General Q's on accords
 

Hi, i am looking at an 1994 Accord coupe EX as my next car. It has 108,000 miles on it. I have a couple questions. should i be worried about this car, reliabilty wise whith this many miles? Also, how much do you pay in insurance, and where might i find more accord informations. Unlike the prelude (another car i'm looking into) the accord has no central forums, like preludeonline.com or for my last car probetalk.com. I like message boards focused just on one car, but have not found it foru the accord. HS is the best one yet. So here i am.

thanks, Adam

yeah HondaStyle is very Accord focused. your best bet is here :D ;) :rolleyes: :yes:

as far as your accord. the ex is top of the line. 108k miles is just broken in, its got a looooooong way to go. insurance on accords it relatively low. they arent quick and are pretty protective so insurance companies think of them as family haulers. likewise dont expect your accord to be very fast even with generous mods... they are just tooooo heavy. my 1990 weighs 4000lbs with subs and amp.

Im turning 20 in 8 days and i pay 90$ a month total coverage with one lame ass ticket for rolling through a stop sign.

Welcome to HS!

That's the same car I have, but with higher mileage. I would recommend this car to all. The 5th get I4 coupe ex is the fastest accord 4 banger out there (though that's marginal).

Our Accords don't weigh 4k lbs, but they are fairly heavy. I think the 5th gen coupe ex manual is around 3000ish unloaded.

the car actually weights in at around 36-3700 without driver....
accords let alone honda are extremely reliable... not just that but insurances dont think they are sports cars so they wont beat you down with a stick....
unfortunately i wish i could tell you that im paying cheap insurance but im not.... no accidents and 1 speed ticket for 10kph over the limit...BS....
i dont even want to know how much i'll be paying this year once i put the insurance back on later this week...:paranoid:

i would be more concerned about the rust, then the mechanical in an accord at that mileage. like everybody said accords are very heavy ass cars, and the look better than civics and other cars :yes:. I don't know about insurance but i pay $166/6 mos full coverage.

enjoy hondastyle :wave:

Guys, I looked several places, and the curb weight for the 94 Accord is around 3000-3100 lbs. Here's an excerpt from C&D:

Specifications:
Vehicle type front-engine, front-wheel-drive, 5-passenger, 2- or 4-door sedan
Base price $19,900-20,100
Engine type(s) SOHC 16-valve 2.2-liter 4-in-line
Power (SAE net) 145 bhp @ 5500 rpm
Transmission(s) 5-speed, 4-speed auto
Wheelbase 106.9 in
Length 184.0 in
Curb weight 3000-3100 lbs (coupe/sedan)
EPA fuel economy, city driving 23-25 mpg

hmm... well. go outside and look at the sticker on your car. on mine its on the body where the rear drivers door closes.
each car is individually weighed and printed on that sheet.
mine says 3888lbs. but with subs and amp thats right at 4000.

Weight according to Carpoint
 

Carpoint is reporting the weight of a '94 EX at ~3000lbs. My '90 DX weighs in at around 2800. This seems about right for how my car handles and accelerates, I'm a bit surprised to hear how heavy your EX is.

MSN Carpoint '94 Accord
MSN Carpoint '90 Accord

that is the gross weight car + load. mine is reported as being 3875lbs.

i can't imagine your car weighing 2800 lbs and mine weighing 3800 lbs. mines an auto w/ moonroof.

hondamaniac... gross weight car + load. explain?

gross weight: the weight of the car plus the weight of your ass, your passengers' asses and the luggage (or in your case subs and amplifiers)

That is gross weight, including I think driver and 3 other passengers @ 180lbs each.

4k pounds would make our cars even slower :crazy:

Hey 94_AcCoRd_EX! what gas mileage do you get with your car and what mods are on it. Mine only gets about 19mpg with 89000 miles on it and I have ZERO mods so far. seems low to me, but I guess the VTEC likes fuel.

Scott

I have almost 95k miles on the odometer. I get around 25mpg city and 30+ hwy. If I really hammer on it, I'll get slightly less mpg, but not much less. I have a CAI, AEM pulleys, denso plugs, act clutch, and that's it. You might want to go in for a tuneup/valve adjustment. If you haven't done your 90k w/ timing belt replacement, I suggest you do it asap.

I got a 94 dx and i got like 32 hw and 27 city.....no mods yet....no worries new engine by end of summer ;)

Thanks for our input, i'm going to see it tomorrow. Is $5200 a good price? What should i check for? Thanks

decent price. make sure you ask about the timing belt. if that breaks look into getting a H22. you'll be replacing the engine.
it should be replaced every 90k.
other things to ask for is just the normal stuff.
good luck.

That is a great price. Check service records, etc. and make them take more money off if it didn't have its 90k tuneup (around $800 from honda).

in the ad it says recently tuned up. Now if he didn't get the tuneup from honda, what should i ask him?

make sure you inspect for balljoints, tierods and if the car pulls in any direction. make sure that the tires are not that new. new tires mean that the car might have some problems, like out of alignament or something.

Also, check for visuals such as repainted areas, paint not matching, etc. that would signal it had been in an accident. I would ask to see if they have service records for it if possible.

Thanks for your info 94_AcCoRd_EX. I just bought this car about 2 weeks ago so I'm not sure what has been done to it. I know it has just been inspected for 3-03. I will be sure to try and fit in a tune up into the budget.

Also, to JaketheSnake, the DX will get considerably better gas mileage since it isnt a VTEC.

And finally, to AcMonster, That is a great price! If you want to know exactly what it is worth, you can go to www.edmunds.com or www.kbb.com both will let you input your local zipcode and all options included and generate a true market value price for the car. I just paid $6995 for my 94 EX with 88500 miles on it and it was rated at around $9250

Guys, VTEC won't affect gas consumption that much. VTEC doesn't even engage will 5.xk RPMs.

Well i went and saw it today. Man the car is gorgeous. It had been repainted in the back, but to me it was hardly noticable. The rear fender was not lined up as best it oculd be, but once again it wasn't bad. Well heres the thing, cosmectically its fine, and mechanically its fine. BUT, the guy had his friedn tune it up, (probably just new plugs) and nothing with the timing belt. Once again the car has 108,000 miles. It has never had a problem. (the guy couldn't even open the hood, becuae he had never done so before) Anyway, i need to pay off a 1k loan from my parents and that could take up to 5 months. I do not drive to much, I put 3k miles on my last car in the year i owned it. So i ask, how worried do i have to be. I offered $5k, and put down a deposit, but i want to take it to a mechanic first. What kind of mechanic should i take it to, and how much am i looking at. Thanks for all your help and P.S. HS is not my homepage.

So its been wrecked? :eek: Take it to your mechanic, and have him check it over (probably $60-80)... very carefully. If the bumper is not aligned and the back has been repainted, I'd still think twice about it. If you do buy it, drive it straight to a shop and have the timing belt/water pump, etc. done. My friend lost an engine in his prelude from a broken timing belt.

Ok, well thats the thing, I would not be able to afford a new timing belt let alone a waterpump also. I would definitly get it done in the next 6 monthes, but until i pay off my parents, i can't really invest in anything moe than $20. Also, it hasn't been wrecked he got hit in the back in a parking lot, but it was enough to warrant work to the quarter panel and new paint. Please help me, i really like this car, but now i'm scared of all this timing belt stuff. I'm buying a honda for the reliability, why is this such a big problem?

OK, sorry if I scared you off, that wasn't my intention. Hondas are extremely reliable if you take care of them. If the timing belt snaps, it can do enough damage to just warrant getting a new engine, which can run you $1200-$1500 installed for the same Accord engine. You can chance it if you want to, and chances are you'll be totally fine. I wouldn't personally take that chance though. Try to bargain and get $500 taken off to do the service...

And don't worry about the bumper damage... shouldn't be a big deal.

well i'm gonna take it to a mechanic, see what they say, if it needs to be done, i'll try to get some more off, but he might not wanna budge, since he already had some offers that might exceed what i'd be paying.

Sounds good... I'd go for the car, since I love mine so much. If he doesn't want to budge, then you know you're still getting a good deal. Just get the service done as soon as you have the cash, and you're doing all you can do.

Some shops might let you make payments if get the belt done now.

I really appreciate how helpful, you've been. I will be figuring out everyhting this weekend, and by monday i'll be home with the accord hopefully. Hey and if anyones interested, its coming with a stock sunroof raingaurd. I don't want it so i'd sell it cheap. Thanks again 94_AcCoRd_EX.

No problem :) Hope you enjoy it if/when you get it

hey, turns out i'm gonna get a bigger loan from my father. So i've gonna get the timing belt, waterpump and other belts done while the mehcanincs is down there. Any other things i should get out of the way?

Here's what I found for the honda 90k service.... I hope its complete:

replace spark plugs
replace fuel filter
replace air filter
check ignition timing
check control system
inspect ignition wiring
change radiator coolant
change trans. oil
timing belt
water pump

Not bad i'll probably go ahead and get all of that done except te plugs which were already done. I'm hoping for a price of $400 or less for all this. How much is the trans oil change and the fuel filter? Or should i not even worry.

I don't know about the prices on those, but you should do them all. Your car will have many years left in it if properly cared for, so make sure you do so.

BTW, even though Honda charges an arm and a leg to do the service, other mechanics could probably do it for considerably cheaper.

do all you can... your honda will love you for it.
mine loves me. (i think... lol)

Re: General Q's on accords
 

The accord at 108K miles, if you buy from a private party, I would at a bare minimum get some kind of a compression test done to ensure that the cylinders are healthy. As with any car, you probably want to check out the brakes, tires, general maintenance records if available. Remember, every little expense adds up, especially if you plan on adding any expensive mods, etc.

yea, i had a shop look at it, and all they said it was in great condition. And as stated earlier, i'm going to get all the usual 90k mile tuneup stuff done to be safe.

Dude I don't know where you are getting your info that your accord weighs 3800 lbs! I think you might need some glasses:)

im getting it off the decal placed on my car at the FACTORY.
i havent had it weighed but i trust that weight is fairly accurate.