Tell me about Honda cars

[willow_girl]

I might have the opportunity to pick up a 2009 Honda Civic with only 25,000 miles on it for around $8,500. It is the proverbial little-old-lady's car. I don't think she even drove it to church.

Good deal? What say you?

[fixitguy]

Honda's hold their value well and a fairly trouble free. We have a 01" with 200k miles on it, Its starting to need some maintenance now.

The biggest thing with honda's is the timing belt needs to be changed every 80-100k miles. That will set you back about $600, at a shop. (just a guess)

All of ours cars will be honda's in the future.

[Rectifier]

I would buy it. Honda motors go forever. There are many around still from the late 70s and 80s that run great. Most of these have had the nuts driven off them by kids and are still being passed on to new drivers. Few even smoke and the car will go long before the motor, which is still a long time.
Like fixit says if the timing belt snaps, the motor is done but this is the case for most these days. Good idea to get it changed instead of letting it go and risk failure.

The only real way to kill a Honda is to hit a deer.

[fixitguy]

Originally Posted by Rectifier

The only real way to kill a Honda is to hit a deer.

Nope, they can take a deer no problem. My wife laid one out going 60 mph

The Inc company totaled the car. In the end, I fixed the damage and had a check for about $5500., Then a few years later someone backed in to the side, $1400 in damages.
The nice thing about honda, They only make a few different colors, I found a matching door at the junk yard for $65 to fix it

[bluetick]

At 25,000 miles its hardly broken in. Grab it!

[my3boys]

We love our Hondas! Dh and I have a Pilot. Youngest ds has an Accord.

That sounds like a good deal. I would go for it.

[||Downhome||]

Problem with cars is parts availability and Knowledgeable Mechanics.

Some places you won't find available parts or some one whos can actually do the work with out guessing.

Here your best off with a Chevy or Ford.

Other Side of the State that is still an option but Hondas and Toyotas have better support.

The Dodge Folks seem to be mostly around the Detroit Area , but we have them scattered all about.

I always try to go with the most popular models/makes in my area and past the manufacturer only part availability so after market parts are available.

The way I roll I can also find Parts at the junkyards.

Well not so much more for my 85 chevy but it is Chevy and well I can mix and match much of the most necessary parts.

They are Good cars, but you need to address if you do have a problem will you be able to easily handle it?

[Wolf mom]

I have a 2000 Honda CRV with only about 145,000 miles as the 2nd owner - taking it across country with me. Couldn't replace it!

With the back seats down it holds 2 100# hay bales. Love it! Great gas mileage also.

Grab the Honda, you won't regret it!

Glad to know about the timing belt - will have it checked when I get settled.

[weedlady]

my 2005 Civic now has 165,000 miles and still going strong. The only thing I'm not happy with is the heat. My feet are always cold in the winter, and too much hot air blows in my face.
M

[FarmboyBill]

Never had a Honda car. Had a 750 or 850 Honda Motorcycle 35yrs ago. It ran great. Until it quit running.

[Callieslamb]

We've had 2 honda odyssey's, 3 civics, 2 accords. When a kid needs a car, we pass one of ours down to them. Great cars if you can afford them. Dh's 2006 Accord has 200+k miles on it and it's going strong. Timing belt cost us $175 at the speedy oil change place. ONe thing we've noticed is that the interior electronics fail first. Interior lights, clock light, etc. But that's been after 175K.

[fixitguy]

Originally Posted by weedlady

my 2005 Civic now has 165,000 miles and still going strong. The only thing I'm not happy with is the heat. My feet are always cold in the winter, and too much hot air blows in my face.
M

With out seeing it, I would guess the heater control panel went bad (The buttons you push on the dash)
Use carpart.com, maybe a $50 part, 1 hr labor from a shop.

[sidepasser]

I have a 2010 Honda Civic and it runs great, never have had a problem with it. Normal maintenance is all and now it has a little of 100,000 miles on it. My DH has a Honda Accord, 2003 and same thing..runs great and has no problems. His family are Honda people, his sister has a Honda as well and hers in a 2003 and it just keeps running.

Most people I work with have Hondas or Toyotas for commuting as they are reliable, good gas mileage (mine gets 38 mpg) and are pretty much maintenance free.

My next commuting car will be a Honda!

[vicki in NW OH]

We've had 3 Civics. Love them. I would jump on that car. What a great find!

[fixitguy]

Originally Posted by Callieslamb

Dh's 2006 Accord has 200+k miles on it and it's going strong. Timing belt cost us $175 at the speedy oil change place. ONe thing we've noticed is that the interior electronics fail first. Interior lights, clock light, etc. But that's been after 175K.

You might want to re-check that slip. The parts alone are about $175 W/ a new pulley. Speedy oil change places don't do a job like that, its a 2~4 hour job.

A serpentine belt may have cost you $175, at a quick oil change place.

[willow_girl]

Thanks for the input everyone! Keep it coming!

[Gravytrain]

In 2006 when gas prices were rising (almost $2.80/gallon...can you imagine?) I was looking for a beater 5 or 6 year old Civic. All the used ones I could find under 60k miles were within $2000-$3000 of new. I figured heck with that, I'll just buy new. I ended up buying a new Civic hybrid and a new Pilot at the same time.

100k miles on each now and they are both going strong. I just had my dealership call me this spring and offered me $16,000 for my hybrid as he had a customer looking for one. I paid $21,500 in 2006. I declined as I figured I had another couple hundred thousand miles to put on it.

My brother had a 1991 Accord that had just under 450,000 miles on it when it was retired finally by my dad. It had an alternator, a muffler, tires and a wheel bearing replaced in all those miles. He wrecked it several times, but never bad enough to sideline it. It was ugly but functional at the end.

That's a pretty good price for 25k miles. Best I could find around here at that mileage is between $13-14,000.

[TRellis]

'05 Civic LX and except for two little problems it has been great.

Problem #1: It seems that Hondas have a bit of a problem with their head gasket (google it and you will see). I had 65,000 miles on it (which was 5,000 more than the warranty covered - just my luck) and the head gasket blew.

I took it to the dealer and right after the service guy accused me of driving the car too hard he told me the total bill will be a little over $3,000.00 just to fix the head gasket. I made him aware that my previous car, which was a 19 year old VW Jetta GLI, had over 425,000 miles on it before I got rid of it and still had the original clutch in it when I got rid of it. No one can accuse me of being too hard on my cars. I got it fixed by someone else for about $1,200.00, but also had the timing belt and tensioner replaced.

About one month later I was at a friend's house for dinner and he asked me how the Civic was doing. I told him about the head gasket and what the service guy said to me. The next day the service guy was severely reprimanded by his supervisor. You see, my friend, at whose house I was dining, is the owner of the dealership. I just did not want to get him involved in the whole fiasco. In my mind it would have been a cheesy thing to do.

Problem #2: They are not very good in the snow. Or at minimum they are not as good in the snow as the old Jetta was. I have always used snow tires when necessary and I have been buying Hakkapeliitta (one of the best) snow tires for quite a while. I had them on both the Jetta and the Honda. The Jetta was much better in the snow. It may be because the engine on the Jetta was heavier and thus had more weight over the drive wheels.

Other than that it has been fine. Great gas mileage and no other problems as of yet. Presently it has just over 100,000 miles.

TRellis

[logbuilder]

I looked on KBB.COM and in my area, it would go for $12k or so. Of course that is based on several assumptions I had to make while using the site. You should check it out but it does appear that it is a good deal.

[willow_girl]

Problem #2: They are not very good in the snow.

That's very important to me as I've been driving a 4x4 for seven winters now. Not in a hurry to switch back to a car!