From those of you here who know how much Hondas are worth, I need your opinions.

At price would you put a 1993 Honda Accord LX (4-cyl 2.2l)? I'm trying to determine if the amount already spent on the car and the amount I need to spend to get it up to good condition is worth it. It's a 4-door sedan with automatic transmission. KBB says it's worth $1300.00 if I value it as "fair condition."

I'm going to have to throw another $80.00 into it to replace all of the belts, distributor cap/rotor/O-ring and flush all of the power steering fluid and this doesn't count the already $100.00 or so I've put into fixing other aspects of the car.

The car has rusting on the exterior body panels and from what the previous owner told me the transmission is going. He based that on how it shakes when you put it into reverse and then it exhibits serious vibrations afterwards. Not sure if he's correct or not.

In addition the steering wheel shimmies so I think the tires have to be balanced. New tires are probably coming up soon.

The car has roughly 120,000 miles on it.

Rear speakers are pretty much terrible (one is still dead). Front speakers have their foam disintegrated (I haven't started foam repair yet).

I'm actually excited to continue working on the car but I'm not excited about sinking more money into it the combined total is actually more than how much this car would be worth. To avoid any kind of bias I'm going to withhold the price but say it was bought for much less than the value KBB gives.

At what price would you place a car of this vintage in this condition (given this "limited" information)? Would you agree that if the price was less than KBB's value it was worth it?

 

you need to figure out whats up with the transmission not many people want a car that has transmission problems. Although it sounds like your problems may be elsewhere rather then the transmission.

 

I have a similar dilemma - my 96 Accord (4 cyl) is starting to show it's age.

Since I bought it from my brother 4 years ago for $2300 with 90,000 miles on it, I have had to replace a stolen radio (not the car's fault, of course), so I put in new Infinity speakers and a Pioneer radio with Bluetooth.

I then had to dump $700 into a new AC compressor. My shocks are starting to go bad, but that's not a big deal since the roads around Virginia are pretty smooth... so I'm not sure if it's necessary to drop another $600 on shocks.

I've had to invest $200 in a vacuum pump and gauge set to evacuate the AC system because it needed refilling, plus $40 for two cans of r-134a, only to have it leak out again after 10 days... at this rate I'm going to spend $400 on r-134a this summer because I can't identify the source of the leak!

I just paid $190 for a rear wheel bearing to be changed...

Then I find out my brother didn't have the timing belt changed, so I need to change it soon - I have 146,000 miles on it now - that's another $700...

I'm starting to wonder how much is too much to put into this car... but I keep telling myself one thing: no matter how much I put into it, it's cheaper than a car payment for the next 5 years.

Just a thought.

 

OP: your tranny is the "X" factor in all of this. Could be big bucks to fix, could just need new fluid. Belts/cap & rotor/plugs/tires...these things wear out and have to be replaced. Nothing lasts forever. 4th gen Accords are always a desired commodity for parts alone, so you shouldn't have problems selling it if that is the route you choose.

 

@fudads - I have a set of low mileage OEM shocks and springs that I will sell you. I sold my 95 accord before I had a chance to install.

To both posters, buying an older used car really isn't an investment. What you want to consider is what the cost of the repairs vs what you want to spend on a new(er) car payment. If you drop $600 into a car and get two years out of it, then you only paid $25 a month.

When I was deciding what to do with my 95, I found a used higher mileage TSX that has no issues for under $200 a month. I sold the 95 and opted for the car payment. I just didn't want the hassle of the long list DIY work to get my accord in better shape.

 

Interesting response PAHonda.

The car itself seems to run fine.

Total costs to bring everything up to par is about $200.00 that includes all I've paid so far. Once that $200.00 is paid it should be smooth for some time. Of course there's no way to predict that it will but I don't have delayed transmission shifts and I don't have any brake issues either. I tried to find out if I have slipping transmission but when I watched the videos on YouTube that show it, all I saw was a car driving and the RPM fluctuating. I don't have that issue. I did have idle fluctuating once. I replaced wires and plugs and after that for some reason the issue never came back and the car seems more "solid" than it did before, not sure if it's just my imagination.

I pulled the transmission dipstick out and the fluid inside looked clear and light colored when I shined my flashlight in. Of course this is probably not indicative of what the transmission is actually like.

 

well thats better then brown with fine metal it should have a light red tinge to it and if you wipe it on something white paper towel it should not leave a gray color (or much of one) if it does I would suggest giving it a drain and refill.

If your going to have a car from the 90s and have it be worth your while financially you really need to do the work on the car yourself if ever possible. If you start paying labor rates for someone to fix it, the cost can quickly can sky rocket. Parts usually are relatively inexpensive if you look around a bit.