1989 Honda Accord from UK and Ireland - Comments

Just about everything.

Major electrical faults in interior (one circuit always blew a fuse the moment you turned the ignition on)

Radio wiring was a nightmare (cavity was damaged, possibly from a previous theft)

Engine misfired, smoked and burnt oil even though I changed the oil twice. Reasonably powerful though.

Gearbox best described as "wobbly" - it felt as if would collapse if you accelerated hard.

Water leaks & oil leaks everywhere.

Timing belt snapped, destroying the engine.

At this point I got the council to take it away and bury it in an unmarked grave.

Dealer's can't get parts anymore and treat you like dirt. Not sure they would have worked on it even if they'd been asked to.

My ex-wife bought this after the Laguna was repossessed. Apparently it was a part-ex at the Renault garage. She never did let on what she paid for it.

Anyway, this was before the divorce and the car was the only thing the lawyers let me keep.

The Renault was not good, but the Honda was a thousand times worse. I think I might have tried to patch it up, but getting parts is very difficult and the dealer's don't want to know about - well, anything. I think their only remit is to flog new Hondas.

I bought an Escort Estate last week at auction and it's so much better. All the parts are obtainable from the local Ford dealer and the parts staff a really helpful.

Two morals to this story:

- Don't get married

- Don't buy a Honda.

You must have bought a duffer - Hondas from around the eighties/early nineties are very well-made, reliable cars, and you can hardly blame the timing belt snapping on the car.

My ex-wife bought it, not me.

I can't see how you can possibly keep one of these things on the road because it seems almost impossible to get spare parts for any model year. If I'd been able to fix it up I might have thought more of it.

The Escort has 165k and did need some work doing to it, but two visits to the Ford dealer and one to the local motot factors got me everything I needed.

Original reviewer:

Unfortunately some low life STOLE my Escort a few weeks ago, took it out into the country, ragged it until the engine expired and then burnt it.

I've had a few conversations with people about Honda cars since buying the Escort, particularly as regards getting spares. So I decided to take the plunge and go back to the auction where I bought the Escort to look for a second Accord. I bought a 1997 model with 129000 miles. Touch wood, it's pretty good so far...