OBESSED: Finding the perfect 1992-1995 Honda Civic
A red two door coupe, drenched in the heavenly glow of a single street lamp. It brings my late night jog to a stop. I peer in the window. My eyes set to work clicking over the little specimen’s points of interest with the cold calculation of a man who knows just what he's looking for.
The passenger side airbag means it’s a’94 or ’95. Although there’s no trim package emblem on the trunk it has to be a DX due to the lack of power options. This also means it has the standard 1.5L Vtec engine, unlike the top of the line EX that comes with a disgusting 1.6L version that sucks the fuel economy down by nearly four miles per gallon combined.
Looking good, looking good, and instantly I’m no longer interested; it’s an automatic. Deal breaker. The automatic transmission brings the fuel economy down by nearly four miles per gallon city, five on the highway. Jesus, you might as well drive a 1.6L! If it had a manual transmission this little red coupe would get nearly 30mpg around town, 40mpg on the highway. Perfect, but this car is not. It isn’t worth a dollar to me.
Like most DX’s it doesn’t have air conditioning, another deal breaker. I’m almost angry at the car now. Like the countless other Civics I’ve sifted through on Craigslist, its failed me.
F*** this car. Actually I should probably be moving on, seeing as I’m working myself into a rage in front of the owner’s house, steaming perspiration under a street light, dressed in all black running garb, looking in their car’s window, mouthing obscenities and breathing heavily.
This car is not for sale.
I pick up my feet and disappear into the night. Over the next three months I’ll call on and travel to visit more 1992-1995 Honda Civics than any normal person has a right to. Enumclaw, Marysville, Everett, Kent, Renton, Bellevue, Mountlake Terrace, Lynwood, Edmonds, Seattle, private parties, used car salesmen, liars, swindlers, honest men, secrets, broken English, secretaries, lemons, hot cars, cars with water in the trunk, nervous flatulence and finally: The perfect one.
More to come.
