At $9,500, Is This 1990 Honda Civic Si A Breath Of Fresh Air?

Today's Nice Price or No Dice Honda Civic Si epitomizes peak 1980s and '90s hot hatch-dom. It's also a rare survivor that hasn't been modded to within an inch of its life. What might such a refreshing reveal reasonably be worth?

Volkswagen's "Golf with a trunk" has been known in America solely as the Jetta. In various other markets, however, it's been sold under several other names, including Vento, Bora, and the Mexican market Clásico. For Americans, though, it's just been Jetta, a name that has proven so popular in China that in 2017, Volkswagen partnered with Chinese automaker FAW to create the stand-alone Jetta brand for that market. Unfortunately for its seller, the 2003 Volkswagen Jetta GLI we eyeballed last Friday didn't prove nearly as popular. While seemingly reasonably well-kept and sporting the desirable drivetrain combo of a VR6 engine and five-speed manual gearbox, its age, and VW's reputation for poor durability during its model run sullied opinions on its desirability. Pile on top of that the car's hefty mileage and not even a modest $4,300 price tag could pique our ardor. When all was said and done, the Jetta fell in a 59 percent No Dice loss.

It seems that, if we're going to consider a classic runabout from a bygone day, our interests lie in something with a better reputation for build quality and — considering the age — durability. We'd also likely prefer a tad fewer miles on the clock.

Happily, this 1990 Honda Civic Si checks both of those boxes. Honda, at least up until recently, maintained a solid rep for doing a decent job at screwing its cars together pretty well, and at 212,000, this sporty Civic does actually have fewer miles than Friday's Jetta. See? Win-win.

Craigslist

Honda introduced the Si as part of the third-generation Civic lineup in 1984. Featuring a hotter mill and, as the lowercase i in the badge implies, fuel injection, the sports-oriented package also expanded beyond the Civic hatch to the two-seat CRX.

Our Civic is a fourth-generation car, and comes with the Si's standard features such as the electric moonroof, a tachometer, and more aggressive suspension tuning.

Sitting sideways under the hood is Honda's D16A6 inline-four. That's a 1.6-liter SOHC 16-valve motor that, when new, offered up 108 horsepower and a flat 100 lb-ft of torque. This was pre-VTEC so keep your "YO!" to yourself. While the ad touts the car being an automatic, the only transmission offered on the Si this model year was a five-speed stick, so it is, in fact, a three-pedal car, adding to its appeal.

The ad presents the car as clean and accident-free. According to the seller, it's in "Amazing condition," has been "properly maintained," and "Runs and drives great." It's also great on gas and is promised to be mechanically sound. Being a fuel-injected car means that there's no hassle with dealing with the non-FI cars' janky carburetors and has a few fewer vacuum hoses under the hood to spring leaks.

The seller also touts the car as being all original, but that's not true based on the pics or even the description. The wheels are not the factory alloys, but are instead borrowed from the Civic's second cousin, an Acura Integra. They look just fine in this application and seeing as they're "in the family" we can cut some slack for the Acura badges on the center caps. Everything else on the exterior is original Si, and aside from some peppering on the nose, all appears to be in good shape.

In the cabin, the first thing that sticks out is the steering wheel, which is also not the car's original, but, like the alloys outside, appears to be from an Integra. That's likely why the center badge is missing. Also sticking out is the shifter, which is drifter-wannabe tall and topped with a silver knob that will likely get hot enough to brand a hand in the summer. The only other update in here is a rather generic-looking CD stereo head unit.

Everything else looks stock and in good shape. The cloth upholstery appears intact and the carpet is clean. Based on the buttons in the control panel, this is also an AirCon car, so, aside from the shift knob, it should be summer-friendly.

The seller says that the car has a clean title and has recently passed its mandatory smog test so it's ready to go for that title to transfer. The asking price to do so is $9,500.

Admittedly, that's a lot of money for an old Civic. However, this is the lauded Si model and, aside from the minor mods, looks mostly unmolested. That means it won't be as quick as even the most mundane modern car, but it will still be a hoot and a half as these are slow cars that are fun to drive fast.

What's your take on this classic sporty Civic and that $9,500 asking? Does that seem fair given the car's desirability and presentation? Or is that an in-Acura-te assumption of its value?

You decide!

Nice Price or No Dice:

Los Angeles, California, Craigslist, or go here if the ad disappears.

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