I'm looking at getting a second car, 01-02 4cyl accord coupe as a daily driver. What can you guys tell me about the pros/cons of these cars?? I was going to get an auto so the lady can drive it, but I heard someone tell me that they're prone to transmission problems, but i thought that was only with the v6 versions.

 

pro= its an accord...overall great car..
con= auto transmissions...even the 4 cylinder

 

hmmm so only real problem is the auto tranny eh? i suppose i could try and find a 5spd.

has anyone had any serious issues other than auto tranny?

 

bump!

 

No.

 

Gotta 2002 Accord SE with auto, and as a daily driver it's fantastic. Thing will go forever! Depending on your daily drive, you may prefer an automatic. Five speed is a lot more fun, but less practical. No tranny problems to date.

 

Good Car.

Auto Transmissions are bad. Honda extended the warranty but even then they still fail. Mine has failed.

http://www.hondaproblems.com/Accord/...-failure.shtml

That link will help you decide.

My advice, get a 5 speed if you get an Accord. Buy her a bluetooth headset and wake her up 30 minutes earlier for makeup.

 

how many kms/miles do you have on your car?

 

OK here is the list

Pros

all of them handle well
V6 gets almost a good of milage as the I4
reasonably quiet
comfortable
everything logically placed out

Cons

AT is a giant pos
OPDS in later models can go FUBAR
ABS is a 3 channel system (2 front, 1 rear) so there are instances where you can lock th rear wheels (I have done this under EXTREMELY HARD braking).
Paint is pretty thin
Rear wheel wells still prone to rusting out

V6 models
Delphi alt definately want to change it to a Denso alt from a TLS/CLS after you make the wires 4" longer
AT is an even bigger POS
EGR problems for 3.0L V6 fix can be fun to do as honda may not do the reall anymore due to age of car (original EGR was 7 years 80K miles) although some dealers like mine did it at 8 years and 90K

 

I'm at 111K right now. It shifts through the gears smoothly under normal and hard acceleration. A little hesitation when going into reverse, but that is to be expected. I have been keeping up with the servicing timeframes, and I live in currently snowy and hilly PA, so it does give it a good workout. The thing has been very solid for me...like a rock. Right now it's our only car for our family and has been handling the additional load well.

 

Interiors on those cars are incredibly ugly as well

Like a Fisher Price "My First Dashboard" experiment

 

It's simple and easy to use. What's wrong with that ?

 

Its definitely cheap. But hey, its very simple and easy to clean.

The only thing I really don't like is the climate control ***** break more than they should (I barely touch them and I've gone through 3 sets). However, that's a problem you'll experience in a lot of Hondas.

 

How many miles are on the one you are looking at? Any tranny trouble to date? I suspect if it has a fair amount of miles and no problems you may be in good shape.

 

Thanks for the info everyone... its very helpful.

The one i'm looking at has 100,xxx kms, local, single owner, 0 claims. She hasnt had any tranny trouble to date, I doubt shes even taken it to 4k rpm, shes a 50 year old chinese lady.

I talkd to a couple guys who work at honda, and they said they havent really had any problems with the 4 cyl, mainly the 6...

 

The V6 auto tranny was definitely more problematic than the 4-cyl auto. It'll be a crap shoot with the V6 tranny, but with the 4-cyl auto you would probably be free of any problems (statistically speaking).

That said, the auto tranny on my '99 4-banger went out at about 80,000 miles. I had it rebuilt by a reputable tranny shop, and it's been fine for 100,000+ miles. I had a few other minor problems, but nothing major.

 

It's ugly + not at all sporty. And it's mainly only available in that Toyota Camry brown

That's the big thing that keeps me away from these. I would rather mess w/a 5th gen

But they're good cars.

 

obviously you haven't seen the interior of american cars made during that time lol Honda's layout is freaking great compared to a Chevy Impala......

lol 6th gen accord > 5th gen interior wise and exterior wise, expecially the coupe.