Honda accord / nissan sentra

[Brogy]

I was looking around for a new car, and I came across a couple good looking ones. First, a 1994 honda accord LX with 135,000 miles on it. 4 cylinder, 5 speed. They want $2500 for it. Does this sound like a good car? Does anyone have any experience with this generation/year accord, and can chime in their thoughts?

Im looking for reliability, gas mileage, and comfort in that order. This seems to be a pretty good car to fit that bill, looks like 31mpg highway, and the engine seems underpowered, but timing belt/water pump changes every 90,000 miles and non interference sounds like a winner to me.

Second car I was looking at was a 1995 sentra, 52000 miles one owner, 5 speed. $2800 they were asking for it. Looked very good on paper, but the car might not check out.

Any experience anyone has with these two models and years i'd appreciate. Give me a review if you're willing to write it out! Im going to be driving whichever car I get for the next 4 or 5 years, and I drive about 80 miles a day mostly highway.

Unfortunetly there arent many cars that fall into my price range, have a manual, and are honda/nissan/toyota. I'd be in heaven if I could find a 5 speed camry, but theres like 4 of those in all of north america. Dont have any experience with honda or nissan, and my last car was a corolla which had its life cut short, not really interested in getting another one.

Oh and saw a 1995 BMW 318i, 155k miles, 5 speed, for $3000, 4 cylinder however. Think it's worth a look? How reliable are these cars? I test drove one the other day, a 1996 3 series with 166k miles, but had the 6 cylinder, thing drove brand new. Think it's worth even looking at, or would I be looking at $1000 for even a minor repair?

 

[CharBaby]

Well, I have driven both and have owned several Accords. I love the Accords interiors for their simplicity and quality of their switches and controls. It's a #@$%! shoot at this point. Both cars could be either the most reliable vehicles that you have ever owned or depending on their history of maintenance, could be a nightmere. MPG in either should be fine. Most Honda, Toyota and Nissan cars with 4 cyl and standard trannys seem to have a great history for lasting a very long time without too many problems. Im a Honda fan from back in the '80's. Still like em today. I also love their low cowel/large window design. I like the steering wheel in my lap, the low seating and looking out over the low dash. Kinda like driving a gokart. They have great pedal placement for heel/towing and their ease of shifting is very well engineered. Test drive all of your choices and Im sure you will make the right choice for you. Look at maintenance records and ask lots of questions. Unless your a BMW enthusiest, these may not be for you. Cost of repairs is the issue even if you got a good example. Not to say that any of the other cars on your list will be cheap to fix. With my experience, BMW's will just cost more. Great cars to drive though!

 

[1999nick]

According to my Gates timing belt chart, ALL Honda engines are interference engines.

 

[JTK]

We've had two Sentras. A 1993 and a 2001, both automagics. I wish I still had one of them today!

Given the year and mileage range, I'd go the Sentra route based on the economics.

Joel

 

[Brogy]

Ended up getting the accord, and I figured out the reason people love toyota so much, because they've never driven a honda! This thing is comfortable! Seats are plush but supportive, suspension is sporty but soft, and interior is very basic and easy to operate, placement for everything is perfect.

Looking at both wasnt really an option, im in the middle of new jersey, the honda was at the bottom of the state, and the sentra was in new york, I had to choose spur of the moment which car to look at, and im glad I got the honda.

Any idea what weight oil it takes, and how much? It didnt come with a manual. It's the 2.2L engine

Thanks

Any idea which

 

[milwaukee]

I had a 1999 Infinit G20 (rebadged sentra) and it was stone cold reliable. It did have a horrid start up rattle due to the a faulty design on the timing belt tensioner.

Due to horrible service at two Infiniti dealers I will never own another nissan product.

 

[Merkava_4]

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Any idea what weight oil it takes, and how much? It didnt come with a manual. It's the 2.2L engine

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Start off with 4 quarts of MaxLife 10W-30 and then check the dipstick. Adjust the level as necessary.

 

[ChromiumSteel]

5W-30 only.

 

[CharBaby]

I agree with Chrom. I have always used 5W30 in my Accords. I've put on some 200,000-300,000 on several Accords using 5W30 or 10W30. With the exception of the newer Hondas that require 5W20, your generation Accord requires 5W30 across the temp range. 10W30 can be used with great succuss also. I only used 10W30 in the summer or on long trips but it isn't nessessary. High Mileage oils arn't nessessary unless you have issues(oil leaks, blow by). Some HM oils in the 5W30 or 10W30 are a little heavier, meaning that, instead of being 10.5 cST, they are above 11.0 cST. Probably doesn't mean a whole lot! All of the Honda's that I have owned liked lighter wgt oils and were smooth and responsive with great MPG. And I put a ton of miles on them.

 

[bretfraz]

A g/f has a '94 Accord with about 250K on it. She's the only owner. 95% of the oil changes were done at her dealer with a few at Junky Loob and similar places. I've seen the huge stack of receipts and almost all OCI's used 5W-30. If your car was cared for as well I'm sure you'll get plenty of reliable miles from it. As CHAR said above, it's a #$*!shoot when it comes to $2500 used cars. I hope you have good luck with yours.

 

[rjundi]

I would not ever consider a small car like Civic/Sentra/Corolla at 10 years+ old. The cars are not comfortable to start being small and to boot small cars just rattle apart due to poorer ride.

Lastly Honda Accord's and Toyota Camry's are built for the 300k-400k range. The ones I have riden in at 200k+ are still riding nicely without creaks and rattles like the same vintage Corolla/Civic.

If your driving short trips eg <20-30 mins mainly this may not make a difference to you.

 

[JTK]

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..Lastly Honda Accord's and Toyota Camry's are built for the 300k-400k range. The ones I have riden in at 200k+ are still riding nicely without creaks and rattles like the same vintage Corolla/Civic.

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Maybe I gotta get out of the State of NY.

I've never ridden in a passenger vehicle with much more than 200K on it before. I've never seen one for that matter.

Joel

 

[CharBaby]

JTK,
I agree with you. I live in Rochester and the roads are often beat up pretty good especially after a harsh winter and lots of road salt. But, I have driven many of these little Asian cars for alot of rediculous miles and beleive me, even if they're rusty, they still feel very solid and squeek free for the most part. Suspensions are still tight and the doors close with a solid thunk! Especially the Honda's! That's just one of the many reasons that I like them, although they're not perfect and they're not for everybody. They just seem to have the best balance of quality construction, reliability, MPG, ergonomics, ride comfort and handling balance. Very little to complain about during the long haul of ownership. I know several people that would never own another Honda due to one reason or another but, I think they're great cars and I have owned some doosies(Caddy, Lincoln, Lexus).

 

[Vaca]

CB,

What Lexus model did you have? What happened to it that makes it a doosie?

 

[ThirdeYe]

My Honda (Acura) has always used 5w30 dino at 5k/6 month intervals and it's nice and clean inside, and runs great. I just ran an ARX for the heck of it, and plan on switching it to synthetic on the next oil change. As for the accord, check the quarter panel for rust on the rear wheel wells around where it meets the bumper, and where it meets the rocker panel on the bottom. Check to see if it still has the rubber strip around the wheel, if it does, it probably has rust underneath it if not already spreading. The best way to take care of those cars is to take that rubber strip off, so the moisture/salt/dirt doesn't get trapped in there. Also, check timing belt/water pump history and see if it's been done (i'm assuming it has), and check the CV boots. If it all checks out, i'd go for that. I don't have as much knowledge on Nissans, even though I used to own an Altima and it was a nice, reliable car. But it was before I really knew anything about maintenance so I couldn't offer any help there.

 

[CharBaby]

Vaca,
What I mean by doosie is that I have owned several vehicles that are at the higher end than just the average cost of vehicles. The average cost of vehicles today are at or near the $25,000.00 price, and what fine vehicles they are! The doosies that I mentioned are in access of $40,000-$50,000.00...So that's all that I meant. I currently own a RX-300 which is a fine and comfortable/quiet vehicle. It has also been a very reliable ride and my wife loves it more than the deVille and Lincoln LS that we previously had prior, or actually we owned at the same time that we had the Lexus. The Lex is every bit as comfortable as any thing that we have owned and being AWD, really goes through the deep snow. The others were(I hate to say) in and out of the shop quite often. That the real difference between for me.

 

[Vaca]

CB, makes sense.

I echo most every sentiment on this thread regarding Hondas, Nissans, etc. Family members and I have owned many, many Hondas, Nissans, Toyotas throughout the last 25 some years, such as '78 Corolla (RWD), '82, '83, '85 Sentras, '86 Civic, '88, '90, '94, '99, '00 + Accords, '86, '87, '92, '93, '99 Camrys, '01 I30, '97 Acura 3.0L, '92 Miata, etc. and have found them to be universally reliable, well-built cars. A few of the older Sentras rusted quite a bit, but they ALWAYS ran well and safely. We've also owned many American-branded cars over the years '71 ElDorado (500), '72 Buick Estate Wagon (455), '73 Nova (2500, '78 Nova(250), '77 Chevelle, '74 Chevette, '59 Rambler!, '64 Bel Air (283), '73 Catalina (350), '82 Citation, '84 Century, '87 Delta 88, '84 Ford Country Squire, '95 Grand Marquis, '02 Grand Marquis, '05 Focus, '92 Escort and the list continues.

We've also owned and own many German cars, mostly VWs over the years, too tired to list.

I hate to say it, but in retrospect, a lot of the American branded cars and the Euro cars were not that great. I have done virtually all (90%+) work on each and every one of the above cars, and many, many more, so I really do know A LOT about these vehicles.

I am not a mechanic or technician of any sort as I hold an office job, although I did go to Rutgers College for a degree in Mechanical Engineering. I have absolutley zero bias except that I appreciate a well-designed and well-built car.

A few years ago I bought a used LS400, and without a doubt, it is by far the best car I have ever owned, not perfect, but really, really good.

BTW, we currently have a '94 Accord EX, auto that one of my brothers drives and it still runs great at about 160,000 miles.

 

[Anduril]

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Ended up getting the accord, and I figured out the reason people love toyota so much, because they've never driven a honda! This thing is comfortable! Seats are plush but supportive, suspension is sporty but soft, and interior is very basic and easy to operate, placement for everything is perfect.

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I'd have to disagree with just about everything said in that statement. I used to drive a same-generation (1996) Honda Accord and it was a nightmare. The seats were not comfortable at all, in fact they made driving the car for more than a few hours downright painful. The suspension caused me to feel every little bump in the road, and conveyed it to an interior that rattled with the slightest touch. The thermostat failed and blew the (plastic) radiator at around 100k, the same time the front end was starting to fall apart.

I cut my losses, and for the same price I got the Accord for, I bought a 2000 Cavalier with half the mileage on it. Aside from a cracked turn signal and a slightly rough idle, this car is problem-free. I know a lot of people complain about how uncomfortable it is, but on longer trips I feel much better than I ever did in the Honda.

 

[LouDawg]

Anduril, comfort is very much a matter of personal taste/opinion.

On the other hand, glad you had a good experience with the Chevy. I've also had good luck for the most part with domestics (in my case Fords).

 

[ThirdeYe]

I had nothing but trouble with my old '96 Cavalier that was babied by an old man with under 100k on it, and i've had nothing but good luck with my Integra thus far. So i'll agree to disagree with you