Topic: Any of you all know much about old Honda cars? I"m thinking about buying one.

[Kong]

A friend of a friend has a car for sale that I'm thinking about buying.  Its an '01 Acura CL Type S.  I have only see pictures of the car, never seen it in person though I probably will later this week.  The information I have on the car is that it was bought about a year ago by a middle aged guy who has treated it like gold, including having a new/rebuilt transmission (5-speed Auto) installed recently.  New tires, everything works, leather is fine.   Its got about 150,000 on the clock and I'm told it runs flawlessly.  The price he wants is no problem.  Oh, and this car will be driven mostly by my son, who needs something other than his van for a new job he got.

What do you think?

[flybox1]

lucky kid! 

 looks like a FUN car. 
2DR, 3.2L V6 @260hp.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acura_CL

[RustyJC]

I do my daily commute in a 2003 Acura 3.2TL Type S (the 4 door sedan version of the CL-S) that I've owned since May 2002, and the car has been dead reliable.  The only factor that waves any warning flags for me is the mileage.  My Acura has only 57,000 miles.  If the car in question has been as well maintained as you're hearing that it has, the 150,000 miles may not be a huge issue, at least in the near term; if it hasn't, then reliability and longevity could be an issue.

Rusty

[Kong]

RustyJC, thank you.  That was sort of along the lines of what I was thinking too.  The milage scares me, particularly on the transmisson.  I've sort of figured in a thousand bucks for unidentified repairs before I share the car with "young son".

Flybox, just to be clear, "Young Son" is 36.

[fastbroshi]

   Kong, in my experience Hondas, when properly kept up with maintenance will last a VERY long time if not abused.  I've had a couple of 80s Hondas that looked worse for wear in the cosmetics department but always ran like little sewing machines.   I had a friend that had an early 90s Accord and the damn thing had over 300k on it.  It was so smooth I thought it had the motor replaced but it wasn't. 
   I think once you get into the 2000s they sometimes have tranny issues, but that doesn't seem to be an issue here since this one's been replaced.  Should be a good car for him.

[Stev-o]

I just sold my '01 Honda S2000, it was by far the best car I have ever owned, never had even a mint issue, but only had 40K miles.

The only thing I would question is why did it need tranny work? Most Japanese cars can easy go 200K without such issues.

[Kong]

Actually this particular model is well known for its transmission issues.  There are many owners who have had 3 or 4 replacements and the problem caused the factory to extend the warranty on the transmissions and to replace quite litterly thousands of them for free.  They seem to last right at 50,000 miles and then they lose 3rd gear.  I suspect an owner had to be part of the cause too, driving habits and all that.  Anyway it the one thing on these cars that is known to break frequently.

Fortunately I've also found out that you can replace the stock one with an '07 transmission out of another model Honda and the later model is completely bullet-proof and actually shifts better than the stock.  The transmissions can be had for about $800.  So if this one lets go I really don't care very much, I'll just toss in a late model and be done with it.

So I got hold of the guy last night and bought it off him sight-unseen.  Of course when I go to pay him for it and bring it home if its not as it was described to me the sale is off.  Oh, did I mention this little beast has a 260hp V-6 in it?  Reports are it will go mid-fourteens at just under 100mph with a top end of 130+ depending on who you listen to.  Can't wait to drive it.

[pknopp]

01? I thought you said old.

[japscrap]

change the timing belt,with that high mileage thats the first thing I would do.
might save the motor for another 100,000 miles.

[Gordon]

01? I thought you said old.

First thought I had, too.

I was thinking mid '70's to mid 80's.  I had an '84 Accord that had close to 300K before I got rid of it.  It was still going, just getting to be more trouble than it was worth to me.  The engine was still strong, it was all the other stuff that was falling apart. 

[Kong]

Sorry, it seemed old to me.  I guess one's perspective changes over time.

Along with asking about the car here a couple of days ago I also went internet hunting for information about it.  There is a ton of information out there on the car.  That's how I found out about the transmission problems (and the fix) and its really what caused me to buy the car off the guy just on a description.  Apparently for their time they were sort of an old man's dream, better than a dry fart.  They came with every gadget available back then; there was only 1 option available for the car and that was a GPS navigation system.  I've got a lot better GPS than they put in that car, so I do not miss it not being in this one.  Anyway they are, according to reviews and tests, just one fly-hair short of being a full luxury car but at the same time they are pleasingly fast.  The thing has quarter mile times roughly equal to what the muscle cars of the 60's put out but with modern amenities like traction control and vehicle stability control, and of course heated electric seats, CD player, true HID lights, leather covered everything and zone regulated climate control.  Like I said, better than a dry fart to an old man.  :~}

[Duanob]

One thing I realised about getting older (not old) is buying a new car is not an investment in fact it's quite the opposite and I will never buy a brand new one again. Hey I ride a 35 YO motorcycle like most of us. So I love stories of finding really nice used cars that were well taken care of. Our last car was a 1993 Camry with 50K original miles from the original owner. He had paper work for everything he eve had done to it like tune ups and oil changes, new tires, even did the timimng belt and h20pump for good measure before he sold it to us. I figured we could've driven this car for 10 years without any problems. Until someone smacked into my wife and totalled it. Now we have a 2003 Honda civic hybrid from a car dealer that I found out later it had been wrecked and fixed eventhough nothing showed up on carfax. We still have it but it still pisses me off to think about how nice our last car was.

[74cb750]

a 2001 car is not "old" anymore.
At least not to me.

I just bought a 202 Honda Civic,110,000 miles.
THis will be my 6th Honda.
I usually drive them for 250,000 miles and then sell them to local kids,
whom think putting a loud exhaust all of a sudden makes them a race car.
Most of the time the cars end up crashed, but the motors keep right on running.

I looked at buying 2001-2004 Honda Odyessy but read about the transmission problems they had and
passed on those vehicles.  Wonder if they had the same tranny as the Acuras?

[Magpie]

Old? Ha! The wife's car is 1991 Accord staionwagon EXR, 4 cylinder , 16 valve motor. Other than a bit of rust behind the rear wheels we haven't had a problem with it. Well over 200,000 km's. It might use a litre of oil between oil changes. Good cars. Cliff.

[MoMo]

An aside-I saw one of the first Honda prototype cars back in the mid 60's.  It looked like a VW bug and the motor was two 450 motorcycle engines assemble as a V4 using a chain to drive the rear wheels.  They have come a long way...Larry

[faux fiddy]

change the timing belt,with that high mileage thats the first thing I would do.
might save the motor for another 100,000 miles.

+1

We got a dead honda with a timing belt issue. It had been fixed (timing be replaced) but that did nothing for the bent valve that ocurred when the thing died.  Avoid that mess by changing out the belt every 90-100k miles or it makes for much more work.

Hondas have amazingly tough head gaskets, and they are glued on with some sort of fiberous glue that takes hours of work to clean up the head and block well enough to reassemble. PITA!

[Stev-o]

Kong - post some pics once you pick it up.