7k: The Price of Stock: 2000 Honda Civic Si
1999-2000 Civic Si coupes (“EM1” in JDM-tyte parlance) will one day cross the auction block as the Porsche 993 of Civics. These are the last of the golden era. A time when a low-displacement four-cylinder revved like a Ducati, sounded like an irritated weed-whacker, and inspired a million catchphrases. It was an honest car stolen or molested by dishonest people, and whose image was marred by pretentious loudmouths. Already, the premium for stock examples keeps potential buyers from the economy car we should be entitled to: a high-mpg, high-revving, highly useful one. Find this 2000 Honda Civic Si in Tulsa, OK for the high price of $7,499 via their website or AutoTrader.
Technically speaking, it was the last Civic to employ double-wishbone suspension in all its corners and have the horsepower:torque differential of a small-displacement Ferrari. In this case, 160:111. Some owners kissed 40 mpg. Others slayed legitimate sports cars at tracks around the country in real life or via video game controller. Everyone else enjoyed a car as reliable as a burlap sack and playful as a golden retriever.
In our electric, heavily insulated future, early Civics’ demerits will become quirks. Buzzy highway cruising will be seen as quaint. Harsh ride and the B16’s peaky powerband will be remembered as hallmarks of a road-going race car. Honda’s snickety shifting will be remembered as a tactility unseen in sterile automated transportation. Okay that last one is well-deserved.
The wheels have curb rash, the shift knob filled in when Rover’s chew toy went missing, and the head unit should be on top of a cubby that isn’t there. Otherwise, you’re paying for a clean titled car with 5-digit mileage that lacks rust or someone else’s creativity. Both the AutoTrader listing and dealership web page say $7,999, but the nearly illegible all-caps body copy says $7,499. Tragically, that’s starting to become normal for well-kept examples.
See another classic Honda that could have been on our birthday round-up? Email us at tips@dailyturismo.com
PhiLOL actually likes the tuna here, but abhors structural rust. Save the manuals.
Eight Grand? And why wasn't this one of your Honda top 5? Funny story, back in the very late 90's I remember blowing the doors off a slammed Civic in my friends diesel Suburban in a stoplight race.
#6?
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Yes, this model was the apotheosis of the Civic. It wasn't so much the motor, they've done great motors since then, but the chassis.
The next generation of Civic was the point at which the accountants at Honda cut off the engineers' money, went back to a basic strut suspension and lots of other very generic garbage underneath, for the next decade-and-change the interiors were utter garbage too.
The current ones are no better underneath, marginally better inside, but they've got those Prius A-pillars you can't see around, so they're still effed.
two comments:
I think the Japanese market will continue to appreciate. (stock integra type r, Si Civics, and even Supras)
It just makes sense. The young teens that lusted after these cars in HS now have money and nostalgia.
Auto Trader is actually a good place to find cars. I visit often looking for a clean M5.
Seems like less crap than CL