1990 Honda Accord EX-R 2.2 from North America
Summary:
One of the best models on the road.
Faults:
It was a well cared for car belonging to an old guy. He traded it back to the original dealer who did all the maintenance. The dealer put on new rotors, pads and fixed the oil seals at the spark plugs included in the agreed price. A good used car for sure.
Lots of tune-ups trying to pass the smog test before a catalytic converter solved the problem. $600Cdn.
The A/C died. Condenser and dryer were shot. Conversion to new R-134 gas. $750.
One axle failed - $254. The other is on its way out.
Muffler - due to short trips $250.
Those infernal inside door handles. Cracked plastic leaves the heavy metal handle dangling. Both sides fixed in seconds with high-cost dealer part. This crappy part was stamped "made in the USA". Has Honda learned to build in profit like the North American auto industry has done with planned obsolescence?
Also, the heater control cable crapped out due to some plastic part that is way too fragile to hold the outside cable. Can't really get anyone to fix this and the dealer won't even try.
Rear-view mirror flopped about. Dealer was going to change it for $150, but it got fixed in 30 seconds by backyard mechanic with a long screw driver - a freebie.
General Comments:
Upkeep costs are high a bit high, but a fix is done once and restores the car to original performance.
This model is one of the best on the road.
Very hard to fault the performance. It goes well in all traffic.
I like the visibility of the open interior and the sun roof.
A treat to take on long trips.
Too bad about the little interior faults. And, now the trunk is letting in water when the lid is lifted.
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes
Review Date: 10th January, 2004
4th Aug 2006, 00:23
Update by original poster. Now 187,500 miles. Transmission fault on 90 model not done under recall and eventually gave problems about 15K miles ago. Seems retaining bolts on gear had absent washers. Dang. Thank-you Ohio assembly plant. A semi-rebuild fixed the problem and I have a chewed up gear to show for it. I still like my Honda. Not a whole lot of problems except coil failed one day. And it was running rough. I thought the transmission was going again, but turned out to be dirty injectors. A flush through the intake manifold brought it back to incredible performance and gas mileage. A five-dollar set of tiny plugs to close the drilled-out access holes were the only parts cost. If you are getting stalling, low power performance consider this stock maintenance item on a higher mileage Accord. Well worth the $300. Air crapped out again due to holes in condenser.