Bought my EL in Feb 2005 and as of today (July 18th) I've done about 11,000km trouble free. I've done some handling mods in the form of new performance shocks and H&R springs along with 17" lightweight rims and Toyo Proxes 4 ZR rated tires. These have made the car handle amazing, but I've since switched to 15" tires again.
I get 6.5L/100km or 36.6MPG on longer highway trips and usually around 7.2L/100km mixed city and highway, so fuel economy is very good.
VTEC kicks in at 5500RPM, but has no real effect on performance since redline is at 7000RPM.
Car rides very comfortable, handles well and is Honda reliable. Performance is OK for a 1.6L, SOHC (single overhead camshafts) but it does need more torque. 127bhp and 106lb-ft of torque works, but its not a performance car, wasn't meant to be. if you want performance 4 cylinder buy a Honda Prelude.
There are many sites online to help with cars like these, I use clubel. ca (canadian)