My mom bought a white 1990 Honda Civic Hatchback DX car back in 1990, when I was still in high school. We lived so far from my high school, however, that she let me drive the new car. I’m not sure how many people out there have a small 3 door hatchback as their main family car, but we did. We didn’t have a lot of money. After I left home, she signed the car over to me, when I had a new appreciation for the value of things.
That brings me to the first advantage of the Honda Civic Hatchback, of any year’s production. It’s got an affordable purchase price. But even past that, the savings continue. The car holds up very well for resale, as I found out 14 years later, when I had to sell the car only because it wouldn’t fit a child car seat and a backward infant car seat at the same time.
The gas mileage on the 1990 Honda Civic Hatchback was heavenly. I routinely got 40 mpg with mixed city/highway driving. The car would go 400 miles before needing to be refilled. I miss the efficiency of the car, and knowing that I wasn’t harming the environment quite as much.
My car cornered like a dream, and it pretty much drove like a sports car since it was so small, albeit a fairly low powered sports car since it had 4 cylinders. People were surprised at how zippy my 1990 Honda Civic Hatchback was.
The operation of the car was great. It was low to the ground, but high enough for regular road driving, and I never once scraped the underside going over a speed bump. The car shifted smoothly, had a comfortable clutch, comfortable cloth seats, and an easy-to-reach back seat for kid-related emergencies.
The inside was almost larger than the outside. There was so much cargo space in the car, especially with the back seats folded down, that I never had to worry about buying too much while shopping, even furniture shopping. I managed to fit a decently large oval dining room table and four chairs in the car, and be able to close the hatch. With more than two passengers, obviously you’d have less room, but there was still plenty of cargo space in just the hatchback portion of the car for many a road trip.
Regarding maintenance, the only issue that came up more than once on my 1990 Honda Civic Hatchback was the breaks. They worked well, but the pads seems to wear down more quickly than what was expected. I had no other complaints, and the car mechanics always told me that the car should last 200,000 miles, assuming I kept up the maintenance. Unfortunately, we had to get a larger vehicle before I got to that point, but in 14 years of blissful ownership, I did take it to about 120,000 miles. The man to whom I sold the car resold it again last year, so the car is still zooming along at age 18.
After the car aged a bit, I could still count on only a couple hundred dollars a year of maintenance costs, which was a darn sight cheaper than buying a new car!
I much preferred the Honda Civic Hatchback to the 4 door model. You could access the back from the main part of the car with the hatchback, and it had a much larger cargo capacity than a trunk would have had. I liked having just one door on each side as it was easier to put kids in and take them out. The long doors made it a little tough when parked too close to another car, but that is a problem with many cars.
The car was fairly quiet inside, and was quite comfortable for long trips. It lacked cruise control, but that just kept you more alert when driving. Also, I really preferred the manual locks and windows – nothing electronic to break. I liked being able to roll down the windows when the car was off.
I would definitely recommend this car to others. It is an excellent car for young people who can’t afford or don’t need something larger, but who need something reliable and inexpensive to operate. I’m such a fan of Honda cars that my next car after my beloved 1990 Honda Civic Hatchback is also a Honda!
