My Satin Silver Facelift EP3

[E-Man]

Hi everyone! My name is Elliot and about a few weeks ago I became a proud owner of a 2004 Satin Silver EP3.

A little history first if that's okay. I can actually still remember when the EP3 first came out back in 2001 and loved it straight away for its great looks and performance. I always thought that I would have one as my first car, but that was before I understood insurance, (bearing in mind I was maybe 10 or 11 at the time!) I even tried getting my Dad to buy one when the facelift came out so that I could have it when I started to drive, but he bought a convertible instead. But 11 years later I have now fulfilled a childhood dream.

I bought it with only 30,500 miles on the clock, (and all the documents to back it up.) It has air conditioning, which was a must for me, despite the rubbish weather we have been having lately. It also came with an HID kit, red brake callipers (well painted by a previous owner I must add) and 4 almost new 215/40 Toyo T1R's. Only thing I wasn't a fan of was the head unit it came with, but I am getting that done hopefully this week. Would've also liked front fogs, but never mind.

I absolutely love this car, and the Vtec kick is perhaps a little too addictive! In terms of modifications, I am going to keep it pretty standard, apart from the head unit. I'm also going to replace the mats as their condition lets down what is a tidy looking interior. Possibly a wheel refurb in gun metal grey or black sometime in the future.

Anyway, enough talk. Here are some pictures. Be great to know what you guys think. (Will upload some of the interior when I get the head unit and new mats.)

 

[tom83]

A really tidy looking example.

 

[Sukhi1313]

Looks stunning. Doesn't matter which of any of the 3 colours in ep3 as they look fantastic either way. HID's is a welcome bonus as well. Cracking find, nice one.

 

[You Jay]

Clean satin silver buddy, I've got the same colour.

Lower the car, it will look fantastic.

 

[hbombharry]

dont lower it keep it totally standard looks like it could be a contender for winning a show and shine standard car trophy or two

 

[muzlaar]

Looks nice mate, defo lower her a tad..

 

[hbombharry]

Looks nice mate, defo lower her a tad..

why would you mess about with a genuine low mileage mint standard car nearly everyone i have seen and i viewed a lot before i bought mine had been modded in some way all it does is lowers the value i regretted modding my astra gte champion i bought it standard mint i spent loads on it and then when i came to sell it which was only a couple of years ago it was worth about a third less then it would have been if i hadnt of touched it some food for thought there.

 

[R35735]

Your opinion is irrelevant. Bit more food for thought.

 

[D4N H]

Car looks good mate, you are lucky to find one that mint!

Ignore these guys arguing in your first thread.

 

[R35735]

I'm not arguing, I'm saying the choice to modify or not is nobody's but the owner's.

Kthx.

 

[D4N H]

I'm not arguing, I'm saying the choice to modify or not is nobody's but the owner's.

Kthx.

I agree, what you do with your car is totally up to you. But there is a way of saying things without putting someone down.

I'll GTFO now, I was just here to welcome E-Man, and read this argument from another thread that is spilling over to this poor guys introduction. I wasn't trying to offend anyone.

 

[R35735]

As you said elsewhere, it's banter. No offence taken or intended.

 

[You Jay]

We're just helping to make his car look even better in our opinion.

 

[E-Man]

Thanks everyone for your comments. Nice to know people think I have picked a good one!

As for lowering I obviously respect everyone's opinion, and even though it probably would make it look better, I am going to keep it stock, mainly so that it is easier to sell (whenever the time comes) and keeps some value as it will be a blank canvas for the next person to do whatever they want. Also I have some terrible roads around me - potholes everywhere , and I think if the car was any lower or stiffer it would become uncomfortable and less enjoyable to drive.

Besides, wouldn't you all agree the EP3 is a great car to drive, even when it is completely standard?

 

[muzlaar]

Its whatever you like that counts mate, my first two ep3's were kept standard... As long as you don't go stickering it up like a tool :lol:

 

[Gareth-FN2]

Really nice example, Makes me miss my SS Ep3 even more.

 

[mfnick]

Screw the re-sale value. Its your car right now. If you think something will make it look nicer, sound better, go better or whatever else & you want it, go for it. If it makes you love the car even more its all good. Im going to get mine lowered - thinking only the 15 & 20mm ones though since I have similar problems with potholes & speed bumps. Not bothered if anyone else likes it I just know it will put an even bigger smile on my face whenever I see it.

BTW im not arguing with anyone, cause offence or anything like that. Just saying. Its your car, do what you want & enjoy it while you have it

Oh, & yeah it is a stunning looking example

 

[E-Man]

Hi everyone, another update and some more pictures.

My car mats arrived the other day and my new head unit is now fitted, so as promised here are some shots of the inside.

First this was the head unit that came with the car when I bought it.

It was a Clarion, not sure of the model, and it was okay, but as you can see the previous owner didn't do the best of job fitting it as there was no decent fascia surrounding it. Obviously, this was a great opportunity to get a new head unit as well as getting the fascia so it all looked good. In the end I got a Sony MEX-BT3900U. As I don't know a great deal when it comes to car audio, and don't need anything special I thought it was a good one to go for. Here is a picture complete with the fascia. (Much better than what was there before!)

It has bluetooth, so I can use handsfree and it also plays music from my iPhone using it as well, so I can just get in, phone in pocket and press play, which is great. Has the usual USB and AUX and I also have the colour set to red to match the rest of the dash, so it doesn't look too out of place. It cost me £100 and I would definitely recommend it.

Here are some other pictures of the inside including the new mats!

I also had the car serviced yesterday at my local Honda garage, and it now runs unbelievably smooth! I thought that when I got it, she ran really well, but now it is even better! I'm not going to claim that it runs like new, because I don't know what they were like as new and also it is 8 years old, but I can sort of get an idea of what the EP3 was like to drive out of the showroom.

Final thing. As it was a bit overcast today I thought I would take some pictures of the HID kit and matching side lights (guessing they are LED?) that were fitted to the car when I bought it.

Sorry this update was so long, and thank you to anyone who actually reads the whole thing!

 

[Ed]

Does your new head unit give you the option of selecting albums on your iPhone or do you have to do that on the phone itself?

 

[E-Man]

Does your new head unit give you the option of selecting albums on your iPhone or do you have to do that on the phone itself?

Just been out to check as I actually didn't know, I would just play whatever playlist I was listening to last.

Via bluetooth, no, so you have to use your iPhone to select album, artist etc. If you use your USB cable then you can control and select everything use the volume knob on the head unit. You can select a playlist, artist or album to play. It also charges your iPhone.

So short answer. Bluetooth no, USB yes.