What to pay for an EP3 in 2020?

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Just wondering what people are paying for decent EP3s these days. They appear to have gone up a bit since I last thought seriously about buying one, in 2016 but big variations in prices between, say an early pre facelift and an anniversary edition model.

I've seen this one for sale near me (see link below) - its a pre facelift model with below average miles and seems a bit pricey, but is it? I imagine you probably won't lose much money at this point, buying now and selling after a few years...

Also wondering what people think about high mileage cars - i.e over 125K sort of mileage. They're cheap, but are they worn out by that stage? Do the engines still retain decent BHP when old? I read somewhere they can be down to 180BHP by 80K miles!

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/202...

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croissant said:

£4k for a pre facelift is too much, even in mint condition. But that's just my opinion. To determine the true value, find some on ebay that are up for auction and see what they sell for and that will give an indication of what you should be paying.

I think they bottomoed out and since crept up a little, but cant see them rising rapidly in the near future.

With a car like this and of this age you should always buy on condition rather than mileage. I've had a few vtec cars and the higher mileage ones always felt noticeably zippier, so i don't they lose power with age at all. Quite the opposite in fact.

Yeah, I was thinking nearer £3K for a pre-facelift with that mileage. I'll take a look at Ebay later.

What sort of mileage were the higher mileage ones you drove? I must admit, I don't fear higher mileage cars at all, my old petrol Mazda 6 seemed faster when I sold it at 130,000 miles than when I bought it at 91,000! Perhaps its a Jap car thing, although I've read similar comments about Clio 182s getting stronger with miles. BTW, I cant decide between the Civic and the Clio. I basically really fancy an old school n/a hot hatch, whilst they're still attainable...

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Ankh87 said:

Depending on what you want from the EP3 you could get an Mazda 3 MPS. Has good handling and decent power, as well as it's more modern. Don't get me wrong they drive fuel and the tax is a lot but overall it's a better car for day to day and the odd track session.

If you really do want an EP3 i'd look for a Premier Edition. It'll hold it's value more and I'd keep it standard or if you were to modify it keep the standard bits .

Ahh, the Mazda 3 MPS - if you look at my garage history you'll see I'm a bit of a Mazda fan, but for me there are two drawbacks with the MPS. Firstly, the cheaper ones are in the £555 per year (or whatever it is these days) VED bracket and secondly, all the reviews say that the power is concentrated in the 2000-4500 RPM bracket with not much beyond that. I like cars which keep pulling as the revs go beyond 6000..... even my current runaround shed Focus 1.6 enjoys a good thrash to 6500 RPM.

In the cheap (likely future classic) hot hatch market, for me its always boiled down to three predictable options. 1) a Renaultsport Clio 2) a Civic Type R (EP3 or FN2) or 3) a Golf GTI MK5. These are the three that seem to always rate very highly on any owners based poll on best 2000 hot hatches. Yes I know the Golf is a torque based car, but its always been rated as a very good all round package.

Edited by greenarrow on Friday 28th February 13:58

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I do like the Celica T Sport, almost bought one 3 years ago on an Ebay auction and got outbid, only got as far as driving it around the car park of the dealership doing the auction! For me, as a car that has to transport two teenage girls from time to time, the Celica back seats may be a little too compromised....ditto the Clio maybe too tiny too.

The T Sport Corolla I drove some years ago and it was a weird car...incredibly peaky engine and under-damped suspension was a strange mix. Now I know the V-Tecs are peaky too, but the Corolla really had absolutely nothing below about 6000 RPM! I guess the celica would be the same, although I think its a bit lighter and the chassis is good.

I've registered with the Facebook Ep3 for sale group, but notice it seems to be exactly the same cars that are for sale on Ebay. BTW, most are asking for around £2750-£3000 and the cheaper ones seem to be modded. I'm not sure at my age I really want an aftermarket big bore exhaust and lowered suspension!!

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Butter Face said:

It’s funny how rust can seemingly affect some cars but not others, mines an earlyish prefacelift and has zero rust on it. I’ve seen some facelifts that are completely rotted out.

As for values, they seem to be going up slightly. A nice early car is easily £2k now, later cars with nice ‘bits’ and you’re £4k. Some people asking lots for JDM/late low mileage premiers etc.

I think if I got mine painted and looking right I’d be wanting £7k for it. My insurance valuation was £6.5k this year which is pretty decent.

I think you might have offered to sell me yours when I last put up a topic like this in 2016! Bet you're glad you kept it.

The EP3 is one of those cars I've sort of fancied for years but never taken the plunge. Got outbid on an ebay auction in 2016 and bought a Merc CLK430 instead. Even nice ones were only about £2K then - now they're around the £3.5K to £4K mark (whatever people may say on this thread, you can't get a nice one now for £2K IMO - not an original one at least), so I guess it may be the last chance to get one before they're too old and too expensive!

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So, just rebooting this after a couple of months spent looking at classified ads on the usual places and also the Facebook Honda Civic EP3 Owners page which I joined. I left that site btw, as it was just full of traders trying to beat down the prices of private sellers and younger drivers who were seriously into modding their cars. Very few standard examples to be seen. Anyway I digress, I've now come to the conclusion that there seems to be a dearth of rust free standard EP3s out there worth buying at the moment, but plenty of early FN2s which seem to be a similar price and without the rust issues. I know that the FN2 is unloved in Civic Type R circles, but it does seem to have a lot going for it as a second hand hot hatch and they're getting seriously cheap for what they are IMO.

So is the FN2 actually the better buy now?

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Mark-t said:

It depends what you want from the car but the fn2 was arguably always the better buy over a (UK) EP3.

You probably know that one of the reasons for the negative press was the fn2 changed from independent rear suspension to a beam, but my fn2 handled way better than my EP3 ever did, not to mention the improved steering feel (the EP3 suffered from a numb sensation when loaded into sharp corner which takes a bit of getting used to).

The fn2 added creature comforts may detract from the driving experience or make it useable, depending who you speak to or what you'd use the car for. Also, the added engine balance shaft refines the k20 engine but also robs a little power, but many owners remove this (a few hundred pound and an opportunity to renew the timing chain and tensioner).

Fn2s suffered a bit with rust above the windscreen seal but Honda were rectifying this (along with a revised seal) but mine was great apart from that.

Yes my take on it is that in 2007, the motoring media were expecting much more than additional 1BHP and marked it down thus, especially with the controversial torsion beam suspension, bearing in mind that every other manufacturer had moved on considerably from launch of Ep3 to Fn2. Then there was that famous Top Gear Test where JC slated the FN2. However, the FN2 has plenty going for it IMO, in that it still looks very modern, the interior has most of the kit you want on a car and its still a n/a V-tec engine. Also, I've watched articles on You Tube from reviewers where the EP3 and FN2 are very closely matched on performance and A to B speed out of the box.

For me the main drawback would be the ride. I understand its particularly harsh and I am not sure I would be able to put up with that these days on a daily driver. I've got to an age where crashy rides irritate me a little! So I need to drive one really. But at under £3K for a 2007 or 2008 car with history that is likely to prove extremely reliable, can you really do better in the Used hot hatch market?

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Today I have found an EP3 on EBAY (and Autotrader) going for £2450. Its a pre facelift (not desirable), on 140K miles, which is below average for year but fairly high in the scheme of things, but crucially since 2006 it has only failed one MOT and that was on a minor item. Its very rare these days to find a 17 year old car which has only ever failed one MOT, believe me! Most I look at fail most years at that age.

I am sure someone will tell me that's strong money for a pre facelift EP3, but to me it seems quite a rare thing in 2020, a standard, non modified EP3 with a very good looking MOT history which points to a car that has been looked after. I find myself quite tempted.

BTW, there are currently only 4 EP3s on Autotrader in the entire country for under £3K, so there's not much choice out there!

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Butter Face said:

What colour is it?

Black - my favourite for an EP3