hello,
I test drove a 2003 Accord EX yesterday, which I was considering buying. I wanted to run a few queries by the experts here before making any final decision.
First, the car is a manual transmission, and shifts okay, but not as great as my 94 Accord EX that I sold. I feel like the shifter and the shifting in my 94 was better than this newer '03. Is that typical or specific to this particular car?
Second, clutch engages almost as soon as you lift the pedal off the floor. Does that mean it is a very good clutch? I recently drove 4-5 different manual trans. cars, and none of them had the clutch engaging so quickly. Is that a good or a bad thing?
Third, the interior is leather (stock), but I do not know if Honda uses a real leather or faux. When I sat in the driver seat, the leater (or the seat) creaks each time I move. Creaking noise occurs even when I just turn around to look at the backseat. I do not know if this is something I should be worried about? I noticed an interesting thing about KBB for this car. The value of the car in Good condition is ~9200 and drops to ~8700 when leather seats are selected. I would have guessed that the price of the car with leather seats should be more than that with cloth seats. No??
Lastly, the car was repainted a few years ago (perhaps 3 years) by a previous owner. Reason unknown. Is it a major concern? Despite repainting, the car exterior does not look as shiny and new as a 3 yr old would look.

I kinda liked the car and would like to negotiate with the owner but I do not want to buy it if it has known problems.

Thanks in advance for all the suggestions/comments.

 

It may have been repainted by the owner rather than a professional shop which would explain why it doesn't look quite as good as it should. This could also mean that there was some body damage that they wanted to cover up (rust holes, creases etc.) with some bondo or sheet metal and then they gave it a quick paint job to make it look like it didn't have any damage. Did the seller say it was repainted professionally? If so try to get paperwork on that and make sure there was no body damage repaired or noted in the shop's paperwork.

I've never heard of issues with the leather in that gen of Accord, but the fact that the blue book on it drops by a whopping $500 for leather would make me nervous for sure. Maybe you can try to talk the seller down by an amount equal or close to that of reupholstering the car so you can have that money set aside in case something does go awfully wrong with the leather

 

The part of the seat you touch (when seated) is leather, but not a high quality leather. the side panels are vinyl. Most driver side seats will start to peel where people rub on the side bolster when getting in and out. My driver's seat doesn't look so hot now, but it's not split anywhere, and it's comfortable, so spending the money for a new cover isn't worth it at this point. The paint job would have me wondering if the car's been in an accident. I haven't heard of any major problems with that model though.

 

I wanted to thank everyone that replied to my post and helped or guided me. I ended up not buying this car because I felt concerned about the paint job (and the owner did not reply properly when asked about it), about the leather on seats and the resale value of the car 3-4 yrs later.
I appreciate everyone's input on my request.
Thanks a lot!