I'd go for the newest car your budget can afford.
Although that model ran from 1996-2000,and it's popular with the tuner
crowd.(D16-series motor)
It's also very easy to break into,FYI;one of my neighbors had his trashed
when the Midnite Auto thieves tried to steal it at 3AM.(then they came for
my 94 GSR...but it's got an alarm,and I own guns!)

Those tabs that guide the Civic's windows at the top of the door frame are
used as levers to pop out the window to gain access.

i owned a 2000 civic and sold it in favor of keeping my 89 civic
instead.  the 89 is faster, handles much better and is invisible to thieves.

specifically, the "moose test" is not something that generation are good
at.  the 91 comes with front sway bar as standard.  the 99's only have
it on the si and ex.  if you don't have that on the model you're
considering, get one.  it makes a huge difference to emergency
lane-change stability - i retrofitted mine as soon as i'd finished
cleaning my pants after the first time i had to do that in the 2000.
not good.

similarly, road-tripping to visit relations, i drive a couple of 10 mile
6% grades.  on the 89, i drop a gear and the car rocks up them at
80-90mph, no problem, maybe 40-60% throttle.  the 2000, with its extra
1,000lbs of body weight has a hard time reaching 80mph at 100%.  you can
almost see the fuel running out the tail pipe when you're doing that too.

the plus side is that the 99 is almost identical mechanically to the 91.
 only real difference is 4-point injection and air bags.

Personally, I'd say if you're not absolutely stuck on a Civic, take a look at a
third-gen (86-89) Accord... I'm on my third now, and I love them.  Definitely
look for one with fuel injection, as this generation was when they made the
changeover, so a lot of them still have carbs (not that there's anything wrong
with the carbed versions per se, they work great, but they are pretty complex,
with about five gazillion vacuum hoses).  If you find one in good shape, it'll
serve you well - there's one guy from Winnipeg on 3geez.com whose family has an
'87 sedan with well over a million km on it.

A '99 will have very similar maintenance and repair requirements to your
'91. Honda did a lot of detail updating between '91 and '99, but little
fundamental change. Other than airbags and OBD-II of course.

Does this one have VTEC?

Carfax isn't necessarily a reliable resource, in my opinion. In order
for anything to show up in Carfax, it must be reported to Carfax to
begin with. If an event is not reported, it won't get listed. California
cars seem to be  better represented than most from the little I've seen.
Even emissions failures tend to get reported in CA.

A car that's sven years old can have had seven years of superlative
care, or seven years of haphazard and slothful attention. Seven years is
plenty of time to cause plenty of damage. I have seen some pretty
horrible examples of *five* year-old cars in my travels. If it's not
poor maintenance, it's nightmarishly bad "custom" work, like remote
starters and stereos.

Look at lots and lots of cars, both private and dealer. Unless the first
one you come across is a stunningly obvious creampuff, consider your
early subjects learning experiences as you work your way towards knowing
what's good and what's bad in the particular model you desire.

******
How best to tell if a car has been in an accident? By using your own
eyes. The first and very best clues are the body panel gaps.

Luckily, Honda puts extreme care and attention into their body panel
alignment, so you can be sure the car left the factory with near-perfect
gaps (Hyundai of late has copied this approach).

Take your intended car to a fairly empty lot, park it, close all the
doors and windows, then clear your mind and slowly walk all around it
from a short distance, noting the gaps. They should be perfect. Squat
down and study how the doors, hood, trunk/hatch, bumpers and lamps line
up with each other. Are the bumpers straight? Do they bow down in the
middle so gaps there are bigger than gaps at the ends?

Standing right in front of the front bumper, look straight down. Is the
bumper lined up nicely with the grille and headlights, or does it appear
pushed in, slightly under the headlights and grille? Most impacts are
frontal.

Check the bumper ends. How do they line up with the curve of the wheel
wells? Should be perfect. If the ends are too far forwards, too far
back, off to one side, then the car's been repaired.

The hood should line up equally with both front and rear fender corners,
and should be centered perfectly between the headlights. A Chev Cavalier
will be loosely lined up here; a Honda will be perfect.

Check for overspray and evidence of masking-off around trim that's not
normally removed, like window moldings.

Lift the hood and study the bumper rebar, if you can see it. Any
stickers? Yellow writing?

Any evidence of primer or rough, dull paint on the fender tops where the
bolts are? Inside the door seams, trunk seams?

Any scraps of blue tape? Any fasteners missing? Is there an EPA sticker
on the underside of the hood?

Take the car to an underground garage or other dark spot. How is the
headlamp aim? Repair shops sometimes neglect to aim the lights (or
cannot) after the car is fixed, and one or both can be wildly out.

Check the tires, of course. What kind of wear do they have? Run your
hand (flat) along the tread, forwards and back. Does it feel different
one way than the other? That in itself is OK, but if it's in conjunction
with badly uneven wear, you've got a case of either neglect or poor
alignment.

There are many other checks along this vein. However...just because a
car's been in a crash doesn't mean it's worthless or a bad buy, it just
means you need to be extra careful when checking it out. You *can*
properly repair a car, but to know whether or not it's been properly
repaired takes some effort and knowledge.

New-car dealers tend to get the cream of the used-car crop, and those in
at least some areas (like mine) will not put anything on their lot that
has had an insurance claim against it. Private sellers and used car
dealers are a riskier bet. My approach is to disregard all the above and
treat every car as suspect.

At some point Congress mandated that all new cars must have VIN stickers
on all major body panels. I don't know what year this started. You may
wish to check for the presence of these
stickers.

*****************

How I check a car's mechanical condition:

First I insist the seller leave the engine stone cold. If I get there
and the engine has been started, I walk away unless the seller has a
*very* good reason for having started the engine.

Before starting the engine,
* Pull the oil cap, and with a strong flashlight check inside the valve
cover. Bring a small mirror so you can check inside beyond the filler
cap hole. Sellers can change the oil, but they normally NEVER touch
inside the valve cover! There should be nothing more than a skin of
brown varnish.
* Pull the brake/clutch MC cover, remove the screen and stick your
finger in, feeling for sludge. * Pull the auto transmission dipstick and
study the color and smell. Was the dipstick easy to remove? Did it show
signs of having not been removed in a long time?
* A manual transmission is harder to check. If seller is uncomfortable
with you raising the car and pulling the plug, take it for a drive.
Should be smooth and quiet, with fast shifts easy even at high revs. Pay
special attention to low gear shifts, 1-2, and 2-3. Your big worry here
is low fluid.
* Of course, check the power steering for leaks and sludgy deposits in
its reservoir.
* Remove the rad cap and check inside with a flashlight, AND look inside
the expansion reservoir. Is the fluid clear? Can you see to the bottom?
* Check the condition of the CV joint boots. Are the shafts original?
The boots? Any cracks? * Open the driver's door just a bit. Lift the
door up and down. How much play? Lots means a car that's had lots of
city use.
* Check the door hinges. How old is the white grease? That's how long
since it's seen a dealer's service bay. * Reject any car with
aftermarket accessories of any kind, from radios to remote start to
alarms. Way too risky.

***************

ONLY after that will I start the engine. And even then I will ask the
*seller* to start it, so I can watch the tailpipe fof smoke, and be in a
better postion to listen to the engine as it fires.

Finally, I budget about $1000 for fixup items, just in case there are
still some surprises afterwards. With our '99 Tercel I bought a couple
of years ago, I did just this, and was very pleasantly surprised to
discover no snakes hidden anywhere at all.

Good luck.