My wife and I have a '99 EX sedan, five-speed right now and we love it. I do about 130 miles of driving every day for my work so I am looking for a commuter to drive till the wheels fall off.

I came across a client of mine that is a repo guy in Boston. I asked him about cars he might have for sale. He stated that he just repoed a '96 Accord, 5-speed, with a moonroof that had over 100k. He said that it did not look bad when he repoed it, and the bank wants $3,000 to pay off the loan. If the carfax and the frame looks good on this car, what other weak spots should I look for before I buy it? I have heard that 5th gen EX's with ABS have modulator problems that can be $$$, anything else? Thanks

 

Have Honda take a look at it (Pre-Purchase Inspection) they'll do a once over on a **** ton of stuff on the vehicle and then give you a report on it, it's about 90 bucks and takes like an hour and half

 

Thanks Muffin Man. I had a an Independant Honda repair shop check out my wifes car before we bought it. Best $30 I ever spent. Dealer check seems high. maybe I can find a indy down there near the car?

 

haha, maybe, I gotta swear by those inspections myself as well, was looking at an Civic SI that everything carfax wise checked out - turns out it had a motor swap from another SI, needed timing belt, broken crap , etc about $2000 in damages.

Average is 90, I paid 45 at one dealership and 80 some at another, I just said 90 because I knew the guy that did it for 45 hahaha.

 

Ya, my local Honda shop said that the squeal I heard from the front of the Civic before we bough it was a idler pulley that had a TSB on it. I got the pulley instated by the indy shop for $30, and the stealership took $600 of the car for the problem noise!! hahahaha

 

I tell ya these are the things I noticed after I bought my 96 5 speed:

-- Take a look at the fender linings (they're 40 each to replace)
-- Take a look at the radio install (if aftermarket)
-- Ask for service records
-- Power windows/power locks
-- check to see how clean they kept it


Mine had broken glass under one of the seats (broken somehow that hadn't been cleaned up) A horrible stereo install job (i repaired) Broken actuator (knew about that) and random bits and pieces from an old alarm system