2004 Honda Civic

My sister is about to buy a 2004 Civic DX (non-VTEC) with an automatic transmission, and it has 200,000 km (about 125k miles) on it. I’ve heard a lot of complaints about the reliability of the 2004 model. Could any previous owners share their experience with it?

Thanks!

125k miles is low as long as previous owner kept up with maintenance, fluid changes are important to push 300k miles.

That’s pretty much what I thought, thanks!

I’ve owned two of these and have no complaints. It’s a bit noisy on the highway, but it’s an old Honda. I sold one earlier this year with 272,000 miles on it. It never burned oil, and the head gasket was in good shape. It only needed new tires, brakes, and regular fluid changes. But since it’s 20 years old, expect to replace some parts.

It’s 20 years old, so it will need regular maintenance to keep it running.

Yeah, general maintenance shouldn’t be a problem. I’m more worried about things like transmission failure, as that seems to be a common weak spot.

You could say that, but this generation of Civic has a bad reputation. It has issues like head gasket problems, high oil consumption, and weak transmissions. The 8th generation after the facelift was much better, and so was the 6th generation.

The engine in this Civic is one of the worst they’ve made. It’s nearly as bad as the newer 1.5 turbo engine. The head gaskets often fail, and it uses too much oil, even if you take care of it. I think it’s better to avoid it.

The engines are known to be very reliable… But it is 20 years old. Rust could be a major factor; was a problem on mine after 12 years.

Rust is not a problem where I live, thankfully.

The only reliability issues are timing belts, which are supposed to be a preventative maintenance thing anyways, and head gaskets that are usually known to fail more if the car has been driven hard (not likely in an auto DX)