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Comments
Reading the posts of many different kinds of sedans, it seems that Honda still makes the highest quality cars at a reasonable price.
These are mass-produced, man-made objects, so of course "your results will vary"...I am still convinced that only Honda and Toyota really have it together in the auto business at the moment. Can't go wrong with either company's products...we've owned plenty of both, as well as everything German [13 Mercedes over the years], and for the money, it is very hard to beat the current generation Accord. Of course, the new Camry will be out in the Fall, and that could raise the bar again...
We are not new to the Honda family, in addition to the new accord we also house an 00 RL and a "can't wait for spring" 01 S2000. I can say
with the amount of money we have recently given up to Honda we have tons of faith in these products.
I was anxious to get the accord after reading several post here about road noise etc. We paid
19,600 for this car and after one day of ownership
I feel we got a hell of alot car for the money.
I also felt this way towards the RL. My only complaint with the RL is the resale value is awful on this car. (no thanks to Acura's $5000 incentive on 00's) but back to the Accord. If anyone is considering this car you owe it to yourself the think hard about not buying an Accord. Especially the 5-speed EX.
I'm the proud owner of a 2001 LX 5-sp and would like to purchase a new mobile ham radio (2M or 2M/70cm) for installation in the car. I'm curious if any of you are hams and, if so, what are you using in your Accord? Also, I would be very interested in hearing how you installed your rig.
Along the same lines... has anyone installed a radio of any type in the storage space beneath the factory radio? If so, how were you able to remove the fold-down door? Also, did you just "drop" the radio in the box or did you remove the box (somehow)?
Thanks and 73s!
I bought a 1997 Civic shortly after (Canadian-made). That car ran flawlessly for over four years and 75,000km before I traded it. I now run a 2001 Accord EX-V6 and so far, it's been very good. I expect to get the same experience with the Accord as my Civic.
Now I'm sure that there are lots of happy Mazda owners out there, but I think you do get what you pay for. FYI, my other first car choice was a 91 Civic hatchback but I considered it too expensive at the time. Funny.
Whatever car you choose though, make sure you get all service records and have the car checked thoroughly.
Offer $23,100, adding the $500 you took off. That means the delta between you and the dealer is only $179. That should be very easy to bridge.
BTW, what dealership are your negotiating with?
Thanks for your help.
I bought my 2001 Accord EX-6 in December and paid $22,974 plus $160 for mud gards and wheel locks, plus tax and license. This is in Southern California. That was the price quoted to me by Autobytel. Carpoint came in about $300 more. I still think I could have shopped it around and gotten it for about $300-$400 less because two weeks later Edmunds dropped its TMV a few hundred dollars on the car. I would recommend you try walking into a dealership, pointing out the car you want, and offering the lower price. No haggling. Take it or leave it. Do this about three or four times. If there are no takers, take the price you were quoted. Let us know what happens.
My father and I have bought 4 Hondas from Keenan in Doylestown (Business 611 near Fred Beans and Thompson dealer conglomerates). I've obviously been pleased with their service. They don't compete heavily on price; they emphasize their service. It's a smaller dealership, not an auto mall, if you care about these things. That said, I did get my EX-L coupe for near invoice because I took delivery on the last business day of year 2000...they wanted to make year-end quotas and were more willing to deal.
But if Conicelli is doing fine for you, you might want to try them. I'd stay away from Potamkin Honda in Langhorne. Heck, avoid all those Route 1 dealerships. Scott Honda in West Chester is PA's largest, so they probably have great inventory, but they probably are into volume, not personal service.
I'll let you all know how I make out.
Thanks again.
my experience was......OK. that's about it.
salesrep, though, was quite good: alex hajj, scott's Internet sales rep.
Overall, I'm happy with my Accord except for a few squeaks and rattles from the dash (19,000 miles). BTW, stay away from Bob Ciasulli Honda (if they're still in business). They were very pushy and disrespectful and very unprofessional.
Good Luck.
Accordian
I've always been impressed by their detailing job. I hope you get goosebumps when you see your car for the first time. No wonder I think "immediate delivery" is a farce...I love to see a mint car all shined up!
my '01 LX sedan's FM reception is just as lousy as yours apparently is.
so... there's probably no "problem" per se with yours.
you and i are SOL, unless we swap the radio, i think.
disappointing..........
I have a good Honda dealer, so I haven't taken my cars anyplace else. You should be able to take your Honda wherever you like for service. If you need warranty work, the servicing dealer, even if it is different from where you bought your Accord, isn't losing money...they are billing Honda back and they probably make a small profit as well.
That said, a few car lines - I think Toyota is one - say that you should take your car to the selling dealership for service. Whatever their reason, I think this is bogus. An unsatisfied customer is an unsatisfied customer. Try out your selling dealer's service operation first. If it does not meet your expectations, feel free to look elsewhere. The point of factory warranties is that they are valid at ANY factory authorized dealership.
On the topic of accessories, I ordered a rear sunshade and a trunk apron for my Coupe through some online Honda accessories place. The parts cost about half of the dealership's installed price. However, looking at the instructions, I didn't realize how complicated installation really is. You need to drill through sheetmetal to install the $25 trunk apron...kind of silly and I'm certainly not doing it. The rear sunshade requires removing the rear speakers and cutting a hole in the rear deck. It's not difficult work, but I'm not too happy with the prospect of ripping down the headliner and popping off some plastic pieces. I think I'll have my dealer install it and just bite the labor charges.
I was looking to install fog lamps myself since you can save almost $200, but saw the 14 page installation guide and said "no way!"
I have seen several claims that higher than recommended octane fuel can actually be harmful to your engine over time. The reasoning behind this makes sense to me. Modern engine systems can compensate for engine knock by retarding the timing. Beyond this, the system can't magically determine the octane of the gas you put in your tank and compensate for the change. This system will normally come into play if you need to or decide to run lower octane gas in a car that requires higher octane (recommended only in an emergency). If the engine knocks with the lower octane fuel, the timing will be automatically retarded to stop the knocking. Performance and gas mileage will probably suffer as a result.
However, it usually doesn't work the other way around. If 87 octane is recommended and you don't experience knock, the timing will remain set for 87 octane even if you use 92 octane. The major difference between octane levels is that higher octane gas burns slower than lower octane gas. The engine system is set to optimize the burning of the recommended octane. When 92 octane gas is used in a car set for 87 octane, you can experience incomplete burning, which can result in faster and greater development of carbon deposits in your cylinders. This is not a desirable thing.
My position has been that, if fuel with a higher than recommended octane "fixes" something with your engine or really makes it run smoother, there's a problem with your engine. Instead of band-aiding the problem and masking the symptoms with higher octane fuel, get your car serviced to remedy the problem.
My 2000 Accord V-6 runs beautifully on 87 octane gas. A few months ago, I got into an exchange with a "premium gas is always better" zealot who challenged me to try it for myself. I thought it would be a waste of time, so I said no. However, a local station had a promotion where once a week, 92 octane was sold at 87 octane prices. So I thought I'd give it a try, so that I could cite my own anecdotal results when this topic came up again.
You can probably guess the results. I ran 92 octane for 2 full tanks. There was absolutely NO difference in the way the engine ran (not surprising, since it runs so well with 87 octane). Also, my gas mileage for those 2 tanks was identical to what I get with 87 octane.
So, for what it's worth, you can find lots of official sounding advice that says not to use higher than recommended octane. Best case scenario is that it's a waste of money, worst case scenario is that it can harm your engine over time. On the other hand, you can find lots of anecdotal "evidence" from individual car owners that higher than recommended octane has benefits. My personal anecdotal "evidence" shows that this is not the case.
So, if you're asking for advice, I'd say don't do it. However, as they say, your mileage may vary (no pun intended).
Spending more money is always a personal choice - I've got better things to do with mine...to each his own...
A) I thought he knew my car well.
This turns out to be a load of crap since all the dealers use computer systems to store data on your service history. Also, Honda dealers don't sell many models, so they're bound to know of all the possible problems on these cars.
That turns out to be pure BS. In fact, from my experience and from what I've heard, the service and the sales dep't are totally independent.
C) I thought I'd be getting better service as a long-standing customer.
Some dealers are more than happy to get new customers. The level of service you get on your first visit is a good clue to what you can expect at that dealer.
D) I thought all dealers had lousy service dep't.
They don't. Shop around.
After looking at many,many cars I finally setteled on the 2001 Honda Accord EX VL with a
V6. The price was $22974 and done over the internet with Classic Honda of Turnersville NJ, everything went very smoothly and on the up+up. My car is Firepepper Red and sure looks good .I was really amazed at how well this deal went down. Time to go for a drive now.
geo25
Where did you get yours? I got mine through Autobytel at Costa Mesa Honda in Orange County, CA.
BTW, I had my heart set on a Camry after doing my research, but I could not make myself like the interior styling--so boring. And Toyota charges you through the nose for every option. The EX is loaded. Great car.
Anyway, we are looking at an EX automatic for about 200 over invoice. No leather, no V6. For the flat lands of south Jersey, talking on cell phone, chatting with the kids in back seat, the 5 speed doesn't make as much sense. Driving in VT, though, would be a ton more fun with the stick.
What do folks think of the fire pepper red? It is our # 1 choice. The deep emerald green would look sharp each of the 4 times a year it gets waxed, but dingy all the other 361. Silver isn't a bad choice either, but our current accord is silver.
Paul