COE car HONDA ESI
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halo guys would like to find out more on the honda ESI on the following
1.Price
2.Max road tax it can go(hear the road tax increase every year for a total of 5 years so by the 5th year how much i need to pay every 6 monthy)
3.Insurance for age 24(under my name)(which insurance quote the lowest cos most online quotation requried the people to at least own a car... since its my 1st purchase)
4.Interest Rate
5.Fuel consumption
Roughly how much i need to fork out every month if i gotta put a downpayment of 5k and for the 1st time i need to pay a total of how much plus the paper work. -
the car you enquire suits your name.
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hey digicharat,
i would appreciate if u can help me and not commenting on my nick -
if ur wallet approve then i would suggest u get e Vti or EG6(3door) else EG9 instead. The Esi is a slow SOHC and given that now COE car are quite cheap. i aint quite sure of how much a EG6 might cost but it should be around 25 - 30k. correct me if i am wrong coz i aint sure of 2nd hand market. Dnt waste ur money on the Esi. Its so slow that u will feel sian after a while of driving. wat can be more exhilarating then driving a 165Bhp Vtec. U should think over it. but if u wan a car from point a to point b then mayb Esi will be enuf for u . Getting a ESi is as good as buying the now so called integra GSR. slow n for show only.
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Hey jonathan_n80, thks for the info u gave me but i would really like to noe more on ESI... cos the car will not be for long... jus a short terms liability...
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Not tat slow la... still can easily outrun a 1.6 car of other makes saloon cars..
it the coe ard till like 2011 or 2012 shud b ard 25k or so -
if short term and ur down payment so little? i doubt u can sell off within 4 yrs.Originally posted by xiaobeng70:Hey jonathan_n80, thks for the info u gave me but i would really like to noe more on ESI... cos the car will not be for long... jus a short terms liability...
if short term might as well go rent. better than buying one. -
I used to drive an ESi when the car was already 8 years old and plagued with problems. May not apply to your case since the car u r looking at is >10 years old. Wana hear?Originally posted by xiaobeng70:Hey jonathan_n80, thks for the info u gave me but i would really like to noe more on ESI... cos the car will not be for long... jus a short terms liability... -
Is the Honda ESI so plagued with problems? I am rather interested in the car too as it has a nice-looking exterior but might have to re-consider my options after hearing about this.
Could you share with us the problems you encountered with your ESI?
Thanks. -
I bought my ESi with 22 mths left of COE in 2001. I was the 5th Owner then. When I test drove before buying I noticed a pretty annoying and loud noise from the Gearbox (Mine was a manual geared) and stated it in black and white to the car dealer that this had to be fixed. It really turned out to be defective and the dealer LL have to get it fixed for me. It cost the dealer $600 to change to a re-cond unit. Lucky and unlucky both at the same time as I have to burn 1 weekwend taking public transport while the gearbox get changed...Originally posted by hotxyz2002:Is the Honda ESI so plagued with problems? I am rather interested in the car too as it has a nice-looking exterior but might have to re-consider my options after hearing about this.
Could you share with us the problems you encountered with your ESI?
Thanks.
3 mths after I bought the car I start to experience over heating problem. Since then for the rest of the 18mths or so I went thru great pains to maintain the car from over heating. Initial check at the mechanic shows a clogged radiator. Ok fine, we thot its just rusty radiator water that jam it so got it flushed and with new coolant replaced. Barely 2 week later same problem happens with the needle shooting high to 3/4 mark and approaching near max temp. This time I got the entire radiator changed to brand new unit. cost me almost $400. 2 weeks after that the same problem happens again. This time we finally nailed the fault. It was the Engine. My mechanic had been noticing that my Radiator fan seems to be permanently on though initially he thought that it was on cos I travelled quite a bit to his workshop so its norm the radiator fan turns on once he start up. The fan was rigged to turn on whenever and as long as the car is started up. The engine was "fatally wounded" internally by the previous owners as the ESi engine, of aluminium construction, would experience bending of parts internally when over heated. Once wounded, the parts will cause the overheating problem until the engine is REPLACED. My mechanic says its a common trait among EG ESis and EK VTis to overheat. Since the problem is so rampant a widely known solution has been developed for it. Import Re-Cond ESi Engines from Japan. But must discreetly do so as L*A must not know of it so some serial numbering "ARTWORK" have to be done to the imported engine. Total cost: $2000. Add $300 to change Timing belt and Water pump for "new" engine also since its a very good opportunity. At that point of time, my ESi still have 15mths of COE left. So how? I did not take the package. Nor did I change my car cos I abt to ORD from AF so drop the idea of burdening myself.
The solution given and taught to me by my mechanic is to drain and replace radiator water once a week. He taught me to feel the butterfly knob beneath the radiator and showed me how to drain the water. Ever since then every week, without fail, 6 bottles of 1.5L mineral-water sized bottles would follow me to the car. I would spend abt 30mins to drain, cleanse and replace the radiator water. Every morning MUST do first parade task on the radiator water reservoir. Plus I must keep my speed at around 70km/hr (MAX!) else the radiator will jam up again very soon before the 7 days are up. So every morning before work and afternoon after work a red ESi will travel at 60++km/hr on the 4th lane of the expressway and mostly without aircon on (cos aircon on will cause the temp to go up slightly higher also). I developed a phobia of turning on aircon unless except in rain. In this manner I kept the car running till the last day of COE on 23rd Nov 2002 and got it scrapped. Finally relieved.
In between, my rear suspension gave way and produced squiky sound over humps. These cost me $300 to replace.
My Aircon gave me problem 4 mths before scrap. Got the condenser unit washed and some parts replaced. $300 again.
1 year before scrap, my speedometer needle swung suddenly to the extreme right (indicating infinity!) when I travel past the 100km/hr mark. No. This time I did not replace it. I lived with it. All I have to do is to rev up to 100km/hr limits again and knocked on the speedometer. The needle will somehow siao siao swing back to the left side indicating 90+ km/hr. But not everytime this will work. So I have to find opportunities on the expressway whenever I can. This is most fustrating cos' at 100km/hr, a bit more I will break the law and if I am at that speed for too long, the water temp will rise... Everytime its dramatic man I tell you...
My exhaust pipe leading from the engine to the exhaust pipe was found to have a crack as it was repeatedly bent whenever reversing. Why this happens is becos the car is quite low and the kerb near my house is quite high. So every time I reverse park I am actually hitting the kerb against my exhaust pipe. So over a period of time, the exhaust pipe bend near the RH wheel area gets bend and eventually crack. The symptoms of such problem is a pungent smell at the back of the car whenever I start it in the morning (This is actually unfiltered exhaust gas from the engine itself so its smell is stronger than normal of those that went thru catalyst before the exhaust pipe. Why I go fix it is because one fine morning when it was raining heavily and flooded on the road, the water on the road actually gets sucked into the engine via the crack and nearly stalled my whole car! In the midst of negotiating a bend in a major traffic junction somemore! No matter how I rev the engine it just felt totally powerless cos' its burning water, not petrol in the chambers. Only after repeated flooring of accelerator did I restore the power... and also after numerous high beams and horns from the cars behind cos I after the bend I entered a one lane traffic...
I drew only 1 consolation from driving the car. With virtually no aircon, travelling on expressway at 70km/hr and on the slowest 4th lane on expressway, I achieved a FC of 15km/L. Almost 630km per 42L of RON 98 petrol. But then again, the $ saved all goes into repairing the car...
Eversince I bought the car, I only open the VTEC valves once. And that time not open by me, was opened by my mechanic when he test out the new radiator after we changed it. He whacked the car to 6000rpm with speeds of 130km/hr along Old Lim Chu Kang Road (next to Tengah Air Base leading to Sungei Gedong Camp). It was shiok. But I only can shiok once. After that I have to "kwai kwai" follow the trailers and lorries on lane 4... -
i drive a 93 3-door civic esi...had it for slightly over 5 years now. i believe the `plagued with problems' part is due to an old car. any car reaching 10 yrs and beyond will have problems one way or another...so far the problems i had was changing the electronics board, aircon compressor changed, radiator changed, drive shaft changed, radiator tubes burst/leaking, engine sensor changed (the yellow light on the dashboard display)...but if u have a little know how about cars...u can basically trouble shoot the problems urself and save some money...or at least pin point any problems first and not let the mechanics screw you. at the moment my car is without a horn...but i will get around to fix it myself...and the yellow engine light has been `on' for the last six months, but i just don;t care...
so if u wanna have a nice looking car ( the esi really looks nice does't it??) and don't mind the problems that u might be facing, then i say go get it...
one more thing...the FC...i'm doing 500km for a full 45 litre tank...unleaded 95...i used to do at least 550km...but there u go... -
Originally posted by OneDoubleManTayar:
Oh ya. U reminded me of the horn... I got my horn changed twice within a short span of 1 mth. Reason being the horn is mounted near the bottom of the car. On the left hand side of the radiator base. Always kana water seep in and shorting it. I also drove the car without horn. Lucky I can't go fast on the road...
at the moment my car is without a horn...but i will get -
after reading ur post...i'm glad u managed to pull thru it! tat's really one hell of a nightmare..
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Sure is pal! It was worse than the car before it, a 9 year old Nissan Pulsar 1.4 SLX. The pulsar gave me engine oil leaking but not very serious. Top up 4L per mth. Still reasonable. The aircon gave way only 3 weeks before scrap. Lucky seah... So I still have a very good impression of my Pulsar... Now driving a new H.City. Very appreciative of the problem-free life style nowadays... Got a bit of aircon problem but still can live with it cos' it is nothing compared to my experience on the ESi...Originally posted by so_nice:after reading ur post...i'm glad u managed to pull thru it! tat's really one hell of a nightmare.. -
from wat i do realise i believe that e ESi is not a car that u can rev much till redline.. unlike e Vti n Sir.. Anyway i wont recommand a ESi given that COE car now are cheap like hell. Get a EG6 atleast.. and u will enjoy e Vtec scream..
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thanks a lot man... for the help on the ESI... so with a budget of every month $500 dollar wat car do u recomment... do i get a coe car or less than 10 one???
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if u wan short term might as well go rent.. if u need jus a car then get a Swift GL 1000cc. should not be too exp. get e COE 2011 one. cost ard less than 20k e most. else go buy a charade GTTi with few yrs left. cost only a few grand. less than 9k
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Looks can really be very deceiving! Thanks for sharing all your experiences.
I agree with the opinions here that such problems are endemic in COE cars (more than 10 years old) but i somehow feel that it is kind of worse in the Honda ESI. This is probably due to the wear and tear accumulated by the many previous owners who might have got the wrong idea that the ESI is a "high performance car" without realising the detrimental effects it had on the engine and other parts.
Looks like the Honda ESI would have to be strike off from my list of reliable and good looking cars. -
i tink can go for corrolla 92 or 93 lor.. cheaper then esi can get at 20k.. my dad say better than civic.. he say civic too low.. get damage easily i tink true bah.. this lao jiao their theory more on usage than looks 1..
but the car i tink need to start liao then wait for awhile then can go.. if not like cannot move.. need awhile to get the engine really ready??? can advice? -
since it's gonna cost ard 30k for an 2nd hand ESI, y not go for an 1.6L (M) 3 door getz? its less then 50k now i guess.
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if u really gd at bargainning etc.. u can get it for 20k.. haha.. i tink.. below 25k for sure..Originally posted by so_nice:since it's gonna cost ard 30k for an 2nd hand ESI, y not go for an 1.6L (M) 3 door getz? its less then 50k now i guess. -
he cant buy a new car.. he jus wan for temporary.. if he get a new car i bet he haf to stick wif it for 9 yrs with his 5k downpayment. think Esi wot cost 30k.. perhaps 30k+ can get a SIR le. COE SIROriginally posted by so_nice:since it's gonna cost ard 30k for an 2nd hand ESI, y not go for an 1.6L (M) 3 door getz? its less then 50k now i guess. -
Hey guys thanks for the information that u all have given... will put into much consideration b4 purchasing a car now... haiz owning a car is such a headache... got to consider so many things with lifestyle going up how come my salary nvr go up too... haha
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a coe SiR shd cost at least $40k...Originally posted by jonathan_n80:he cant buy a new car.. he jus wan for temporary.. if he get a new car i bet he haf to stick wif it for 9 yrs with his 5k downpayment. think Esi wot cost 30k.. perhaps 30k+ can get a SIR le. COE SIR -
i will go for the Esi...Vtec power...Originally posted by so_nice:since it's gonna cost ard 30k for an 2nd hand ESI, y not go for an 1.6L (M) 3 door getz? its less then 50k now i guess.