Hey guys, my girl is in the market for a relatively cheap used car (wants to spend about $8k) and we basically came down to a 2003-2006 Accord Coupe or Sedan. We both like how the coupe looks better and know that 99% of the time there will be 2 or less people in the car, but she is not against the sedan if a good deal comes up. I wanted to know a few things:

1) Mileage.. how much is too much? We were seeing a lot with about 80-100k miles in that price range. Is that too much?
2) What common problems should we look out for?
3) Are there any major scheduled maintenance items that should happen that we should ensure were completed at some point in the past?
4) Any other suggestions for cars in that price range?

Any other tips or advice is completely welcomed. Thanks in advance.

 

i was lookin for an accord in NY this summer and got my 05 accord ex v6 with 51000 on it for 10k, had to go to NJ for it. The best i could find in NY was an 04 ex v6 coupe with 80000 so to me 8k for the same car is a good price. They hold their value pretty good. For 8k the only other cars I would probly look for would be Altima(love them they handle great), Camry(not a personal preference but a good car), Fusion(best quality ford makes), Impreza(love them just be careful cus ppl like to do 6k launches with them), cant think of any others at the moment. Some things too look for for any car are like oil changes, brake fluid, transmission fluid, timing belt(normally they last for 80-100k miles). Small things too look for would be to check for worn brake pads, spider cracks on tires, road rash on rims(could damage the alignment), abnormal wear on tires, parts that may look to have been painted recently, check all gaps on the car all around to make sure they are even(if not it couldve been hit and repaired), also check for any paint overspray around the inside of the doors trunk and hood.

 

The 4 cylinder engine has a timing chain starting in 2003. I have read of strange engine failures for the 03. I think that is rare, but you may want to look at 04-06 4 cylinder accords to be safe.

The V6 engines have a timing belt that needs to be changed every ~100K miles.