I’ve got a dellema. I recently had a great opportunity to buy a great truck that I’ve wanted for some time now one of my sedans needs to be sold but I can’t decide which one
2007 Honda accord. 106k miles v6 ex-l Vs 2010 Ford focus se 80k miles
The honda has a beefy v6 engine as well as just being a nicer ride. The ford is like every american car at this age I’ve owned… The engine mount rubber are worn so it’s louder and vibraty. Both have been maintained about the same which is regular oil changes not much else. Honda has new tires. Ford needs tires and some sway bar links. Hondas had the exhaust welded and is holding fine until it doesn’t
I live in the north east so salt is a concern. The honda has a little body rust around the well wells. Ford is pretty clean as it spent about 4 years of it’s life in Texas (my wife bought it new)
Which would you keep? What can I do to really decide better?
Honda had some issues with the oil consumption for the 2.4L 4 cylinder only but none for the V6.Some body rust and paint problems were reported.We are talking about 2 differents cars here…the Accord is classified as a mid size and the Focus is a small sedan.If I had to decide witch one to keep it would be the Honda.
This is a hard call. As far as the Honda is concerned, the rust you don’t see is worse than the rust you do see. I don’t know whether or not the Honda Accord has a rubber timing belt. If so, has that been changed recently or is it due to be changed?
The only thing I know about a Ford Focus is that my son found one advertised and was thinking about it for his teen aged daughter, without even seeing the Focus, his mechanic said “Run away from it”.
One thing is figure out how much it will cost to fix the problems you mentioned, plus any others that need immediate attention. If there weren’t any problems, I’d keep the Accord. I had a 2005 EX V6, and I really liked it. I wasn’t willing to do a second timing belt replacement at 210,000 miles, so I sold it at 187,000. If the cost is close, I’d keep the Honda. I sold it to a local Honda dealer, and their used car manager said it ran like a top. Well maintained, the drive train will last a long, long time.
Got rid of 187k Honda since you didn’t want to do timing belt at 210k? 2 years in the future? I know the dealer sold it in 2 weeks with old timing belt. And old belt is on car today.
And it’s true the honda. needs the timing done. More expensive than the tires on the ford. I’m skewed because the honda is so much more a pleasure to drive.
Selling them both for something newer is a strong possibility but I’d like to delay that a year or two.
So I can do timing on honda and drive it 2 years. Or save a little bit of the money and deal with the ford. I still can’t decide which to keep.
If you need this car to be reliable transportation, then I agree with selling both and buying a newer, better car. If you need to be frugal and recoup some of the money you spent on the truck, then sell the one that is worth more and drive the other one into the ground while saving for another car.
Most buyers would pay a premium for a Honda and would be willing to ignore very obvious issues.
I would tend to think the question hinges on whether you plan to DIY the timing belt replacement for about $200 or whether you plan to pay a shop about $1000 to have it done professionally. If you can DIY, it definitely makes sense to keep the Honda and sell the Focus. If not, you can add that $1000 or so that you won’t be spending into the cost delta between the two choices. After all, no one would pay to have a timing belt job done on a car that they plan to sell. The new owner can worry about that.
The 2010 Focus uses timing chains, which should be reliable unless the engine was neglected. This era of Focus did not have the defective DCT transmission, and is considered very reliable.
So my advice would be to keep the Honda if you can DIY the timing belt replacement, or to keep the Focus if you can’t.
I sold it because I was commuting about 110 miles each weekday. I thought if I left a little life in it, I could get more in trade, ad I got a great offer. It wasn’t perfect, there was an intermittent SRS light, and cleaning the seat belt buckle innards didn’t help. Oh, and I sell when I want and for my reasons. What you think about my reasons don’t matter much to me.
This may very well be true, however it does not change the math for the current owner who is deciding whether to pay for expensive maintenance or to sell/trade-in the car instead.
It is possible that the car went straight to a wholesale auction, as most dealers don’t want to resell cars with high miles or over 10 years old. It is also possible that the successful bidder at the wholesale auction was a sleazy BHPH dealer who did some cosmetic refreshing and sold the car as “well maintained and needs nothing”. It is also possible that the eventual purchaser of this vehicle knows nothing about the need for replacing the timing belt/tensioner/idler/water pump, or assumes that this was already done.
Maybe this person lucks out, and the car runs fine for years. Maybe not, perhaps months after buying the car, the timing belt fails, the engine is destroyed, and now this person owes thousands of dollars for a lawn ornament.
The point that I am making is that for a person who already owns a car which requires expensive maintenance, and is getting up there in age and miles, the decision of whether to spend the money on having this maintenance done or whether to get rid of the car instead is purely a numbers game. If the car is worth $3k as it sits, and it will cost $1200 to have the maintenance done, it might very well make sense to sell, especially if you require peace of mind. It might also make sense to do the maintenance and drive the car for several more years. If the car is worth only $1k as it sits, most people would skip the $1200 maintenance, drive it until it no longer runs, and then junk it at that time.
I appreciate you folks having a conversation about this. It’s a tough call right now. I don’t want to take a car loan this year and typically drive my cars until they are unreliable. Usually to the 150k 15 year mark.
So if I sell ford now cause it needs about $500 today for tires and sway ends. I could forego the honda timing belt and sell it next year to buy something younger. HOWEVER it sounds like if I want to drive it into the ground it would probably be cheaper to keep the ford.
HOWEVER. The Ford still has a little value to it and next year will be worth less. The honda is basically at it’s value floor. And I Just prefer driving the v6 leather honda.
This appears to be false savings. Any prospective buyer of the Focus is going to look at the tires and demand a test drive. If the tires are clearly worn out, and the steering and suspension have excessive “play”, the amount they will agree to pay for the car will be adjusted down accordingly. So you will end up paying for those repairs whether you keep the car or not.
On the other hand, the Accord is worth the same amount of money, whether or not you do the timing belt, as long as it doesn’t fail before you sell the car. Some prospective buyers may ask about the timing belt, but most won’t even know that it’s needed, or do the diligence to ask about it. Therefore, as long as the timing belt doesn’t fail before you sell the car, the cost-savings from not paying to have this done will remain in your pocket.
Put differently, suppose the Focus and Accord are both worth $3k private-party in good condition. If you decide to sell the Focus as-is, a prospective buyer will notice the worn-out tires and steering/suspension components. If the tires and steering/suspension repairs cost $500, they will offer to pay $2500 or less. So you still pay for those repairs. On the other hand, if the timing belt job on the Accord costs $1k, most people would happily pay the $3k for the car whether or not you have the timing belt changed. Therefore, using these numbers, the cost delta between keeping the Focus or keeping the Accord isn’t $500–it’s $1500. And for $1500, I’d sell the Accord and keep the Focus.
I should have clarified. I’m in NY and everything just passed inspection. But I know they are coming up in the next year. The focus has the timing chain which is nice.
