1992 Honda Civic VX original motor/ transmission with comforts added!

1992 Honda Civic Description

For those unfamiliar, the Civic VX is pretty much the most fuel efficient gas-powered vehicle out there that will carry four people. It gets better mileage than a Prius on the highway, and not much worse in-city.
This one is a stock Canadian-made for the lower-48 VX. I bought this car in July 2009 with (ballpark) 180k miles at the time. I live in the city and work from home, so my trips are infrequent and short, and I've had two of these. (I always thought it would be nice to troubleshoot problems by switching out parts, but I've had so few problems with either car that that was only useful once!) We have a baby now and the 2-door hatch is too frustrating for in-and-out with the car seat in the back. We've already bought a newer (still Honda!) 4-door, and the VX is getting very little use.
I don't know a lot about the history of this one before it came to me, but it did come with records...for oil changes, tires, and a stereo that was added--typical for the Hondas I've owned.This car, in just city driving, usually averages 40 (38-41) mpg. On a highway trip, depending mostly on speed, I've averaged 43-46 mpg, just driving mindfully, not hyper-miling or anything unusual. Over the time I've owned it, it's never had any major problem.
The car has a few mods--all of them creature comforts, not to the drivetrain. One is that I replaced the ICU with one from a newer generation Civic. This had 2 benefits--it fixed that lights-left-on problem (the stock VX has a warning chime for door ajar, but not for lights), and it allowed the newer wiper control arm I installed to have an intermittent setting, another feature not available on the stock VX, to many people's frustration. The second change is an after-market Pioneer stereo-head unit. It plays CDs and has an AUX input, both nice upgrades with negligible weight gain. It's still just the front two speakers, but has power and wires installed to add rear speakers (not my addition). The third change is a passenger side mirror, for safety. In 1992 the VX did not have one--it wasn't legally required and not having it saves a bit of wind drag. Another addition is a manual, aftermarket sunroof, which is new in the past year, with good seals and leak-free (more on that below). The last add-on is an aftermarket remote door un/lock and alarm system, which is a pretty nice one.
The drivetrain is remarkably original. It has the coveted VX original wheels and lean-burn D15Z1 motor. The tires are all in great shape with roughly 5-10k miles on them (front and back bought about 9 months apart) miles on them. The engine is strong, with consistently good mileage. I've changed the oil always between 3-5k miles, and at least once a year. The engine compartment in the photo has not been degreased by me, ever. If you've read this far, and you don't already know this, I've got a second VX listed currently as well. They are both 1992s. This one, in this listing, has consistently registered slightly poorer fuel efficiency (though still pretty darned good). It does have bigger than stock tires (if you don't know, most of them do...the original size is pretty hard to find anymore, and not cheap), so it's actually going slightly more miles than what is registered...and they are not LRR, so that explains some, maybe all of that.
I've wondered whether the transmission was changed out at some point for a different Civic transmission (gearing was different for different sub-models), but I've never been able to confirm that for sure. The tach seems to register different RPM at the same speeds from the other VX, but that could maybe just be different imprecise tachs). There is apparently no identifying stamp on the outside of the tranny. I was part of a dialogue on the Fuelly (gassavers) forum years ago on this subject, but no sure answer. I'm just putting this out there. This car has always run great and I've never come up with any other explanations for the difference in mileage than the tires/ and possibly transmission.
So, the good, summing up: good looking clean-bodied Civic VX with great mileage and strong D15Z1 engine. If you're reading this, you've probably been looking for one of these cars. It has about 800 miles since I last changed the oil/filter and plugs.
And now to the bad: the biggest thing- the car has a reconstructed title. It's never been in an accident, to my knowledge, but someone did a bang-up (but not good) job of trying to steal it last year. My insurance company totaled it and let me keep it when I complained about how little they paid out for it. The damage I've fixed was to two of the key cylinders (replaced and re-keyed to match), and to the sunroof (I replaced it with a very slightly bigger one than had been there before, as this was the would-be thief's point of entry, and the original sunroof manufacture has changed their standard dimensions.) The good news is that the sunroof no longer drips in a heavy downpour.
The other main bad thing is the paint. Mostly it's in pretty good shape for a car of its age. Two bad areas though: the front right fender has a pretty ugly area where the clear coat is peeling off (see photos), and (that darned thief again) several areas that got keyed and are scratched up.
The driver's seat has the tear that every Civic of this vintage I've found has, in the left side about where your lower left ribs would rub as you step out of the car. I've looked for a good replacement many times at my local U-Pull it, but they all seem to have that tear.
I've tried hard to lay out everything I know about the car. I'm happy to answer questions for interested parties, and I'll try to do so within 24 hours. For you on the east coast and in the mid-west concerned about rust, tell me where you want the camera pointed and I'll try my best to find it. We do get snow here a little, but salt is outlawed on the roads in Oregon. I grew up in the Southeast, and it's amazing to me how little rust develops on cars here.
I'm willing to hold car off-street beyond 10 days if pickup or shipping within that time is prohibitive. We'd have to work out payment though. I reserve the right to cancel bids from buyers with no feedback or history.
PLEASE NOTE: I've got two VXs listed for sale here on eBay, right now. This one is only a 5-day listing, so they will be ending pretty close together. PLEASE don't count on sniping either of these, as I may remove one of the listings early if there appears to be no activity on it, or if it sells locally.
Also, I won't hold anyone liable to buy both cars, should one account holder have high bids on both..(that is, unless you really want to take both!)
Thank-you.