So my dad was adamant that I purchase this car in particular because he was cosigning on it. At the time it had 103,000 miles on it and had 1 previous owner( I immediately did the timing belt).. the car was cherry. Since then I have paid off the car and seem to be having transmission problems. Right now I have been experiencing random slippage for the better part of 3 or 4 months.

Mainly you can hear a "thunk" and/or a jerk when reversing out of a parking space, stopping, and then placing the car into D4. There is also some slippage and "lag" time when you are accelerating from 2nd-3rd(occasionally it will shift hard and you can feel it)

What are my options at this point? My dad is on the title and told me today he would rather put a new transmission in it than see me purchase a new car, but at this point the car has 149,000 miles on it and has done a good job for quite awhile but I fear the end is near, is it really worth the $2000+ to get a new transmission installed?

Opinions/Options?

 

I have basically the same car, only a year newer, and I agree with your dad.

First things first, I suspect the clunk you hear when shifting between reverse and any of the forward gears has nothing to do with the transmission, it is the CV joints in one or both axles (my 2001 has ~135,000 miles on it and has the same issue).

Regarding the 2nd to 3rd issues, I'm not very familiar with automatic transmissions, this is my first (and hopefully last) car with an automatic since I sold my 1966 Plymouth Valiant, that said, it feels to me like Honda's programming of the transmission shift maps is a bit weird, so what you're experiencing may or may not be normal.

Were I in your shoes (and I kind of am), I'd keep driving what is otherwise a very good (if boring) car, and if something like the tranny fails or the axles start making lots of noise and/or vibration, then I'd fix what needs fixin'.

 

I guess it just seems silly to me to spend $2000+ on a car that is only worth ~$3500.

2000-2003 Honda's are notorious for having tranny's that die early.

 

The other way to look at it is that for $2,000 you'll end up with a decent and comfortable car which is most likely good to go for at least another 100,000 miles with minimal maintenance. What else can you buy for that kind of money that will be as nice or as reliable?