look mate,jap reliability is what its all about,these european cars just break in all respects.i would not choose no other,i am a fitter,from experience jap cars never come back for warranty work from my car sales site,but the european cars commonly do.if your like me and wanted second best to the dc5,then i would go for the civic type r 2004 facelift version,with the lightened flywheel etc,or even better i would go for the later final edition with the recaro's,as these seat's are dog's bo#@$!£s,for when your having cornering fun,you will not fall out of it as i did on the type r seat,recaro's is a must.