Used Civic with the D17A1 engine.

[pbm]

I have an opportunity to pick up a 2004 Civic DX with an M/T and the D17A1 (SOHC non-VTEC) engine and 115K rather cheaply. My research shows this to be an economical but underpowered unit. Does anybody have any experience with this engine? Does it offer Honda's famed durability?
I'm not so concerned about power since my kids would be driving it. Will it last 250 to 300K like most other Honda's?

 

[bepperb]

It's a great engine, we had one for a few years. It does have a timing belt which is a huge concern if it hasn't been done at that mileage.

Perfect for kids and will last the life of the chassis.

 

[pbm]

Originally Posted By: bepperb
It's a great engine, we had one for a few years. It does have a timing belt which is a huge concern if it hasn't been done at that mileage.

Perfect for kids and will last the life of the chassis.



Do you agree on it being 'underpowered'? I would think the manual trans would alleviate some of that concern. Thanks

 

[jrustles]

Definitely underpowered but you don't buy this car for acceleration or response. This generation of Civic was one of the least impressive; my uncle had one and was kind of falling apart by 2008- the chrome peeled off the interior handles, knobs and trim cracked and other small premature wear issues but overall it wasn't bad for an economy car. The uncle's D17 had Throttle Body Injection, not port which was weird.

 

[Chris Meutsch]

I had this car. Ran perfectly at 227k when I sold it. Underpowered for sure.

 

[supton]

If it's underpowered, but you pick it up for cheap, it begs the question: how much abuse can it take? I mean, let's say you could do something meaningful, like turbo, or even nitrous: it's not like you have to be on it 100% of the time, so it could last a long time regardless (presuming proper care etc).

 

[cptbarkey]

i thought that engine was pretty peppy, but the road noise is INTOLERABLE.

 

[Ausfahrt]

Originally Posted By: pbm
Originally Posted By: bepperb
It's a great engine, we had one for a few years. It does have a timing belt which is a huge concern if it hasn't been done at that mileage.

Perfect for kids and will last the life of the chassis.



Do you agree on it being 'underpowered'? I would think the manual trans would alleviate some of that concern. Thanks


I guess that "underpowered" is a relative term. I have rarely had trouble getting our Civic out in front of normal traffic but it is certainly not a hotrod.

We bought ours new and have beaten the snot out of it for over 12 years and I am continually amazed by it's reliability and economy.

Good luck and I hope it works out for you.

 

[Hokiefyd]

A co-worker had the 1.6L version of the D-series engine in a '97 Civic that ran well. He was hoping to see 333,333 miles on the odometer, but it was rear-ended and totalled with 331,xxx miles. I didn't think the car was particularly slow, and it had an automatic transmission. I'm sure it'd do fine with a manual.