Best used Car $5,000......Go!

[mechman600]

Originally Posted by justme1969

Worst Vehicles | CarComplaints.com

This is a solid list here if you do nothing else correct in this operation but delete these from it you are 1/2 better off than most brainwashed consumers.

I found it after I bought the 02 civic and it went straight to h-ll.

HA! I bought a used 01 Civic and it was the worst car I ever owned! It's 5th on the list... That's hilarious.
At that time I expected the very best from Honda so I did little research. Boy was that a mistake!

[War_Wagon]

Originally Posted by Sven7

I like how in the "worst complaints" section you get transmission failure, engine failure, cracked block, and... cracked dashboard. Really?

Perhaps the cracked dashboard is common from beating your own head against it after one of the other major issues listed just happened? Just a guess lol

[mcrews]

Originally Posted by civic_has

I recently purchased a 2004 Accord Ex, fully loaded leather, heated seats, sunroof. For around $5,600, and it manages to get around 32mpg in summer easily. Stick with the I4 the V6 have tranny issues.

THe 04 Accord is a pretty nice car and roomy for a car that gets 30+

[justme1969]

No the manufacturer of the dash didnt add uv blockers to thier resin and color during extrusion and the dash literally falls to pieces starting at molded speaker portion. Dodge fullsize.
Ive noticed a trend on thier lists, these are all things that should have been recalled that cost the owners so very much to fix they hate the car and also brand name after. read the write ups.

[Vman455]

Originally Posted by mechman600

HA! I bought a used 01 Civic and it was the worst car I ever owned! It's 5th on the list... That's hilarious.
At that time I expected the very best from Honda so I did little research. Boy was that a mistake!

This is why I never buy the first year of a redesigned model; always go for the last year or two when the issues have been worked out. You'll notice the 2001 Civic and 2006 Civic were each on that list--and each was the first year of a major redesign. My last three cars have all been the last year of their respective models and I've had no problems with any of them, including an 05 Civic.

[darcane]

Originally Posted by mechman600

HA! I bought a used 01 Civic and it was the worst car I ever owned! It's 5th on the list... That's hilarious.
At that time I expected the very best from Honda so I did little research. Boy was that a mistake!

Funny... 80% of the complaints for the '01 Civic are the tranny. No significant improvements were made to the tranny for the 7th gen (upgraded clutches in '03 for the auto, but I believe the failures were mostly the torque converter for auto or input shaft bearing for manuals), and yet the '04 Civic is given a "Seal of Awesome" rather than "Avoid like the Plague"

I'm happy with my '01 Civic. Other than the known problem with the tranny, it's been a good car.

And it looks like I may get my first tank over 50mpg if this warm, dry weather sticks around for another week.

[mechman600]

Originally Posted by Vman455

This is why I never buy the first year of a redesigned model; always go for the last year or two when the issues have been worked out.

Yup. I should have known. I was naive in thinking ALL Hondas are amazing.

Originally Posted by darcane

Funny... 80% of the complaints for the '01 Civic are the tranny. No significant improvements were made to the tranny for the 7th gen (upgraded clutches in '03 for the auto, but I believe the failures were mostly the torque converter for auto or input shaft bearing for manuals), and yet the '04 Civic is given a "Seal of Awesome" rather than "Avoid like the Plague"

I'm happy with my '01 Civic. Other than the known problem with the tranny, it's been a good car.

And it looks like I may get my first tank over 50mpg if this warm, dry weather sticks around for another week.

My 01 Honda @ 80K miles:
-Front struts shot, upper strut bearings squeaky - Honda TSBs for this
-Cracked exhaust manifold/cat (same piece, big bucks) - common failure
-Horrible horrible bouncy crappy ride compared to previous generation
-Warped front rotors every 10 seconds or so (only slight exaggeration)
-Drivers seat shot (rocked back and forth) - Honda TSBs for this
-Gas gauge extremely erratic below 1/4 tank - Honda TSBs for this

I ended up trading it for a Matrix. 1000X the car, if not more. Ride quality, looks, handling, reliability - all better. The only issues I have had with both my Matrixes is the belt tensioner looses spring tension at about 50K miles and starts making a funny noise at idle. That's a $40 and 10 bloody knuckles fix.

I recommend the Matrix. Decently sporty...ish...and reliable as rain on the west coast.

[Varn]

The best car will be the one with the fewest issues and the most life left in it. All very previous owner dependent. Things to avoid would be huge stereos and wings.

I wouldn't think that your camry would be that worn with 200,000. It might be the most cost efficient part of it's life. Particularly when you replace it at a cost of 5,000. You can do a few repairs if you need to and be miles ahead.

The last car (Benzilla) that I bought had 200,000 on it. The previous car (Joetta) had 240,000 miles. Both run like tops.

[brucepick]

Yup. There's a lot to be said for keeping what you have, well beyond 200,00 miles. I don't remember seeing anything that the owner isn't satisfied with it. If it needs $500-1500 work one day consider that cost only a small part of the $5000 you would spend now on a replacement.

We used to buy rear drive Volvos between $250-$3000 with 180-200 thousand miles on them and got 100-200 thousand more out of each.

Now we have Hondas (1 each Civic and Accord), bought with about 150k on their clocks, priced between $2000-$3000 each. I've put 130K on the Civic, bought it at 150K. I got my money's worth, even with the valve job I had done about half way through that span.

[bikeprof]

Since consumer demand has REQUIRED motor cars to be more reliable, ALL vehicles should go no less than 200K before anything major goes KAPUT.

Many persons still truly believe that 100K is all the car is good for, take notice of this and "jump" to the chance of buying a good car for a good price then.
Those are the ones that are good buys, still MANY miles and smiles left in them...