Advice for buying used Accord/Civic, please?

The 1988 and 1996 changes were more than just fresh sheetmetal.

The 1988 model replaced all of the carburator engines with fuel injected engines. The famed double wishbone suspension on all four wheels was also included in the 1988 models. Wheelbase was also increased compared to the 1984 model.

The 1996 model came with engine changes, and a longer wheelbase for the hatchbacks. Most notable was that the HX replaced the VX, with more power, but worse fuel economy (the HX was not that much better than the regular Civics).

Didn't the original poster indicate looking for a car with a manual transmission? In that case, reliability and durability of the automatic transmission would not be an issue.

Are you sure about this? I thought that you still get a carbureted engine in a 4th-gen Civic, and that '92 was the first year that all Civics got fuel injection.

Since I'm alway going off topic:

Did ya know that the 05 Civic can do over a 1000Km per Tank? I think the Reverb's body kit might have helped...

If true in the US, that would only be for the base model 70hp engine with 4-speed manual transmission; the DX/LX/Wagovan 1.5L 92hp engine and the Si/4WD-wagon 1.6L 106?hp engines were fuel injected.

in the u.s., 88-on are all fuel injected. the 1.5l 88-91 models has a dual point throttle body injection unit that /looks/ like a carburettor, but isn't! the 1.6l has 4-point injection.

True, but original post specified Automatic transmission.

I owned a base model '91 Civic, and it was fuel injected. Fuel injection from that era came in two flavors: Dual-Point Throttle Body Injection, which was on the D15B1 and D15B2 motors, and a port-injection system that was on the D15B6 motor in the HF (High gas mileage) model, and on the Si. The HF motor had only 8 valves, while the rest were all 16 valve engines.

I saw three of these motors when I did a swap at 225,000 miles. The D15B1 motor was original, the yard gave me an HF (D15B6) motor by mistake, and I traded it back to them for a D15B2 motor, which was a direct bolt-in and plug-in replacement. I got over 40 MPG with the setup, and drove it another 40,000 miles before buying my Accord 5 years ago, and sold the civic to a friend. He still has it, and it has nearly