Timing chain is doable without pulling the engine and requires basic tools only, I did mine over the weekend on a driveway. Was a ***** of a job though, some of the bolts will have you inventing new swear words especially if it's cold and you have large hands. Get your wife (or your friend's wife
to help, will make it much quicker. OEM Honda parts will be 400ish, budget about 6 hours of labor on top of that. Here's how a timing chain that's due for replacement sounds:
Rattle on cold startup can be knackered tensioner, knackered VTC gear spring or stretched chain, first two aren't too bad of a job, easy 1-2h DIY for less than 50 quid.
If you decide to get a K series don't be put off by burning oil. Unfortunately up to 1L/1000miles is pretty normal for these engines, can be either shot piston rings or valve seals. Known issue especially with 2009 MY, iirc it has been improved later on.
Def check rear wheel wells behind doors for rust, mine just started slightly rusting there. Underside is decently coated so shouldn't be too bad, mostly rear subframe, exhaust and rear antirollbar.
Another thing to check is the sunroof, if the seal is bulging or doesn't want to lie flat, 100% there's rust underneath. Known issue, only fix is to source new glass piece from breakers or maybe import from US/Japan.
During the test drive definitely try to get on a motorway/A road andpay attention to shaking when accelerating between 30-40mph and 60-80mph. If the car shakes on throttle but stops when you coast, that means one of the inner CV joints is shot. 2-3 hours DIY job but the joint itself is 350 quid last I checked, probably 400 now. Only available from OEM Honda, no one makes an aftermarket replacement that's worth using.
Check if all power windows are working from the driver's door and if the switches aren't broken/working half the time - master unit PCB likes to go bad and these are pretty expensive to replace (100-200 quid) and a proper pain to source since you need one from the same trim level.
If you're looking at a 2009 MY specifically play some music at decent volume - this MY has an issue with a bad batch of door speakers, glue holding the cones tends to fail sooner than later and produce distortion and rattling >20 volume. Can be fixed for a fiver with special glue but requires disassembling the doorcard and there's no telling how long the repair will last.
That's all I can remember for now, if you have any specific questions go ahead, I'll try to answer best I can.
Just my $0.02, go for the K24. While both petrols are good engines reliability wise the 2.0 is REALLY gutless in a car that weighs in at 1500kg. K series is a lovely motor, especially coupled with a 6MT box. That and if you remove the resonator you can get some really crazy intake noise if that's your thing.
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@btjtaylor I can make guide thread for the timing chain replacement if there's demand, unfortunately did not take many photos but hey, gotta make do.