Sister gets a new car

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Apr 13, 2013
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FL, USA
My sister (and youngest sibling) currently drives an early 2000's Ford Taurus with around 200K miles on it. She has had it for a year or two and it is descent A to B transportation for her. It hasn't been completely reliable but what car at that age / mileage is perfect? Her main gripes with the Taurus are poor gas mileage and geriatric styling. No offense to Taurus owners, certainly that styling had it's day...or did it? Bottom line, she isn't a fan of it but it gets her from point A to point B.

Anyway, sister unexpectedly got a call yesterday that a family friend was selling their 2011 (12?) Honda Accord coupe and they were curious if she was interested. She has wanted an Accord since she started driving maybe 3 or 4 years ago so naturally she was interested. I was asked to go on the test drive with her and I gladly accepted. For one I didn't want my sister to get a problem car but also I drive a 2012 Accord so I know how these 8th gens behave / drive.

Long story short. It is a 2011-2012 Accord couple EX-L with the K24 / 5 speed auto in Ran Marino red / Ivory leather interior with 202K miles. The owners recently had the a/c compressor replaced and new tires put on so huge bonus there. This family keeps their vehicles long term and stay on top of maintenance so not too concerned as far as maintenance goes.

Takeaway, the car drives as solid and tight at 202K miles as mine does at 64K! I was quite impressed actually, this gives some added confidence holding onto my Accord for a while. The best part is, they are selling it to her at over half of Blue Book! Both my brother and I said we would buy it in a heartbeat if she didn't want it.

I will post up some pictures for you all when I detail it for her. I plan on changing the oil, transmission fluid, coolant and maybe the engine and cabin air filters. Just wanted to share with the BITOG family that another 8th gen has been added to the family. Sister is extremely excited! Happy for her.
 
Nice upgrade. I’m a Ford guy but definitely didn’t care for those style Taurus either my favorite style was the ones before it. The modern ones didn’t look too bad either. That’s a lot of miles for a 2011 or 2012 model though but I guess people do a lot of driving. I’m sure it will do great for her. It’s even better that you own one so you know what to look for and any problems that it may encounter. 🙂
 
Good choice, being a red coupe it sounds like it'll be aquariuscsm's car's twin.

It can't be a twin without this sticker.

Screenshot 2021-04-13 211242.jpg
 
Nice upgrade. I’m a Ford guy but definitely didn’t care for those style Taurus either my favorite style was the ones before it. The modern ones didn’t look too bad either. That’s a lot of miles for a 2011 or 2012 model though but I guess people do a lot of driving. I’m sure it will do great for her. It’s even better that you own one so you know what to look for and any problems that it may encounter. 🙂
Sounds like sister had the 4th gen Taurus which was better than the 3rd gen Taurus if that's what you're thinking of. The 3rd gen had the melted jellybean look and had bad transmissions. They either had the Vulcan or the Duratec 3.0 V6 engine so of course that's going to get worse gas mileage than a 2.4 liter 4 cylinder. Plus older cars tend to get worse gas mileage, those cars only had 4 speed automatics vs the 5 speed in the new car.
 
Sounds like sister had the 4th gen Taurus which was better than the 3rd gen Taurus if that's what you're thinking of. The 3rd gen had the melted jellybean look and had bad transmissions. They either had the Vulcan or the Duratec 3.0 V6 engine so of course that's going to get worse gas mileage than a 2.4 liter 4 cylinder. Plus older cars tend to get worse gas mileage, those cars only had 4 speed automatics vs the 5 speed in the new car.
Honestly I liked the 3rd gen ones. For the looks honestly. Just my opinion of course. I always called them the catfish ones just like the trucks of that time period. I agree the 4th gen is definitely better as far as transmissions. Seems Ford is known for transmission issues especially in the earlier stuff but I believe they have improved nowadays.
 
That’s a Ford Five Hundred. They are really nice cars in my opinion. I believe it was like a luxury version of the Taurus but I could be wrong. Don’t see too many of them around anymore I think they were only made for one generation of those.

2005-2007 it was Five Hundred. 2008 it became a Taurus. The platform was a Volvo and it had a ton of room and drove really nice.
 
That’s a Ford Five Hundred. They are really nice cars in my opinion. I believe it was like a luxury version of the Taurus but I could be wrong. Don’t see too many of them around anymore I think they were only made for one generation of those.
It was originally a 500, but then they renamed it to Taurus and it's considered the 5th gen. it was only around for 2 years before the 6th gen.
 
My sister (and youngest sibling) currently drives an early 2000's Ford Taurus with around 200K miles on it. She has had it for a year or two and it is descent A to B transportation for her. It hasn't been completely reliable but what car at that age / mileage is perfect? Her main gripes with the Taurus are poor gas mileage and geriatric styling. No offense to Taurus owners, certainly that styling had it's day...or did it? Bottom line, she isn't a fan of it but it gets her from point A to point B.

Anyway, sister unexpectedly got a call yesterday that a family friend was selling their 2011 (12?) Honda Accord coupe and they were curious if she was interested. She has wanted an Accord since she started driving maybe 3 or 4 years ago so naturally she was interested. I was asked to go on the test drive with her and I gladly accepted. For one I didn't want my sister to get a problem car but also I drive a 2012 Accord so I know how these 8th gens behave / drive.

Long story short. It is a 2011-2012 Accord couple EX-L with the K24 / 5 speed auto in Ran Marino red / Ivory leather interior with 202K miles. The owners recently had the a/c compressor replaced and new tires put on so huge bonus there. This family keeps their vehicles long term and stay on top of maintenance so not too concerned as far as maintenance goes.

Takeaway, the car drives as solid and tight at 202K miles as mine does at 64K! I was quite impressed actually, this gives some added confidence holding onto my Accord for a while. The best part is, they are selling it to her at over half of Blue Book! Both my brother and I said we would buy it in a heartbeat if she didn't want it.

I will post up some pictures for you all when I detail it for her. I plan on changing the oil, transmission fluid, coolant and maybe the engine and cabin air filters. Just wanted to share with the BITOG family that another 8th gen has been added to the family. Sister is extremely excited! Happy for her.
NICE!! She has my exact car, same colors and all!! (y)
 
Sounds like a good pick up for sure, I'm convinced the best place to get older used cars is from family and friends.

If the tranny was not ever serviced before, you may be best off leaving it alone at 200+k miles.
 
Sounds like a good pick up for sure, I'm convinced the best place to get older used cars is from family and friends.

If the tranny was not ever serviced before, you may be best off leaving it alone at 200+k miles.
I have no proof at this time that it has or hasn’t been. However the fluid looks too good to be 200k mile fluid in my opinion, and the trans shifts like new. I also don’t buy into the “don’t change trans fluid if never been changed” line. Flushing is always a no no, but drain and fill should cause no issues. That’s what Honda recommends anyway.
 
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