Faults:

Nothing so far.

General Comments:

This car is our third Accord, so I know they’re a great car. We needed a wagon with the impending arrival of a second child, and nothing else appealed in our admittedly low price range.

From experience, I wanted a VTEC engined car, having had Accords with and without that technology. I ended up buying a Japanese Import US Wagon with the rare (for a wagon) “black top” twin-cam VTEC head and 190hp. Really, this engine is miss-suited to a family wagon and it doesn’t go like the rocket I was hoping for. The VTEC change over happens at 5,500 RPM and from there to the limiter at 7,900 RPM it pulls quite hard, but who’s going to do that with the family in the car….? At that point you’ve also exceeded the NZ open road speed limit in second. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a cracker of an engine at high revs and quiet and smooth when cruising, but it’s just not quite what I was expecting. The single cam VTEC is more frugal and has a better spread of power.

0-100kph is 10.2 seconds, which is the same as my previous LXi Accord without VTEC and 50 less hp.

Otherwise this is a great car – it has lots of the little features I wanted like climate control, ABS, air bags and the heavily tinted rear windows really do reduce the in car temperature in the summer sun. The rear disc brakes don’t work better than drums though. Steering is very light and it rides and handles well.

Reliability has been faultless so far, as I’d expect, and when this car has done its dash I’ll certainly be looking for another Honda.

Faults:

Rear brakes need to be replaced.

Timing belt, balance belt, and water pump replaced (maintenance).

Just started to make a clunking sound when hitting bumps.

Shifts hard, especially downshifting.

I believe my exhaust system will need repair soon, because my car is getting louder.

The car is rusting badly underneath, and under the hood.

General Comments:

Nothing major has gone wrong on the car so far. I purchased the car for $3500 with 105K miles and I have put 4K miles on it.

This car seems to need a lot of maintenance, and you have to buy the "special" Honda products and parts for the car, which can be expensive.

I have never liked the brakes in the car, and now my back brakes are acting up.

This car is a rust bucket as well, and my muffler system is rusted pretty badly, so it will need to be replaced before too long.

The thing that bothers me the most is how hard the transmission shifts. I don't know if this is normal for Hondas, but I have heard other people say the same thing.

The car does handle very nicely, and the interior is nice. I enjoy driving it.

People like to make fun of me for this, but I truly think my '97 Chevy Cavalier was a much better car! I had 130K miles on it when I wrecked it and it was excellent. I had it since it had 80K miles and it was my first car. It never let me down, and it only needed minor maintenance things (brakes, struts, tires, battery).

I miss my Cavi and would like to have another one, but people want more for them than what they are worth.

Faults:

Front window electronic relay (thing that makes the window go up and down) stopped working - once on the drivers side and the other time on the passenger side --car had been driven approx. 150,000-200,000 at that point.

Catalytic converter had to be replaced at around 200,000 miles.

General Comments:

This car is probably going to last forever which means I'll never get to buy a new one! It's just such a great deal. Is it possible for Honda to keep up this level of quality? I'm afraid to buy a new one on the outside chance that a new one won't be as reliable as my 1997 Honda Accord.

The car still looks good/current design look after 10 years unlike a lot of other cars that start looking dated after a few years. The car rides very well although at 10 years of age it has lost a little "pep" -- it's still quite reliable and still gets great gas mileage. Interior looks good although I don't have kids or pets jumping around in it. Spills get cleaned up easily.