Civic & Accord @ High Miles -- Maint Issues?

[va3ux]

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150k might be OK but at 250k it's a krapshoot. Random parts may be fatigued at that time and break down. The highest I have gone is 190k in an Accord and at that point I did not have any mechanical issues.

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My brother put 330K miles on his last. It was running great when he sold it. The one before that had 280K or 290K on it.

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You won't get 40 mpg in an Accord - 31 mpg max on highway. You may get 37 mpg on highway with a Civic. But the Accord is a better car; as always, you have trade-offs.

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Are you kidding me - about this mileage ? I get 31.5 - 32 mpg on the highway in my 3800 lb Intrepid w/ 2.7 V6. The Accord has got to do better than 31 mpg.

 

[Quattro Pete]

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Are you kidding me - about this mileage ? I get 31.5 - 32 mpg on the highway in my 3800 lb Intrepid w/ 2.7 V6. The Accord has got to do better than 31 mpg.

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Don't you guys use imperial gallons in Canada?

31 mpg (US) = 37 mpg (Imperial)

As for Accord's rated fuel economy, not sure which version the OP is looking at, but the 1997-2002 versions were rated:

2.3l 4-cylinder auto: 23 mpg city / 30 mpg hwy
3.0l 6-cylinder auto: 20 mpg city / 28 mpg hwy

US gallons of course. But if you take it easy, you can get better figures. I remember I could get 30-32 mpg out of my '00 V6 Accord.

 

[Mr_Incredible]

Thanks for the TDI tip, TiddyKid, but they're a bit out of my desired price range. I'd like to keep it under $5k. I'm mostly looking for a 30city/40hwy-ish car that is comfortable and reliable. I'm trying to keep the purchase price down so I can get about a 3-5 year payback time. That seems reasonable to me, but will only work if the car doesn't need a lot of repairs over that time. I saw an article on a timing belt change on a Honda and believe I could take care of that. I could do a water pump if it's reachable without taking out the engine. I have tools, and I'm not afraid to use them, but I hate cars I have to keep working on.

Not counting the added cash back from lowering the insurance on the two other vehicles I have, I figure a 30mpg average over 15k miles per year at $3gal will return $868 per year in save fuel costs, $1081 @ 35mpg, and $1243 @ 40mpg.

The reduced insurance costs for the truck and Z28 will pay for insurance and licensing for the commuter car.

I've heard tell that some get Accords to make in the 40s on the highway, and Civics should be able to do that as well. I don't think automatic transmissions will do that, and manuals would be a better bet for low maint costs.

I've thought about a Geo Metro, or a Ford Fiesta, or a Dodge Colt, but after 20 years of driving a 4x4 I don't think I'd like the feeling of seeing a BIG grill in my tiny rear view mirror while driving a Metro. I think something a little larger is in order.

 

[ThirdeYe]

Automatics can get 40mpg, I've gotten that in my AT Integra before (rated for 30mpg). Granted, it was 95% highway driving, and I drove the speed limit...

 

[Lonnie]

Just be sure you look at the payments for a new Civic or Corolla. Consider the mileage and repairs between new and used. Take some time. There is not much risk buying a new car if you can find a way to hack the payments.

 

[Mr_Incredible]

Thanks, Lonnie. I've had a number of new vehicles over the years, but I doubt if I'll have any more new ones until I get to the time where I can't work on cars any more. I can see someday picking up one that's only a few years old, but the one I'm looking for is not that one.

The idea is to get one where the bloom has faded but is still in good enough shape to have something nice after an extra-special clean and shine, and the biggest part of depreciation has taken place. I think a vehicle such as that as being in the "sweet spot" of value.

An overly long payback kind of defeats the purpose. Too cheap of a car will likely mean it isn't very good or isn't very big, which is of little value to me.

Some of acquiring a car is simple math, but there's art in seeking a proper target and in the negotiating/acquisition of the object. I guess I'm in the target acquisition stage now.

 

[Lonnie]

You do have a big advantage if you have an eye for a good used car. There is more to that than one might imagine. There are many clues if you take the time to observe. And you sound take your time and make it an organized task. I found a 66 VW Bug for a friend's college age son that needed cheap transportation to drive the 10 miles to school and 5 miles to work. The car was a faded beauty in the hands of the original owner and mechanically it was perfect. It's not the best car for safety or commuting on the freeway but for this student it's a good first car. We are teaching him how to change the oil, set the points and adjust the valves. The price the student payed for the car you ask. Help paint the seller's house inside and out, supply the muscle and climb the ladder and do the things the 70 year old seller can't do. The older brother took the idea of buying a car to heart after seeing what little brother did. He searched for months using Dad and me as resources and is about to settle on a first generation CRV that is an absolute gem. He passed up three others that other wise he might have just bought had it not been for the coaching to spend some time and find more than one prospect. The CRV did not show well because of the faded red paint and the gunky stuff on the floor and seats and spots on the headliner. He visited the independent Honda shop to ask about the service records and bought the car that was choice number 4. There are some very good buys out there, you just have to be careful.

 

[rjundi]

After 150,000 miles the cars went from that golden reputation of problem free to having some issues and more expensive maintenance problems. My wife owned a 96 Civic(sold at 190k) and I a 95 Civic(sold at 225k).

 

[Crusader]

I have 2 Civics. We're the original owners of the 93 LX 4 door. It now has 252,000 miles on it - original auto tranny and engine. Granted the original headgasket blew on us at around 110k or so and now # 2 needs to be replaced ASAP. Turns out there is a service bulletin for this generation of Civic that addresses this issue with a special gasket and headbolts. I will be changing this out myself. I'm sure it will take the better part of weekend but it beats paying a shop over $900-1200+ to do a questionable job. I intend to prep the surface area and do the best possible job and NOT skip measuring for warping etc. CV axle boots tear at around 200,000 miles. I have cardone axle rebuilds on it now and if I had to do it over again I'd prefer to find a shop to rebuild the originals. The igniter module burned out last year in heavy traffic and left my wife stranded. That was around 230,000 miles. Granted it was and still is the original distributor. The front struts need to be replaced soon but all things considered I have never been happier with a car I've ever owned. My only real gripe is that Civic are not very quite cars. MPG has never been worse than 30 mpg city and it's common to get 34 traveling at 75-81 mph on the highway. low 40's is possible if you keep it under 55 on slower highways.

Just picked up Civic #2 with 109,000 miles. It's a 98 DX Hatchback - paid more than what I'd like but I could tell it was not a tired dogged out Honda. I put about $1200 worth of retail value of preventative maintenance into the car but did it all for less than $300 in parts thus far and my labor is basically a gimme. Timing belt & pump, adjusted valves, flushed brakes lots of little stuff.

The 92-95 & 96-2000 Civic are probably the most reliable ones out there. Just seems they have less issues from what I've been able to gather. 92-95 Civics are legroom champs for tall drivers. 2001-2005 is the next best for legroom.

If you want a high mpg Civic and don't mind a 2 door hatch back try to find a 92-95 VX - I've been looking for years and haven't been able to find one. They get over 40 hwy and some owners claim low 50's. They are getting rare so - happy hunting. Good solid Civics beyond 12+ year are tough to find. HX 2 door are the next best. Most of the good Honda are being held onto since even clueless people know they are keepers. Our 98 DX HB was from a divorce sale and they paid waaay too much on car lot for it last year.

Yes beware of manual transmission on older Honda's. The prior owners of my 98 hatch were smart enough to run tranny oil and not motor oil. Motor oil is temporary application only. Always use MTF Honda fluid as a minimum. It's thin but smells like gear oil. We test drove a 95 Manual a few year back and the gear whine on 1st and second was pretty annoying not to mention the worst shifting manual I've ever driven. My 98 shifts very well and crisply especially with the fresh Honda MTF gear oil.

Hopefully your search will takes less time than ours did. IMO there are very few cars that can hold up long term like a Civic can. I'm expecting to get well over 400,000 out of both of them.

 

[1sttruck]

My son looked at a fair number of used cars for a first vehicle, and right away it was apparent that one would pay a premium for a smaller Japanese car, and an elevated price for any smaller vehicle, be it car, truck, suv, etc.

On our 87 Civic we had few problems, stuff like CV boots, fan switches, etc., but the car was toast at 120k miles due to what appeared to be bad valves or valve guides as it smoked a lot at startup, and had uneven compression probably due to bad valves. A slight intake leak didn't help any. A couple of friends had Accords with over 300k on them, they were used so I don't the repair history, but the cars didn't last that long; freeze plugs in one block corroded and leaked a lot of fluid, and the friend never figured out why the other just quit running.

 

[Mr Nice]

We gave our old 1998 Civic EX to my nephew and with 170K miles, the car runs like new and ZERO problems.

Honda makes a Civic HX (High Fuel Economy model) that easily gets 45 miles per gallon on the highway. You can find these cars dirt cheap with low miles.

 

[Crusader]

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. . . Honda makes a Civic HX (High Fuel Economy model) that easily gets 45 miles per gallon on the highway. You can find these cars dirt cheap with low miles.

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Hey . . . what is dirt cheap in FL . . ? $...? Prime used Civics go for a premium in my neck of the woods. However used KIA's and Hyundai go for cheap here.

 

[Mr Nice]

Honda made the HX from 1996 to 2005.....so I'm sure you can find a used one very cheap if you look around (cars.com, ebay or autotrader.com)

I drove a Civic HX and its the lightest 2 door Civic coupe (verses the LX, EX, VP) has Taller gearing and a Lean Burn engine.