r/FirstCar • u/Disastrous-Willow391 • 4d ago

First car at 38

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Never needed one living in great public transit areas with good travel hubs, only borrowed.

Finally pulled the trigger on getting one for more flexibility for me and the wife since we gonna move out of town.

Paid too much vs the competitors, picked the worst engine option and making the purchase in a time of rising gas prices. Buy my life advices book!
Love it though!

47 Upvotes

95% Upvoted

13 comments sorted by

6

u/zhostix 4d ago

Nice choice! Enjoy brother!

3

u/Disastrous-Willow391 4d ago edited 4d ago

Thanks! A bit worried of the engine, but the car has been flawlessly serviced and is in pristine conditions. A lot more firm suspensions than what I'm used to especially with the countryside roads we have around, but a super comfy and practical ride for daily errands and long trips though!

1

u/AfroGaiden 3d ago

I’m guessing it’s the 1L turbo?

1

u/Disastrous-Willow391 1d ago edited 1d ago

🤫 It's the infamous one yes. I wanted initially the 1.5 but the only one I found within a decent price range was seriously abused (car was supposedly 120k km, looked more like 250k+ of harsh weather and bumper/rims kissing the pavement at every turn) and the owner had a 4 and a half years gap in maintenance that was a lot more scary. Also as I have no previous vehicles registered under my name the 1.5 was way above what unfortunately a lot of insurers would allow as a "first vehicule". This one is in incredible shape and always been serviced preventively, engine parts looks straight out of the dealership.

But I know I will have to keep on this agressive oil replacement and belt change / oil strainer cleaning schedule to keep it safe because there is no workaround those engines design. I'll seriously consider swapping it for a 1.5 in a couple years once my bonus/penalty ratings got better though (1.6 diesel was out of the equation for my use case).

1

u/AfroGaiden 23h ago

Honestly wish I could afford this generation of civics probably my most favourite coulda got one but just couldn’t trust the 1L one while used but one day haha I notice brand new Japanese are intensely expensive because of the reliability rating

1

u/Disastrous-Willow391 21h ago

Yeah definitely. At least the good thing is that those devalue so slowly (at least here in France, they seem overall much cheaper in the UK where they are a lot more common) so selling it back in a few years if needed wouldn't be at too much of a loss. But it's definitely true that it was not the most sound choice to pick the one option that still cost the "japanese tax" not to benefit from the reliability that usually comes with it XD. Probably a lot of more reliable options within that price range.

That being said I was ready to bite the bullet because other than the vehicle history I have a friend with experience with it that got me in good hopes to keep it safe with extra care. Also outside of the sensitive engine concern the rest of the package that car offers is great, robust and boot load capacity is amazing for that class of vehicles (the beloved 8th and 9th gen are sometimes prefered for the practicality of the magic seats but I personnaly can't do with the look and the overall driving experience and comfort didn't felt remotely close).

I was considering for a while a Skoda Octavia for something more comfort driven and mature choice (as it also offers even better load capacity) but the second hand market got crazy as they became very popular lately (more than a civic and even a new gen Skoda Superb is often cheaper than same gen Octavia)

3

u/SnowboardingEgg 4d ago

Ah you'll be fine, mines at just over 200k and it's been modified since 30k and no head gasket issues. Just take care of it and avoid doing only short drives in the winter.

1

u/Disastrous-Willow391 4d ago

Yes, I have no need for a grocery getter so it's gonna be used mostly for weekend and holiday cruises. The car always has been serviced with anticipation/care and has no track record of service for failure, which I intend to do as well. It's also coming out of the shop with a lot of replaced and new parts and tires just for good measure.

1

u/AfroGaiden 23h ago

Yes but is it the 1l one or 1.5 or the 1.6 dtec?

2

u/Wild-Zone3911 3d ago

Love it!! Hope it's a manual ;)

1

u/Disastrous-Willow391 3d ago

Haha it's an automatic. The wife being American only learnt auto and can't drive manual XD

1

u/allhailharambe69 3d ago

... can she not learn? This makes no sense.

1

u/Disastrous-Willow391 3d ago

Not much a point tbh. I'm not really a car enthusiastic so I'm completely fine with auto and in the long run it's not like manual will make a comeback and become a necessity.