Made for over five decades, it’s hard to deny the success of the Honda Civic. The first few years were tenuous with well-publicized issues for cars in snowy areas where rust wreaked more havoc than usual, but they have evolved into reliable and fun-to-drive cars today. This 2000 Honda Civic Si is listed here on eBay in Belmar, New Jersey, and the seller has a $17,900 buy-it-now price listed.
For those of you chuckling at the asking price, and especially those who say, “It didn’t cost that much new!!” (as if a Hemi Cuda cost $1,000,000 new), this car would have cost exactly what the seller is asking now, which equates to $32,000 today. So while you can still complain about the asking price, at least the “It didn’t cost that much new!!!” argument isn’t valid, as it often isn’t. Plus, it isn’t 1995 anymore, folks; prices and values have gone up, in case you haven’t noticed.
The sixth-generation Civic was made from 1996 through 2000 and they offered a two-door coupe, a two-door hatchback, a four-door sedan, a four-door liftback, and also a four-door wagon. If you think those are a lot of choices, wait until you hear the dizzying array of trim packages available. There was the base CX, then came the DX, LX, HX, EX, GX, and VP. Missed opportunity there to not call it the VX, no? Disclaimer, there was a VX in the previous-generation Civic. Then there was the one that everyone wants now, the Si, as in the car shown here.
A beautiful and luxurious interior awaits you here, not exactly something that early 1970s Civic owners would have heard too often. The Si was the sporty model as most of you know. Disc brakes are more sporty than drum brakes and Honda’s famous five-speed manual is on tap here, along with comfortable but supportive leather seats both front and rear. The cargo area looks well-kept as does the rest of this car It has had one senior owner and was always been garage-kept when not in use. It has just over 82,000 miles and, oh yeah, it’s rust-free, too.
The engine is Honda’s famous 1.6-liter DOHC Vtec inline-four, which was factory-rated at 160 horsepower and 111 lb-ft of torque. It has recently had new plugs, wires, inspection, and a new timing belt, a very critical piece of maintenance. Hagerty’s at $16,600 for a #3 good-condition car and an eye-watering $33,900 for a #2 excellent car, I kid you not, and please check out recent auction prices if you aren’t on board with that value. Some have gone for much more than that. Have any of you owned a sixth-generation Civic Si?
Sellers asking price is out of Fantasy Land in Disney World.
Ones on BAT have sold for between $10k and $18k, so this seller must think the low mileage warrants the 18k price.
115k miles, $18k: https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1999-honda-civic-si-18/
36k miles, $39k: https://bringatrailer.com/listing/2000-honda-civic-si-23/
He might be leaving money on the table, to be honest.
As with all cars, condition is king. You can absolutely find examples for less than his ask; some have been hit, some have had the snot ran out of them, some look good but it’s the little things like paint condition (including under the hood, typical Honda valve cover bad paint, etc.). Honestly most were rode hard and put up wet, modified, driven for 200k miles, etc. Stock cars in great condition always bring the money.
Analog Japanese cars are hot right now. All over the internet you can find people lamenting the loss of these high-revving (8k RPM redline) VTECH engines; sure, the new Honda turbos make more power but it ain’t the same experience. And these cars will likely will be hot for a while, people that wanted one when they were young are now in their 40s and have cash.
Of course I would need a close inspection, but from what I see in the eBay photos this is a fair price.
And if you have never driven one, these si models are a hoot. Great handling and that 8k RPM redline, perfectly ergonomic and clean interiors, there’s a reason people talk about “peak Honda”.
Personally, I wouldn’t use BaT as the standard for anything other than people over paying or over asking. Ever since Hearst bought it, it’s become something other than it was in the beginning.
As to this Honda, it’s got a row your own and it’s in great shape. Compared to what you pay today for a compreheble 2023 model, I think the choice would be clear for me.
Still. it’s expensive for basic transpo albeit quick and agile Si transpo.
@Mountainwoodie, why would you not use a place where people exchange money for a car and that is open to offering this model of car as a standard?
If you mean BaT has become a place where excellent vehicles are offered, you are correct; all the more reason to use it as a market indicator of excellent vehicles, and this is one. Or you can compare prices of ratted out examples on the local Craigslist sold by a kid that ran the pee out of it.
Cool car that didnt do anything for me when it was new. Trucks, Z28s and older american muscle was and still is my thing. But I can easily recognize the simplicity of what this car has going for it over today’s Civic. And to someone wanting to relive a car they had 25 yrs ago i can see it. That being said, cant believe you compared it to a Hemi Cuda.
Scotty is merely using the million-dollar Hemi Cuda to illustrate the ridiculous-ness and inappropriate-ness of the “it didn’t cost that much new” statement. Read it again, he is in no way comparing the cars.
Over $17,000 for a 23 year old used car with 82k miles on it? The seller is delusional.
It’s probably closer to a number 2, great condition, probably would still outlast new computer junk boring colored new cars.
Honda continues to make great cars. A new Civic will run circles around this one for a long time.
I will admit I don’t follow these cars. But I did know they have collectability. The Hagerty data bears this out. Using the data, the asking price probably isn’t far off.
I owned a ’99 Civic Si, same exact color as this one. Mine had under 50k miles when I traded it for an ‘02 WRX wagon. The WRX was the far superior car, and I paid about the same for each. Keep in mind- these performance cars were based on bare bones economy cars, and the interior reflects that fact. My ‘99 had cloth seats, and I think this one has leather seat covers, never heard of or saw one with real leather seats. About the car- the engine and transmission were to die for, they revved to 8000 rpm’s and sounded incredible doing it and the transmission shifted like the proverbial rifle bolt. They also had double wishbone suspension front and rear, so with a good set of tires they handled really well. But, BUT- the interior was nothing but cheap plastic on the dashboard and door cards, and the seats suuuuuuucked. And I mean sucked- they were flatter than the cars sporting pretensions called for and I had to brace myself against the footwell when I drove it fast on twisty roads. And the steering was trash as well, it was dead as a door nail in feel and had zero on-center feel, there was absolutely no feedback from the road at all. And the final drive and transmission gear ratios were so short you were running at 3500 rpm’s at 70mph on the highway, which got old quick.
Having said all that, anyone who thinks $17k for this Si is ludicrous is out of touch with reality, these cars are eminently modifiable for huge power, and most tuners swapped the seats for Recaros or something similar as soon as they brought it home. The 1999-2000 Civic Si’s are basically the car that started the modern tuning craze, especially after The Fast and The Furious came out. And when Acura released the Integra Type R, that was based on the Civic? Try to buy one now for cheap. Go ahead, I’ll wait. This car with easily sell for the asking price, and I would bet that if the seller put it up for auction, they’d get even more.
I love the Honda interiors from this era. Cheap is fine, because the ergonomics are perfect and the design is clean. And it beats the American interiors from this era to hell and back, which looked cheap, felt cheap, even smelled cheap.
The seats are..fine. But the Integra had better seats.
I agree with you on the interiors of American cars being far worse in quality compared to Japanese cars, but I disagree on the seats. The seats were comfortable for highway driving, but they were useless for spirited driving on twisty roads or on a track. Flatter ‘n Nebraska with zero useful bolstering. But the seats in my 2007 Civic Si were a completely different experience, they were phenomenal for both highway and twisty roads with excellent bolstering that kept you in the perfect driving position and super comfortable for road trips.
This is two owner car, looks like the new owner bought it a couple of months ago and is flipping it. I drove a 2019 Si a couple of days ago and it was quite fun with plenty of power and the dealer was asking $24,000. It had under 20k miles. By comparison this 24 year old car is a little over priced , but I wouldn’t be surprised if it sells for close to that as they have a cult following and there’s no denying the quality of Honda. Also, have you tried to buy a nice car recently for 15 grand? The pickens are mighty slim.
Problem with these is kids snatched them up and threw a turbo on and beat them to death. Super rare to find this body style in any where near this good of shape and with the mileage that’s on it, this car will last forever as long as you take as good care of it as the previous owner obviously did. Sporty yet economical and unfortunately worth every penny even though no one wants to admit it. (Out loud that is)
My 2002 Tracker ZR-2 has 70k on it and is in near mint condition, not to mention it has the automatic. May be slower, but it’s worth a lot considering most of them are missed out by teenagers with daddy’s money. (I prefer manuals, but the automatic is a rare option for these Trackers! Especially the ZR-2.)
Ha! I would pay decent money for a mint Tracker ZR-2. Good little rigs.
Nice little Honda but overpriced with the miles on it.Still a 20+ year old car that has reached the time frame when things will start to go wrong.Possible flipper comment probable/possible?
Once again, the author knows his beans when it comes to Asian cars. This is actually one of the few Asian vehicles I owned, and this one, not very long. Mine was a ’95, very similar, I think, I really couldn’t care less. After my Sonoma puked,( that was a sad day) I needed an economical beater for the Northwoods. I got it cheap from the landlords kid,( 1st red flag) had a slew of miles, like 198K,( 2nd red flag) but was assured it had a replacement motor at 98K( head gasket), for like $2grand. 1st thing, no coolant in reservoir, okay, MAYBE it’s just low,,mm-hmm, guess what, low for a reason, this motor was junk too, another head gasket. Odd how BOTH motors puked at around 100K. Still think I’m nuts about being planned? Anyway, I got some Mend-Tite( great stuff, btw) to seal the head gasket, and worked for about 2 months, and began using coolant again. On top of that, I HATED that car. It had crappy seats, rode terrible, poor heat/a/c, no room, wouldn’t go in a straight line( possibly the tires), it’s pretty much what I base my opinions on regarding modern Asian cars. I just don’t understand what the attraction is with these, aside from gas mileage, which it did well, but give me a ’74 Trans Am anyday!
Well, this really is the end of the world. A 23-year-old clutch-eating weak-water-pumpy saggy-seat four-banger with 82k for $18k? Absolutely no way. White smoke from the tailpipe in 6k miles, as these had a magic 88k miles smoke date. Might go to some schmoe for $9k.
I love the write up was trying to be proactive in addressing the completely predictable comments that were sure to be made about the price and the car.
Result: those comments were still made and even an accusation that a civic was compared to a cuda to boot. Awesome.
I was actually thinking that those comments wouldn’t be made because those that make them might not bother looking at this car.
Some commenters here are a hoot.
A friend of mine has one of these in the same color that he bought new, and it still looks new at 137k. It’s been a CA and AZ car and has been garaged its entire life and the paint still shines like new. I was stunned the first time I saw it, he just had the window molding replaced because it had discolored from sitting in the AZ sun when he was at work, he sits on a towel so as not to mess up the seats, and he uses a cloth to operate the controls in the cabin “so the oils in his skin won’t damage the plastic” according to him. You’d think it was a Rolls. I told him a few weeks ago it was probably worth more now than it was when he bought it, looks like I wasn’t far off the mark.
Is his name Monk?😀
No, it’s Chris. He takes care of things like nobody I’ve ever met, from his cars (he also has a late 90’s Honda van that belonged to his dad and is as immaculate as his Civic is) to his home to his vintage sound system.
I have a 2000 Civic EX coupe that I bought new, it now has 316,000 miles on it. I wouldn’t hesitate in scoffing up this car with only 82,000 miles, if I were in the market!
Just an FYI. Belmar, which is where this car is according to the listing, is on the ocean in NJ. As close as you can get. So, I see the pictures don’t show any rust, but at this price it would be prudent to have that checked in person. Just my opinion.
Correction: After looking at the Auto Check report, It looks like it spent most of its time in Pa. So, maybe rust is not an issue after all. But, it also has been hit twice. How bad? If it checks out, it’s a great car if that’s what you’re into. Just remember, it’s a no frills civic. Btw, make sure it’s already had the dreaded airbag recall done.
One senior owner?? So the senior owner put on aftermarket body parts, a coffee can exhaust pipe, and aftermarket stereo…. It sounds more like a high school senior owner…
Auction update: the price was lowered to $16,500 with no luck and no sale.