Older Honda Accords

canadiancl

I thought quandary was very helpful in posting all the features of the Honda alarms. I think alot of people don't know that much about the alarms. Even most salespeople know very little about those features. I for one always find out all I can about the factory or dealer installed alarm systems before I buy any car if for no other reason than that it could be such a pain to get an aftermarket system installed PROPERLY. One thing I could never figure out is how come the Honda dealer-installed system is actually more sophisticated (more features) that the factory one?

amz997

Dealers always quote 1000-2000 lower than the kbb price..

When I was buying 01 EX, I had a 95 civic for trade in and the dealer offerred 3500 for it. the kbb value was around 4800 and I finally sold the car by advertisement in local paper for 6200
I gave the ad on saturday and the car was sold on the same day!

elight50

After 5k miles, I am averaging a disappointing 22 mpg. Not sure if this is typical. I'd appreciate any data others on this board can provide.

amz997

I have around 3K on the 01 ex I am averaging 22-23 in the last 2 fill ups.

I drive 15miles each day on the car in stop and go traffic. I would say around 20-30 miles out of 300+ is on higways. I have to sit lot of times at the traffic light to make a left turn.

On a trip from philly to NJ, I had averaged 29+ last month.

My overall average for the car is 25+ for the 3000 miles. This would be 30% highway and 70 local.

frag235

You may want to give it more time....my 2000 I4 auto has 22K on the clock and gets mid to high 20's in combined driving and up to 33mpg on long trips.

piceno

I have a 2000 EX V6 ACCORD with about 10,500 miles on it.

I have only accelerated the motor up to 85 MPH three times
in a year and a half. When it reaches 85 MPH, a GROWL
starts emanating from the engine. It is almost like a loud
vacuum cleaner. After about a minute it goes away, and
does NOT come back for that particular acceleration sequence.

Can anyone tell me what this might be? Should I go back to
dealer about this?

elight50

The data is useful. I'll keep an eye on it and hopefully, it will get better with time. A lot of the miles are about town so that seems consistent with your experiences.

eran1

I got a card in the mail offering a free inspection, etc. by the Honda dealer for taking my car in in recognition of National Car Care Month (Oct.). BUT...all appointment slots were taken. Is this typical? offer a free inspection but it's filled on a first come basis. they outta offer some kind of voucher to come back at another day. help w/ advice if you can.

talon95

When you're at 85, what's the tach reading?

twistinmelon

I always had the same experience re: Honda owner appreciation day slots being filled by the time I call, so I stopped calling.

My dealer service guys do a very thorough going-over of my 92 Accord at the 7,500 mile service interval where the checklist says they:

Replace engine oil and filter
Inspect front and rear brakes
Rotate tires, check tire inflation and condition
Inspect tie-rod ends, steering gearbox, and boots
Inspect suspension components
Inspect driveshaft boots for cracks, and check boot bands for tightness

My service guys have also pointed out possible trouble spots in other components/systems at 7,500 visits, so I think they at least equal the "customer appreciation day" inspection.

To be honest, they're in the business of finding stuff wrong with your car with the hope that you'll pay them to fix it. I'll bet your dealer service guys would be more than happy to give your Accord a very thorough check in connection with a regular maintenance visit if you asked them to.

twist

misterjohnny

In the market for a family sedan. 2 kids in car seats. My current car I bought new in 92, and before that new in 84, so I tend to keep cars a long time. I want a sedan with some guts (would love a TLS, but can't justify 30K on a car), but this is basically a 10 mile each way commuter car. I'm leaning towards an '02 Hyundai Sonata LX, because it has what I'm looking for at a good price (leather, ABS, Traction) and some things I really don't care about (sunroof). I am also looking at the Accord EX-L, but it runs $3,000 more than the Hyundai, comparatively equipped. The Accord has a CD changer, auto-off headlights, and anti-theft, and of course Honda quality. The Hyundai has a 10 year warranty and a V-6 (though weak). What else does the Accord have that would make me pay $3k more? I don't think the resale value on a 10 year old Accord is going to be that different than a 10 year old Hyundai, especially after you discount that back to today's dollars. Looking for some input from Honda owners. Thanks.

twistinmelon

Here is some food for thought:

1991 Honda Accord EX Sedan, private party sale, Edmunds estimates at $4,075

1991 Hyundai Sonata GLS SE Sedan, private party sale, Edmunds estimates at $999

Now, let's say Hyundai's reputation has improved since 1991, to the level of Oldsmobile.

1991 Olds Cutlass Sedan International Edition, private party sale, Edmunds estimates at $1287.

So you don't get the whole $3,000 back, but you get a big chunk of it.

Meanwhile, you get a more refined vehicle with better reliability, better availability of parts and accessories, and lower depreciation along the way should you have the misfortune of getting your car totaled in a wreck.

Ultimately, though, if you're going to be a long term owner, buy whatever you think will bring you the most total enjoyment over the life of the vehicle, without worrying about resale.

My '92 Accord has been a faithful companion, and I would have no qualms about recommending one to my best friend, my grandma, or my pastor. While I might buy an Elantra GT for myself (darn, those things are sharp looking), I couldn't really encourage anyone else to buy one for fear that they'd get one of the ones Hyundai hadn't got quite right yet.

Best of luck with whatever you buy.

twist

auburn63

I would ask them if you could have your car inspected at a later date since all the time slots are filled. We usally end up doing those clinic checks weeks after the actual day. But if not then as was said by twistinmelon on even the oil change only's we usally look at alot of the safety items. Good luck

canadiancl

I would say if you can spring for the extra 3 grand, go for the Accord. Hyundai has come a long way since the Pony, but they're still not on a par with Honda. A 10-yr warranty is nice, but how do you quantify the down-time when you have to make use of that warranty? Also, the overall "feel" of the Accord is much superior than the Hyundai. The Accord is just more satisfying to drive. To steal a line from Pontiac, the Accord is "built for drivers". And I'll bet the 4 cyl in the Accord is peppier and less thirsty than the 6 in the Hyundai.

maxamillion1

Go for the Accord. Why? Simple, reliability! We have had a total of about 6 Hondas in our family, dating back to 1984, and guess what? All but one of them is still in good condition. (The 84 was totaled in an accident.) Go test each car out, I am willing to bet that the Accords interior material are much better than the ones in the Sonata, the quality will be better in the Accord, the doors feel and sound when you close them the Honda will make a "THUNK" sound, while the ones in the Hyundai will make a "TINK" sound, the way the car rides, I am willing to bet that the Accord rides better and is a better handler.

Don't get me wrong, Hyundai's new Sonata is a definate improvement over the older Hyundais, but they still have a LONG way to go before they catch up with Honda/Toyota/Nissan in terms of quality and reliablity. Also, why not check out the new Altimas, the SL comes standard with leather interior, and the sunroof is an option, although traction control is not standard or option, but neither is it on the Accord EX-L, and if you can wait awhile, why not wait on the next Accord due in about a year. I am not buying anything until I see the new Accord and next Mazda 626 replacement next year.
Regards, and good luck with your purchase
Maxamillion

mirror

I have recently bought Honda Accord LX-V6. It was hard I should say. They seem to make one LX-V6 for every 20 LX-I4's. Anyways, the main reason for not getting I4 was that I wanted a durable, longer lasting engine. I don't really care much abouth the increased power. However reading the forum I haven't noticed anything about V6 being longer lasting than I4. The common sence tells me that V6 engine should makes less rotations per same travel distance (compared to I4) and therefore should wear less. Any comments? Thanks.

kchanus

I am very interested of purchasing an Accord EX V6 within the next few months. In fact, my brother is driving a 2000 I4 Accord EX with auto with is a much better car than my 1995 Dodge Stratus ES with the Mitsubishi V6. Last week, I went to two dealerships to check them out, and I realized that all V6 Accords' tranmissions parts are made in the US, which I am kind of disappointed because on 2001, all transmissions on both I4 and V6 are using parts from Japan. I hope the 2002 trans which use US' parts are as reliable as the trans which use Japan's parts. Last thing,can someone what is the rpm for a V6 Accord at 80 MPH? Thanks.

amz997

Hyundai is a not even close to any misspelled versions of HONDA.

I dont know if someone misguided you but HONDA is spelled HONDA in all the languages around the world and not hyundai.

Even though Hyundai and Honda are based in asia, Hyundai is not a Japanese Comapny!!!!

So wake up get a HONDA!

amz997

kchanus,

I dont know about v6 but on the 01 ex I4, rmp at 80mph is less than 3000.

piceno

My RPM's at 85 MPH are 3000; I took it on the highway
again last nite...as soon as it it hits 3000 RPM there
is a distinct "GROWLING" noise coming from the engine
compartment. This noise starts at a low pitch, then
gets higher, then goes low again. As soon as it drops
below 3000 the noise stops.
I repeat...I have about 10,500 miles on the car.
Is the noise normal?
tx, Piceno

pkozyura

There are at least 2 normal cases of growl: transmission downshift and lockup torque converter. Downshift will occur on Honda automatics if you depress accelerator all the way down to the floor. In similar fashion, you will hear growl when lockup converter disengages.
You can read this info in your Honda manual.

cyranno99

if you are just looking for a commuter car then you might want to consider the Civic and Jetta. I bet that 99% of the people in here would recommend a Honda.... if you are going to use the car for long distance trips (several hundred miles) then the extra money is worth it for the Accord (more comfortable). Good luck!

canadiancl

It may be from the 2nd cam profile of the vtec kicking in, which I believe is at around 3500 rpm. I know on my CL-S when the vtec kicks in the engine really howls. (Although I didn't think it sounded like a vacuum cleaner. Well... maybe... now that you've brought it up!).

pkozyura

The gas pedal of my car (Accord LX'02/mt) has about a half of inch free travel. It is not something serious but it bugs me every time. Is it something that can be adjusted or is it one of the designed features?

mirror

I just checked and my LX-V6 has 2,600 RPM at 80 MPH. It has almost 60K on the odometer. It is a 98 Sedan Accord.

Still, is it true that V6 is longer lasting/more durable than I4? Is there any particular reason why it would last longer?

canadiancl

I suppose all else being equal, the V6 should last longer the the 4 for the simple reason that it doesn't have to work as hard.

isit1

I have been offfered a used 2001 EXV6 with 6000 miles for $21,000. Is this a good price?
Any input would be appreciated.

timadams

I really like the V6 engine, and no doubt it does work less hard than the I4 engine. But I'm not sure I would put reliability or endurance in the V6's favor. Honda has been building 4-cylinders a lot longer and thier reputation is sterling.

I don't have a basis for thinking that the V6 is any more or less long-lasting...I just wouldn't count that as a factor for choosing one over the other.

piceno

I read your explanation, and I don't understand
what you mean by "2nd cam profile of the vtec kicking in". The sound is actually less like a vacuum cleaner than: a GROWLING which starts off low, gets higher in pitch, and then after
1.5 seconds goes lower in pitch again.
And get this: the dealer says that they can't test it on the road, because we would be breaking the speeding laws. You believe them? Then I
convinced them to do it...

s852

The V6 is just nicer to drive. It is smoother and quieter. The extra power is very nice and there are some features not available on the 4 cylinder.
There is no reliability advantage over the 4 cylinder since the 4 cylinder has not been a problem engine.
You will spend more on the initial price difference extra gas for the V6 than you could expect to save on repairs. In fact, you may actually end up with more expensive repairs if you you put very high miles on the car (the V6 will cost more to overhaul and replace etc.).

piceno

The V6 is a better buy over the I4 (if you can afford the extra $), because:

It is extremely quiet, smooth & effortless to
accelerate. I had a 1987 Honda Accord I4 for
13 years (now my son has inherited it from me), and I can tell you that the IDLE could be quite
rough at times, and acceleration pretty noisy.

If a smooth & quiet powertrain is an important
item for you, then over the long run, you'll
appreciate the V6. This motor is so quiet that
last week while I was idling outside with the
motor engaged, my son asked me "Is the motor
running?" Get the V6....

redtrain65

Has anyone had any problems with a squeaky dash in the winter only? I have taken it back to the dealer 5 times, still sqeaks. It only happens when its very cold out and the heater has been on, then going over any kind of bump produces tons of sqeaks. Also, in this current Ohio morning temps of 40 degrees the small pull out storage on the drivers side in the dash rattles a little bit, only in this type of temp though, in summer it does not do this...

s852

I have a 2002 EXV6 and I used the heater today for the first time. It was about 58 degrees outside. I set it to Full Auto and the temperature to 74 and the fan almost immediately started blowing coolish air that was annoying so I turned it completely off. There was a delay of less than a minute as the fan slowly spun up to speed. Since the delay was so short, the engine was still too cold to heat the air.
I thought when you set it to Full Auto the fan was not supposed to start at all until the engine warmed enough for warm air to blow.
I had a 2000 EXV6 a year ago and I thought it had that feature. It was closer to freezing at that time, so maybe this delayed fan only works when the temperature falls below a certain level.
Does anyone know anything about this?

canadiancl

I'm no techno whiz by any means, but what I understand about the vtec is that at a certain rpm the duration of the valve opening (which is controlled by the camshaft) changes to maximize high rpm performance. This way the Honda engine can be programmed to have increased low-end power as well as at the high end. Most small displacement engines have to sacrifice one for the other.

Anyone out there with a more accurate description please feel free to jump in

canadiancl

Temperature-related dash squeaks are quite common and almost impossible to fix, especially the intermittent ones. I wouldn't even venture to ask the dealer to try to fix it unless you can identify exactly and positively what is causing the squeak. I would hate for the dealer to start taking your dash apart to try to locate the problem. You may end up with more noises than you started out with!

canadiancl

The engine does take awhile to warm up to deliver warm air. But when you set it to full auto, the system senses the difference in the requested temp and the ambient temp and would attempt to rectify the problem. One way it does that is by cranking up the fan. It doesn't know whether the engine is cold or hot. That's why I turn off the full auto setting when I start the car when the ambient temp is very hot or very cold to avoid having the fan come on full blast.

redtrain65

I have the 2000 Accord 4 cyl. Everytime I get the oil changed they leak some on the exhaust. It takes about 4 days for it to completely burn off, it smells horrible. Does anyone else have this problem? I have never taken it to Honda for an oil change.

timadams

piceno: I already HAVE a V6 Accord. I chose (and paid extra for) the V6 precisely for the smoothness and power you mention. I was just answering the query about whether the V6 is worth it because of reliability. I don't think that is a valid reason for choosing the V6; horsepower and smoothness are, if they are important enough to a buyer to spend the extra dough.

bimmer4me

I have a 99 LX with a slight rattle/squeak only in the winter months, when summer arrives, the noise from the coin box area is gone. I thought of taking it to the Honda dealer for a fix, but as someone said earlier, you may end up with more squeaks and rattles than before. I always have my oil changed at the Honda dealer and they always spill oil and I have to live with the smell of burnt oil for a few days...must be where the filter is located...easy to spill?

pmarvin

I have 2 4-cylinder Accords, a '91 EX with 384k miles and an '01 LX with 10k miles. If the oil filter is changed, it WILL DRIP onto the exhaust, since the filter screws horizontally into the side of the engine. I clean the exhaust and the side of the engine very well after an oil change and it still smells of oil, maybe not for 4 days, but until the spilled oil is burned off. I would be more worried if I didn't smell oil - maybe the shop didn't bother to change the filter???

eludwig

I owned a '95 Civic LX and now have a '00 Accord EX 4-cyl 5-spd sedan. I'm amazed how uninspired this car is, especially compared to a friend's '95 Accord EX 5-spd. It's too much like a Camry or Taurus (yawn). Does anyone else share my sentiments? Has Honda lost its edge to the likes of VW and Nissan?

I can't wait until July '03 when my lease expires.

fxashun

EX 5-spd to be a hoot. Not a 300z Twin Turbo worth of hoot but pretty nice hootin' if you asked me. But then I found it hard to keep my Z out of triple digit speeds so I had to sell it to keep my license.

redtrain65

I am used to GM and Chrysler prods, this is my first Japanese car. I was very impressed with the handling of this car, the best by far. Its solid and the quality of engineering is superior. I have kind of been non Japanese but my horrible Neon (traded in on the Accord) and Venture have given me reason to completely change how I view automobiles and will have absolutely no loyality anymore. Whatever is the best at the time is what I will look at. Eventhough the dash rattles and the stupid idea of the oil filter being over the exhaust system, so far this car is fine. My wifes first car was a 1981 Accord and it was a horrible vehicle to say the least, unmistakenly! No one would ever believe her when she would tell people the problems she had. She wasn't to sure about buying this one but she really likes it. When we trade in the Venture she wants the Accord and I guess I will get the new car.

glenn3398

if you change your own oil and have a lot of patients here is how you avoid dripping oil on the manifold. drain oil at plug, continue to drain 4 to 6 hours or overnite. then remove the oil filter, no oil will drip from the filter at all.

elight50

I experience a persistent squeak in the dash of my'94 accord. It appeared in the summer when the weather turned hot and never went away. It started around the 50K mile point and right after I had the car detailed. I can't prove it, but I think it was made worse by the silicon treatment that was used on the vinyl surfaces.

The dealer took the dash apart, which looked worse than it was. A foam tape was applied where the lower apron mates with the larger upper section and the squeak ended.

I think anyone who knows how the dash is assmbled (you have to remove the center around the shifter as I recall) can do the job. But don't lose the screws. And of course, you run the risk of making it worse.

Elight50

rantfx

I have a 2001 Accord that had something of a squeak in the dash area when the car went over bumps. It seemed the point of contact was from the right side of the large top panel that covers the entire dash.

I took a piece of rubber weatherstripping - about 2 inches long, 1/2 inch thick and 3/4 inch wide - and manipulated it into the crack between the right side of the dash panel where it meets the A-pillar.

That completely stopped the squeak and the car is now tight as a drum over any road surface.

I don't know how the top dash panel is attached, but since it is a large piece - the width of the interior, and maybe 12-18 inches deep - I would think this is the kind of part that is liable to have undesired contact causing noise at its extremities.

Introducing a rubber spacer or isolating buffer of the kind I described, even if it is not done at precisely the point of squeak, may slightly tension or dampen some surface enough to eliminate the squeak.

Experimenting with temporary placements of spacers in accessible gaps between dash surfaces is a good idea. I don't think there is any mechanical expertise to this exercise that makes your Honda mechanic especially skilled at it (ever see a workshop manual on dash squeaks?). Instead, it's a somewhat tedious exercise of many experimental fixes and test drives, which calls for a methodical patience.

I guess some are easier to fix than others.

usfbull

I found a 2002 Accord EX V-6 Sedan for $23,800 plus $350 in dealer fees. Is this a good deal?

jjman

my dash squeaks only at the side vents on the freeway, ever since I've cleaned the dash with an oil based cleaner it doesn't squeak anymore.
Now if only something could be done about those Honda brake pads that wear down quickly, the front brakes I have changed myself but the rear are impossible to do without special tools. The last time Honda changed the rear brakes for me to a tune of 180$$ 6 months ago now they are screeching to be changed again
I don't have a heavy right foot!!

papakd

Hi Guys,
I am planning to buy new Accord LX - V6, can you please suggest me the price I should pay for it .
Thanks.
papakd

cannell3

I accidentally let the battery in my '00 4 Cylinder EX run down tonite. Since it is a 5sp, I coasted down the driveway, and 'popped the clutch' to start it. It started fine, and runs (I had to code the radio, it was dead too). However, the Check Engine light is on, and hasn't gone off yet. I have started it 2 times since, but the light is still on. According to the manual, it could take 3 trips to reset it. Is there a way that I can reset it, rather than having to take it to the dealer (possible charge, time too). Thanks in advance.