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Buying advice on 6th gen accord 1.8 vtec

C

Chrisodude

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Wrexham
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Awful German car lupo
Hi guys found a car that I'm going to view on Friday it's a year 2000 accord with just 37k miles on the clock from the pictures it looks clean as a whistle it's been used by an old fella most it's life and apperently runs great it's only had 2 services though one at 9k and one at 15k miles so is probly well due a service what do u guys think is it a good deal? It's up for 450 quid
 
Price is right going by what you say. But 2 services in 16 years is not very good. The given intervals on these are fairly long (nothing compared to the jokes they prescribe cars nowadays) but time can do more damage in some cases. Give everything a good looking at. I know it can seem a bit unfair to the seller when looking at a cheap car but the more you know up front the better prepared you'll be if you buy it.

This is a very low mileage car for it's age so chances are it's the old guys shopping cart. Ask him when things like the oil, plugs, coolant and anything else comes to mind were last changed. Check the oil level and under the cap. Check the main earth lead from the battery to the bottom of the engine block (common problem that's easily fixed) along with the others in the engine bay. Try to have a look round underneath for any signs of rust and the state of the exhaust. Check the boot/carpets for any damp. Panels are galvanised as far as I know so shouldn't have any major rust issues. Other than that it's just the basics really. Make sure everything electrical works.

Automatic - check the fluid level, colour and smell (avoid if smells burnt or brown/black in colour). Try to test drive it (or have them drive it if you're not covered) on a road that'd engage the torque converter lock up (40mph should do). You should feel/see 4 changes in engine speed. Try to note the smoothness of the changes and any odd noises when it changes.

Manual - make sure all the gears engage and pull smoothly. Gearboxes are generally very strong on these unless heavily abused (shouldn't be a factor here). I drove one of these with 144K on this morning and the engine/transmission was absolutely fine.

Climate control - make sure it blows cold and hot. Engine temp gauge should rest between a third and halfway once warmed up.

Bose stereo system - make sure it all works as swapping for aftermarket kit is a hassle Bose fitted cars. A CD changer might be present in the left side of the boot. Check it ejects the caddy okay. If it's missing the caddy they're easily picked up on eBay.
Standard spec stereo cars may have a CD unit below the main headunit.

Front fog lights if missing/broken be prepaid to pay around £100 if you can find a pair (becoming rare now).

Electric antenna for the stereo on saloons should raise/lower okay. Don't worry if it gets stuck as this is common. Can be remedied in various ways.

Electric windows and sunroof are usually reliable on these from ones I've seen. Just make sure it all works.

Washer jets - not uncommon for headlamp ones to not work. Don't worry, these aren't checked as part of the MOT and usually the pump that's buried away. The main windscreen ones have in-line non-return valves in the piping. If they're not working too well replacing the valves can be a quick fix (don't remove them completely).

V-tech (angry mode) - engages around 4.5k revs. A lot of people don't notice it but there should be a slight change in engine sound and a slight increase in acceleration. Try to test for this. Any problems may be as simple as the system needing a quick clean and new seal (about £20) but anything more involved may cost more.

Be prepared to spend around £300-£400 on parts and labour to replace the timing belt kit, ancillary belts, water pump, coolant, plugs, leads, dizzy cap, rotor arm as a minimum. That's using good quality parts and not the tat places like ECP tend to stock.

Another very important thing would be tyres. By all probability these would've been changed at some point. But if they're old (no manufacturing date mark) they will need replacing. If they are nasty budget tyres they will badly affect the handling of these cars and make them near dangerous at motorway speeds. Factor about £60/corner if you need to replace any. Slightly cheaper if you go with H-rated over the original spec V-rated (Falken for H and Dunlop for V would be my recommendations). These cars should feel very planted on the road and hold on very well in the corners.

That's all I can think of for now. Hopefully it'll be in good shape for you. These are wonderful cars that outshine most of their contemporaries with ease. They even have a good knack of putting modern cars to shame if you're feeling heavy footed.
 
That is a bargain for the miles, I bought a 1.8 Sport with 120K for £750 so snap it up, just make sure you do a full service on it when you buy it, regardless of what the owner says, and just check for the usual rust and wear and tear bits and bobs, but for that price, I would buy it if I were you. The 1.8's are good cars, though lacking in power, returns good MPG and a good enough cruiser.
 
Are you certain he's only had it serviced twice mate? Surely he'd of had it done more than that? The old fellas are usually the ones that look after them.
 
Go to the government's mot website, type in the reg number and check up on any fails / advisories it's had. Match them up with the advice above, but a biggie would be corrosion / excessive corrosion to prescribed suspension area, or something of that ilk. Very common but, if it's not too excessive, get under there with a wire brush, Kurust and Waxoyl. Worked for me as mine had it on a previous MOT as an advisory. After a bit of graft it passed the next one with no mention of it.
 
P.S. - Med Flyer - my aerial often doesn't retract all the way, although the motor whirrs away. Other than cleaning it with a dry cloth - which often has a short lived effect - what else do you recommend?
 
superste said:
P.S. - Med Flyer - my aerial often doesn't retract all the way, although the motor whirrs away. Other than cleaning it with a dry cloth - which often has a short lived effect - what else do you recommend?
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Mine was/is like this too.
It's not anything serious as you should be able to carefully push it the rest of the way home if needs be.
I even bought another mast from eBay (not a Honda item but fitted with some fiddling) and it still does it. Although recently it has been going all the way home a lot of the time and I've done nothing else to it. I have considered disconnecting the power to it as I don't use the radio all that much (aux-in in place of the CD changer) but the traffic reports can be handy.

I may go back in one day and strip the motor down and give in a good clean. Cover the workings with some sort of silicon lubricant maybe and reinstall the factory mast. Just a pain getting to it as I have the CD changer and it's right in front of the lining that covers the aerial gubbins. I might take a browse in the ESM when my PC is living again and see if there's any tear down info in there.
 
superste said:
Go to the government's mot website, type in the reg number and check up on any fails / advisories it's had. Match them up with the advice above, but a biggie would be corrosion / excessive corrosion to prescribed suspension area, or something of that ilk. Very common but, if it's not too excessive, get under there with a wire brush, Kurust and Waxoyl. Worked for me as mine had it on a previous MOT as an advisory. After a bit of graft it passed the next one with no mention of it.
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And of course, no matter what the car do a history check through somewhere like MyCarCheck. I've used them for my last few cars and well worth it.
 
totalcarcheck is a good one too
 
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