifically what model year did we have to buy to get the safety features I was comfortable with. Side curtain air bags were a big one in addition to some body design elements and bumpers. Wasn't as concerned with newer electronic safety features like blind spot and back up camera although the latter we may regret when it comes to resale time. YMMV. Also, check and see if any car has a Takata air bag. I'd be very wary of that brand air bag at this point, even if it hasn't been recalled. IMHO there's more bad news to come for Takata...

You might ask around and see if there's a good place for private sale listings. You'd get a much better deal if you could find one that way, but I'd only go that way if I had a mechanic lined up to do a thorough check and see if it's up to day with recall fixes. Also give bonus points for someone willing to show maintenance records.

Btw, Mazda 3's are the big used cars people are buying here for their kids. Better value / lower price than Honda and Toyota's, durability reasonable if it's been maintained.

Good luck!

 

[tvguy]

Btw, Mazda 3's are the big used cars people are buying here for their kids. Better value / lower price than Honda and Toyota's, durability reasonable if it's been maintained.

Good luck!

Look at a Ford Focus too, they are basically the same car, same underpinnings. My Focus has a Mazda 2.3 liter engine.

 

[disneylove69]

Those are some serious miles, way above average, but I would expect any car to be pretty much trouble free for the first 10 years with the average 10-12,000 miles per year. My new car is 12 years old, and my family car is 28 years old (or will be in 3 weeks), so I tend to fix them if they break. There is a class action suit against Honda over their lousy air conditioners....been in court for 2 years.

I spend ALLLLOTTTT of time on the road for my job. The car was so worn I swear it was turning into a Flinstone car The reason my CRV coolant cracked was the AC fan went out the a few days before. The mechanic said that the pressure found the weakest link and pow green liquid everywhere. Maybe I will be able to benefit from this class action this time as I spent some money on the last one.

 

[ColoradoMom!!]

We bought our son a 2007 Honda Civic. The A/C did blow this summer, which was a big $$. I have a CRV, and in general we like Honda. My biggest surprise was how poorly it handled in snow. My husband's Prius did much better, and that's saying something! In fact my 2002 Honda Odyssey did better also.

We will buying snow tires this year. Some will say that snow tires don't help, but we can't get a different car,and are willing to try anything.

 

[Dannek]

Before I even clicked, I was thinking '06-'09 Civics are on the "to avoid" list. But, I see you've discovered that already.

But it's definitely one of those "your mileage may vary" instances. My girlfriend happens to have a 2008 Honda Civic LX. I offer to replace it and she flat out refuses, she loves her little car, as she calls it. She has had it since it was new. She has had no problems with the car at all. The engine block issue may only involve certain vin numbers, but that I'm not sure of. Her car has over 50k miles and is still going strong on the original brake pads. She replaced the tires once, and has had it serviced every five thousand miles. The car gets 36 miles per gallon driving on the beachside and around the area. Very little highway driving and it doubles the gas mileage of my daily driver. She takes it on two trips per year to South Florida from the Daytona area, and no problems so far. It cost $18.5k new in 2008, so the price really depends on mileage and condition. Get it checked well by a certified mechanic, but don't be afraid of it if it all checks out.

 

[tvguy]

We bought our son a 2007 Honda Civic. The A/C did blow this summer, which was a big $$. I have a CRV, and in general we like Honda. My biggest surprise was how poorly it handled in snow. My husband's Prius did much better, and that's saying something! In fact my 2002 Honda Odyssey did better also.

We will buying snow tires this year. Some will say that snow tires don't help, but we can't get a different car,and are willing to try anything.

I don't think you can blame Honda for the AC blowing up. I don't think Honda or any auto maker actually makes their own compressors. And I think there are only a few companies that do. The compressor on my son's Taurus died at 120,000 miles and cost about $700 to replace. Then the power steering pump went out. Then the replacement power steering pump failed after 2 weeks. And after putting the new power steering pump on, the mechanic discovered the new a/c compressor was failing. And all that stuff has to come off to fix other stuff. Didn't cost me anything, but my mechanic is a one man operation, and he had to do the job 4 times, 3 times for free.