Hi everyone,

I will be relocating soon and am looking for some inexpensive, reliable transportation. I was looking at a couple of '98 Accords, but have a couple of questions/concerns.

The first is the transmission problems the Accords seem to have. It seems that the problems didn't creep up until the '98 model. Should I just avoid the V6 models, as these seem to be the worst, or am I better of just going for the older generation '97 model? Or lastly, is it just hit and miss, i.e., if I get a car with 100,000 miles and still on it's original transmission, should I assume that I have found a good one, regardless of whether it's a v6 or v4?

Second, did the next generation '98 Accords come with a lot of new features over the '97's that would make it worth getting, and did the first year run of these next gen Accords have the first year hiccups and problems that so many first year car models have? In other words, is it worth spending a little extra getting a '99, assuming any bugs that were there, were fixed?

Thanks!

 

The 98-02 accords are practically the same. As such, all of them share the potential tranny issues. Some people have never had a problem, others have replaced 3 trannies there doesn't seem to be any rule of thumb about it.... The 94-97 Accords are some of the most widely available used models right now since so many of them were purchased. Because of that locating parts for them if you do have any issues is quite easy.

It's not a guarantee but on average the V6 models do seem to have more tranny issues on the 98-02's than the I4's do. Keep in mind, however, that when I speak of the tranny issues on these vehicles it does happen but not that often in the grand scheme of things. I would approach the idea of purchasing a 98-02 cautiously but I'd still buy one. Although, given the choice between a 98 or 97 I'd take the 97. Or from an 02 or 03 I'd take the 03 but this is just my opinion/personal paranoia...

 

I wouldn't buy a 98-02 with an automatic. Only a manual trans. Too much of a gamble to buy an auto.

 

I second that. Manuals are always more reliabe and cheaper. If you want cheap go for the I4 with a manual.

 

Thanks for your responses. A manual transmission would be an easy fix, unfortunately I need an automatic. I had some major knee surgery a couple of years back and I can't bend my knee enough to comfortably or safely operate a clutch.

The one thing I'm still wondering is if this automatic transmission problem with the '98-'02 Accords is a hit or miss problem, or a pandemic? In the user forums on different sites I've visited, most of the people complaining of transmission problems report losing the transmission with fairly low mileage, i.e. under 75k-80k. So if a find an Accord with say 115k miles and a smooth running transmission with no problems, is it likely to be a sound transmission, or another time bomb waiting to happen?

 

I'll explain this so you can understand a little better;

YOU COULD NOT RUN FAST ENOUGH to chase me down and give me the keys to a free 98-02 Accord with an auto trans.
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