My only concern regarding the later models was, has it got a DSG type of box that will be bloody expensive if it all goes belly up. Or am I an old git who only knows good old fashion autos with a torque converter and am afraid to embrace these newer type of box?
I real up a little to refresh my memory and it seems my above info is correct. The i-shift box fitted to the 1.8 petrol Civic of around the age you mention is actually an automated manual box, not an auto. This means it has a clutch just like a manual but it's operated electronically when it decides to change gears.
As I mentioned earlier we've owned two of these boxes, both were 6-speed:
First a Citroen C4 with Electronic Gearbox System (EGS) - this was a torquey little diesel car, so it had enough power to pull it through when it changed up gears too early. It generally drove ok on the open road but wasn't so good in town. We owned it for about 2 years from 18k to 33k miles and by the time it was sold it felt like the clutch was either needing adjusted or replaced soon. There was quite a lag at most gear changes and you could feel the clutch releasing when pulling away etc. It didn't creep much either so slow parking wasn't so easy, especially on a hill. This one had hill-start-assist tho, so at least you could do hill starts without using the handbrake.
Second was a Toyota Auris with Multi Mode Transmission (MMT) - this was a petrol with little power until the revs got up, so the car always felt flat cos the box always changed up far too early. To compensate for this, when it (eventually) decided it needed a lower gear, generally speaking it changed down one gear, then a second one almost instantly, resulting in a loss of road speed and ending up in 3rd where you'd choose 4th if you were driving manually. There was always a lag changing gears and it was especially dreadful at analysing which gear to choose on hills. This one crept a bit better but didn't have hill start assist so it often ran back on very small hills since the clutch wasn't released for just-a-little-too-long after moving off the footbrake. It drove ok at best on the open road unless you paddle shifted when you wanted it to change. We owned it for just over a year until we could justify getting rid of it. It was by far the worst engine/gearbox combo I've ever driven. (I drive hgv's and have driven a wide range of boxes over the years, from the modern 12 speed automated manuals in Scanias and Dafs, to 16 speed twin splitter manuals and crash gearboxes of old, plus countless auto and manual cars/vans etc).
The DSG box is different in that it has two clutches - one for even gears and one for odd gears. Therefore when one clutch has engaged, say, 3rd... the other clutch has both 2nd and 4th ready to engage - resulting in an almost instant gear change. I drove a Skoda with DSG recently and it was really good.
The modern twin clutch boxes are quite complicated and there are quite a lot of bad reviews around for them, but one wonders whether some of them are due to misuse, ie permanently driving them aggresively and forcing the box to operate outwith it's comfort zone. I have no basis for this tho, it's only a bit of a feeling.
If you can up your budget a bit the new shape (2012 on) Toyota Auris has a CVT auto. It's the same box as my Avensis and while it can be a bit revvy at times, it's an excellent smooth box and gives good mpg and quite low road tax bands. I couldn't find a single reported fault with that CVT when I did some research before buying mine, and the box has been fitted to the (2009 on) Avensis since not long after it's release. Toyotas sold after summer 2010 also came with a 5 year warranty so it would give you some peace of mind for at least a couple of years.
Hope this helps