Several cars back in another attempt to break the GTI/GTE habit, i had one of those 3-door slinky Civic Hatchbacks which I drove until it went mouldy [about 170k] - no problems apart from old age decrepitude which you and I know all about. The guy that I buy all my cars from and who does all my work bought this one for his wife to take the kids to school. When I complained about GTE backache on the phone, he said "I've got a decent Honda if you fancy a straight swop " - so to answer your question [finally], I bought it sight-unseen on the basis of my own experience of Honda reliability and my guy's word of honour.I do go on, dont I but then you already knew that !
