Buying high mileage Honda???

I am considering buying my first Honda and have the following question:
at what point should a person become concerned with the mileage of a
Honda: specifically a 1995 Civic DX with auto trans and 164,000 miles?
I have heard stories of these things running almost forever.
Are there "warning signs" to look for with a "sick" engine?
The miles are mainly "highway" miles and the engine sounds very good.
Thanks alot.

 

Other than the obvious body condition and lack of rust, seek out the
frequency of oil changes and other mainitenance items -- brakes, tires, etc
and when they were performed last. Also check for the timing belt and when
it was replaced. It may be near due its third belt which can be a costly
repair particularly if it goes down on you while driving. Then think of
replacing the engine if that occurs unfortunately.
300,000 mile is not unrealistic with proper prevantinve maintenance.

The Artful Codger

 

If I was buying a car like this one with high mileage, I'd have to think
that the timing belt needs replacing and that it probably needs a tune
up, oil change, fliter changes, and maybe a transmission fluid change.

People don't do all these things and then sell a car. It has been my
experience that people delay doing these things, then sell the car when
these things have been long overdue.

I wouldn't take someone's word as to the frequency of their oil changes.

I'd do a carfax check to see how many owners the car had, and that would
tell me SOMETHINGS that I wouldn't ordinarilly know.

From my past:
I currently own 2 Camry's and 1 CRV. I was looking for another car for
my daughter, and a dealer told me that a car I was looking at had just
come off lease. It had 60K miles, and it was 5 years old, so I could
believe that it came off a 12K a year lease. A carfax search showed
this car had 5 owners in the past 5 years, from 4 different states, 2
which were halfway across the country. I knew that each owner probably
did little or no maintenance, and each probably got rid of the car when
things needed to be done, or the car was just a lemon being passed
around.
I did end up buying from a different dealer, got a 5 year old Mazda
626ES for my daughter, a carfax report showed 1 previous owner in my
area, the car was last titled at my local DMV. I didn't know if the
timing belt was done, or when anything was done.
I brought the car into the dealer, had the timing belt replaced and oil
change done, and according to the dealer, the car needed nothing else.

Find out as much as you can about it's history, not only by asking the
current seller, but by doing a carfax search.

Best of luck.

Steve

 

In addition to the excellent adice offered by others--I could only add
that you should check it very carefully for signs of rust. This should
involve laying on the concrete or pavement and looking under the edges and
around the wheel wells. If you see any major signs of rust--don't buy it.
It's very expensive to repair major rust damage.

 

I saw a Civic HB-VX a couple of days ago that only had 110,000 miles on
it, and it threw a connecting rod through the engine block. Poor kid
that owns it bought it two weeks ago from a private owner. bob

 

Compression check. 180-185 lb is considered a good buy regardless of
mileage. 175 and below avoid. 2nd inspect for signs of grease monkey
finger prints. It's a sign that the car's being fix so often no ones
wants it, and sometimes will throw a connecting rod thru poor bearing
installation procedures.

I've bought so many 200K cars and they're mechanically fine if not
better than lo mi cars.
Ric

 

Thankyou all for the advice.
I am now a first time Honda owner.
Hopefully I can soon attest to their durability and dependability.
Thanks again

 

I have a 1994 Civic DX manual with 160,000 miles. I have beat it to
pieces (it being a manual, after all) and the worst thing I've had to
do was replace the clutch master cylinder and a couple CV axles. It
taps a little in the morning when it's below 40 degrees, but it still
runs as good as I bought it. With an auto, it's hard to abuse the
engine of a Civic, because you have to floor it for such a long time
to get it to downshift, and the shift points are ridiculously low for
the peak power range.

Nate

 

I agree on all counts except one. The timing belt on this car is
replaced at 90,000miles, not 60,000, so it would be coming up on its
second belt not its third. Also, ironically enough, Honda says to
simply inspect at 90k, but I replaced mine at about 95k. I'll be
changing it again at about 170k.

Nate

 

The timing belt on my 1998 Acura 1.6EL (same mechanicals as a Honda Civic)
requires changing at 90,000 km. I am on my third. After 330,000 km, the
car runs as well as the day I bought it. My only unscheduled repair has
been a cracked intake manifold, which did not affect how it ran, it just
made a bit of noise.

At this point, the CD player is starting to act up, but that is it.

I would highly recommend these cars if you want both reliability and
durability.

Imants Krumins