Faults:

Thermostat - faulty when bought, otherwise just service items. I replaced it with a genuine Honda item.

General Comments:

Looks great, drives great, what's not to like.

I bought my 'deck on whim as I liked the look of it; I have a thing about 3 door estates or shooting-brakes as we call them in the UK, and have just fallen in love with it. The car isn't perfect, but the handling is good, performance acceptable, and the auto box does what it should. To me it's everything you'd expect from a 1980's Honda: comfortable, reliable and a good all rounder. Plus it has pop-up headlights and a gull-wing boot.

Nothing major has gone wrong with it during my ownership, and I have just done general servicing on it. It's now approaching 130k miles so I'll be giving it a major service to make sure it lasts me a good while longer.

Yes I am using a 30 year old Honda daily, and no it is not an issue, as this is what they were built for.

I'm averaging 30-35 MPG (UK) so it's not bad on fuel either, and did I mention it has pop-up headlights.

Faults:

Distributor cap caused a misfire at low revs; cured with a replacement.

General Comments:

Purchased the Aerodeck on eBay for £75.00. Trailered it home and set about curing the faults.

Rust in the rear sills, (rockers), cut a section out and let in some new steel, as good as new.

Disks were rusty, cleaned them up and renewed the pads front and rear.

Renewed the back box (exhaust).

Renewed the break pipes, front and rear.

Renewed 2 tyres (rear).

Removed the sump plate. Grass had held water against the bottom of the engine (the car had been stood on a lawn for 9 months), causing the sump to rust through. The sump was cleaned and a patch was brazed over the rusty hole, and then repainted.

Renewed the timing belt and power steering belt.

Immediately converted the car to run on LPG.

Drove the car to a garage for the U.K. MOT (inspection) and it flew through.

Driving impression. Very happy with it so far. The engine seems quite powerful (this is the injection model); it pulls well without having to rev. it too hard. The seats are comfortable and firm, offering a good driving position. The pedals are easy to find, and the clutch is the lightest of any I have used in the past.

I would say the ride is a bit hard for my liking, with UK roads full of pot holes I feel every one of them.

Running on LPG. With the cost of unleaded in the UK at £1.05 (8.11.07) per litre, things look dire for petrol users. Converting to LPG made sense. Performance on LPG is the same as petrol (I cannot tell the difference) with LPG at 1/2 the price.

I am impressed with the quality of construction of this 3rd gen Honda; a lot of effort went in to making it a car built to last, and this has proved to be the case. Even things like wiring connectors have been designed to be waterproof and double insulated.

The quality of metallic paint is first class, as is the under-seal applied to wings and body cavities. I looked at a Mercedes 200 4 years younger than the Honda, and it was rusting under the paint. I think there is something special about the 3rd gens, they really are a quality car, and I am happy to have acquired one.

Faults:

The things that have gone wrong with my car all relate to a crate falling off a lorry into the front of the car while I was travelling at speed. Due to that it's needed the front bumper, radiator and air-conditioning condensor replacing.

The only unrelated failure was that all the ABS sensors have needed replacing.

The car is a little underbraked for its weight, so it eats brake pads and discs - unusually more so with the rears.

General Comments:

Nice roomy and comfortable car which I bought for doing long trips on mainland Europe - for which it has excelled. The equipment list is very comprehensive and reliability and dealer service have been superb.

Performance is adequate and handling is pretty good, although the power steering, like many Hondas, is a little light.