Hello guys and gals. Nice site! We are tired of the domestic cars we buy falling apart at 100,000 and worth nothing, so we figured we'd try a Jap car to see. We are working with a local dealer on trade in for our Minivan. They are giving me what I expected and I am getting the Accord for a reasonable amount compared to what they sell for and the options it has.

The car we are looking at has 82,000 miles and is a V6 Accord Coupe. It's fully loaded with Leather etc. Carfax is good, the car looks immaculate. It is an Auto, and from reading online had a lot of trouble. Did they resolve this in 04 or should we run from this car? The drivers side lock actuator needs to be replaced as it does not unlock from the switch or key fob, but the pass side does. The power steering makes a little whine, but not enough to scare me. I am very mechanically inclined, and do a lot of maintaining of my vehicles and we generally make them last a good while. The dealer is going to fix the power lock issue.They are asking $9800 for the car, again, at 82,000 miles. I guess the only thing that scares me is that I'm trading in an American car with about the same miles for a 1 year older car with the same miles..... I'm just hoping the jap car lives longer and is holding up better in 200,000 miles.... we plan on keeping it for a while. Can you folks tell me what inherent problems this car and year has? Are there people here with a lot of miles on them and they still hold up? Thanks!!! Keith

 

I personally don't like automatics, so I'm not completely familiar with those problems.

Keep the ATF clean, change fluid by drain/fill (don't "power-flush"). Use actual Honda ATF-Z1 fluid. I'm guessing that the owner's manual has ATF change interval that's really stupid long, so might want to change it more often.

Brake-torquing, neutral-drops, & drag racing will shorten the life of you transmission, but your post doesn't sound like you do too much of that...

Power steering fluid does not have any replacement interval listed. I don't believe that any fluid can last FOREVER, so maybe a drain/fill of that stuff will help the noise. Is it making any foam in the reservoir?

 

The trans issues mainly applied to the 4 speed auto of the 98-02 accords. The 03 and newer cars have a 5 speed box that generally is holding up much better. I wouldn't be afraid of an 04 assuming it hadn't be abused badly.

 

have not seen any issues as of yet......you might want to start thinking about replacing the timing belt and h20 pump in near future

 

I'm doing the timing belt and water pump at 100... owners manual says 105k..

 

Just keep in mind,while a Japanese car tend to have better build quality,dont expect too much over a domestic.The car you are buying is used,and may or may not be a problem car.

I feel your pain though,I have always owned domestics and while a few have gone 200K miles with no real problems,there was always alot of stupid chit that would break over and over again.
It got old fast.

Sometimes you get a great used car,sometimes you dont.Im sure you already know this,and since you do alot of your own repairs,thats even a bigger plus to owning a used vehicle and saving tons on repairs.

Another thing to consider is where you buy parts from...if you buy parts from autozone and advance,dont expect it to last a long while.They are hit and miss.The warranty is pretty decent from them places,but it gets old having to replace the same stuff every year.

 

I prefer the four cylinder Accords and have no interest in a V6. Many people who have just owned American cars believe that four cylinders are unreliable.