1985 Honda Accord SE-i 1.8 I-4 from North America

Summary:

Fast comfortable basic transportation

Faults:

Heater failed.

Engine overheats.

Headlights failed (wiring problem)

Sunroof leaks.

Rear passenger door doesn't open.

Power windows failed.

Power sunroof switch failed.

Complete brake failure.

Parking brake failed.

Front suspension failure.

General Comments:

This car has the original engine in it with 240K miles on it and does not use any oil, it starts every time runs out beautifully and the transmission works perfectly. However basicly every other component on this car has failed and since they only made the SE-i in 1985 and in another generation in 1989 it extremely difficult and expensive to get parts for it. I love this car, but can no longer justify spending any money to fix the ever growing list of problems.

Out of 18 cars I have had in the past 10 years this is the one that has been the most fun to drive, the power out of the 1.8 is amazing, the handling is great and the leather seats are very comfortable.

As I said with the other 5 Honda's I have owned this is my last Honda.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No

Review Date: 11th January, 2004

12th Jan 2004, 16:49

Let me get this straight. You bought a car with 210,000 miles on it and you dare complain about the growing list of problems? WAKE UP!!! Any car regardless if it is a Honda or Nissan or Toyota or what is gonna have it's fare share of problems at over 200,000 miles. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE Japp. cars. Especially Honda's. One of these days I'm going to get my hands on a 93 Accord.

2nd Apr 2004, 19:50

Let me clarify why I "dare" complain about this car. My previous Honda's have all had over 300,000 miles on them and never had the amount of problems that this one has at 240,000 miles, that includes my 1977 Civic that finally rusted to death at over 600,000 miles. Compared to my previous Honda's this one was a lemon.

23rd Jun 2004, 08:17

Please clarify something for me.

You say you owned a total of 6 Honda's, and you had problems with ONLY ONE of them? That is an 83% success rate. I'd say that's excellent. That is why I'm saddened by the fact that you are giving up so easily on Honda's. In my opinion, you got a lemon, which is rare, but not impossible in Japanese cars.

1985 Honda Accord EX 1.8 cvcc from North America

Summary:

Ugly sleeper car!

Faults:

Nothing, absolutely nothing!

I have had to replace the tires once, but that's it!

General Comments:

First off, this is a seriously ugly car. However, it's reliable and economical.

This car is really kind of a sleeper, at my high school; I went to watch these kids race, And somehow I ended up racing this 1994 Acura Integra, and I won!

Now I will admit I'm a better driver than most, but if you want to surprise people, this car will do it!

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 27th October, 2003

1985 Honda Accord EX 1.8 Carb from UK and Ireland

Summary:

This is a great car with lots of equipment - stick to professionals for major repair work though!

Faults:

Air conditioning compressor seals went replaced with new compressor and worked for about 2 weeks until the condenser went.

Windscreen leaked due to becoming detached from the sealant, found it was fixed simply at the cost of £10 despite 3 months of rain pouring in.

Clutch went.

Small amount of rust on front wheel arch and back trim below number plate.

General Comments:

This car was absolutely excellent! I had purchased it from a work colleague who had owned it since it was 4 years old.

It had cruise control, power steering, central locking, air conditioning, electric windows.

I'm sure I would still have this car now except a visit to a local clutch basically wrecked it. They replaced the clutch and 'forgot' to tighten up the lower suspension arm which detached while traveling at 60mph causing a bit of a bang with a crash barrier. All this after an 800 mile trip to Holland. The company didn't admit it though, but their insurance paid out!

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 25th September, 2003