I loved this car when I bought it. It ran smoothly and never had any problems until recently, and, it was a BIG one. I developed a sudden leak of coolant and immediately took it in. Well, guess what? The engine block had CRACKED. The car only had 101,000 miles on it and I had JUST done the brakes less than a year ago. It NEVER overheated, so I'm guessing there must have been a weak spot in the block for it to crack.
I'm very upset, but I think it must be a fluke. I have had two other Hondas. One I drove until about 140k. I planned to drive this one until at least 200k, but now that is not going to happen. A new engine was quoted at between 8-10,000 dollars at the dealer. It's so sad because until that happened the car ran incredibly well.
Comfortable ride, drives smoothly, never had any issues with transmission. Handling in wet weather leaves a little to be desired. Stereo is not that great. A/C does not cool the car down very quickly (I noticed that in the other two Hondas I owned as well)
You might want to check into the price of a used engine. Sometimes engines from wrecks are completely undamaged and have few miles on them. My experience with them is that they are priced much more reasonably. Hope this helps.
In 1999, my x-wife had to replace the motor in her 93 ford Taurus. A local, really good repair shop replaced the engine for $2500.00.
Look for a popular, local repair shop and get a price. I think you can have the engine replaced for much less than the dealer. I also have owned two Accords, a 99 and 02 SE. I loved them both as they were problem free for the three years I owned both.
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