Civic v Corolla v Fiesta

nd

so the car I'll be buying will most likely be one of these. late 90s to maybe 04 or so for the fiesta.

really my budget is prob up to 1.5k.

What I want from the car is reliability and good mpg.

What'd be your choice or is it just depends 100% on the condition of the car?

Thanks.

obezyana

The brother had a 93 corolla it was a lovely car to drive and they run forever.

joujoujou

What distance you're gonna travel?

Pov06

Personally, I'd go for a 98 Corolla.

They have the bulletproof 4A-FE engine and will run for a long time.

joujoujou

nd wrote: »

as far as possible per litre

Then get as good car as possible per euro spent.

Peter T

Corolla all the way. Great engine's that go for ever, cheap insurance and pretty cheap to maintain too. Civic's are dear to insure, parts are cheap but the 1.4's love petrol. Fords guzzle petrol and from my experience always have some dash light or fault with them. As for part costs I wouldnt be sure about the fords. All in all you cant go wrong with a corolla.

tmboy95

Corolla all the way! Had a 98 g6, turned first tip of the key everytime. Not once did it cause me any hassle in the slightest even dou i had it lowered and all. Drive easy and it aint too bad petrol. You wont getting anything hectic out of them anyway mpg wise compared to a diesel. Corolla can be got in 1.3 = €385 road tax. They are absolutely bullet proof, and im sure youd get a good enough one for that money. My friend picked up a standard 1.3 5 speed, spotless low mileage absolutely perfect for around that.
The civics, from what i see can rot more. Friend had a 98 civic and it was rotten from rust, so i dunno is it just the way they are or was that a exception. Cant say much about fiestas i dont know, but i doubt theyd be better than a corolla. Parts easy got for corolla too unless its really rare.

JohnBoy26

In 1.4 form a Corolla will be hard to beat. Aim for a late 90's model with the 4e-fe engine. These are extreamly reliable and fuel efficient and the build quality is second to non.

A late 90's civic is just as reliable as a corolla from the same era. However in 1.4 form they are no where near as fuel efficient as a corolla. Build quality excellent in these as well although Imo slightly below that of the Corolla.

A fiesta from the same era is in a lower class to a civic/corolla and while they are an good car in their own right, they are no where near as well build as both the corolla or civic. E.g they suffer from niggly faults and they are prone to rot in the arches and chassis. a fiesta will also cost nearly as much to tax as both civic/corolla while still only offering roughly similar mpg as the civic and well below the mpg of the corolla.

nd

Thanks. So the model to go for is the one with this face?



Even over the 02-06 model ( I know I'll struggle to get a 02 model for under 1.5k)?

I read somewhere too that the saloon was built in Japan while the hatchback was bult in the Uk. So is that also the version to go for? It's better looking than the hatchback anyway I suppose.

JohnBoy26

nd wrote: »

Thanks. So the model to go for is the one with this face?



Even over the 02-06 model ( I know I'll struggle to get a 02 model for under 1.5k)?

I read somewhere too that the saloon was built in Japan while the hatchback was bult in the Uk. So is that also the version to go for? It's better looking than the hatchback anyway I suppose.

Yes those ones but as you say aim for a saloon or 3dr hatchback. They along with the estate are all made in Japan and they are superior Imo to the uk built liftback.

I also think that this model is better built than the newer 02-06 model although they are very well built too.

Tea 1000

JohnBoy26 wrote: »

Yes those ones but as you say aim for a saloon or 3dr hatchback. They along with the estate are all made in Japan and they are superior Imo to the uk built liftback.

I also think that this model is better built than the newer 02-06 model although they are very well built too.

That model in the picture is the 1.3 Corolla. The facelift had the 1.4 vvti engine, it had the more rectangular lights.
I'd go with a Civic Saloon or Corolla, which ever is the cleanest example you can find.

JohnBoy26

Tea 1000 wrote: »

That model in the picture is the 1.3 Corolla. The facelift had the 1.4 vvti engine, it had the more rectangular lights.
I'd go with a Civic Saloon or Corolla, which ever is the cleanest example you can find.

ya I know they are closer to 1.3 being 1332cc(apologies if I mentioned them as a 1.4) they are classed as a 1.4 (1332cc) regarding tax though. The 1.4 vvt-i is 1398cc

With regards to the civic, Be it hatch or saloon that era of civic had brilliant reliability but mpg is poor enough on the 1.4

Moneymaker

Has to be the Corolla.

Legendary reliability, cheap to run/tax/insure and they are better to drive then you might think. Nothing amazing but a perfectly satisfactory drive.

And cheap as chips to boot. You'd get a good one thats tested and taxed for 1k no problems.

Tea 1000

JohnBoy26 wrote: »

ya I know they are closer to 1.3 being 1332cc(apologies if I mentioned them as a 1.4) they are classed as a 1.4 (1332cc) regarding tax though. The 1.4 vvt-i is 1398cc

With regards to the civic, Be it hatch or saloon that era of civic had brilliant reliability but mpg is poor enough on the 1.4

The mpg of the 1.4 is sound. I had one for 3 years and put 65k miles on it back many years ago!

JohnBoy26

Tea 1000 wrote: »

The mpg of the 1.4 is sound. I had one for 3 years and put 65k miles on it back many years ago!

I had two 1.4 civics, a 3dr hatchback and a 5dr hatchback. I struggled to get much over 300 miles to a full tank of fuel(55liters) on either of them.

The 1.3 corolla I had could get over 400 miles on a full tank(50 litres) so it was a good bit more efficient than both civics.

tmboy95

@JohnBoy26 what model corolla was that? Gs? G6? 400 is very good i used to get 330ish out my old G6. More urban/rural driving dou. As said above would have to be corolla. Get a good one that has been maintained well and not dogged and youl never look back

Tea 1000

JohnBoy26 wrote: »

I had two 1.4 civics, a 3dr hatchback and a 5dr hatchback. I struggled to get much over 300 miles to a full tank of fuel(55liters) on either of them.

The 1.3 corolla I had could get over 400 miles on a full tank(50 litres) so it was a good bit more efficient than both civics.

I had no problem getting over 400 miles on mine. A mate had one too and got similar. 300 miles is crap!

Cee-Jay-Cee

The 1.4s will average 40-45mpg all day long. I've had 4 of them and everyone of them averaged 40+

The reason you see people complaining they're hard to run is that those people are generally little boy racer types who drive around and around the town for 3 or 4 hours every night, in 2nd and 3rd gears and then when on the open road drive the car hard and naturally any car driven like that will be hard to run.

I agree that civics are harder to ensure, thanks in full to the type of people mentioned above.

I'd still go for a civic over the corolla. The fiesta wouldn't even be a consideration, they're noisy, cheaply built and not a nice car to drive.

JohnBoy26 wrote: »

I had two 1.4 civics, a 3dr hatchback and a 5dr hatchback. I struggled to get much over 300 miles to a full tank of fuel(55liters) on either of them.

The 1.3 corolla I had could get over 400 miles on a full tank(50 litres) so it was a good bit more efficient than both civics.

Yours must have been a special model as the tank in all civics from 92-01 were 45 litres (the filler neck takes roughly 2 litres and yes I have measure both while they were out of the EK4 rally car a mate and me built years ago) If you managed to get 55 litres in then either you have a major leak or the place you were filling had grossly inaccurate pumps.

walus

I have a 1994 1.3 corolla and with 190k miles up on the clock she is in a perfect nick. Have had it for 8 years now and all that she needed (apart from a regular oil and filter change) was stabilizer links and bushes! Unbelievable. Body work in very good condition, no rust at all. As it stands now I'm considering letting her go as the family expands and I'm going to need an mpv type soon. It will be a pity to do that as she is running perfect, just serviced with good set of tyres fitted only 6 months ago. Do you think lads she is saleable? Scrapping would not even pass my mind.

Cee-Jay-Cee

walus wrote: »

I have a 1994 1.3 corolla and with 190k miles up on the clock she is in a perfect nick. Have had it for 8 years now and all that she needed (apart from a regular oil and filter change) was stabilizer links and bushes! Unbelievable. Body work in very good condition, no rust at all. As it stands now I'm considering letting her go as the family expands and I'm going to need an mpv type soon. It will be a pity to do that as she is running perfect, just serviced with good set of tyres fitted only 6 months ago. Do you think lads she is saleable? Scrapping would not even pass my mind.

There's always a buyer for older cars. If it's in really good nick stick it up on donedeal for €950

JohnBoy26

CJC999 wrote: »

The 1.4s will average 40-45mpg all day long. I've had 4 of them and everyone of them averaged 40+

The reason you see people complaining they're hard to run is that those people are generally little boy racer types who drive around and around the town for 3 or 4 hours every night, in 2nd and 3rd gears and then when on the open road drive the car hard and naturally any car driven like that will be hard to run.

Nope not a hope will the 1.4 do 45mpg. The 1.5 eco vtec will do around 45 mpg but not a 1.4

These weren't "boy racer" cars either. These were both standard cars and were both driven easy.

CJC999 wrote: »

Yours must have been a special model as the tank in all civics from 92-01 were 45 litres (the filler neck takes roughly 2 litres and yes I have measure both while they were out of the EK4 rally car a mate and me built years ago) If you managed to get 55 litres in then either you have a major leak or the place you were filling had grossly inaccurate pumps.

Nope the tanks in these are 55 litres, even the original Honda handbook says so:p backed up by parkers below;)
http://www.parkers.co.uk/cars/reviews/facts-and-figures/honda/civic/hatchback-1995/13180/

JohnBoy26

Tea 1000 wrote: »

I had no problem getting over 400 miles on mine. A mate had one too and got similar. 300 miles is crap!

Ye must of had a big sail on top of ye're civics to get over 400 miles out of them, your the only person I know of that's getting that kind of miles out of a 1.4 civic. A 1.5 eco vtec gets good mpg but not a 1.4 in my experience.

And no it's not "crap" thankyou very much!! It's
my experience of not one but two 1.4 civics. The 1.5 version is a good bit better on fuel than them.

walus

CJC999 wrote: »

There's always a buyer for older cars. If it's in really good nick stick it up on donedeal for €950

I would have never thought these would be worth that much. But yeah, it is a good idea to try it on the donedeal.

Seweryn

JohnBoy26 wrote: »

Nope the tanks in these are 55 litres, even the original Honda handbook says so:p backed up by parkers below;)
http://www.parkers.co.uk/cars/reviews/facts-and-figures/honda/civic/hatchback-1995/13180/

Johnny, are you sure about your claim of 55l in the hatchback? I am pretty sure it is 45 litres. I never fill my Civic from empty, but when the needle is close to "E" (after about 650km covered since the last fill), I always get 36-38 litres, so with the reserve still in the tank, the figure of 45l is more like it, IMO.

Cee-Jay-Cee

JohnBoy26 wrote: »

Nope not a hope will the 1.4 do 45mpg. The 1.5 eco vtec will do around 45 mpg but not a 1.4

These weren't "boy racer" cars either. These were both standard cars and were both driven easy.


Nope the tanks in these are 55 litres, even the original Honda handbook says so:p backed up by parkers below;)
http://www.parkers.co.uk/cars/reviews/facts-and-figures/honda/civic/hatchback-1995/13180/

That's the uk civic 5dr. They weren't sold here in Ireland. The EK civic which was sold here in Ireland and which I and everyone else is talking about has a 45 litre tank.

And as for your comment that civics weren't boy racers car!! When were you born? Yesterday? The reason civics are so expensive to insure is that they are boy racers cars!!

And the IRISH sold 1.4 civic will easily do 40-45mpg all day long. Your UK civic May not be as easy run but considering no one was mentioned them nor is the OP considering one,I don't think it's really relative in this thread.

Perhaps next time you try and 'nope' someone else's answers you might at least be on the sane page as everyone else and be talking about the same car/topic.

And last but not least the 1.4 engine fitted to the uk civic 5dr car is different to the one fitted to irish 1.4 civics. The uk car was fitted with side entry throttle body and inlet manifold whereas the irish car had a down draft throttle body and different IM. The gearboxes also had different ratios and the uk car was heavier which all probably contributed to the worse fuel economy.

JohnBoy26

tmboy95 wrote: »

@JohnBoy26 what model corolla was that? Gs? G6? 400 is very good i used to get 330ish out my old G6. More urban/rural driving dou. As said above would have to be corolla. Get a good one that has been maintained well and not dogged and youl never look back

tmboy95 it was a standard e11 saloon. The driving I was doing was a mix of town and rural driving.

I also had a g6 and strangely it didn't seem to be as efficient as the standard saloons I had, although admittedly I never checked how much I was getting to a tank on the g6 so I can't be sure.

330 miles seems poor though Imo.

Tea 1000

JohnBoy26 wrote: »

Ye must of had a big sail on top of ye're civics to get over 400 miles out of them, your the only person I know of that's getting that kind of miles out of a 1.4 civic. A 1.5 eco vtec gets good mpg but not a 1.4 in my experience.

And no it's not "crap" thankyou very much!! It's
my experience of not one but two 1.4 civics. The 1.5 version is a good bit better on fuel than them.

I didn't mean your statement was crap, I meant 300 miles to the tank was crap. I'd consider that ultra crap. Can't understand how yours was that low.
I had a similar experience to others here who got close to 45mpg out of mine. That's over 3 years and 60k miles. I replaced it with a Gen 7 Celica at the time which would do a little over 400 miles to a slightly bigger tank. But your figures would mean that my Celica at the time would have been a lot more economical to my Civic, which was not the case.

JohnBoy26

CJC999 wrote: »

That's the uk civic 5dr. They weren't sold here in Ireland. The EK civic which was sold here in Ireland and which I and everyone else is talking about has a 45 litre tank.

The 5dr Civic was sold here in Ireland, the ma/mb rover shape? Yes it was, theirs an original Irish example outside my door at the minute.

There was never a 1.4 EK civic sold in Ireland, in fact there was no such thing as a 1.4 ek civic(all were 1.3) and they were jap imports. Japanese built sohc Civics sold here were ej's and they had 55litre fuel tanks.

http://m.rexbo.eu/hs/fuel-tank-30948610?c=100216&at=4797

CJC999 wrote: »

And as for your comment that civics weren't boy racers car!! When were you born? Yesterday? The reason civics are so expensive to insure is that they are boy racers cars!!

I never said such a thing. I said the two civic I had, (a 3dr ej9 and a 5dr mb2) were both standard un abused cars.

CJC999 wrote: »

And the IRISH sold 1.4 civic will easily do 40-45mpg all day long. Your UK civic May not be as easy run but considering no one was mentioned them nor is the OP considering one,I don't think it's really relative in this thread.

Both my Civics were original Irish cars and were sold here new. None came close to 45mpg. I don't see what's the difference on a uk import though?

And the 5dr is relevant to this thread as the op didn't specify which Civic they were looking for?

CJC999 wrote: »

Perhaps next time you try and 'nope' someone else's answers you might at least be on the sane page as everyone else and be talking about the same car/topic.

perhaps you should read the back through the thread, I think you'll see im not just talking about my 5dr civic;)

CJC999 wrote: »

And last but not least the 1.4 engine fitted to the uk civic 5dr car is different to the one fitted to irish 1.4 civics. The uk car was fitted with side entry throttle body and inlet manifold whereas the irish car had a down draft throttle body and different IM. The gearboxes also had different ratios and the uk car was heavier which all probably contributed to the worse fuel economy.

If you read back you will see that I also had a 3dr ej9 civic and yes I know the have a different throttle body(the jap ej's have the airfilter behind the engine and the uk built ma/mb 5 door has it's airfilter down behind the drivers headlight.) both had very similar mpg despite the differences.

JohnBoy26

Seweryn wrote: »

Johnny, are you sure about your claim of 55l in the hatchback? I am pretty sure it is 45 litres. I never fill my Civic from empty, but when the needle is close to "E" (after about 650km covered since the last fill), I always get 36-38 litres, so with the reserve still in the tank, the figure of 45l is more like it, IMO.

Im pretty certain that they are 55 litres. Maybe the tank has a big reserve.

Seweryn

JohnBoy26 wrote: »

Im pretty certain that they are 55 litres. Maybe the tank has a big reserve.

John, I have just checked in online sources. It is 45l. And I do not believe there would be 15l reserve in a compact car.

JohnBoy26

Seweryn wrote: »

John, I have just checked in online sources. It is 45l. And I do not believe there would be 15l reserve in a compact car.

Please post a link

Seweryn

JohnBoy26 wrote: »

Please post a link

Link, which says 45l for the hatchback and 55l for 5-door liftback and estate (on the right).
Sorry, could not find so detailed data in English.

JohnBoy26

Seweryn wrote: »

Link, which says 45l for the hatchback and 55l for 5-door liftback and estate (on the right).
Sorry, could not find so detailed data in English.

Fair enough I was wrong, I was full sure it was 55l apologies

Tea 1000

JohnBoy26 wrote: »

Fair enough I was wrong, I was full sure it was 55l apologies

So in conclusion, both the Civic and Corolla are about as efficient as each other, and both ultra reliable. Buy the cleanest one you can find for the budget. Forget any Fiesta before 2008.