I've decided to join the Accord family after recently getting rid of my 4th gen Prelude VTEC. After a lot of searching, my choice has come down to the following two:

1) 94 (OBD1) Accord EX sedan (Black w/ Grey leather interior) with 98k original miles. Car is being sold by original owner who has kept up with all the maintenance on the car. The interior of the car looks brand new with no rips or cracks in the leather seats. The exterior looks good with no rust or anything but it has an aftermarket OEM front bumper cover replacement (unpainted) and a used drivers side fender with dings due to a minor parking lot accident. The car runs and drives fine but it's an automatic. $4300

2) 96 (OBD2) Accord EX sedan (Black w/ Grey cloth interior) with 119k miles. Car had timing belt replaced and full tuneup done a few months ago (with receipts). Other than that, no previous maintenance history is known. According to carfax, there were two minor parking lot accidents. I called up the Police Department in hopes of getting an accident report but they told me they didn't have any probably due to the fact that they won't write up a report for accidents with less than $1000 in damages. The car looks great with no dents or dings otherwise and it's a 5spd which is what I ideally want. $5000 and the car is located 4 hours away.

Each car has its positives and negatives as you can see. Which would you guys pick and why? Thanks in advance.

 

I would go with the 5speed, 5th gens look good period......


EDIT: just make sure both have records of the t-belt done, or do it yourself asap and welcome to the accord family.

 

I agree go with the Nine Six 5 speed..You will have a good platform to add on to and with the 5 sp. already there thats one less thing to do and 4 hours will be a nice little opening road trip back to your pad

 

make sure the timing belt AND balancer belt were changed. People will cheap out on the 2nd belt....if that one goes...

Check for front accidents...look under the hood at the inside of the fender about 10 inches back from the headlights (hard to describe). This is where the ABS unit or battery would be located respectively at each side of the car. It's best to do this in the dark with a flashlight...makes things contrast more --> You can spot bondo-repairs and rust-cracks from re-shaping the unit-body metal.

Look under the oil cap. DOes it look NASTY?

I vote for niether. I think there are better cars out there at the price you willing to pay (4.5-5k).

I also would NEVER by a car w/o records unless it was a steal. Niether of those is. Whose selling it? A dealer (the 5spd)?

 

If they both pass all of rotary's tests then i say go5 spd... i am never buying an autoshit stick again!

 

<U>Update</U>:
Well I drove 4 hours from NYC to Boston this morning to check out the 96 EX 5spd after seeing pictures of the car and going by the seller's representation that nothing was wrong with it.

When I got there, this is a list of the things I found wrong with the car:
- Hose that connects the intake tube to the engine missing
- Passenger side fender lining missing
- SRS light on
- ABS light on
- Drivers side front and passenger side rear windows don't work
- Windows have a ghetto tint job on them (bubbles everywhere)
- Rear bumper doesn't look aligned with rear quarter panels
- Miscellaneous rust in and around the engine bay

Now from driving the car:
- The car pulls hard to the left
- Loud clunking sound coming from passenger side suspension

The carfax that I had on the car showed it was involved in a parking lot accident. The seller assured me that the accident was minor and everything was ok. Based on my observations and test drive, my conclusion was that the car was damaged more severely than the seller let on. As you can imagine, I was PISSED off after seeing the car for what it was, especially after driving 4 hours to see it (which the seller knew).

I seriously don't understand sellers who misrepresent their cars, knowing the buyer will see them upon inspection.

Anyways, I ended up checking out the 94 EX auto again and I ended up buying it. Although it's an automatic, the car was in great shape and was maintained properly from the original owner (seller). Having gray leather interior without and rips or cracks didn't hurt either.

I'm happy to join the Accord family here and hope that I can learn a thing or two from you guys. I've already owned the following cars in the Honda family:
3 CRX's
5 Civics
2 Integras
1 Prelude

I'll post pics of the new ride as soon as I get pics.

 

welcome to the accord forum

 

i would also go with 96 Accord (5spd)