6th Gen Honda Civic VTi

lemonade

lemonade

lemonade

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Does anyone know much about these first hand or ever owned one? I'm talking about the 6th gen 5dr 1.8 version. What are they like to drive, to own, running costs and reliability wise?

Also what to look out for when buying these?

CHeers
 
They aren't the best, they share parts with the Rover 400, basically all the Rover parts will stop working randomly. The engine itself is pretty good and should last forever. The bodywork will rust and rot badly.

I imagine they can be had pretty cheap by now, can't see them being great though.
 
Nick1881 said:
They aren't the best, they share parts with the Rover 400, basically all the Rover parts will stop working randomly. The engine itself is pretty good and should last forever. The bodywork will rust and rot badly.

I imagine they can be had pretty cheap by now, can't see them being great though.
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On the contrary, mine was all still working perfectly with 150,000 miles on it (albeit feeling a bit tired) but the engine burnt an exhaust valve out not long after I sold it. No significant rust either, just a couple of stone chips.

It wasn't especially quick though, the 1.6 vti's are quicker.
 
The 1.6 VTI is defiantly considered to be the better car, its pretty much the same power, has shorter ratio gearbox so acceleration is faster and is a fair bit lighter than the 1.8
 
Nick1881 said:
They aren't the best, they share parts with the Rover 400, basically all the Rover parts will stop working randomly. The engine itself is pretty good and should last forever. The bodywork will rust and rot badly.
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Not sure where you got all this. In 4 years all I did was replace two wheel bearings. No rust at all and to be honest these are only known to corrode on the rear exterior arches and this is only if you leave the arch guards in.

There are simply no consistent long term problems with the car aside from the rear wheel bearings and for this reason it was Parkers most reliable second hand car for a couple of years.

As long as you don't buy a dog, these are bulletproof.

What is your ownership experience with them then?

P.S. These aren't rovers - its the other way around.
 
Yeh to my knowledge these aren't Rover 400's, nor do they share much parts, I see plenty of them on the road and know one or two people who have owned them and they swear by them, just wary of the VTi as it is a performance car and has different parts, wondering if the gearboxes are strong etc. i thougt the 5 doors had LSD, so should be more fun, need five doors anyway.
 
They do share quite a few parts with the 400; the floorpan is the same and the body is very simmilar bar styling changes at the front and rear. The suspension is the same apart from ARB and spring rates etc. and a lot of the interior is the same.
 
I know the platform was shared, but I thought most of the parts, major parts anyway like engine, gearbox, electrical system, steering, suspension, body panels were not shared. So the Rover 400's also have double wishbones?
 
Agreed with the above. Most common rust issue is the rear arches.

The only reason the 1.6's are quicker is because the gear ratio's are longer on the b18 gearbox. Put an integra or b16 (1.6) gearbox in and the balance swings marginally in favour of the 1.8.

All B series gearbox's are interchangable, just make sure you get one with matching clutch mechanism. (depending on what car the box comes from, some are hydro, some are cable)
 
I had a 1.6 single cam given to me by my mum. It was thoroughly abused and even then it only had a few problems - crusty rear arch, ABS sensor, worn rear arm bushes.

Sounded fantastic but was lacking in torque, charging up the hills on the A465 I regularly had to drop it to 4th at speeds when you really shouldn't need to be dropping to 4th :D

I liked it, decent little car.
 
lemonade said:
I know the platform was shared, but I thought most of the parts, major parts anyway like engine, gearbox, electrical system, steering, suspension, body panels were not shared. So the Rover 400's also have double wishbones?
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Yes, double wishbone front suspension and multi-link rear the same as the Civic.

I don't think the performance issue is completely down to the gearbox either, it does give an annoying drop between 1st and 2nd but apart from that the ratios aren't too bad. Despite the slightly higher peak power, the engine simply feels a bit flat compared to the 1.6, and coupled with a heavier car I doubt just a lower final drive would give it much of an edge.
 
im driving a b18 (dohc, vtec) civic at the moment. the 5door version. its not too bad. but no way near as aggressive as the type-r's (obviously) but its still pretty fast.

i'll see if i can sort out a video of performance later if you want.
 
I've had two, I prefer them to the 3 door EK4 which I've also owned two of, much better built, nicer to drive and LSD

A couple of things let them down.

Standard handling isnt great, a set of eibach springs makes a huge difference

The gear ratios are too long, most people swap out the gear box but for the price of the boxes it isnt worth it, I've been in one with an ITR box and whilst it was quicker, it was £500 worth of quicker
 
i was bored this afternoon.... so i went out and did a 0-60mph (well, 75) video for you. sorry for the poor quality, i had to blu tack my phone to the steering wheel ;)

pic of the engine bay..

U6E7c.jpg


 
Might be going to see one tomorrow.

Does anyone know if this car uses some special clutch? Also do they come with alarms as standard? Anything else to look out for?
 
Nothing fancy about the clutch and nothing really too look out for either. Wheel bearings and synchos are the only 2 things really

And dont waste your time with a b16 gearbox because losing the diff is just not worth it. I about a s80 box on my VTI and it did transform the car and gave it a top speed of about 135 or something so not really for the motorway.
 
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