Hey I am thinking of buying a civic, I already picked one out and everything. The civic is from 2001, and it is in a pretty good overall shape except that it has about 87000 miles on it. Everything except this is fine with the car, I am getting it for about $8000.

Pardon my ignorance on the subject I don't have much experience with cars, but I would appreciate some help. The question that bothers me is if that car is worth it. What kind of wear and tear on parts are we looking at with 87k of miles on it.

I don't want to buy a car and then spend all my money on getting it fixed up. I am going to take it to a mechanic before getting it make sure everything looks good, but what do you guys think?

 

Well the only things that you might need to change out are:

Ignition Wires
Spark Plugs
Fuel Filter
Thermostat

What you NEED to change out at 90,000 miles are:

Timing Belt
Water Pump
Tensioner

Just to be safe, you should change all these out. Then, you wouldn't have to worry about major parts for another 90k.

Usually, Hondas last for a very long time, especially when cared for.

But, $8,000 seems steep for a 2001 with 87,000 on the clock. I'd say talk down to $7,000.

BTW, what trim/transmission/accessories?

 

Sounds good, thanks for a quick reply. Here is the link to the car on the dealer's site

http://ffxmazda.brownscar.com/...04294

 

Well, it seems nice. I'd say $8,000 is ok. Of course try and talk it down. But, it's a 2001 and it seems as if it was taken care of. Do you know the previous owners? Check if they were adults and not teenagers.

 

Carfax told me that only 1 person owned it somewhere in maryland. Thats as far as it went. The car was originally priced at around 8500, but I managed to talk it down to about 8000, I am sure I can talk it lower, to at least 7500. These guys are pretty desperate to sell me this car.

First time I took it out for a test drive it was making some noices that were coming from up front. When I questioned the guy about it he said that it commonly happens to cars that haven't been driven in some time. He said that rust forms on roters however after driving for a couple of minutes the noise goes away, second time I drove it there was no noise, so I assume what he told me was true. Checked online seemed like it was a real problem just wanted to make sure the guys was bullshitting me to sell this car. Can this lead to damange to the car or some parts?

Thanks for your help btw.

 

if its got that many miles already, most must be highway miles which i wouldn't worry about as much.

 

Indeed, that has to be highway miles. I rack a minimum of 20k a year. Dad's Jeep racked 34k in 1 year. Nothing to worry about.

 

Sounds like a good deal. Just make sure its never been in an acident

 

i have got 174,000 miles on my 94 civic and it is running like a dream. Hondas are very reliable and i have seen some with 250,000 that run fine. Regular service intervals are your best friend if you want your car to last.

 

well it all depends on who your buying it from and if that owner is the original owner and has kept up with the scheduled maintenance on the car..

for instance i bought my 98 ex coupe brand new and sold it about a year ago for $8,000 . miles on the car were at 167,879 miles. i did the maintence every month since i travel about 3,000 every month. i kept every reciept since i knew i would sell the car eventually and wanted to show the new owner that i did keep the car well maintained. i took the car to get its first smog check before i sold it and the idle was high and still passed all smog tests except the idle speed.

car still pulled hard and never burnt oil. and nothing ever broke on the car. i didnt even have to replace any light bulbs.

 

sounds good guys. I appreciate all the info.
I checked the carfax report, and it was good, it never was in an accident and only had 1 owner. Everything seemed fine. Now all I have to get is mechanic's check on it, and I am set, going to be cruising around in my civic

 

My buddy has a '94 prelude V-TEC with 230,000 on it. The thing still has mad *****. All he did was change the oil when he should have. When it comes to Hondas, there's no such thing as too many miles if you take care of them and give them what they need.

 

cool. One more question. Dimi how much do you think it would cost to have those replacement you mentioned in your first post. I take it that it shoudl be around 1k or so right? I hope my dealership did some of them, however I doubt it, If mechanic says that they will need to be replaced I will go ahead and ask them for a lower price. So how much do things like that usually cost?

Also are there any damage on wear on other parts that comes along with a lot of miles? Or does it pretty much go clean when you replace those parts?



Modified by delete852 at 9:18 AM 10/22/2004

 

fuel filter and such should be changed with oil changes, it isnt much.

Timing belt, depending on where you get it done, can be anywhere from 500-800. My honda dealer will do mine for 550 with timing belt, water pump, etc etc. I'm almost 100% sure the timing belt on that car has not been changed, they usually do it at around 90k. Most likely the owner traded it in before they had to pay for the major maintenence.

Hope that helps. I'd say go ahead and buy the car, it looks nice and clean, and with a little maintenence it will last you a lifetime. Especially because A.) Its got highway miles, and B.) It's a honda

 

friend got a 90 civic 4dr, original everything and the sucker is clocked at 289k miles and runs better then other beaters out there