It's all about having a Hothatch

36,000 Miles later

2007-05-09T16:31:00.000-04:00

On the way into work today I hit the 36,000 mile mark. It has taken me a little over 2 years to hit this mark which, is a lot shorter time than I wished it would have taken. During this time my 2005 Civic Si has been on the shop way more times than I would have thought it would be in during the first 5-6 years! There has been everything from the night that I bought it and had to send it back to their cleaners/detailers 3 times to get them just to clean the back window enough that I didn't see the suction cup marks and conveyor belt streaks from the manufacturing process, to my most recent trip where the elastic string that lifts the hatch lid when opening the hatch broke. Over this first 36,000 miles I have had two different dealers damage different parts of the car, including a dealers garage door smashing into the spoiler that was given to me by the other dealer for when they damaged my car. Clutch clicking, door noises, and the ever annoying window seals tearing! I have had to get the drivers side window seal replaced 3 count them boys and girls 3 times and the passenger one once. OH yea, and the car doesn't like going into reverse sometimes which, from what I have read ALL of the EP3's have this problem from time to time (some more than others).
As much as it sounds like I hate my car I really don't I think it's a great and unique car that I hope I can cheaply keep going for many many years to come. Will I buy another car made in the UK...um...NO. If I didn't love the car overall then I wouldn't spend 1 1/2 - 4 hours cleaning it each time (which tends to be twice a week and is cheaper than therapy ;) ) Looking around my office I also am reminded that I love my car enough to have put it up against some great pictures of other EP3's and won one of the spots in a calender! It was the first month in the calender (October 2006). I hope I have lots of great news in the future about my unique and fun 2005 Civic Si (EP3).

Even with the best intentions

2007-03-10T09:57:00.000-05:00

Every time I think I'm going to post on a frequent basis I get wrapped up in life and don't. With that being said I've hit 30,000+ miles on the EP. I had the service done for this mileage but did not have them change the air filters. I don't see why in the world I should pay Honda $110 to change the in cabin air filter! I bought the filters for $30 and change them myself and saved $80 for doing 5 minutes worth of work. Got to love doing things for your self.

Taffeta White...

2006-09-07T22:59:00.000-04:00

It's hard to see from this size on the picture but the sign behind the EP reads Taffeta, which is the color of the car. I was driving around Hilton Head Island when I cam across this store and of course I HAD to stop and take some pics. The EP was very dirty from the drive to the island. It's actually so dirty that I'm a bit embarrassed that I'm even showing it. Oh well cars do get dirty, sometimes :)

OK so I'm a slacker

2006-09-07T22:37:00.000-04:00

There has been tons of things going on with the Egg. Right now it's in the shop AGAIN. This time it's in to fix the scratch across the dash they caused when fixing the windshield seal. It's also getting the spoiler paint fixed where the dealor had damaged it from another time when they were working on it. It's just great how much damage that has been done by the dealorships, there is more but that's for another day :)

EPHatch Calendar...

2006-05-16T15:03:00.000-04:00

I'll glaze over several things I've done to the Si to get to the point. I've submitted two pics for a contest to be in an EP3 calendar. I'll try to post them as soon as I can. The voting has been going on for a few days and I've gotten several votes so far. I really was hoping to get one particular one in the calendar but if it doesn't make it then I'll just have to practice and make better shots for the next time :) If nothing else it'll be a great reason to get a new lens for the Nikon! Wish me luck and go vote for Pics 86 and 87!!

Re-Badging is finally done!

2006-04-14T12:57:00.000-04:00

I finally got my re-badging done!!! I got my car back from Honda a few days back and they had taken the badges off for my to be nice since they did bang up my car. But I still like Ed Voyles Honda MUCH MUCH more than crappy Curry Honda. All that being said here is a quick shot of the Si looking better than it had been with the new "H" badge that my friend in Tokyo got for me. I know I could have gotten the badges from people on the net but there is something to the cool factor when you have the part hand picked for you from the factory. あなたに, Shimizu san 感謝しなさい (I hope that translates correctly!) I'll take more pics and put them up soon but I just got back from a quick 1000 mile trip so I need to do some pampering first.
Oh, BTW if you have an Si and want to get the badges the American Honda dealors don't even list the part in their systems so your best method and maybe only option is to get it from the net :(
Cheers!

What is going on here?

2006-03-27T22:41:00.000-05:00

I went to go pick up my car and all looked well until I returned the rental car. As I was on my way back to the dealer they called and had me get the rental car back. There had been an accident. Yep ANOTHER issue occurred at the dealership. As they were bringing my car into the carport the overhead door came down and slammed into the spoiler. What is the luck that two different dealers would damage my car? Well it happened. This was Friday and I brought the car home anyway for the weekend. So I figure I need to wash it after all of the hands all over it. Guess what? I find that they have damaged the underside of the passenger side skirt. Yep even more damage! I know it happened at the dealer because It was fine when I washed it a week ago. I know I wash it more than that normally but the dealer had it waxed and detailed And I knew I had to take it to the dealer again in a day or two anyway. It's Monday and I dropped of my car again at the dealer for them to repair the damage they did to the spoiler and to hunt down the source of the noise in the door. I'm stuck with a Ford focus zx4 again. Have I mentioned that these things are terrible? I can't believe all of the damage the car has had. It's been more than the CRX I had for 14 years. I'm so tired of all the crap with this that I'm not even going to write more about it tonight. I'll post some pictures of the damage and the section of the window seal that was the cause of the leak later.

The Hothatchback is in the shop with...

2006-03-22T21:30:00.000-05:00

Well the Si is back in the shop again. It started with a leak running into the floorboard, split window seals and a sunroof squeak. Turns out that the leak was coming from the windshield as expected. Honda has covered the repairs so far and I'm happy with that but the dealer did gouge the inside pillar, the sunroof switch and headliner aren't in place correctly, and the door panel was beat up pretty badly where they took one side off to replace the window seal. The good thing about all of this is that they recognize that they did all of the damage and are making amends. Unlike Curry Honda whom I hate, Ed Voyles knows what CUSTOMER SERVICE is. Let me state that again CURRY HONDA has the worst customer service I've ever had the misfortune to deal with. That is for another time to go into my hatred of Curry Honda. I get to pick up the Si tomorrow and I'm chomping at the bit to get back into my car. Since it's been in the shop I've had a Nissan Sentra and a Ford Focus ZX4. The Sentra wasn't too bad but the Focus is terrible and when I got it there was less than 500 miles. After driving these cars and the other rentals I've had over the last year have proven that Honda, even with it's flaws, still knows how to design a much better and comfortable car. To me the look and feel of the Japanese and German brands are far superior to the American brands. I guess that's for another blog.

The start of my complaints about...

2006-02-28T12:35:00.000-05:00

I'll start with a little disclaimer in case some companies are even worse than they have already been. All the statements made on this site by me are my opinions and in no way are intended to hurt or damage in any manner the companies mentioned.

hothatchback.com

Shots in Gatlenburg, Tn 2005

2006-02-27T22:33:00.000-05:00

Here is just a few pics from my vacation to Gatlenburg, TN. last year!

Everybody like to see a "HotHatch"

2006-02-27T21:13:00.000-05:00

Have you ever had such a passion about a car that you wanted to share it with the world? Well I'm a hatchback fan and have been all of my life. I've had four cars in my life and they all have been Honda hatchbacks. There have been two Accord and two Civic's (one was a Civic CRX Si). I have had a 2005 Civic Si for over a year now. The term that I have seen about the Civic Si is that it's a "hot hatchback" and I thought why not have a site dedicated to hatchbacks? So...here is the start of my site dedicated to my HOT HATCHBACKS!