Honda Car Forum

how many miles should a used mid-nineties honda civic have on it before i dismiss it off the bat?

You buying it or driving it? If ya own it drive the wheels off of it untill a repair cost more than $500

You need to know something more than that. Ripley's Believe it or Not learned of a vehicle with over 2 million miles on it. The owner took care of it. He's reported to still be driving it. You need to know more than the number of miles. Learn as much as you can.

any thing over 100,000 should be looked at. figure the average person drives 10,000 to 15,000 miles per year. just do the math. you can then now if it was driven more than average.

unless it has been maintained perfectly at around 150K the cost of repairs start to exceed the worth of the car. machines do wear out and break, it is normal. it is a real pain when it all happen at the same time. Carl

It really depends on how the vehicle was taken care of. Mine has 174k and still runs very good (it's a 1996) with minimal repairs. The important thing to look for on a Civic is how it was kept up. If they changed the oil regular and changed the timing belt at or near 100k miles, then everything should be OK. If repairs start to come on a regular basis, or exceed the value of the vehicle, then you should look at buying another vehicle, but $500 is a low number to replace a vehicle for a repair (that less than 2 car payments for the cheapest new car, less than one payment for many).

as long as it's in okay condition, it should last until 200k. If it's in really good condition, and was never driven too ruffly, then it should last to around 230-50k miles.and i don't know what this "Jack" guy is talking about, because you would have to replace the motor several times in order to get 2 million miles. That's probably around 10 motors.

For a used Honda Civic I would have to say anything over 60K. 60K is where Honda recommends tiing belt replacement. ALOT of people do not replace the timing belt and around 90K it'll break causing catastrophic engine damage. IMHO any car that requires major engine maintenance (timing belt) as part of the regular tune up procedure isn't worth buying. OHHH and Mr. Younghawk, Ford Inline 6 300's are know to EASILY surpass a million miles the majority of those miles is done under constant load driving a pump since the rest of the truck crapped out at a half million or less. The MOST reliable motor is the Ford 300-I6 PERIOD!!!

100,000 Miles. Because once you surpass 100,00 miles you will have to change major components like timing chain, shocks, underchasis, CV joints, AC, etc. Good luck, hope I help a little.

If it has over 100,000, i would make sure to get some proof of maintenance records, like timing chain replacement.and Keith C, i agree with you when you say the Ford 300 is a good motor, but i don't know if it's the best...generally all the American inline 6 engines were bulletproof from that era...the chevy 292's were good too. i've seen over a million miles on them.