- Messages
- 11
Around the early part of August, my wife's best friend was on the hunt for a new Mini and her current car,a 2005 Civic type R, had to go. Her original plan was to sell if off directly to trade as the Mini dealership wasn't keen to have it as a part-ex and they didn't want the hassle of lots of tyre kickers coming around and mucking them about.
I had admired the Civic for sometime and her level of care for the car was bordering on OCD.
She always parked at the far end of the car park as far away as she could from anyone else, full dealer service history. It even had rubber car mats on top of the geniune Honda ones, which I found amusing.
The bottom line is, apart from a few stone chips, its a beauty.
As you can see, its premier edition as well, which is good. Too be honest when I started equiring about it, I didn't have a clue what a premier edition was. You soon learn though. Also another strong reason for having this one was the mileage.
When I picked it up it was on 39,200 miles. Not bad for a nine year old car.
However, it wasn't all good news. The MOT only had 4 weeks to run and it was overdue a service.
A quick look over didn't reveal any issues and it went through the MOT no problem.
Now I was a bit stuck though. I have always serviced my own cars in the past but this has full Honda history and I didn't really want to let that lapse.
I ended up getting Honda to the basic service, which as far as I can tell is just an inspection, an oil and filter change and a rub around with a rag. £165. Can't say I see the value in that. Nevermind.
The rest I did myself and, generally speaking, its not a bad car to work on at all.
The jobs I undertook were.
Cabin filters
Air Filter
Spark plugs
Valve clearances- I can't believe they use the old school nut and screw for adjustment on a engine that revs like this
Gearbox oil
Coolant
Auxilary drive belt- The worst job by a mile. I ended up having to make up tooling to hold the sprung loaded tension in place while slipped the new belt on.
Rear Brake pads
Brake fluid
It think that's about it.
One thing I did try and do was the fuel filter. It lives in the fuel tank and it all came out easily enough but there is a problem that might help others. The blueprint part that is being sold as a fuel filter on ebay by many suppliers is infact the EVAP canister. Shame on you blueprint, that was a wasted morning.
The engine bay was a bit dissapointing and looked a bit of mess in all honesty but after a quick blow over with a pressure washer, it was transformed. It was mostly dust and cobwebs.
I went out for my first decent run at the weekend up to Avebury and back and it's fanatastic on the twisty A and B roads. I have read complaints about a lack of torque, but maybe because I'm getting on a bit, its plenty fast enough for me even off vtec. I do understand the critism aimed at the numb steering though. It's miles away from the mk1 MR2 that I had before this on the communication front.
The recaro's are very supportive. I like them a lot.
There are a few jobs to do though.
First off with be the front tyres. They were nearly bald when I first looked at the car and too be fair to to the wife's mate, they put new ones on for me before I picked it up which was really good of them, however, I think what is on there maybe at the bottom end of the market.
Rovelo, anyone?
Also the front wheels themselves aren't perfect and I could see all four getting a trip up to Platinium wheel services at Swindon during the winter to bring them back to their best.
Other than that my plan is to keep it as standard as possible, to the point I may even fork out for a set of Bridgestones for it. I would need to be feeling flush for that though, maybe.
Cheers for stopping by and having a look.
I had admired the Civic for sometime and her level of care for the car was bordering on OCD.
She always parked at the far end of the car park as far away as she could from anyone else, full dealer service history. It even had rubber car mats on top of the geniune Honda ones, which I found amusing.
The bottom line is, apart from a few stone chips, its a beauty.
As you can see, its premier edition as well, which is good. Too be honest when I started equiring about it, I didn't have a clue what a premier edition was. You soon learn though. Also another strong reason for having this one was the mileage.
When I picked it up it was on 39,200 miles. Not bad for a nine year old car.
However, it wasn't all good news. The MOT only had 4 weeks to run and it was overdue a service.
A quick look over didn't reveal any issues and it went through the MOT no problem.
Now I was a bit stuck though. I have always serviced my own cars in the past but this has full Honda history and I didn't really want to let that lapse.
I ended up getting Honda to the basic service, which as far as I can tell is just an inspection, an oil and filter change and a rub around with a rag. £165. Can't say I see the value in that. Nevermind.
The rest I did myself and, generally speaking, its not a bad car to work on at all.
The jobs I undertook were.
Cabin filters
Air Filter
Spark plugs
Valve clearances- I can't believe they use the old school nut and screw for adjustment on a engine that revs like this
Gearbox oil
Coolant
Auxilary drive belt- The worst job by a mile. I ended up having to make up tooling to hold the sprung loaded tension in place while slipped the new belt on.
Rear Brake pads
Brake fluid
It think that's about it.
One thing I did try and do was the fuel filter. It lives in the fuel tank and it all came out easily enough but there is a problem that might help others. The blueprint part that is being sold as a fuel filter on ebay by many suppliers is infact the EVAP canister. Shame on you blueprint, that was a wasted morning.
The engine bay was a bit dissapointing and looked a bit of mess in all honesty but after a quick blow over with a pressure washer, it was transformed. It was mostly dust and cobwebs.
I went out for my first decent run at the weekend up to Avebury and back and it's fanatastic on the twisty A and B roads. I have read complaints about a lack of torque, but maybe because I'm getting on a bit, its plenty fast enough for me even off vtec. I do understand the critism aimed at the numb steering though. It's miles away from the mk1 MR2 that I had before this on the communication front.
The recaro's are very supportive. I like them a lot.
There are a few jobs to do though.
First off with be the front tyres. They were nearly bald when I first looked at the car and too be fair to to the wife's mate, they put new ones on for me before I picked it up which was really good of them, however, I think what is on there maybe at the bottom end of the market.
Rovelo, anyone?
Also the front wheels themselves aren't perfect and I could see all four getting a trip up to Platinium wheel services at Swindon during the winter to bring them back to their best.
Other than that my plan is to keep it as standard as possible, to the point I may even fork out for a set of Bridgestones for it. I would need to be feeling flush for that though, maybe.
Cheers for stopping by and having a look.
