shit, just typed half a page out and crashed, oh well, here it is...

Look out for

Tyre wear, the rear camber can not be adjusted and they eat the rears, you can buy an aftermarket kit which will allow you to adjust them.

They can drink oil so weekly checks are a must.

check 2nd gear and reverse, can be iffy on some and will need an overhaul

Make sure it has a full service history by honda

alloys can suffer from pitting and can also be easily kurbed

look out for imports being passed off as uk cars

steering racks can fail - think they are noisy if going

suspension can be very sqeeky

stone chipping on the front end

dents on the sides, big flat doors with no protection so car park dents are likely

make sure the vtec kicks in well, 20mph in 2nd then put you foot FLAT to the floor and just over 6k you should feel the kick and hear the engine note change.

Do not rag from from cold, let it warm up - they have a very high tick over from cold and will last a minute before dropping down.

They are almost silent when warmed up tciking over. Mine is so quiet i have tried to start it whilst it is running more than once

These cars do have a high turn over of owners, I would not be put be put off if there is a good service record.

This is likely due to the fact that you have to drive them hard to get the most out of them, i sometimes find that although I love the civic, the additional insurance and fuel consumption is not justified by the performance. It isn't often you can really open these up in day to day use so the performance is no different to a 2.0l car.

But the ride is comfortable, the seats are ace, and the gear position once used to it is cracking and it's feels boring going back to a normal car. Get that lump up in the top end of the revs and get it threw the gears and it can be a quality motor.

Buy one at a good price as you may want to ,move on in a year and the new model is pushing prices down.

Get on to the civic type r owners site, it's a must