1996 Honda Accord LX 2.2 from North America

Summary:

A lemon

Faults:

Smell of burning oil coming from under hood; dealer cannot diagnose this, and my mechanic says it's the oil pan gasket. I'm still trying to get the Honda dealer to diagnose it and then fix it.

Chirping noise coming from timing belt area; dealer says it's the cover rattling, my mechanic says the belt is too tight.

Awful gas mileage for a 4 cylinder. I only get about 20 miles in the city, 24 on highway, so it is the pits.

General Comments:

I bought this car a week ago and for all appearances it looks like a "mint" car. Even though it had 102,000 miles on it, I bought it because everyone says Honda is great, buy it, it's a good deal. Well, three major headaches in the first week I've owned it and the dealer's "Honda Certified Technicians" haven't diagnosed one thing right yet.

The gas mileage leaves a lot to be desired for a 4 cylinder. It's terrible.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Don't Know

Review Date: 30th July, 2001

29th Aug 2001, 21:38

The reason why you get low mileage for the gallon is because you bought the damn car at 102K miles. I mean, what do you expect!!! You judge the whole line of Hondas according to one mistreated car. Also, you rated the reliability 1/10... that is like saying that the car won't ever start or breaks down very often.

2nd Nov 2001, 07:30

Your chirping noise may be the water pump. I had my timing belt and balancing shaft belt replaced at a Pep Boys and it was done incorrectly (over-tightened). This caused the water pump to start having problems. I took it to the Honda dealer and they had to replace the water pump and the belts, but they did the job correctly and it is now quiet again. I have not had any other problems with this car. I have learned to take it to my local Honda dealer if I have a problem... they at least fix it correctly the first time!!

1st Jun 2004, 06:44

Beware, many of the do it yourself books about the 96 Accord 2.2L engine are wrong. I tried going by one of them when I put my new timing belt on and it was too tight, even though I did it by the book. So I did it MY way (been a mechanic for 45+ years), and not one peep out of it. You want to hear screaming, try putting the timing belt on too tight, sheesh! It sounded like I threw a little kid under the hood with out his cookies before bed time.

1996 Honda Accord EX from North America

Summary:

The most reliable and affordable luxury in its class

Faults:

An oil seal blew at 60,000 miles (possibly related to my previous auto accident).

General Comments:

I bought this car with the idea that I would drive it for ten years, because I hate car payments. I also live in L.A., and frequently travel through the canyons and freeways. I needed something that handled well on curvy roads, and climbed hills well. I have the 4 cylinder VTEC engine, and even though it's not very quiet at times, it performs quite well. By the way, I was in a six car pile up on the 405 freeway a couple of years ago, and the air bags worked great. I walked away without a scratch. I thought I would have to trade in the car afterwards because I thought it would never be the same, but the body shop did a fantastic job on repairs, and it still drives and looks like new.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 22nd July, 2001

1996 Honda Accord LX 2.2 from North America

Summary:

It was a fair price for a reliable yet boring car

Faults:

Nothing has really gone wrong with this car, it's been really reliable.

General Comments:

The car handles a lot nicer than my 1990 Ford pickup, but hey, that thing has 230,000 miles on so anything handles better than it.

I like the reliability, but the car is exceptionally boring to drive, it has no spunk, the 1996 needs a larger than 4 cylinder engine.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No

Review Date: 15th June, 2001