How many miles (on average) can you put on a '90-'95 Honda Accord or Civic?

[Burnt]

I'm interested in getting a Honda Accord or Civic from '90 to '95 for about $5000. Does anyone know how many miles on average a honda can take?

 

[Atrail]

My guess on avg. 135,000 - 165,000.
If treated decently with regular oil changes throughout its life.

 

[khtm]

<< My guess on avg. 135,000 - 165,000.
If treated decently with regular oil changes throughout its life. >>



I've actually heard that Hondas can take upwards of 400,000 -> 500,000 kms = 250,000 -> 312,000 miles. But I could just be speaking out of my ass

 

[bphantom]

My '90 Honda Accord automatic passed 212,000 miles a couple days ago. Still going quite good.

 

[SonicTron]

<< My guess on avg. 135,000 - 165,000. If treated decently with regular oil changes throughout its life. >>



Hey man, this is a Honda Accord/Civic, not a Ford Taurus/Focus!

I'd say upwards of 300K MILES, not KM

 

[Viper GTS]

200K is probably a safe bet if properly maintained.

Viper GTS

 

[Lucky]

92 civic here. Good car, but here are the mechanical problems I've run into since getting it 4 years ago @ 70K (now have 119956).

-transmission & clutch had to be replaced at about 100K. I do drive it somewhat hard and that might have been a contributing factor but its obviously hard to know.

-alternator has been replaced (perhaps twice)

-Prolonged brake problems, ranging from sqeals to random noises to innefectiveness

-muffler & the six foot long exhaust pipe replaced @ 100K, and now Im starting to hear some abnormal noises, sounds like its going out again.

i think thats it. Engine itself is still strong. I think you can EXPECT the car to take about 150K, but i would place a more common figure around 200K.

 

[RambleOn]

My friend has an 89 Accord LX-I automatic, it just hit 160k miles and the engine runs great, the tranny slips a little, but it's been slipping a little for the last 20k miles and it hasn't got any worse so he puts up with it. It's pretty cool that it's lasted this long and is still going strong because my friend doesn't really take very good care of it, he uses regular oil, only changes it every 6k miles, one time he ran it on regular oil for 8k miles, it still doesn't burn more than half a quart between oil changes.

I had an 89 Accord DX myself, with the carburated engine with a 5 speed. I ran it until it had 122k miles and it was going strong on the original clutch, too bad it got wrecked in an accident back in '98 that wasn't my fault.

 

[Eli]

<< << My guess on avg. 135,000 - 165,000. If treated decently with regular oil changes throughout its life. >>



Hey man, this is a Honda Accord/Civic, not a Ford Taurus/Focus!

I'd say upwards of 300K MILES, not KM >>



Yeah. A Honda/Toyota is just getting broken in at 135,000 miles.

They will do 250k without breaking a sweat with good care habbits. My girlfriends mom's '83 Camry LE has 214,000 miles on it and it still runs and drives great. We put about 500 miles on it every 2 weeks traveling back and forth to Port Angeles to visit her.

 

[Ultima]

Friend of mine has an Accord with 200,000 miles, eats oil due to a blown head gasket but otherwise runs fine.

 

<< -Prolonged brake problems, ranging from sqeals to random noises to innefectiveness >>


lol

I have a mistu, going on 260. Still purrs.
If you take care of an engine, it will last a long time.

 

[notfred]

My girlfriend's 86 CRX has 177k miles on it and it both burns and leaks oil, the AC doesn't work, the windshield washer fluid doesn't spray, the dash rattles, one of the brake calipers leaks, it stall when it's cold....

If I had to bet, though, it hasn't been taken care of at all. It definitely hasn't since she got it.

 

[Burnt]

Thanks for all of your responses. Can anyone recommend any other good used car for around $5000-$6000?

 

[Lucky]

<<

<< -Prolonged brake problems, ranging from sqeals to random noises to innefectiveness >>


lol

I have a mistu, going on 260. Still purrs.
If you take care of an engine, it will last a long time. >>




Not sure why you singled that out or why you are implying that....

 

[Zenmervolt]

If the car has been maintained properly (oil changed every 3,000-3,500 miles, transmission fluid if Auto changed every 30,000 miles, 60,000 miles if manual, chassis lubed every couple of years) then 200,000 miles is easy. 208,300 miles on my 1988 Accord (3,400 miles on the rebuilt tranny), all engine internals are original, burns absolutely no oil, everything works fine mechanically speaking, sunroof doesn't even leak. I got the car with 168,000 miles only to find out at about 180,000 miles that the tranny fluid had never been changed. :| Then at 204,900 miles the tranny lost 4th and reverse. When buying a used car, you should change all the fluids just to be safe. When not abused, Hondas are good for 200,000-300,000 miles without major problems.

In the price and age range you are looking at, I'd say that for pure reliability, Honda and Toyota are the only two brands worth considering. If you go to cartalk.com and look up owner loyalty, (Would you buy another car of the same make, Y/N?) Honda is second only to Porsche. Link

ZV

EDIT:

• The only American car in the top ten is the Saturn (not counting the "American made" Honda).
  We don't get to another American vehicle until the 17th-ranking Jeep.
  The "Bottom Ten" -- with Kia "leading" the pack, contains a lot of low-priced Korean cars.
  The Bentley is down there too (in case in was on your list of "maybes.")

 

[RossMAN]

<< Thanks for all of your responses. Can anyone recommend any other good used car for around $5000-$6000? >>



I second Zenmervolt's recommendation to check out owner loyalty over at cartalk.com and also check out the used cars on Edmunds.com.

I would recommend a Toyota Corolla/Camry or Honda Civic/Accord.

 

[Ns1]

ALOT

myf riend has a 92 prelude, 150k and still going strong

another one with a 92 civic, 140k and going strong

^_^

 

[toant103]

i think the accord from 90-93 have transmission problem

 

[Zenmervolt]

<< i think the accord from 90-93 have transmission problem >>

Doubt it. At least, I've never heard of it and I'm a bit of a Honda junkie. Probably just people who aren't used to the characteristically firm (HARD) shifts of Honda automatics. They all engage gears a bit more forcefully than most.

ZV

 

[Eli]

<< If the car has been maintained properly (oil changed every 3,000-3,500 miles), >>



Using high quality synthetic engine oil is a better preventitive measure than changing the oil every 3,000 miles. Probably cheaper, or at least break even, in the long run too.

 

[mithrandir2001]

Honda's engines circa 1990-95 can go 200-250K miles without an expensive overhaul, assuming judicious maintenance. Honda's automatic transmission isn't quite so good...figure an overhaul will be needed by 150K. But for $5000, you won't be looking at cars with tremendous mileage on the dial...maybe something around 100K or even less. You'd have to worry if you only had $2000 to spend and were looking at cars with 150K+ miles.

 

[Atrail]

You can put as many miles on a Honda as you want. If you pay all the repair bills.
Both of my cars have been Hondas 86 Civic CRX Si 180k and still going when I traded it.
97 Civic EX has 97K and much more to come. If you buy a poorly mantained car, it will not last you 300K miles. There is to much speculation to be made in your question. I hope you know how to check out your cars before you buy them. If not run it by a Honda shop and have them take a look at it. They can tell a lot just by putting it on the lift and checkin it out. Have them look at the timing belt on the car, if that breaks the motor is gone. (i.e. bent valves) Depending on the mileage it could be due for a replacment on the clutch, timing belt, cv joints, etc... Expensive stuff. Best of luck....

 

[Zenmervolt]

<<Using high quality synthetic engine oil is a better preventitive measure than changing the oil every 3,000 miles. Probably cheaper, or at least break even, in the long run too.>>

Not necessarily true. In order to offset the added cost of the synthetic, the change interval must be extended. Even though synthetic does not contaminate or break down as quickly/easily as mineral oils the synthetic change intervals are calculated to give equal performance to mineral oil change intervals. Given that I would not trust any oil, synthetic even, past 9,000 miles or six months a synthetic switch would end up costing me money in the long run because the interval is not extended enough to offset the cost.

In my air-cooled engines I use only synthetic because of the increased possibility of thermal breakdown, and I change it every 3,500 miles because I stress the aircooled engines rather heavily.

Unless you are very heavily stressing your liquid cooled engine, mineral oil changed every 3,000 miles will provide more protection than is necessary for the car to last 25-40 years.

ZV

 

[ThisIsMatt]

Well maintained, 200K miles. My brothers '91 Accord: 174K and still running perfect. My '92 Accord: 138K and still running perfect. My sister's '86 Civic: 188K, sold with possible tranny help (I can't say for sure, she thought was acting weird). Old '83 Accord went to 190K before we sold it. '84 Accord was at around 130K when it got side-swiped. '89 Prelude was at around 130K when it got side-swiped.

All bought used @ anywhere from 80-110K miles.

 

[Hubris]

I bought my sister's Saturn when she upgraded to a minivan, and it's got ~167,000 miles on it, still running perfectly. The clutch is a little loose, but considering my sister wasn't the most concientious of maintainers, that's not surprising. My mechanic says it's an easy fix, probably around $30. Damn good car, too. Peppy as all hell ('93 Saturn SL2 manual).