Oops new car: CTR

[TW]Fox;20243142 said:
Low mileage means nothing but a higher price and easier warranty purchase.

The most rattley car I have owned was a low miler and the least has nearly 200k on it. Why people prioritize mileage as some sort of utopia beats me.

Only reason to buy low miles is if you need to be able to get a cast iron warranty for it.
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This can't be true. On a high performance car (we're talking relatives here) the wear on not only the engine internals at high revs and the running gear etc is immense. This is why old cars don't feel 'tight'. Everything develops a certain amount of play and slop, things don't work as they should... be is suspension, brakes. Not to mention grotty interior (did I just say that lol)

The above is massively the case with bikes, and with a high revving hot hatch that is long in the tooth miles also become important.. especially where the CTR in concerned, a car that seems to egg you on all the time when the going gets twisty. It will of had a hard life no question.

I bought low miles and was aware I was paying maybe 1k for the miles, and maybe 1k more for the condition (ie mint). End of day I want a brand new EP3, my ideal play thing and object of lust for ages for the 14miles of b road every day during winter. Unfortunately they don't make them any more so I paid a bit more.

If I had tons of money to chuck about it would have been a Focus RS, but I don't fancy a 30k 300bhp car to do 14miles in crap weather, just seems overkill, not to mention the fact it's a lot of wedge.

I see your point for some cars, ie a big waftmobile / motorway cruiser...miles is nothing... but for a little hooligan like the CTR it doesn't apply imo

Many people would buy a 150k miler BMW 5**, no one in their right mind would look at a 150k CTR


edit: I think you have based your post on buying large exec saloons (your area of expertise), and not looked at the bigger picture :)
 
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Stormster said:
Nice car mate I am sure you will love it :D One of the things I've read to check is the headlight motors making a racket but not doing anything, as you know I'm gonna view a facelift 62k miles sounds as good as mint and perfectly looked after, it wont need a penny spending on it for a long time and I've agreed a price of £5250 pending an inspection/drive.

6k is a lot but like you say it's low miles and if you're keeping it a while it will probably pay off in the future.

The one I've seen hasn't got aircon either, bit annoyed but I wouldn't use it much but see the point above about it being a good humidifier.

This is my checklist :| I've done me research lol: CTR checklist so that will keep me busy.

Anyways, looks mint mate, enjoy :) And let us know how you're getting on with it!
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Car is going great, and not missed aircon yet... to busy having fun with loud petdal and road to worry about playing with buttons ;)

Found out the near side height adjuster is working, not sure if the offside one is meant to move (need to check)

Looking forward to seeing your one when you get it
 
Flukester said:
This can't be true. On a high performance car (we're talking relatives here) the wear on not only the engine internals at high revs and the running gear etc is immense. This is why old cars don't feel 'tight'. Everything develops a certain amount of play and slop, things don't work as they should... be is suspension, brakes. Not to mention grotty interior (did I just say that lol)

The above is massively the case with bikes, and with a high revving hot hatch that is long in the tooth miles also become important.. especially where the CTR in concerned, a car that seems to egg you on all the time when the going gets twisty. It will of had a hard life no question.

I bought low miles and was aware I was paying maybe 1k for the miles, and maybe 1k more for the condition (ie mint). End of day I want a brand new EP3, my ideal play thing and object of lust for ages for the 14miles of b road every day during winter. Unfortunately they don't make them any more so I paid a bit more.

If I had tons of money to chuck about it would have been a Focus RS, but I don't fancy a 30k 300bhp car to do 14miles in crap weather, just seems overkill, not to mention the fact it's a lot of wedge.

I see your point for some cars, ie a big waftmobile / motorway cruiser...miles is nothing... but for a little hooligan like the CTR it doesn't apply imo

Many people would buy a 150k miler BMW 5**, no one in their right mind would look at a 150k CTR


edit: I think you have based your post on buying large exec saloons (your area of expertise), and not looked at the bigger picture :)
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What fox has said does indeed hold true about mileage and motorway barges / premium exec salons such as the 5 series which can go round the clock and still feel fresh. It is age not mileage that you tend to feel first on these. However, fox spent a long time looking for his perfect 530 in order to find one which had been obsessively well looked after. As with any car if it isn’t looked after it can look and feel worn out in a very short space of time. There are also a lot of poor condition high miler premium cars.

Equally for a lot of smaller hatches, even up to Astra size, they can feel rattly and quite worn out in within a year or two and 20k miles due to a lower build quality, although this isn’t as bad as it was 5-10 years ago where cabin materials, safety and build quality have improved across the board, albeit with a notable increase in vehicle weight.

The chances are a hot hatch will have been driven like one. This puts wear on everything, even if it is well maintained, the car won’t feel like new. Now some people are happy to buy a pre-worn hot hatch but if you want that new car feel, you have to pay the premium for it or buy a premium car. Honda CTRs do wear a lot better mechanically than the competition from their era and being a Honda, you can hope that a well looked after one, heck even a semi well looked after one won’t start developing the niggly faults you would expect from say….a Clio 172/182.

But the fact still remains that if you want a car to feel like new or at worst like a 6 month old ex demo and you are buying a hot hatch, this means FSH, low mileage with 30k being the top end imo, and lots of tlc by the owner to avoid those annoying shopping trolley /parking dings etc.

Most people I know (in real life) just buy a car because it is a car and don’t care about the condition, slightly sloppy gear change, suspension or some marks and dings. Even if they buy nice cars or hot /sporty ones they don’t seem to care about bodywork dings, seat wear etc. I have only known a handful of people who obsess over their car purchase (I do btw). This also reflects how people look after their cars. I would rather pay a premium and get a mint car which feels like new all over or just not bother buying one.

Most people on here have higher expectations than the average owner / buyer.
 
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I think the trade off is between mileage and use. High mileage (youngish) cars are invariably motorway cars because its almost impossible to rack up huge mileage driving around town even over many years. The wear and tear induced on a town car is exponentially greater than one that's spent its life up and down the motorway. At this age, whilst the car might have been looked after cosmetically, its likely to be looser than a CTR that's covered double mileage in 5th gear (which could also have been newer with higher spec).

Hot hatches for me now are a careful buy. They are like the slightly slutty girl you and your mates have all had a go on. She's not too old, but she's showing some signs of wear and her internals are all mashed up.
 
Lucero said:
Hot hatches for me now are a careful buy. They are like the slightly slutty girl you and your mates have all had a go on. She's not too old, but she's showing some signs of wear and her internals are all mashed up.
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:eek::D:D:D:D:D, this from experience ? ;)
 
-Ad- said:
I highly recommend you don't do this. Either don't get one or get someone with proven experience to set it up properly on a dyno for you, generic maps can do more harm than good.
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Here we go again with your misinformed knowledge.

Hondata ( THE Honda specialists ) created the standard tuned map with a standard Euro Civic EP3. Obviously not 100% catered to your individual car but it's not like sticking a map on a car that had a completely different exhaust. It was made with all the standard parts.

I've datalogged my car, checked for Engine Knocks to make sure and zero were found.
 
Lucero said:
Hot hatches for me now are a careful buy. They are like the slightly slutty girl you and your mates have all had a go on. She's not too old, but she's showing some signs of wear and her internals are all mashed up.
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When I read something like this I always expect the person at the other end of the keyboard to be like this-
computernerdq.jpg
 
Lucero said:
Hot hatches for me now are a careful buy. They are like the slightly slutty girl you and your mates have all had a go on. She's not too old, but she's showing some signs of wear and her internals are all mashed up.
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but she goes like the clappers, knows how to handle herself, looks loads better than the standard coffee shop girl and has great dirty bedroom chat.

easy choice
 
Johnnytoxic said:
Here we go again with your misinformed knowledge.

Hondata ( THE Honda specialists ) created the standard tuned map with a standard Euro Civic EP3. Obviously not 100% catered to your individual car but it's not like sticking a map on a car that had a completely different exhaust. It was made with all the standard parts.

I've datalogged my car, checked for Engine Knocks to make sure and zero were found.
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You've just proved my point in your own post (see bold).

They might have played with some cars and got a an idea of how to set the maps up in general, but how do you know that your car (or any other) is the average and isn't different? You don't!

Unless you get it on a dyno and have realy live data on the different ignition and fueling maps for both cam profiles, you don't know what you have and you certainly don't know you have the best setup for your car.

I'm not saying the new ECU is crap, just that why spend all that money and not bother even setting it up for the optimum your engine can do! Fair enough on the waiting front if you have other modifications in the pipeline (engine/intake/exhaust), but even a standard car will benefit massively from a dyno session and proper setting up.
 
Civics of any type seem to hold their value.

I was being quoted £7,500 for 52 plate type R's from a dealer back in 2009.

Even the 1.6 SE I bought the wife a few months ago had a book price of £2,500 at the time on a 52.

As for the mileage arguement, I avoid high mileage cars like the plague, where as age doesnt bother me so much.
 
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Flukester said:
This can't be true. On a high performance car (we're talking relatives here) the wear on not only the engine internals at high revs and the running gear etc is immense. This is why old cars don't feel 'tight'. Everything develops a certain amount of play and slop, things don't work as they should... be is suspension, brakes. Not to mention grotty interior (did I just say that lol)
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But the point you miss is that you still have... an old car. It's 8.5 years old and this has far more effect on the car than how far its been driven. I'm not saying buy a 200k Civic, there is a limit to everything, but I am saying that paying more for a 30k miler over a 60k miler on a car as old as that is nothing but pyschological IMHO.

I would pay a premium for a newer one but not a low mileage one. In this particular case I'd have walked right over to a 55 plate on 60k every day of the week. Just my opinion though :)
 
[TW]Fox;20245994 said:
But the point you miss is that you still have... an old car. It's 8.5 years old and this has far more effect on the car than how far its been driven. I'm not saying buy a 200k Civic, there is a limit to everything, but I am saying that paying more for a 30k miler over a 60k miler on a car as old as that is nothing but pyschological IMHO.

I would pay a premium for a newer one but not a low mileage one. In this particular case I'd have walked right over to a 55 plate on 60k every day of the week. Just my opinion though :)
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hmhmhmh, 2 years younger or half the miles, I chose later... horses for courses though
 
Flukester said:
hmhmhmh, 2 years younger or half the miles, I chose later... horses for courses though
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hurfdurf said:
You chose poorly then, cause you missed out on AC and a facelift.
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I am with Flukester on this, you buy on age, mileage and condition and looking at the car it ticks all boxes. Lack of air con isn't the end of the world if it wasn't a priority.

Flukester, I take it you are in Christchurch Dorset?
 
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hurfdurf said:
You chose poorly then, cause you missed out on AC and a facelift.
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Maybe in your eyes, but I knew the cons of having pre facelift (not much), AC wasn't even on the list of wants... it's not what the car is about really. Facelift changes, can take them or leave them, maybe they handle much better ?

I dunno.. I chose what was right for me ie, a mint ultra low mile 2 miles from my house ctr that is a perfect almost as new example of a EP3.

If someone else would prefer a 2 year newer 60k miler facelift then good for them, it's someone else who wouldn't of been shopping for the car I had eye on and ended up buying :D
 
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