civic owner (hopefully verrrryyy soon)

[Mr.Omega]

hows it going everyone? at the momement i own a 1.4 polo (stop laughing!), and need a bit more meat under the hood. to be honest its not only that but i prefer japanese motors over most german ones in general...but anyways, im on the market for a 1.6lsi civic coupe (facelift preferably), just wondering if any one has anything to let me me watch out for on these model (known faults or specials features etc etc) i would love to go fo a vetec but i very much doubt my pocket could afford the insurance! but with the lsi,se,sr series, which one is best in terms of performance? ive heard that the 1.6 civic can be quite sluggish in the lower gears, is that true? are they big petrol drinkers when driven normally/ on motorway? what is the actual difference between a facelift/non facelift model? how are the price of spare parts? i think vw hae the crown for Overly expensive parts?
lol sorry if im asking about a million and one question, but just want to get a rough idea of what im dealing with!
thanks in advance
Mr.omega