I am the proud owner of a 1996 Honda Accord EX. When I bought the car new, I was determined to get at least 300k miles out of it.
I’ve had very few problems with the car that weren’t my fault: passenger side power door lock; water-pump failure 40k mi after doing standard timing belt/water-pump replacement at 90k (didn’t use Honda parts to save money - that worked out pretty well!).
I smashed the front end in a low speed head-on collision (my fault) - necessitating replacement of the radiator and a few bent engine mounts.
Well, here we are 14yrs and 210k mi later and the old girl still runs like a champ and gets a solid 30mpg. Any reason why I shouldn’t get 300k mi out of it? How long do you think it can last? What’s the most mileage a mid-90’s Accord has racked-up?
Thanks,
-mojo from San Diego
Dear Mojo:
Hondas and Toyotas are very long lived with a good maintenance program. My brother still has his 1987 Acoord, and the major repairs, (other than wear items such as brakes)have included the A/C compressor, clutch, and some suspension work. His mileage is about 350, 000 now, so you can look forward to many more happy miles with yours. Corrosion should not be a problem where you live, but overheating is always a danger.
The key items that send these cars to an early grave are; not changing the coolant in the engine, with a radiator flush, (should be every 50,000 at least), not changing the automatic transmission fluid ( should be every 30,000 miles at least), and, of course the timing belt/water pump replacement asspecified. Also, make sure you use the right engine oil as specified in the manual, and change oil and filter every 3000 to 5000 miles depending on your driving pattern; more frequently for city driving.
Happy motoring.
As long as you keep up with maintenance and note any odd noises/problems to your mechanic as they happen, you should be able to drive it until you’re bored with it, or it gets totaled in an accident, or rusts out from under you.
My independent Honda mechanic reports several clients who’s mid-1990s Accords have well over 300K miles on them.
I hope my '97 lasts as long as your car. It currently has only 99K miles. I plan to drive it for many more years.
Yeah, all sched maint has been done over the years, all at my original dealer (reputable Hoehn in Carlsbad). All oil changes have been done around every 5k, instead of recommended 7500 mi.
Only experience with outside shop doing work: 90k mi Timing Belt/water pump parts procured at friends employee discount from a japanese parts distributor (non OEM) & work performed at good rates at shop next door to parts shop. Price was about 1/2 what Honda dealer wanted and $$ was tight for me at the time. Cost: water pump failed at 130k mi so I had to have it all done all over again!! Messed up my whole plan of my final T-Belt repair happening at 270k (every 90k), which are the real biggie repairs for this and most cars. That way, I could have gone all the way to 350k and beyond without (knock on wood) any further major repairs. Not bad for a car I paid off in 3.5 yrs and have been driving without payments since Jan 2000.
Now I’m probably gonna have to have another T-Belt done at around 220k & 310k. Now I know that there are reputable independent shops out there, I just don’t know which ones they are and I haven’t the time or the $$ to keep trying until I find one.
Yeah, looks like I picked a good year ('96), in both reliability and looks. The next major body re-style after mine I found to be pretty ugly. And the late 80’s & early 90’s have some reliability issues.
I’m gonna drive this baby 'till they take my license away…
Side note: Did you know that the oil drain-plug washer is a $0.25 part that Honda replaces with each oil change? And that Jiffy lube and some other lube shops do not replace? Re-use of the same washer can lead to stripping of the oil pan and cause leaks and may necessitate pan replacement.
While the critical periodic maintenance the others mentioned is obviously the main thing, it’s also very important that you don’t neglect less important stuff. Any modern car will run indefinitely if given proper maintenance and if not abused-- very few cars get junked these days because of worn out engines. It’s just that the rest of the cars get worn out. Sometimes it’s rust, which there’s not much you can do about, but a lot of times the paint gets faded, little plastic doo-dads break on the interior, the seats get stained, the radio breaks, maybe the shocks and exhaust get neglected, or all of the above. Then along comes a relatively minor repair and you just can’t bring yourself to (for example) pay $600 to change the alternator on a car that’s got so many other little annoyances.
It’s tempting to let that stuff like that slide on an older car because relative to it’s book value it doesn’t always make sense to fix them, but letting your car lapse into heapdom is more likely to kill it than anything mechanical. It may seem absurd and somewhat futile to try to keep up with this stuff as the car gets older, but if you’re really serious about keeping it over the long haul, it’s gotta be done.
Stick with the dealership then, I had pretty good luck with my local Honda dealership. They know you and your car pretty well, and will usually keep you informed of any recalls or such should they arise.
There’s no reason whatsoever why you cannot get 300,000 out of it if you continue to maintain it. You’ll need to replace an occasional peripheral component, like perhaps an alternator or a realy or something, but the basic car is good for the long haul.
The late 90s and early 2000s Hondas had some serious reliability issues, too (worst transmissions in the business, according to WarrantyDirect’s claims rates)… but 96 was a very good year.
300k should be reachable. Keep on movin’ on!
I have 230 k on my 1998 2.3 vtec accord and it runs better the a lot of new cars
Honda Accord 2008-2011 4 cylinder 2.4L had high consumption issues due to stuck rings on low milage engines. Honda fixed the problem at no cost by tearing down the affected engines and replacing the rings and piston. Owners had to perform an oil consumption monitoring test before Honda accepted the repair.
Since we’re 8 years later, I wonder how @mojo_s_mini is doing…
Good to hear these classics are still on the road and purring like kittens. My 25 year old Corolla , about the same mileage. Other than routine maintenance, brake pads, light bulbs, etc, the problems I’ve had to fix over the first 25 years: starter motor replaced 3 times; ignition switch; radiator fan coolant temp switch 2 times; radiator; thermostat; idle air control. Still has original water pump and rear brake shoes.
George, your Corolla is a 1992, so it’s 26 years old
If it was 25 years old, it would be a 1993 and the next body style
Yes, 26 is correct. I wouldn’t claim to own a 93. The 93 body style was no good. @db4690 … I’ve noticed of late you are a stickler for accuracy … lol … 25 vs 26 , and a while back weren’t you complaing when I said 100 mA phantom draw was within limits on many modern cars, when I should have said 75 mA?
Me not think Old Honda Accord is a 'Classic ’ .
a while back . . . You said 100 milliamps parasitic draw was okay
And I said that was in fact inaccurate
Because 50 milliamps or less would be okay
I would never have agreed that 75 milliamps was okay
Call me a stickler all you want
As for the 93 body style Corolla being no good, can’t comment on that. It was the first year for its series, so it may have had some bugs, whereas your 92 was the last for its series, so Toyota probably had all the bugs worked out by then
I think the discussion involved whether the OP’s battery was destroyed by phantom draw. 50, 75, 100 mA, my point was that none of them would destroy a battery in typical use.