Thinking of Buying a '90s Civic? Watch This Before You Do! [EG,EJ,EK]

I am 15 right now but today we just picked up a 92 base model Civic the interior is very moldy Anna has a body kit that is very ricey but I have a year to fix it up and put on. Turbo kit

Conflicted between the 1.4 ej9 full spec and 1.5 ek3. Probably will end up getting the ej9 full spec, and swapping the engine with a 1.6 liter one

Literally 😅

I just bought my EK3 Sedan for 100€ lol. its fantastic and its rust free, apart from the rear arches rusted through. For some reason the undercarriage is mint

My girlfriend has two, a purple one 95 and a silver one 2000

Damn this makes me scared to get one 😭 I love this car but I don’t know anything about taking care of a car and working on a car. I recently got my first car so ill have to choose in the future between a good reliable car or an old jdm shit box 😅

Look at the belt too, its an interference engine

Currently headed to trade my 89 Silverado for a 93 vx nervous but the 93 seems well maintained

as someone whos owned a handul of 90s hondas, unless youre a collector just buy a newer one. same expereince just modern

Mine is also teal, but it's a 1991. Nothing anyone could say, will EVER convince me that this isn't the GREATEST car ever designed, at any price.

So, in January I sold my em1 00 civic
Worst decision I ever made in my life I miss my honda all time Idk I was thinking, I'm an idiot I was in love with the car, slow asssss shitbox but it's the best car I ever drive
I need another honda in my life Im sorry my honda

On my civic i broke the inner door handle and those arent sold anymore so you have to get them from a junkyard also the headliner glue and foam are bad now. The outer door handles have to be replaced every couple years because the plastic cant handle the cold here. Seals arent that great anymore, the windows can fog easily and the car isnt very warm in winter anymore. Ofcourse there is bit of rust too that i have no intention of getting fixed anymore. Engine and transmission feel like they will last forever.

Otherwise a great car and ive liked it a lot. Its fun to drive and cheap to maintain. Had it for 6 years now.

as I say, "I'm an engineer who hates cars. that's why I got a civic" 😂 these really are legos!. I have done some stuff on my 8th gen model (the best model for balanced tech and mech imo) but I do love a fine 6th gen

I have a mint 84' Crx and a 90' EF Civic Dx and I love them.. I dont want to swap them; the engines are so reliable; maybe if I save up I'll place either a D16z6 or k24

What's the color code to this?

great vid! looking at buying a ek4

I just want a clean, staright body. everything I can easily fix or replace

Quality content, very underrated channel thanks for the advice I can't wait to buy one myself

I have a 98 civic si (d16y8) rough shape body wise, its not my daily so im fixing it little by little

Am still 10 years and am thinking to buy am Honda when am 18

Bought my EK3 with the VTEC-E D15 and a manual gearbox in March of 2025. Single owner, old guy that bought it new back then and put a clean 275000 kilometers on it.

Mint interor except for a slightly torn up driver's seat, Gearbox running and shifting smoothly, engine's pretty clean on the inside and runs perfectly. Close to zero rust on the underbody, which is probably something that's really rare for a D-Series 6th gen. It also doesn't lose coolant. Driven it for 10000km and didn't need to refill coolant a single time. It's also still nice and clean. AC and heating also work flawlessly.

But yeah, the rear arches are RUSTY. Will likely get them fixed the upcoming summer. Got a permanent CEL too that two mechanics couldn't figure out. It also got a massive oil leak (Probably put about 4l of oil into the engine, so about 2500km/l) that I thought I could fix by replacing the valve cover seal which will also be something I need to look after. Shifter bushings could be replaced as well but that's nothing serious.

Tl:dr, if you get an old civic like this, you're in for some fun on the road but you're also gonna be in for repairing it a bit. Mine will turn 30 in march, so remember that these are just old cars that you'll have to keep some spare change to maintain

I bought my EJ9 1.4 automatic yesterday :D

NO! I never buy Jap or Korean vehicles. Made out of kitchen foil, death on wheels if hit by a lorry, any post, or a tree. Japan and Korea break the WTO Regulations every day, and yet you continue to support them breaking the law. You don't care the cheating they did in 1994, against jobs in this country, lying to the EU about increasing European car sales in Japan. Ignorance is the worst disease in this backward country.

Everybody talks about all the highlights but never theft.

got one as a family heirloom also tahitian green ej9 in manual unmolested👀 look forward to the used parts series!

0:13 I don’t really think there’s a perfect enthusiast car. To be the perfect enthusiast car I think it would have to embody what’s important to all enthusiasts/most in ways that overlap with both “sides” I guess meaning the people that value reliability and fun and the people that value style and speed. Also price. I think some cars that come close would be the Miata of course but it’s fun but not fast and then the vtec Honda Prelude but then that’s also front-wheel-drive. Both nice cheap options but have their downsides but some people might also prefer front-wheel-drive or some people might prefer fun over speed so I think it’s really up to the person. I personally think the rx-7 is perfect which I know is a hot take because it’s not good on gas and a lot of people say it’s unreliable but it can be reliable if it’s taken care of properly and who cares about being broke when you’re driving a freaking rx-7 (FC of course, I’m not rich lol)

i got my EK3 from 70+ years old grandpa who loved the car but it was too hard for him to get in and out :D

I’m I the only one who likes my L series lol

I got an auto and converted her to manual :D. Swapped d16z6 intake and exhaust manifold and its perfect daily

yo looking for one as a first car but i dont know how i feel about manual are the autos ok?

is the a/c really that bad i live in a cold area need the heaters to work

3:36 if the law in your states alows you to do manual swap or engine swap
i believe its always better to get a automatic civic
owned by random man or women
to do any swap you want
since the car it self would have higher chance of not being abused
even futher the chassi itself might got better condition

here in taiwan manual from oem were super rare
and the law dont allow us to do any kinda swap or induction

many internet viral content makers are over hyped about OEM manual civic
but most of them were highly over priced
they got so much problem compare to random automatic old civics

with luxury I cant complain, got leather alcantara seats😂

Luckily we dont have the rust problem in South Africa🇿🇦

Hey what are those alloys called?

Rust, we all have it and we all hate it. I have a 99 EK Coupe, check under the front fenders in the wheel well. Doesnt matter how clean your civic is, all of my civic homies have rust there. Some way worse then others but we all have it. If you have a sun roof, also check the drains. Clogged drains can leave puddles inside the interior by both the passenger and driver side A pillar and then rotting out your floor pans, it almost happened to me but I caught it in time

EG chassis has an inherent flaw where the dashboard rusts because they spot weld the dashboard panel before they electroplate the car with an electroplate rust inhibitor. I had 3 civics at one time and they all had rust in behind the windscreen, one of which the windscreen randomly cracked suddenly because of this issue. It's bare metal between the two layers of steel and once the dashboard panel has been spot welded to the car the is then dipped with the electroplating process. This means between the two layers of steel the dashboard panel is bare metal inbetween and they will rust whenever they get the chance. Be sure to ask when the windscreen has been replaced and or when the rust under the windscreen has been fixed. It's only a matter of time.

The hatchback and coupe from 6th gen (EK) contain door cards that might as well be made of swiss cheese.

Got a stock 98’ EK Hatch a month ago. Been putting some love to it. Did oil change on it and cleaned it a ton. It’s an automatic but honestly it’s still fun to drive even when it’s slow! The body needs some work done though, the past owner did the bondo special on it…

I currently own the exact same one as yours same colour auto 96 model as well, you can do a manual swap for it which is what I plan to do with mine using an s20 gearbox (eg civic 1.3 box) shorter ratio than the standard s40 these ej9s/eks come out the factory

Good point on the auto front, probably been driven by a Granny to the local supermarket or bingo at 20mph it's entire life!

The rust section brings back bad memories of MX5 ownership, couldn't even jack the car up and needed to buy re-inforcement rails and only use the diff to lift up on (also that under wax oil stuff is horrific for hiding and locking in the rot underneath!)

Cracking video and top notch editing as always mate!

Cool that you've done this. We've ventured into reviewing cars on our channel recently and something we've noticed is how numb and characterless newer cars are. I feel like it's our duty to keep the passion for these older vehicles going and hopefully hand all of our troubles to the next generation of car enthusiasts!

Awesome video as always, mate!

Should've added MB to your list! same platform as an EG, still 90's and a FAR sight cheaper than an EG/EJ/EK!

Look for a clean one
Change old bushings/suspension and u can get these things rolling smooth. And you can have great air con, just replace old condensers etc and get it charged. Ac will be frosty !!

Had a 97 ek sedan with a d13b
A 97VI Ek sedan with a 3stage vtec jdm d15b & cvt
A Eg8 with a d15b non vtec
A 99 Ek3 sedan
All were autos and ran really well and not abused.
Better autos than some toyotas and nissans of the same era as well.
Getting another 97 Ek3 with a d15b and my gf has a 96 ek as well 😂😂😂
Love these cars..
Rust free
Cold air con
Touch screen head unit.
😎😎😎 love these cars. Soo fun