hey Scotty, I’m looking at a 2017 Honda Civic with 35,000 miles from a dealership. I know you’re not a fan of CVT’s but what’s your take on Honda cvts, are they reliable?
Clarification: How many years and miles do you need that vehicle to last you?
Toyota and Honda make their own CVTs and they are better built than Nissan. But consider that the CVT is weak (compared to other transmissions) and so you should take care of it. Change the CVT fluid every 30-40k miles to make it last and ONLY use Honda Fluid.
See below on CVT: Also, the Honda Civic engine you mention 2.0L naturally aspirated I4 (K20C2) is based on Honda’s K-series engine and is true and tried. That engine is also a unicorn these days in that the engine is only port injection (there is no GDI) - which is ideal. I would take that Civic as long as an independent, honest mechanic like a Scotty thoroughly checks it out, hooks up his fancy scan tool, road tests, and analyzes all the data and says it is OK. Also, for that CVT change the fluid every 30,000 miles or what the owner’s manual says (whichever is less) and don’t beat the heck out of it. I believe they also offered a manual transmission depending on the trim; if you were planning on keeping the car for a long time nothing beats the manual for longevity.
https://carkiller.com/scottykilmer/qa/honda-cvt/#post-34438
https://carkiller.com/scottykilmer/postid/114551/
