How reliable can a 2008 Honda Accord sedan be, with 250000 mostly freeway miles, impeccable maintenance and in excellent condition throughout?
Depends greatly on how it was actually maintained as compared to how the seller TELLS you it was maintained… Trust but verify. Take it to your mechanic for a serious look-see before you buy it. Best $100 or so you will ever spend.
10 year old car averaging 25K a year. The “mostly highway” story is most likely correct. Those miles are pretty easy on a car. And Hondas have pretty good engines, not as good an automatic transmission but OK. That said, it is still a 250K mile car. It WILL need more repairs that an earlier model so don’t assume you can buy it and forget it. But the risk is low if your mechanic says OK and the price is right.
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Thank you!
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Do you have proof the timing belt was changed? How often was the transmission fluid changed?
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The 4-cylinder uses a timing chain, only the V6 uses a timing belt. OP didn’t tell us which engine.
The car has high mileage and is ten years old. I had about 130,000 miles at ten years on my 2005 Accord, and I did have to do work on it. Reliability is not a good term for a car this old. Expect things to go wrong, like brakes and suspension just because it is well used. If you want a reliable car in the usual sense, find something 5 years younger and with 200,000 miles fewer on it.
My neighboor has the same car.He said the brake pads and rotors need constant replacing. Alternator he replaced 3 times.
At 11 years old and with a quarter million miles I would wager there are existing issues right now.
There is simply no way in the world of determing whether an aged/high miles car like this will be reliable. None whatsoever.
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Exactly!
Countless times in this forum, we have fielded questions from people who claimed that their meticulously-maintained vehicle was having problems, but upon questioning them, it turned out that their interpretation of well-maintained consisted of changing the oil and washing the car regularly.
I don’t buy used cars, but if I did, I would not even consider one if the current owner couldn’t provide me with a stack of maintenance invoices detailing its maintenance. And, even with good documentation, I would still want to have my own mechanic inspect it prior to purchase, in order to detect incipient problems and rust damage that might not be apparent to the buyer.
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DIYers can have a stack of receipts for parts and fluids. That substitutes for receipts from repair shops.
Thank you, Captain Obvious.
According to CarComplaints.com, one of CarTalk’s partners, the '08 model year Accord has the most owner complaints of any modern Accord. See for yourself. Owners report premature brake wear and engine oil consumptions issues.
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I have been studying this data for years, even talking to family and friends who have owned a 2008-2012 Accord.
Car complaints does a bad job of grouping complaints between the 4 and V6 when it comes to the consumption issue. I find it odd that the 2.4 engine used since 2001 all of a sudden has consumption issues for the 08-10 model years, which makes me think its the type of oil. The V6 yes, there is an issue where the VCM system turning on and off causes issues. Carcomplaint’s data is not accurate because it groups 2 different engines into one.
The braking system, I can’t say what the problem is, but somehow it was corrected by 2010, so the data might be from when the car was new and people were having issues. Could the issue have been resolved by the original owner? From what I know, the rear brakes are especially prone to wear.
While I am not a fan of the 2008 accord, I believe in 2.4 engine form it could be a reliable vehicle if properly maintained because the engine is proven. You’ll see this engine on Cars.com running in Accords, CRVs, and Elements with 350,000 + miles. Also let’s say you drive 10-12,000 miles a year and these things are eating pads every 30k miles. If you bought cheap $50 Napa pads, $50 rotors, your expense would be roughly $150 every 3 years. It was an annoyance on a brand new car, but probably acceptable on an old car. That’s cheaper than a car payment. I know people with no pot to piss in who finance new cars, when a car like this would probably be fine.
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