HI. I have never owned a honda before, but i've had plenty family member that've owned Honda Accords. I know that the 5th gen CD chassis accords are super reliable cuz a cousin of mine had one and drove it hard with little maintinence back n forth to college from miami to Gainsville (thats about 600mile drive one way). I love the lines of the CD and the spacious interior. I've seen two 95+ accords sitting in my neighborhood and was thinking about asking the owners if they'd be willing to let em go for cheap (since they ain't driving em). A buddy of mine got a 94 CD for his mom wit a blown motor and put a vtec F22 in to replace it. I mentioned trying to buy one of the two i've seen. he says up till 95' they're all good, but 96 and up areless reliable bcuz of the ecu change for those years. i don't know enogh about Hondas to dispute that. Are all the CD accord years the same? What are the changes made over the years that affects reliability? Is OBD1 better than obdII?
I'm really considering getting one of these accords so any input would be appreciated. Thank you all!

 

OBD2 is a more reliable ECU for diagnostics. The ECU has absolutely nothing to do with the reliability of the chassis of the car. IMO the OBD2 ECU is more reliable of the two anyway. Not sure where your buds is getting his info from.

Aside from a few minor cosmetic changes between the OBD1 (94/95) & OBD2 (96/97). The 5th gen Accord 94-97 use pretty much all of the same drive train, chassis & suspension components.

So if I were you I would pick the newest one I could find. One with the least amount of miles and rust on it would be nice. Other than that it comes down to whether or not you like the open lower grill and single tails on the 94-95 or the closed lower grill and double tails on the 96-97.