Whats more important? Milage or age when buying used....

I'm looking at two cars for my daughter.

1. 95 Honda Accord, coupe, red, 120,000, 4 cyl. all power. asking $4,500
(Vin check shows car was a lease in NY for 2 years then had a couple owners
in New England)

2. 90 Honda Prelude, black, coupe, 72,000, all power. asking $3,200
(Vin check show the car was owned localy)


I would want to change timeing belts in both cars.
Both cars look in good condition. we do live in New England so these cars
take a beating in the winter.


They seem to just about even out.
Accord has higher milage but its newer.
Prelude is almost 15 years old but has 50,000 miles less than the accord.

Both dealers are small lots, I wouldnt trust either!
I plan on having the car I choose inspected by my mechanic first.

TIA for any insight!!

Steve

 

Well, my 1987 Accord turned into a losing proposition when it reached
120,000 miles at about twelve years old, so on that basis, I'd rate
these two about a tossup. The Prelude is cheaper, but the Accord is a
larger vehicle and a more modern design.

If the Prelude has already had all hoses replaced, boots in recent
years, interior isn't too bad, then I'd consider it. Otherwise you
might want to figure in the bucks to do these yourself.

I presume the 90 has steel cylinder liners, is the 95 an all-aluminum
engine? I'm not clear when the newer tech all-aluminum engines need
head work, or how long the cylinders last - and how they go, when they
go. My old '87 had liners, the cars I've had since, I haven't run up
the miles or years on.

Depends on the duty involved, if this is just local transport for a
kid in school, and you want to anticipate maybe a winter fender-bender
or two, then these seem appropriate choices. Likely some additional
maintenance will be needed on either, if the car gets much use.
Another option might be to lease a new Civic, more bux over three
years but should be more reliable and nearly zero on maintenance.

J.

 

Thanks,
My daughter is entering 3rd year of collage.
Totaled her 90 Corolla about a month ago. (still driving it untill
registration runs out at the end of July)
$0 money - part time job so I'm going to have to help out with payment.

I know the Accord has the V-Tech engine (whatever that means?)

Prelude dealer will take her Corolla as trade saving a couple hundred bucks.

By "boots" do you mean CV boots?
(I've had cars where these were torn and I replaced the axeles)

OH YES, DOES THGE FACT THAT I DO MOST WORK MYSELF FACTOR IN?
( Brakes, exhast, starters, axles ...... ) I guess repairs would be about
the same for both cars?
Is one model inherently more expensive to repair.?

Also Both will need the Timing belt replaced!
Interference engines I believe.

Steve

 

Mileage rules as far as car wear. There is about 4 years of more wear (at
average annual mileage rate) on the '95.

The older car will have some issues with plastic turning crunchy from age,
(and rubber CV boots, etc.) but the '95 is also 9 years old and will be
having these same problems. If you can somehow verify that the mileage has
not been altered (you say you don't trust the dealer), I would say its a
no-brainer - go for the one with the lower miles.

 

When My daughter went to test drive the Accord a cop pulled in and server
the dealer papers. I dont know what for but not a good sign. (the guy was
sleeping in the back room whan my daughter showed up. I had made an
appointment for noon to test drive and they were not there. very small
place.

I ran carfax on both vehicles and everything looks ok.

Leaning towards the prelude to save a few bucks!???


Steve

 

if the dealer is getting served papers, id stay away

 

This wouldn't be one of those places that sells the same cars over and over
again to people with bad credit at 20% interest, repo-ing them at the first
late payment, until somebody actually makes the payments or wrecks the car,
would it? You might want to look at some classier places.

 

This sounds like Honest John, "The Walking Man's Friend" back in Baltimore
Md. about thirty years ago.

A pal of mine bought a car from him and you didn't need to sign many
papers--just pay every week. If you missed you got a visit from one of his
two huge gorillas. Nobody missed a payment.

MB

 

Hi Steve, not to confuse the issue but if the prelude only has 72,000
miles over 14 years then it might have been driven in short strips in
town only which is pretty tough on cars. Plus it snows a lot where you
live so the prelude has seen a lot more snow, might be rust issues and
other problems? Also there are more accords around than preludes so if
you need used parts, it would be easier to get accord parts, maybe
cheaper as well.

On the other hand, the accord dealer does sound dodgey. My opinion:
keep looking. Why not get a 96/97/98 civic? There should be quite a
few of those around with less than 100k miles for similar price.
Civics from those years are reliable and better looking than the new
generation civics in my opinion.

I bought a 97 civic ex 2 months ago for $5200. Would have bought a LX
for less money but didn't find a good one. just missed out on a same
year Integra for even less. That is also a good option.

 

I am pretty sure there isn't an aluminum engine block out there that doesn't
have liners. The piston rings are iron and even with a heat-treated block,
which I don't think they are, the block would not last with steel liners.

CaptainKrunch

 

Yes, I'm leaning towards passing on both. Yes a civic would be a better
choice in the price range I'm looking in.

Just have to find the right one.

Thanks

Steve