- Hi Scotty, I’m thinking about buying a 2017-2020 manual Toyota Corolla or a Honda Civic. Which car do you think would be more reliable, and which model year(s) should I stay away from?
I mean the newer Civic's are much better cars overall than the Corolla's. But realize the 2016-2017 Civic's with the 1.5Turbo have oil dellusion issues as long as you stick to the naturally aspirated 2.0, then the engines are bulletproof and better than Toyota's. Toyota has been using a 1.8 engine for like 25 years in the Corolla but honestly the Civic engine is better. The benifit of the corolla is that the sedan models had bulletproof automatic transmissions while the civic had decent ones but if it is a manuel go for the Civic.
Both great cars overall. To me, between two great cars, it comes down to aesthetics. If it was a few years before, I'd go Civic, but the years you outlined, I'd probably go Corolla.
Just get the naturally aspirated for better chance at higher reliability. Less parts, less trouble in the long term.
If you want a civic with the manual transmission, only the LX, Sport, SI and Type R models come with a manual transmission. The LX and Sport are pretty basic cheap models while the SI and Type R are pretty pricey. I’d definitely avoid any SI model made after 2015 because of the 1.5 turbo engine. The Civic LX and Sport come with the 2.0 non-turbo so they can be excellent vehicles with a manual transmission.
As long as the airbags have been replaced or have a new manufacturer one just right out, then either or. Toyota had another massive recall recently for some engine problems... so maybe honda is better for the time being.
