www.ultimatehandyman.co.uk

Looking at buying an m reg Accord that's a bit untidy. It's dirt cheap so that's not a problem.

Was just wondering if there any problem areas to look out for as i don't know much about this car being one of the very few vehicles i've never worked on.

It's the 2.0 16v standard about 135 bhp but this has had some work done and is apparently running about 174bhp now with 198 lb/ft which i don't really believe.

Any help greatly appreciated.

Hondas are generally very reliable, but when there is a problem, they are not cheap to fix!

All cars are in free-fall, price wise. An M Reg Accord is probably only worth a couple of hundred quid now and not worth repairing if it fails.

If it has been modded for power, you need to declare that to the insurance company and that will mean you lose out on the cheapest internet deals which you really want to be after on an old car like this

Lol, i kinda know about the whole modifying thing and reliability across the whole Jap range is great and all Jap cars rarely go wrong but with expensive consequences if they do

I know this from my GTO.

Just kinda wondering if there are any bad areas for rust or maybe a common mot failing fault like electrical problems.

The guy only wants £400 for it but i'm only gonna pay £200 at max as it is scruffy as i said. Insurance is sorted and is £45 more than my 1.4 sunny for the year with all mods declared so that's not a problem.

the O2 sensors can be suspect I think.

Honda Engineering is superb - their bodywork is not :(

I would get in there with a screwdriver and poke around - maybe split cost of a new MOT with the guy before you buy? - lot cheaper then an inspection and gets a 12 month ticket to the road and if you get a year from it, you're quids in

Indeed, that's all i'm after, a years motoring for a couple of hundred quid is good for me, paid £100 for my Sunny and it's lasted through 2 mot's.

I have a "friendly" MOT inspector anyway so i should be ok.

I'll have a damn good poke around when the guy answers his phone finally so i can go look.

There does seem to be a couple of rust spots on the rear arches at the bottom, identical on each side but very small. Just hope it doesn't go all the way underneath.

Honda accord; a very good car albeit i think the standard 2.0i lump makes closer to 115bhp. generally it is expensive to fix honda's but this accord has alot in common with the rover 600 so plenty of stock at the scrappers.

common faults i know of are drivers window usually doesnt work too well, it comes out of the rails; sometimes bending them... poor design.

tracking; easy to knock out compared to most.

errr..... errrr..... oh yeah rust; generally surface stuff; there was a recall on them years ago for undersealing... hopefully thats been done.

mechanically nothing hardly goes wrong with them. even their serviceable items last longer than most. a bit heavy on juice but most jap cars are/were.

HTH

Raf wrote: a bit heavy on juice but most jap cars are/were.

HTH

I'm sure it will be better than my 3.0 24v twin turbo'd V6, which is always a Jap engine. Lol.

Thanks for the advice, it's good to know about the Rover 600 parts as i know where i can get 3 of them for free. Lol.

Will take a good look tomorrow as it's getting to be dark now by the time i get to it.

I had an N reg Rover 623GSi - and only bought a Rover as I knew it was really a Honda Accord
I noticed a lot of the parts actually had Honda stamped on them and used to get the car serviced at a Honda Dealer as it was cheaper then the Rover!

Thinking back, the only issue I recall ever having with the car was the A/C needed recharging once. (It was much newer at the time then your M plate Accord though)

Nope, he wouldn't take less than £300 for it so it was a no go.

Shame really, I've never walked away from a car deal without getting it for the price I'd decided before, felt kinda strange.

Oh well, I'll keep looking for something else then.

leave him your phone number and tell him your offer of £200 goes down by a fiver a day!

Heard on the radio today that some guy was after discount on a brand new car at £18,000 - dealer would only drop £2k .. then another £2k. Guy left and then got a call saying he can have it for £12k

Anyone wants to get another car right now is onto a winner - long as they don't want anything for the old one

Buyers market out there now

I'm the master of haggling.

My GTO was up for £6999 and i got it for £3650.

He has my number but he won't call and he won't sell it and i may as well go for something better that will last for the family.

I find it a bit of a problem buying from Polish guys as it often very hard to ask questions with the language barrier there. I have a few Polish friends but they weren't around to come with me which would have helped a lot i think.

Bless him though, i offered him £250 in the end so he had to go ask his wife if that was OK. Lol, she must have cracked the whip and sent him back with the same £300 that he'd said in the first place. To be honest i would have felt uncomfortable paying the £250 for it so was almost relieved when he said no.

We need something as my GTO isn't really economical and the Sunny is on it's last legs now i think and will struggle the next MOT.

One technique I read about - or maybe saw on Top gear actually, thinking about it? ....

got to a dealers and see if they got an Part-Exers they can't shift - they may give one of those away virtually just to get shot of the hassle of dealing with it!

Yep, again, I've done this, i paid £100 for my Sunny and that has lasted 2 years so far.

Although i must admit the Missus works there so i kinda got a heads up on it.

She's on maternity leave it the mo though so not getting the scoop as it were though.