Another Car Question

[Tom]

My son in law had a Suzuki.

I'm sorry. (My step daughter has a Suzuki Grand Vitara (Nothing "Grand" abou that thing) and it is a worthless pile of dog sh--.

I HATE that car. Suzuki's are like the old Life-Like F-9's if a Honda, Nissan, Chevy, Ford, etc. is a Kato. I refer to them as "disposable cars", kind of like a Bic lighter that runs out of fluid, you don't try to refill it, you just toss the whole thing and get a new one, but then again, the way the spoiled kid takes care of cars (or more to the point, doesn't take care of cars; she's 23 and this is her 5th car and IT is on its last leg), I don't feel sorry for her having to drive that pile of crap. When it dies, Daddy or uncle will just buy her a new whatever she wants.

At any rate, I have read a lot of great advice regarding your '98 Civic. Keep it, do a safety check, and to take it one step further, you can do what I do with the racecar in the shop on Friday nights (before each race Saturday); I call it a "nut and bolt". It is a fine toothed safety inspection and EVERY nut and bolt gets checked with a socket of wrench. I want to lay my tools on EVERY piece of the car before we put our driver in it and her life on the line, I check EVERYTHING. Might not be a bad idea to get your Civic up on jack stands, get on a creeper adn do the same. Best to have your mechanic do a safety inspection, but also not a bad idea to check things yourself when you have the extra time and a little concern. Though I am NOT a fan of Jap Wagons, as far as foreign cars go, Honda by far makes the best in my opinion (though Nissan and Toyota make great ones too), so enjoy your Honda. It's probably just getting broken in at this point anyway!