A co-worker is selling this to us for my youngest son (16) 148,230 miles I'm checking on maintenance records and it seems the timing belt has been replaced within the last 20K. New brakes and lines in the back the front are ok. Needs tires and AC recharge.
Anything else I need to know about this?
It is an Auto transmission.
Fortunately the co-worker wanted it out of his driveway so told me to take it home and keep it for 2 weeks to decide.

Solid car. Drove a 2003 same color as yours with a 5 speed for years. A teenager ran a light and totaled it for me in 2014. Had 196,000 miles and didn’t burn a drop of oil between changes. They wear like iron.

If it needs an ac recharge, at its age it’s probably just in need of a new ac hose, if I had to guess without actually looking at it.

My wife's old 04 civic is now in its 3rd owner within the family and still going strong. It has not been well maintained in the slightest over the last several years but it just shrugs it off.

Yeah. Keep oil, water, and gas in them and they just go.

perfect starter car and will be easy to sell when time to move on.

That was the first car I bought on my own. I was lucky to scoop up a 4 door ex with a 5-speed manual. I was getting close to 40 mpg and loved that car. It wasn’t fast but it was reliable and the manual made it kinda fun to drive.

I think it’s a good first car.

Had one myself but with a stick. Loved the car.

If I found one like that around here I would glom onto it, for sure.

You really can't go wrong with a Civic, they just run forever.

That's really low mileage too for the age, must have been someone with a short commute.

Go for it!

Excellent car, should serve many more years/miles

148k is nothing to that car. It’ll last another 148k.

Our 2004 was trouble free, apart from jumping timing (1 tooth) & needing a new belt for that.
The auto is a bit of a dog, but not a bad thing for a new driver.

If you DIY the oil changes, t he filter is a bit of a pain, being on the back-side of the block. Just don't be directly under it when you loosen it.

Otherwise, it should be a pretty easy car.

At 148K, it's likely the AC needs more than a recharge. If the compressor isn't already dead, it probably doesn't have much life left in it. Replacement is in the $800-1200 range, unless you do your own wrenching.

quote:

Originally posted by iron chef:
At 148K, it's likely the AC needs more than a recharge. If the compressor isn't already dead, it probably doesn't have much life left in it. Replacement is in the $800-1200 range, unless you do your own wrenching.

Not necessarily. Our 04 had near 200k on it & all the A/C components were original.

My sister's CR-V had the 'black death' in the A/C & had to be fully replaced.

https://www.bkhondaparts.com/honda-crv-black-death

Short article on Honda AC Compressor failure
https://www.bkhondaparts.com/h...c-compressor-failure

quote:

Originally posted by iron chef:
At 148K, it's likely the AC needs more than a recharge. If the compressor isn't already dead, it probably doesn't have much life left in it. Replacement is in the $800-1200 range, unless you do your own wrenching.

It most likely has bad coils in the dash and the entire dash taken out to replace the coils, and that is probably where the leak is given the age. Should be a pretty reliable car, but keep in mind IT IS 18 years old. If you're interested, pay to have the A/C charged and leak detected by a shop. You might get lucky on the A/C and that's all it "may" need. Meanwhile you know that if a week after it's charged that there's no A/C again, it's going to be a big $$ repair if you want A/C.

Very good choice, in my opinion. My older daughter's first car was a 2002 or 2003 silver Civic that looked very similar to that. We got it cheap due to some maintenance issues, corrected them (and still came out ahead), and it ran great until two idiots rear-ended her to total it.

The only real issue we had with it was the paint. Honda had some paint issues for a while during that period and we had discolored pain and some flaking of the outer coat on the hood, top, and trunk.

Only add transmission fluid. DO NOT have it flushed. The crap in there is the only thing holding it together.

My family had 2, and they both lasted almost 200k without anything except 2 timing belts/pumps each. Both auto trans. A/C never broke. lower control arms on one. They both finally died of cracked engine block, otherwise they would still be running. Get it and enjoy. The timing belt should last a long time.

Civics just run.

Make the kid drive it sans A/C for appreciation before replacing it.

My son (college now) has a 2010 Civic with 115K on it and his next car will be one he purchases himself.

quote:

Originally posted by stickman428:
It wasn’t fast but it was reliable and the manual made it kinda fun to drive.

I think it’s a good first car.

Those traits make them perfect first cars.