I'll start myself.
My first car was a 2001 Honda Civic Hatchback. It was like 8 or so years old when I got it.
What I liked:
- The looks. It wasn't customized, but it had stock bumper lips and skirts, which I tore off the curbs pretty soon, unfortunately
- Practicality of hatchback
- Relatively small size - helped with parking in city
What I hated:
- CVT transmission. Only after purchase I found that it is not too reliable and being a poor young person I lived in constant fear of transmission failure.
I also had been referred to a mechanic who was either incompetent or just an asshole. I trusted him because a couple of my friends were happy with his work, but now I believe he made quite a lot of unnecessary repairs that never fixed anything.
Edit: corrected model year