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I coming up on 60K now so I'm probably going to have to do the rears again.
I appreciate your help. I'm buying a new Accord in May, so I want to have all me bases covered.
-Scott
BTW, last Friday I purchased an Accord sedan 4-cylinder automatic with leather for $21,522, which is $400 below invoice.
Without navi, you can get the EXV6 or EXL for around invoice, but w navi they ae going for around MSRP, so the real price difference is over $3500. It isn't worth nearly that much especially since it doesn't add that much to the resale value. Eventually the navi models will also be heavily discounted. TL's with navi are not hard to find, so Accords w navi will eventually not be a big deal either.
Just my two cents!
Judy
Anyways, I just read the Edmunds review of the new Maxima. I *love* that Skyview.
My favorite part!!! To each their own...
Depends on driving style, environment, stick vs auto et al. I know my 91 went 112K before needing front pads. The was a stick with lots of trips between Boston and Maine. Now I drive into downtown Boston everyday with an auto and got 30K out of the rears and 45K out of the fronts. YMMV
Thanks for any info you can provide.
You can get the nav for invoice if you look around. I started with a dealer locator web site, and used that to visit the web page of the closest 80 Honda dealers. I sent an Email from each of their web pages telling them what I wanted, I am a serious buyer, blah, blah. Three of the dealers cam back at dealer invoice with cars available. Several others came back within $500. I ended up having to drive to Milwaukee from the Chicago suburbs to get the car, but it was worth it!
Carsdirect still shows near MSRP on navi models in my area, while non-navis show near invoice.
If I were to get and Accord, I want to wait for the 2004s anyway so I can get the factory XM radio instead of dealer installed XM radio, plus avoid first year teething issues.
I agree that the doc fee was too much but I wasn't going to argue over $50.
the navi system can be commanded in the radio or climate screens, but just for those applications. ie: if you are on the radio screen, you can only use radio commands. it takes awhile to get all the cammands down pat, but its soooo worth it. IMO, if you have to pay a bit extra for the navi, do it while you can. its an amazing piece of technology, and you wont regret your decision.
doc fees...feel lucky you dont live in KY. the state takes something like 1.2% of MSRP per car from all dealers. doc fees here range anywhere from $200-$500. people are so used to it now, though, that its not often a huige issue in the buying process.
Only good Feb 13th - 18th. No mention on length of contract.
I think you got it backwards - it was the best selling car in January because of incentives. By the way, how can it possibly be the best selling car in the world for January when it's only available in America and Canada? The correct answer, sadly, is the Ford Focus.
-Craig
try not to beat them up over it though, because a finance manager will just as soon boot you out his/her door than negotiate rate more than a little
Bowke28, I wouldn't want to buy ANYTHING from your dealership. The finance manager would take a sale away from a salesman because he's too pig headed to work with the customer? Wow. That's pretty poor.
-Craig
So the rims don't scrape the fender or struts, rim offset is best within 55mm (original) and 50mm. Width-wise, I wouldn't go beyond 7." Careful with rim & tire vendors - many aren't conscientious about these things.
Eptrail: Putting info together, one telling us about the Accord's 3-piece dashboard, looks like the whole center piece needs to go - to be replaced by the navi module. Then the electronics need to be installed (separate DVD unit in back ?), etc. Maybe a unit from a totaled car thru Ebay will be reasonably priced.
Hope this helps.
Got quoted 20,970 on an EX 5spd coupe with leather. I would like the 6spd but not sure if it is worth the extra $4k plus to get it. Any observations on the 4 vs 6cyl?
On one hand a car that is a little bit faster.
On the other hand everything I mentioned above, plus a nice HDTV and a killer surround system for your home (with the $4k saved).
In regards to wheel size, 17x7" tires is probably a good bit. If anything, that's conservative, but conservative is a good thing
Be sure to find a high-offset wheel! I'm not sure what the factory offset is, but it's probably +50mm. Anyone want to confirm?
The cheapest way would be to sell you car and buy another and that would still cost you thousands in depreciation and taxes.
You probably do not want the navi that much or you would have thought of it before you bought your current car.
His take IIRC was that it would have been easier to buy a new van even though he was able to do it for about $1000 by purchasing the parts from a totaled van.
The other rim, a 17" x 7" Konig Imagine with +40mm offset and 215x50x17 tire, extended beyond the wheel well lip; with rear passengers, the tire would surely scrape.
For this reason I recommended in another thread that offset be kept within 47-55mm, and now think that 50-55mm would be a safer bet.
I can see that 18" would definitely look better but the tires for this size are pricey, have lower treadwear ratings (good for about 15-20k miles max) and could damage rims more easily due to the short sidewall height (low profile/aspect ratio).
If those considerations aren't critical to the user, then 18" would be the way to go.
I sold both cars at 37k miles and 57k miles, respectively, and the only unexpected maintenance item was on the EX whose rear-disc pads and rotors were replaced & turned at an early 28k miles (probably due to off-spec pad material).
Otherwise, never had auto tranny or other major and even minor problems. The 5-speed, in your case, should be even less prone to potential tranny issues.
If you hear any groaning noise that increases with speed, it's probably just poor tires as in my case (replaced Michelins with Continentals and got that effect).
In the absence of previous owner service records, and if the car is not Honda-certified, the usual used car precautions are in order which you probably know about already.
Last tip: have in mind a low-APR 03 Accord for comparison. Pre-owneds normally have higher APRs especially with private lenders. Unless it's a cash purchase.
Good luck.
Should you have a realignment after a rim change? If going from a 15" to 17," I would say yes - the cost is more than justified to make sure tire wear will be even and the car tracks properly (camber is the angle of the wheel relative to a 90 degree angle from the road surface; it's a suspension setting that varies per car model).
2) Tire Size: For your friend's 03 Accord, yes 215x50x17 is a size whose "revolution per mile" is nearest the factory tire's. Keeping the 17" diameter, an alternative size is 235x45x17 but being a wider tire there might be rubbing.
For your 93 Accord, 205x45x17 is actually nearer to the original tire's (195x60x15) "rev per mile." The current tire, 205x40x17, is small and has your odo showing more kilometers than actual; you've also been less fuel efficient as a result.
215x45x17 for the 93 will be more comfortable and fuel efficient. Your odo, however, will be showing less kilometers than actual.
Since a car's overall dynamics are based on the "rev per mile" number of the factory equipped tires, it's best to stick to this number when upsizing rims & tires. Thus, the above recommendations.
For prices, you'll find reasonable quotes (average $90/tire for sizes mentioned) on tirerack.com.
Good luck.
Maintenance has been extremely reasonable. I don't go to dealers for the "scheduled" maintenances, they're a rip-off. This is what I do:
Every 4k - oil & filter
Every 15k - air filter, rotate tires
Every 30k - trans oil, coolant flush, brake fluid flush.
Big ticket items include tires (every 40k - 60k, depending on how aggressively you drive), brakes (I'm only half worn on mine at 48k, mostly hwy) & timing belt every 110k miles. Also replace spark plugs & cap/rotor at 110k.
I was still on my original clutch at 130k with my last Accord.
Bottom line is that the Accord is an excellent car to rack up a lot of miles on. I'd consider going with an '01 or newer, since that was the year they added additional soundproofing, making the car quieter on the highway.
Clutch replacement should cost less than $500. Timing belt replacement should cost under $400. You'll probably need new struts around 125k - looking at $600 (Don't be tempted to go to midas for something like this - get the genuine Honda struts!). Stuff like alternators & starters can go at any point after 100k, you're looking at $300 & $200 respectively. If you live in the rust belt, plan on exhaust pipe replacements starting after 5 years of use. Again, don't get anything but genuine Honda replacement pipes. The cheapo stuff at Midas & the like rust out MUCH faster.
Im currently test driving (this week) a 2001 EX 5-speed in blue, it has 20K miles and the dealer price is $16800 and it is certified, which sounds decent to me. I figure i can get at least $1000 off that price if not $1500. I hope anyways.