Bright as sunshine: 1999 Civic Ferio Vi-RS

Yellow things will always light up a dull day

It's yellow. You could of course see that in the pictures, a beautiful shade of sunny, happy, smiley yellow. Yellow also means a cautionary color. It says pause. You know the yellow in traffic lights? It says pause. The red light is about to come up.

This is the 6th generation Civic. Some say it is the best generation of all the Civics. The ones before this were lighter, had better power to weight ratios and were simpler. This generation, with its beak like front, came with added features. It was the start of bulking up. The new ones? Too big, too heavy, still great to drive though. The 6th generation is the choice for racers, ricers and people in between who like to have something light, smart, sharply designed and reliable.
My first introduction to the 6th generation Honda Civic was way back when these things were new, in 1998. A friend had it and he beat the living daylights out of it. The car back then and the yellow buttery machine here are/were both the Ferio Vi-RS. That means a D15B with a 3-stage VTEC engine good for almost 130hp. Back then, in my post-pimply adolescent state, I was considering myself to be nearly grown up. I was entering university, and driving cars were all about impressing the girls. Of course, the Civic my friend had, had too many scratches to be attractive. But man it could pull. It was a manual 5 speed and that meant you could launch it to 3000rpm so the VTEC would activate. Except we didn't know all that. This was before the age of the internet when we were all actually talking to real people to socialize. All we knew was to hold the revs and shift at 3k. Many burned tires later, that car became a fond memory.
It's been a while now. And I've properly grown up. And now I find this beautiful Civic to rekindle some old memories. For starters this one is almost the same. Except it is in immaculate condition inside and out. No soda bottles rolling around in the back seat. No duct tape holding the headlights in place. And it has a CVT gearbox. No manual.
This modern-ish car has aged very well, the lines are still sharp and appealing with all the right proportions of a car: long, low front, mid length cabin and appropriately short buttocks. This Civic also has a well maintained interior. Everything still feels mint. And in typical Honda fashion, all necessary controls are well within arm's reach.

Smoke, lights and action. 130bhp from more than a decade ago still good for lighting up those front tyres.

So what's it like on the road? It's not blisteringly fast but it is pretty quick. That subtle difference in syntax is necessary to explain its appeal. This is a road car with a restrained wild side, and that CVT is proof that this technology works if maintained right. This car is more than a decade old and the CVT transmission still works like butter. The handling is tight with minimal body roll. It's a “cool” family car unlike the fat and slow modern offerings.
Being low, it needs to be driven with care. Having a CVT gearbox, it is smooth and quick and those 130 horses still gallop pretty with gusto. Turns out those end-of-school memories in a fast Honda weren't just full of nostalgic misinformation. It was pretty fast then, compared to the stuff available in the early 2000s. And it's still pretty fast. This car will get faster as a new heart transplant is in the works (starts with a B, ends with a C).

SPECS  1999 Honda Civic Ferio Vi-RS

Engine: 1.5 litre D15B three stage VTEC SOHC; K&N air intake, NGK Iridium IX spark plugs, aftermarket plug wires.
Brakes: Disc brakes all around.
Wheels and tires: Genuine OZ Racing 17 inch wheels with Federal 205/55/R17 tires.
Exterior: Spoon Yellow paint, lip lit, clear indicators, black housing headlights, LED taillights.
Transmission: Honda Multimatic MMT CVT gearbox.
Suspension: Eibach lowering springs, KYB shocks, strut tower bar.

Want one?
EK series Civic pros and cons.

Parts availability: Civic relatively cheap compared to other Honda models, but obviously more expensive than Toyota's equivalent cars. If you find a store that sells Honda parts, stick to it and forget about looking around more. Great thing about Honda parts, they're all genuine, because not enough demand for replicated parts.

Performance: Stock D-series engines are not that fast, but economical. SOHC, 4-cylinder engine sound isn't particularly inspiring. For a lot more grunt, B16A and B16B engines provide bang for buck performance. If your budget can be strained, B18C is a terrific choice.

Maintenance: CVT gearbox is an early innovation, so CVT equipped Civic Ferios require proper, professional gearbox maintenance. A good CVTF fluid is an absolute necessity, so don't skimp out on buying the right fluids just because they're expensive. Buying a new gearbox would hurt your wallet a lot more, so keep that in mind.

Body: Can be made to look good very easily, with just a few cosmetic additions here and there. One annoyance faced by owners of this generation of the Civic is that any work on the front of the car that requires the headlights removed, requires removal of the front bumper first. This also means that every bump your front bumper takes, has a chance of making the headlights pop out of their fittings.

Re-sale value: It IS true that Hondas have very little re-sale value, but this generation of the Civic has managed to hold its value up quite well over the years. What this means is that finding and buying good condition Civic is going to be kind of expensive. Expect to pay around 5.5-6.5 lakhs for a late 90's model (prices found online). Be wary of the already modified ones. When and if you sell it off again, don't expect all of your invested money to come back to you.

Special thanks to Shoeb Tahseen Shawon.

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