EvenStar

OK I'm going to checkout a 95 Accord coupe LX w/ some 17" rims and a Alpine CD Deck in a few days and I was wondering what are some important things to check before I buy. The car has a clean title and 120,xxx miles on it. It's an automatic (I plan to do a 5spd swap later because its hard to find a low miles 5spd coupe nowadays... well at least in my area) and overall, the body and interior looks like its just been bought out of the dealership (I'll give a closer inspection on the dents and scratches). Seller is asking $5500 from me and will sell as is, but I'll try to lower the price a bit.

m1ndless

Thats is a rip off. I paid 2800 for my 95 sedan, it was all stock, but a 95 coupe on kbb doesnt go for more than 4200, thats in PERFECT condition.

Definetly check the timing belts, when he last had them replaced, his oil change records, how long ago they had the tranny drained and refilled.

Your making a good choice picking a 5th gen!

EvenStar

Ya, I need a more reliable car.

Anyways, I just checked kbb... your probably talking about the trade-in value which is $2,880 and the suggested retail is close to $6K.

EvenStar

btw is there a better option than having to carry this high amount of cash around? i really dont feel safe carrying 50 $100 bills. how did you guys deal with it?

YeuEmMaiMai

3-4K tops and that is if the car is in IMMACULATE condition.........


I only take the cash when I am ready to buy the car....until that time I leave it in the bank........

skip the 5spd swap and just fine a 5spd car....


KBB listing for a LX coupe

Condition
Value

Excellent
$3,930

Good
$3,505

Fair
$3,000

No way to pay that much for a car that is 12 model years old....

EvenStar

Well, it does have 17" racing rims installed on all four WITH new tires (close to about $1K or a bit over) and the Alpine CD Deck ($300ish). I finally lowballed down to $4400 though. Fair enough?

hungtat

not worth spending over 4k on a 95 regardless what it's on it. you are buying the stuff that originally comes with the car like engine and radiator. the extra stuff like rim and cd player are nice to have but they are worth "nothing" if you have a bad tramission or hidden leak.

m1ndless

Dont spend over 4k. You dont go by suggested retail, you go by the private party rate.

standbackimapro

First off, Thats an insanely highly pricecd car, especially with 120k on it..


But anyway, Get a money order for the amount

second, Check when the last time they had the timing belt and water pump, and tune up done..

Because if you need to get that stuff done on your own, its gonna cost nearly 500 bucks

Spark plugs, wires, Distributor cap/rotor, .. to get a timing belt and water pump kit is like 300 bucks, then another 300 to put it on

BlissSkr

dude way too much for the car i bought my brother a 94 lx yesterday for 2000 its got 158k on it

dmurphy2k3

First off, i paid 6k for my 95 EX over 3 YEARS AGO. Keep in mind that a car that has been modified has a LOWER value than a stock car, so the rims and deck are no reason to pay more. Really you should be paying, at least well under 4k for this car.

Now as for things to check, aside from all the regular stuff,

-check to make sure the heating **** works and doesn't mess up when you try and turn it
-check all the power windows. (those motors are known to die)
-check the cv joints and the cv joint boots.
-check both the master and slave cylinders.
-check the front ball joints.

Those are just a few things that are known to go wrong on 100k plus accords, take the car the a mechanic to check some of that stuff if you can't yourself, the seller should be cool with it. Good luck.

EvenStar

Well, there is another Accord up for grabs. This one is a 94 coupe, manual, clean title, evo-like spoiler, steelies, lowered w/ some springs, 160K miles, all for $2500. I might check this car out tomorrow as well or Sunday. But for the $5K, I'm seeing it tomorrow so...

KageOokami

Go for it. Oh Btw...first mod. Rip off that Evo-like wing. DO IT. Btw how's it look? I'm just unfortunate mine was that dark green color and it's an automatic; although it did have 70K miles on it. LOL. I just broke 90 a couple weeks ago.

EvenStar

Yeah, I was thinking of taking the car to a mechanic before I buy it as well. Does the seller usually agree if they have time? How long does the whole process take for inspection in the shop? Is it usually free?

dmurphy2k3

I can't see any reason that the seller would have a problem with it, if they do i would leave.

As for the mechanic, they probably won't have a set charge, but id give them something at the end for it, if you serious about buying the car its well worth it.

depulse

Ask for receipts on all major work done.

Look at the keys. Are they Honda keys? Do they have the valet key? Does the door key unlock the door and start the car?

I alway like to lift the hood and look at the engine compartment. How does it look? Dirty, you can't see the different components. Frayed wires, etc. Or is the compartment neat, clean and look like it has been cared for.

Look for overspray under the hood, in the wheel wells, rear area and front area.

Look at the condition of the interior. Broken plastic or neat well cared for.

Best of Luck


Modified by depulse at 3:32 PM 10/27/2006

EvenStar

Thanks for the tips guys!

Actually I found another Accord Coupe 2dr automatic. 76,000 miles for $5,000 (I'm going to try and haggle though to $4500 or less, if not $4800). The body is in fair-excellent condition with a 5inch or so key mark on the driver side door. Now is that really worth it?

TheMuffinMan

iTrader: (1)

Mileage on that last one sounds really nice, what year is that? If it's a CD5 I'd be very tempted to jump on it. If it's the 98-01 models (NSX style taillights) they have known tranny problems on the automatics that'll cost you quite a bit to have fixed. I think the general consensus is around 100k or so is when the tranny will just crap out on you

EvenStar

95 cd7.

This is a newb question but... does my car still save gas if I swap it from auto to manual transmission?

KageOokami

Yes. You get get better mpg with a manual transmission.

TOAB

Check for cracked belts, anything on the timing, and I'd recommend changing it. The others... anything more than 4 per inch, or any chunks missing/ deep cracks. Listen for exhaust leaks. Check the color, and smell of the tranny fluid. blah blah blah...

When you test drive it... Beat on it a little... seriously. you don't want some ***** thing that's' going to break. And listen for anything that makes you suspicious. Also, you could probably find a local shop near you to go over it... They'd love to find anything wrong with it. Probably be a $50 lift fee.

Patman

Accords always command insane value for a reason friends, you all should know better than anybody. My 98 sedan ex 4 banger is just about to hit 100k and I don't think the tranny fluid was changed once since orginal, bastards, I'm going to have to keep the freshest mobil1 and hope it holds out, its a little funky inbetween gears but thats it.

EvenStar

Hmm... what about the original owner having spare keys? I get paranoid about owners having a spare key and finding the car then stealing it or something to sell the parts. What are the chances of this happening?

EvenStar

bump..

Jmumblez2001

i use to live in manchester NH

anyways i got my accord 94' lx for 1800 @ an auction in NH LOL, good deal in my opinion had 141, 345 miles on and i still have it. But that price is too high give the guy 3900 hundred for and show him the cash, cause if negotiate and show no cash he won't be motivated to sell that's how i got my car.

good luck