[VisualEcho]

Originally Posted by swanson

Who the hell dreams of owning a honda civic? lol

The entire world of kids that grew up watching The Fast and the Furious.

Don't hate.

[PYE46M3]

Originally Posted by VisualEcho

The entire world of kids that grew up watching The Fast and the Furious.

Don't hate.

exactly.... when I was in high school, you were the coolest kid if you had one of these Civic Si's in red or blue lol

[fastboatster]

Originally Posted by VisualEcho

The entire world of kids that grew up watching The Fast and the Furious.

Don't hate.

I did and I'm not dreaming of civics) supra - yeah, maybe but not so sure.

[1MOREMOD]

Wait for the vtec to kick in

[VisualEcho]

Originally Posted by fastboatster

I did and I'm not dreaming of civics) supra - yeah, maybe but not so sure.

The Civic never did anything for me either, but I thought that particular Si was cool, for a Civic.

80's: Fiji Blue Conquest TSi.

90's: Brilliant Black FD.

[quick]

One has to be very careful going to a casino and bidding at an auction. In both situations you get caught in that moment and end up spending way more than what you first intended to?

People that spend $50,000 for a 20 year old Civic are not your ordinary people and to them that amount is probably a chump change. He's probably buying it as we buy 1:18 model cars.

[Efthreeoh]

Originally Posted by ASAP

I get why people have sentimental value for cars like these, the base line cars were more enthusiast oriented back in the day...

However; there was an article i read where they compared an new Civic to one of these older SI models and the older SI model was fun for about 15 minutes before you realize its a 20 year old car... the new car blew it away in every way.

Consider you can have a modern Civic Type R for 35K... again, not sure who would make the decision for the above, it's at best a $5k car.

Short story....

So a few years ago I found what seemed to be a time capsule 1984 Pontiac Fiero 2M4. It was local to me, so I got the opportunity to review it first hand and drive it. While most people today find the Fiero amusing, but as far as automotive history goes, the Fiero is a very important car. It basically pioneered the adoption of molded plastic body panels for the automotive industry and it developed the high-rate production "spaceframe" architecture. It even had the rear sound system speakers in the headrests, really neat for the day. The Fiero's architecture launched the Saturn car company. But as typical, as soon as GM got the car "right" they canned it.

My older brother bought one new in 1984. I had a lot of seat time behind the wheel in it back in the day. In the era it existed, it was a great driving car, not super fast - average for the day, but it was a cool 2-seat, mid-engine sports coupe.

So back to my test drive in 2018. And that's the issue with old cars that you remember from your youth. Drive them in the modern day and they are... 20-year old cars and much more outdated than you remember. The Fiero I test drove while not in perfect mechanical condition, was nothing like I remember my brother's car in the mid 1980's. I passed on the Fiero.

That experience moved forward to late 2018, when a 1982 BMW E21 320i popped up. Again, the BMW was "local" to me, about a 3-hour drive away. This E21 was pristine. It had 55,000 miles on it. Was held by the 2nd owner, who was a car guy, but "just not a BMW car guy" as he told me. He bought it because the E21 was truly a perfect example. The original owner was a VW tech back in the 1980's and it was his dream car. I think the original owner wiped down the E21 with baby diapers after every drive. The current owner in New Jersey wanted $13,000 for it.

The E21 is probably my favorite BMW. I spent a lot of seat time behind the wheel of several E21's back when they were new as well. My same brother owned a '82 E21 before the Fireo. '76 E21 was the first BMW I ever drove.

But the New Jersey E21 was available in late 2018. I was very busy at work and just couldn't get up to Jersey to get it, and I didn't want to expose it to winter road salt. So I passed on it too, most of the reason was because of the Fiero experience, I didn't want to ruin my memories of the E21 fearing I'd find it disappointingly outdated. Keep in mind my wife has a 22-year old Z3 that I drive every few weeks, so I already have an old BMW, thank God with E30 heritage. I had a E30 too, for 18 years that I stupidly sold in 2006. Anyway.

The E21 went for $25,000 on BAT last year. The seller I was working with in late 2018 sold it to the first person who had contacted him about it (I was the second, but closer to him). The first buyer eventually bought it in early 2019, and flipped it on BAT in June 2019.

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1982-bmw-320i-21/

The other reason I passed on the E21 was because I can't have a garage queen as I live in the woods and mice will tear up a car around here if you don't move it every few days and drive it. I have a 165-mile per day commute, so even driving it 1 day a week adds 8,000 miles a year. And that's the dilemma; buy a really low mileage example of a pristine example of a car from your youth for a lot of money, and if you use it, you kill the value of it. Don't drive it and it will deteriorate as well.

I wouldn't have dropped $50K on a Civic, nor even $25K on the E21. Maybe if I was Jay Leno...

[heavyD^2]

I was going to buy one of those new but at the end of the day I felt $28k CDN was too much for a civic at that time. There's not a lot special about that car outside of the B16A engine and I had already owned that engine in a del sol VTEC.

[theEZV]

I'll also say that, for me, this car sort of ushered in the next era of affordable sport compacts. Besides the Sentra SE-R, there really wasn't a lot choices in the mid to late 90s. After the EM1, it seemed like everybody jumped on board - Mazda came out with the MP3 followed by the Mazdaspeed Protege, Ford with the SVT Focus, Nissan with the new SE-R Spec V, Dodge/Chrysler with SRT-4... Then we finally got the real good stuff like the WRX and Sti, EVO, etc... It was a good time to get into cars. I still have all my tuner magazines from the era in the garage somewhere.

[spazzyfry123]

Originally Posted by joyjoy22

It doesn't look old at all, it seems like it has been well-maintained by the previous owner.

Well, I mean, for $50k...

[Socal_R8]

I'm a Honda fan as you can tell by my username, but holy shit someone is an idiot.....

I sold my 1992 NSX for $42k last summer...... its 20x's the Civic Si on every level.

Maybe some guy has like 5 of these things and had a buddy bid it up to $5Ok to try to drive up,the market on these things or there was $37K in the trunk

[roastbeef]

Originally Posted by SoCal_NSX

I'm a Honda fan as you can tell by my username, but holy shit someone is an idiot.....

I sold my 1992 NSX for $42k last summer...... its 20x's the Civic Si on every level.

Maybe some guy has like 5 of these things and had a buddy bid it up to $5Ok to try to drive up,the market on these things or there was $37K in the trunk

right, but you can find some nice examples of the nsx that have been well taken care of and have relatively low miles.
the people who typically bought this civic si modded them. i think most of the value comes from this car surviving so many years without being molested. i'd bet this civic is some 35 year old's 4th or 5th car and they have a few bucks to spare.

[Maitre_Absolut]

Originally Posted by theEZV

I'll also say that, for me, this car sort of ushered in the next era of affordable sport compacts. Besides the Sentra SE-R, there really wasn't a lot choices in the mid to late 90s. After the EM1, it seemed like everybody jumped on board - Mazda came out with the MP3 followed by the Mazdaspeed Protege, Ford with the SVT Focus, Nissan with the new SE-R Spec V, Dodge/Chrysler with SRT-4... Then we finally got the real good stuff like the WRX and Sti, EVO, etc... It was a good time to get into cars. I still have all my tuner magazines from the era in the garage somewhere.

Those were the days. I had an RSX Type-S, my buddies were in VR6, Spec-V, GTi, SVT, SRT-4, Si etc. The height of sport compact. Acura getting out was the first sign of decline.

What do today's kids have as options in those price ranges? Probably nothing.

[Darth One]

Usually when you read about a $50k civic sale around here, it’s referring to a civic m3...

[Humdizzle]

i can't understand the logic but hey... people pay that much for a slow af e30 m3 with a 4 banger too.

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/19...egra-type-r-4/

97 Integra Type R sold for $80k last September.

[Obioban]

Honda has lost the plot almost as much as BMW. For someone that wants a traditional honda experience, I can completely see it-- not a lot of options out there if you want like new that.

[ShocknAwe]

Awesome car! BAT sees some extreme examples though. This is absolutely an outlier.

[Efthreeoh]

Originally Posted by roastbeef

right, but you can find some nice examples of the nsx that have been well taken care of and have relatively low miles.
the people who typically bought this civic si modded them. i think most of the value comes from this car surviving so many years without being molested. i'd bet this civic is some 35 year old's 4th or 5th car and they have a few bucks to spare.

No flame , but shit dude it's just a Civic. And the NSX is an actual automobile.

[Mingwan]

If you’ve got the money, and you’re a jdm fanboi why not. The thing does look immaculate as fuck. The fact that this car has survived this long without getting riced out is more impressive than the price it sold for.

[jamesinaz]

Originally Posted by Mingwan

If you’ve got the money, and you’re a jdm fanboi why not. The thing does look immaculate as fuck. The fact that this car has survived this long without getting riced out is more impressive than the price it sold for.

I agree it's up to the person with the money to decide value. No argument. And it probably is rare as hell to be this nice. Until people start restoring them which they will if this is a true indication of the resale value.

But looking at it my way someone shelled out $50K for a car that had an MSRP of about $20K in 2000. It had 160 HP and regardless of fond memory was not an amazing car in any way other than Honda made really reliable cars in that era.

Doing the least amount of effort to find one at my local Porsche dealer I found a 2006 Cabriolet Carrera Convertible 911 with 35K miles on it for $42K. It has over 325 HP and is a true sports car from the get go. And it's MSRP was over $80K.

I get how nostalgia plays a role in life. And I agree with the sentiment that the muscle cars of the 60s and 70s sell for stupid money. Yet, at least they WERE performance vehicle to begin with. Civics? Guess I'm too old to get it.

[AlpineWhite_SJ]

Originally Posted by Mingwan

If you’ve got the money, and you’re a jdm fanboi why not. The thing does look immaculate as fuck. The fact that this car has survived this long without getting riced out is more impressive than the price it sold for.

Yeah, that's the thing with JDM cars of this era. Ones in decent to good condition are getting really hard to find. Most were thrashed within an inch of their life and sold used to someone else who did the same. Even the ones used as efficient daily drivers were snapped up second hand and then poorly modded as JDM scene went more mainstream and lost the quality/clean ethos in favor of cheesy mods, stickers and big wings/exhausts.

[chino101]

Could be a collector or a museum expanding their collection.