...my wife and i are having a baby in may, our first, and have been scouring the twin cities for affordable cars that we can get for around 10,000 after tax and title so we don't add any monthly bills with childcare looming in our near future.

we have looked at many types of cars, including but not limited to: ford focus, chevy cobalt, nissan sentra, hyundai elantra, kia spectra 5, hyundai sonata, mazda tribute, VW pasat and now finally a 2002 honda accord SE.

the accord feels the best out of the cars we have driven. aside from a few small things in the interior and some dings and paint chips on the exterior, it seems to be in great shape, its an 02 with 78,000 miles. it was certified by honda at 35,000 miles, and owned by 2 people.

since we do have a budget that is pretty set in stone here, i guess i am just nervous about pulling the trigger on a high mileage car, when for instance last weekend we had the option to buy an 07 focus, with around 30,000 still under both warranties for around 10,000 w/tax and title.

i would just like some advice on if the accord is that good of a value compared to these other cars despite the mileage, anything i should be looking for?

the dealership let us "rent" (free) the accord for the night and its in our garage right now. we really like how it drives and it feels solid. we are trying to make this decision soon, but because we have looked at so many cars, i guess we are reluctant to go with a higher mileage one without trying to find out more info first.

any input or advice about this car? what kind of mileage can it reasonably be expected to run to? is it still a better value than some of the other cars i mentioned despite the mileage? anything i should ask the dealer about? should we have a mechanic check it out before we buy?

whatever we buy we would like a car that can last us 8 - 10 years with minimal costs, could this accord be that car? or is mileage to high?

i hope someone here can help, we really like this car but we need advice!

thanks

 

I bought my 2000 Accord LX 5spd (cloth interior, no sunroof, factory CD player, power windown and locks) with 104k on it in December of 06 for $6k cash out the door (I still felt like I payed too much haha! But they had it advertised for $8k. The mileage didn't scare me.)
Word of advice: if the 2002 Accord you are looking at is an automatic transmission, watch for transmission problems. About 50% of the transmissions put in automatic Accords from 1998-2002 were total garbage and went out on people. Honda extended the warranty to I think 100k and 7 years (someone corect me if I am wrong) where they would replace the transmission for free. However, the replacement transmissions are not necessarily any better. We have members on here that are on their third transmisson!
As for mileage: as long as you keep up the maintenance, you should be able to get over 250k. 78k islow mileage for a Honda. The timing belt and water pump needs to be changed every 105k miles though, and unless you can do that yourself (fairly complicated job - takes a fairly experienced mechanic around 4 hours or so) you will be paying between $300-$800 depending on your location.
I plan on taking my 2000 LX to at least 500k miles if I can. Right now I have 130k and change and it still runs flawlessly.

CONGRATS on the new baby! My wife and I had our first on November 1, 2007. When the baby is born, feel free to PM myself or sir_nasty with any questins you think we could help you with on baby care since we both have young'uns. I think sir_nasty's little boy is about a year old now.

If I were you, I would probably think pretty hard about that Focus though. I love Hondas, but after seeing all of the transmission horror stories, I think I would steer clear of a 6th generation (98-02) Automatic Accord whether it be the V6 or the inline 4. If the Accord you are looking at is a manual trans though, jump on it. No problems with the manual trans. Ask the dealer if they know anything about the history of that Accord's transmission. When driving it, watch for any kind of jerking, hard shifting, or clunky noises. You never know, some of the auto trannies in the 6th gens never had a problem. This car could be one of them. Also remember: if you do buy an auto Accord - never flush the trans. Only drain and refill it. Power flushing (service offered by quick lube places like pep boys) can destroy a Honda trans.

 

I just bought a 98 Accord with 198,000 miles and it is still running strong. Only thing done was the normal maintance....Oil change, timinig belt, water pump,......etc. If it was well taken care of 78,000 miles is a drop inthe bucket for an Accord. Stay away from the 6th gens (98-2002)with automatics, they had issues. Also I don't know about the 2002 Accord but my 98 had noanchors to hook up a car seat to. I had to make some to work with my car seat. Other than that you can't go wrong with a Honda. The Ford Focus might be a good choice too. I owned a 2001 ZX3 and it had about 40,000 miles on it and I had no problems out of it.

(EDIT) I just read what 00AccordLX5spd posted, I just repeated what he said. HaHaHa. Do check for the car seat anchors, There no point buying a car for your baby if you can't get a car seat in it.


Bensin2

 

My wife got to drive her company's brand new Focus a couple of times and said that our 95 Accord with 190,000+ miles rides/handles much better. She obviously was not impressed with the Ford.

I don't think it matters much anymore what car you buy, if it has an auto you will probably replace the transmission some day. Check into the warranty on the Honda, I thought I read on the forums that they covered the tranny repair up to a certain mileage.

 

What a decision to make..Word..Go with the focus, it still has the warranty and is the same price! Plus it's almost new.

2nd word...Listen to the words of 00accord about the trans..his words are all correct...and when your children get older..e-mail me for Great GrandPa information..[sm=happybounce.gif]

WheelBrokerAng

 

not all 6th gen auto accords had problems. u can go to a honda dealership have them run ur vin # and they will tell u if ur tranny has a recall. i did it to mine and mine doesnt have a recall. but most do

 

Neither of my Accords have the "anchors" for car seat hookup. That is why you run the belt through the car seat base the old fashioned way.I have actually never seen a carseat anchor before, nor do I know how they work. Everyone I know that has a child just runs the seat belt through the car seat base like everyone did years ago before they made carseat anchors in cars. A guy I work with has a 2005 Tahoe and he does it the same way. He may even have car seatanchors in his Tahoe and doesn't know what they are or how to use them.
Just run the seat belt through the base as the instructions on the carseat show. If you don't know how to do it, or if you are nervous about doing it the first time, your local fire department will install your carseat the correct wayat no charge. And they will show you how to do it