Buying or Living With a 2007 Honda Civic LX Manual Coupe
The 2007 Civic LX manual is one of those cars that most people overlook because it looks exactly like every other Civic on the road. It is not exciting, which is why it tends to be reliable. The K20Z2 2.0-liter i-VTEC four makes 140 horsepower and 128 lb-ft of torque. That is adequate, not thrilling. The five-speed manual is the type you will eventually learn to shift with your left knee while talking on the phone. It is a good thing it is light, because the throw is short and the clutch pedal takes very little effort. Most problems with these cars come from neglect, not from any real design flaw. The timing belt is the thing you need to get right. Honda says 105,000 miles or seven years, whichever comes first. I say replace it at 90,000 if the previous owner cannot prove they did it. The water pump goes on the same belt, so pull it while you are in there. The belt itself costs about $40 and a water pump is another $60 at AutoZone. A shop will charge you $500 to $700 to do it. If the belt snaps, the valves bend and you are looking at a $3,000 engine rebuild or a swap. It is not worth the risk. The automatic transmission fluid in these cars is something else entirely. There is no dipstick. You check it by pulling the plug while the engine is running at operating temperature and seeing if fluid drips out. If it smells burnt, the clutch discs are done. I have seen three of these where the previous owner claimed they just "topped off" the fluid once in five years. The shifter felt like you were grinding rocks every time you tried to put it in second. In one case I actually fixed it myself by replacing the throw-out bearing, the clutch disc, and the pressure plate for about $320 in parts from RockAuto. Took me six hours on a borrowed jack and stands.
Third gear is the weak point in the gearbox. It is not broken, it is just notchy. When the synchro wears, you will feel a resistance when trying to slide into third from second or fourth. The workaround is double-clutching. Let off the gas, push the clutch in, throw it into neutral, let off the clutch, blip the throttle to match the synchronizer speed, then back into the clutch and into gear. It takes practice but it works. Some people install a shorter shifter arm from a Si and say it helps. It does not fix the synchro, but it makes the notch less pronounced. The suspension bushings are another area where these cars show their age. The lower control arm bushings in particular tend to crack and leak grease around 80,000 to 100,000 miles. You will notice it as a clunk when going over bumps or during hard acceleration. Replacing the bushings alone is cheaper than replacing the whole control arm, but it requires a proper press. I did mine in my garage with a bottle jack and a piece of pipe. Took about two hours per side. The car drives completely different afterward. The CV axles on front-wheel drive Civics are generally solid, but the inner joints can develop play that feels like vibration under hard acceleration. If your steering wheel shakes only when you are flooring it from a stop, check the inner CV joints. You can wiggle them by hand with the wheel off. Any radial play means replacement. These are not expensive parts, but labor is annoying because you have to drop the subframe to get to them on this generation. About $200 in parts, $400 in labor if you pay someone.
Electrical gremlins are rare but when they happen they are annoying. The power window switches on the driver's door wear out from heavy use. The glass will just stop moving or move slower. You can replace the switch assembly for about $35. The door lock actuators also fail around the same mileage range. The whole door panel comes off in about 15 minutes once you know where the clips are. There are videos on YouTube, but the real trick is that you need to remove the trim panel carefully or you will break the clips and then you are buying replacements for the clips too.
Get the Full Details
Realistic Ownership Costs
Insurance on a 2007 Civic LX manual is cheap, probably $60 to $100 a month depending on your location and driving record. Gas mileage is roughly 25 city and 35 highway in normal driving. The fuel tank holds 13.2 gallons. Oil changes every 5,000 miles with 5W-20. The oil filter is standard size and costs about $4. You can change the oil yourself in 20 minutes with a basic socket set and an oil drain pan. The biggest cost you will face is probably the clutch itself. A standard replacement runs about $800 to $1,200 installed, depending on whether you go OEM or an aftermarket brand. Budget Clutch makes a decent unit for around $400. The flywheel should be resurfaced or replaced at the same time, especially if it is a dual-mass unit. On the LX, it is a single mass, so resurfacing is usually sufficient if it is not cracked.
When This Car Is Not For You
If you need a lot of cargo space, this is the wrong car. The trunk is small and the rear seats do not fold flat in a useful way. If you want something faster than 0 to 60 in about 9 seconds, this is also not it. The Civic Si from the same year has a different engine and makes more power. But if you want a cheap, dependable manual that will start every morning and not cost you much to fix when something does break, this is one of the better choices in its price range. They are everywhere, which means parts are cheap and anyone who has worked on a Honda before can handle most repairs. I bought a 2007 with 112,000 miles on it for $4,200 in 2019. It had the timing belt done at 90,000 and the clutch replaced at 105,000. I drove it for four years and sold it at 148,000 for $5,800. That is about what you should expect from one of these if you keep up with the basic maintenance. Not a financial windfall, but not a money pit either. Just a car that does what it is supposed to do.
