I just bought a 2006 EX-L V6, automatic, gray, black leather interior, 165K miles. It drives like a new car and looks almost as good as new inside. I feel like I'm driving a car with more like 50K miles.

It's replacing a 1990 Maxima SE 5sp. I love the Maxima but with my oldest driving and another driving in two years, I wanted something with modern crash protection in case they do something stupid, and the '90 Maxima is just too early to have that. I had wanted to upgrade to a beautiful 2009-2014 Maxima but when the three kids saw how formed the back seat was, making it great for two but not good at all for a 3rd in the middle, they were like no way dad.

So we looked at this Accord, at first just to see how the back seat was for the kids. And...we all loved it. They like the back seat much better than the Maxima, mainly due to more headroom. They were fine just hanging out back there looking through the user guide figuring out all the controls. And I was surprised at how well it drove. And it's the fastest-accelerating car I've ever owned; the '90 Maxima is rated at about 8.5 seconds 0-60, good for it's day but that day was a long time ago.

Michelin CrossClimate2 tires and Shur Grip chains are on the way.

This is not my first Honda; in '97 bought an '87 CRX Si 5sp. That was a great car for me when I was single and childless. Fun, practical compared to other 2-seaters, and reliable. I also briefly had an '89? Acura Legend LS 5sp.

Anyway, here are my initial questions about the Accord:

1) The ride is sort of vertically jittery at some speeds on some roads, compared to other cars I'm used to. I'm wondering if the shocks are shot, which would not be suprising at 165K. Is that the likely cause? If so, suggestions for replacements? Maybe something a lilttle stiffer than stock without making my wife mad? :-) The Maxima doesn't have that problem though it has even more miles on the original shocks, but maybe they're just that much stiffer?

More broadly, any other suggestions regarding the suspension? Anti-sway bars? I don't expect an Accord to take corners as well as the Maxima but if it can be improved, I'm all ears.

2) Suggestions for upgrading the audio? I'm not excited about changing the look of the dash. Would it make sense to upgrade the speakers without upgrading the reciever?

3) Good lord, those ignition keys are almost as big as my head! If any other passenger car keys are even larger, I'd like to see them. My keyring set was big enough before, now it's a ridiculously large wad. Is it possible to get smaller keys without wreaking havoc on the security system? If not I'm going to have to do some research on what pants and shorts have the most and biggest pleats.

4) On the top of the line 2006 Honda sedan, no seat/mirror memory settings, really? What year did they start having that in the Accord? Our other car is a Toyota Sienna Limited, and by 2006 it had them.

Thanks for any suggestions.

 

It's been about a month and a half and about 400 miles, and I'm very happy with with it. The Michelin CrossClimate2 tires are on and they're a big improvement over the tires it came with. The ride is much improved and there's no more of that jitteriness. Not much anyway, and I'm no longer concerned about it. I'm no longer wondering about replacing the shocks. I'm pretty happy with the ride and handling as it is.

It's taken me a while to get acclimated to the handling, but I'm getting more used to it and liking it. It doesn't have the gravitas of the Maxima's handling. It's more like one of those extremely bouncy rubber ***** going boing boing over the road. It's an adjustment but I like it.

I'm going to ask my favorite key-making place if they have something smaller. The size of these keys is crazy.

Aside from the tires, all I've done is had the sunroof gasket glued back in place; the middle 2/3 of the rear had come off and was flopping around. They glued it back with silicon and it's been working fine.