I'm looking for a new car since my 94 ls was damaged in an accident and instead of trying to fix it, I decided I'd rather buy a new car. I've been looking at the 5th gen Preludes and I found one that i like. It's a 98 base 'lude, 5-speed, completely stock except for an injen sri. It's white (white pear? is that the correct paint name?) with black cloth interior and it has the gold package. it has 130k on it and the selling price is $7,500. Is this a good deal? (95340 zip) Are there any things I should know before hand? Common problems? Maintenance upkeep? Anything?

 

http://www.kbb.com - has specific used car values, click "private party value"


I would be wary of any car that comes even slightly modified, but thats just me. I figure that it woudl be safe to assume that a person who changed anything (even as small as an intake) is more likely to have driven the car hard.

A compression test is a good place to start to see what sort of shape the motor is in.

 

I looked at the blue book and the value is $7,780. So, the asking price is below blue book value which is nice. I'm more concerned with the amount of mileage it has. My ls had nearly 200,000k and ran like a champ. But the prelude is not an integra and vice versa. I'm unfamiliar with preludes, not hondas. I'm just wondering if preludes are known to die at a certain time or something to that effect.

 

Just go test drive the car and ask for all service receipts.

Make sure the tranny shifts smooth, all the normal junk. If they cant provide all service records, and the major 90K mile tune-up record, then maybe look elsewhere.

 

130k on a lude is nothing....i'm on my 3rd one and this is the first that isn't over that mark....as far as them dying, just like any other honda....do your regular maintenance and you should be fine....sounds like the previous owner was a college kid....meaning it's been well broken in

 

Don't buy this car unless you do a compression test AND a leak down. If the owner didn't change the oil on schedule or if he drove the hell out of it, these tests will tell you if you've got a problem. If it passes both tests - pick it up - you'll love it.

'98 5speed, 96,000 miles, 1 quart of oil/1,000 miles

 

I'm asking 7,000 for mine and its mint, no dents,rust or anything. less than 2% leak down and all hold at 197lbs in each cyl. all stock 100%.

 

The owner is a 40 year old guy who uses it to commute about two hours a day. I actually got him to lower it to $6,900. He says he has all the receipts to the work done, which was just scheduled tune-ups. I'm going to take another look at it this weekend. I'll try to take some pics and post them up too.

 

buy mine for 11k, check it https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=1108897 just got a type s lip for it

 

If its a 40 year old guy I would make a deal with him. Say you will pay the $7,500 as long as it passes Honda's inspection. Then you take it to honda and pay the 75$ and let them comb over it. If there is any problems he pays to fix it or knocks that off the selling price. 130k is high if you are thinking about toying with the motor, but if you want a daily driver it may be a great find.

 

I'm all the way in CA.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by DvD3 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">buy mine for 11k, check it https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=1108897 just got a type s lip for it</TD></TR></TABLE>

wow, that car is awesome, except for the dohc vtec sign on the side, thats a good find with only 63k miles on it

 

ya thanks, i baby the damn thing, im not even driving it for the winter, i dont think its even seen winter weather :0

 

damn son u only got 9,xxx miles on ur older prelude! DAMN!

 

ya, my grandfather had the hook up with the local honda dealership, he got the car 3 weeks before it came out and never drove it,last december, I flew out there and drove it back, good find for FREE!

 

I personally think it's a good buy. I've had civic's and integra's and I'm by far happiest with my 97. If you can find one with the tiptronic get it. Lots of fun. I bought mine for 7200 with full cold air and caron fiber hood and trunk

 

I went to look at the car today and I took some pictures for you all to look at.


































































Modified by Inte94gra at 11:15 PM 1/16/2005


Modified by Inte94gra at 11:17 PM 1/16/2005

 

thats a piece, mad problems with that, mines half the mileage!

 

yea i got my 97 in perfect condition w/ 54kmilles for 9500 so i dont think thats a great deal

 

The car was originally purchased in Boston and the original owner was in the Air Force and was transfered to CA where the second owner purchased it and is now selling it.

 

2nd Owner looks like he was a little lazy. There may not be any real problems, but then again, under that dirt and... is that bird **** near the battery?
Did the AF guy put the intake on? I got mine from an AF lady and it was in excellent shape, relatively low mileage, one owner.

 

yea, but think about it, you can do the same thing that dealerships do all the time.
pressure wash that engine bay and it looks clean as new. i did that with my car. of course that wont fix the hose insulation but thats replacable if you care about the knicks.

the rust is almost a given though. its 7 years old.

front bumper could use some new paint though it seems. not a big deal.

do the usual compression/leakdown tests and see how that goes.

also, ask for some receipts on oil changes. verify the frequency of changes.

it looks dirty but itll shine right up. and if the tests come out fine, i wouldnt worry about miles too much. they last forever.

just my $0.02

 

The AF guy is the one that put on the intake as well as the drilled front rotors.

As for the bird **** looking ****, I think it's from the battery.

The guy says that he drives the car roughly 60 miles each way to work about 5 times a week. He bought the car with about 80,000 miles in August of 2001.

I asked him about the timing belt and he said that it has never been changed. He told me that he would lower to price to $7,000 and if I want him to get the timing belt/water pump changed he would just add the cost to the $7,000 which would be about $7,500 or I can do that myself if I buy the car.

I told him I would want to get a compression/leakdown test and he said that was fine.

He also has maintenance receipts from the original owner which were basic tune ups. I don't know how many he actually had. He did have the receipt to most recent tune up (cap, rotor, wires, plugs, oil/fuel filter) which was November 2003 (the oil filter has been changed a couple times after that, I hope).

I know that the dirty engine bay is not a big deal but it just gets me thinking, you know?

 

i understand 100%, but like i said, if in the future you want a quick clean-up, any garage could clean that gunk up for ya

 

looks like someone lost the love for this car