98 Civic EX coupe - opinions please

[woodsonj3]

Looking at one that's for sale in my town. Have never owned a Honda so was wondering what people thought. It has 80,000 miles on it and is an automatic with overdrive. Was really wanting a manual but this car looks so clean and the exterior so perfect that it would be hard to pass up if the mechanic can't find anything wrong. How are the automatics in these cars and when does the timing belt need to be replaced? I have a Corolla with an automatic and 167,000 miles on it and nothing major yet. This will be my daily driver so need something reliable which I know Honda's are and probably more fun to drive than a Corolla. Oh, and the asking price is $6900. Thanks in advance.

[drdisque]

don't expect it to be much more fun than the corolla except for it having maybe like 10 more hp. Honda's automatics aren't the best but in the civic thats usually not a problem since they make so little torque, more of a problem in the Prelude and Accord. I would change the timing belt at 100k miles just to be safe even though its probably good for more.

[woodsonj3]

Originally Posted by drdisque

don't expect it to be much more fun than the corolla except for it having maybe like 10 more hp. Honda's automatics aren't the best but in the civic thats usually not a problem since they make so little torque, more of a problem in the Prelude and Accord. I would change the timing belt at 100k miles just to be safe even though its probably good for more.

Thanks for the response. I had heard that the belt should be good for 100K. Now to get over the insurance cost. Must be higher because it's a 2 door.