Hello Civic_ESi, I posted this message to another pal in the forum last week. Maybe u may find my experience useful:
"Watch out for the engine. Used to drive an ESi. Out of every 10 ESi there is at least 6-7 ESi which have its engine replaced due to overheating. ESi Engine is very prone to this problem. Plus it's an aluminium engine thus once overheated and that the aluminium structure within the engine bent, that's it. It will give u hell lots of problems. I used to experience that. Have to top up my coolant water back into the radiator from the reservoir every day cos the engine simply lost the ability to suck back the water from the reservoir when cooled down cos' the pressure within the cooling system is no longer equalized. Also check the Aircon System. Tend to leaks once the car reached this age. Other than that, the rest of the snags should be of normal wear and tear so need not worry too much. Whichever component's time is up just change it. Enjoy the ride. ESi is a very powerful and spacious car. Great to drive if well-maintained."
With regards to whether shld u buy a COE car, for your age and driving experience, I would not really advise in favor of it. Perhaps u may like to start with a slightly younger car, say a 8 or 9 years old car. Y? Becos' the price of these cars are slightly more ex thats all and they got scrap value. Plus these cars are near to the 10th year term so their mkt value is lower. This translate to a lower selling price and a lower premium on the insurance. Plus u dun suffer penalties in yearly increment in terms of road tax. However, it may be argued that this kind of cars will also have their fair share of problems. Yes. No denial of that. But if u buy the ESi, U aren't exactly better off anywhere else right? On top of that, u r a new driver, meaning u have no NCD. U got to build it up thru years of experience for this. Thats y I suggest u get a 8-9 yr old car on the following basis:
1. The budget needed is slightly higher or somewhere around the price of the ESi, of course depending on make and model. If u instead get a Suzuki Swift then easily 16k no problem gettinga 8-8+ yr old car. Of course, a 8+yr old civic would cost more lah cos higher scrap value mah...
2. U cannot escape from encountering problems with car maintenance unless U buy a New Car. However, U can learn how to better maintain the car or even your next car with your first car as the stepping stone. 8-9 year old cars can be relatively problematic but are seldom serious ones. These should posed some challenges to you and make u a better person in learning how to maintain a car in the furture.
3. U have to buy an insurance to put a car on the road. This one, No Horse Run. By Law. But that does not mean u resign your fate to getting any insurance that comes by as long as it can put your car on the road. Trust me, with your age, and your driving experience, and the fact that u are getting a Honda, without any NCD Discount, u r sure to burn a hole in the pocket. Even if it's jus a 3rd party F&T policy. As a rough gauge, for your age, if u step into the showroom and book a new honda civic, the cost of your insurance with no NCD is roughly $5k! So how much u think u have to pay for a 3rd part F&T policy? Maybe not as much yes. But easily >$1k. That is roughly the same amt that u would need to pay for a comprehensive policy if u get a 2nd hand 8-9yr old car... Get wat i'm trying to say?
4. That ESi have at least 7 more years to go. U normally would want to upgrade your car after 2-3 years of driving cos by then either the maintenance problems is wearing u down or u had more or less finished modifying the car and extracted the last possible juice of performance. It's time to move on with your expectations on the car. Time to get another car but here u r, stucked with an almost valueless ESi cos it's a COE car. Whereas if u get a 8-9yr old car, timing jus nice and the residual scrap value can be used to offset the deposit of putting another car on the road. Best of all, u clocked 20% NCD liao (providing no claim of course). Not a lot... but just nice for your next car. Whereas in the case of the ESi by the time u want to sell the car would be more than 15 years old. Any prospective buyer would definitely be put off by the fact that the road tax cost $1400 a year, lion share of maintenance problems and near-zero scrap value...
5. Supposing touch wood u lang ga one of these days. TOUCH WOOD Lah! But 7 years u never know... R u gonna repair the car? Supposing u r at fault, u only have a 3rd party insurance policy that will only pay the other guy. U got to fork out $$ to repair your own car. U want or not? Maybe minor bumps or scratches ok lah but u most probably won't want the scar to be with u for the rest of the 7 years rite? So, $$ to repair your own car = burn hole in pocket Whereas if u get a 8-9 yr old car, be it minor scars, bumps or even a large dent on the side of the car or watsoever. Wat to do? Lun-Chi-A, time to scrap the car cos 10 year old liao. Burn hole in pocket? Not necessary rite? This same goes for maintenance problems with wat I mentioned in pt 2. Some problems are tolerable... Like maybe say one side of the window cannot wind down or wind down halfway kana stucked. So? Dun wind down lah! 1-1+ year gonna scrap so y waste money repair? Plus u can go to any workshop and ask them to open up and quote u. In this way, u learn first hand experience abt car maintenance from Gurus and at the same time experience how different repair shops charge u. BUT u need not necessarily repair, as long as u can live with it. Like that, u learn something new everytime and u soon know the "kwan" of repair shops' mechanics. The knowledge gained will mould u into a more knowledgeable person in maintaining cars and handling mechanics in the future...
I speak from my own experience of going thru the same thing from my first 9 yr old nissan pulsar to my 8 yr old ESi till my new City now. There maybe other shorter, more proven methods out there by other more experienced and qualified drivers who can offer their thots to u. My method is certainly not the best but in some way it's proven that it makes some logical sense against getting a COE car. Certainly I hoped my advice can at least set u thinking abt getting a COE car from another point of view.
Thousand Apologies for reading such a "lor-saw" essay....
Best Regards to all in the forum.
..... nice car to play ard with the modification thought.... enjoy and learn......