Faults:
The timing belts done at the routine mark of 90,000 miles.
I replaced the muffler at 117,000 miles.
The antenna stays in the "up" position, but the motor to power the antenna still works.
Door handle casing cracked. I went to dealer and ordered a new one It came yesterday morning and I put it in yesterday afternoon. It took 1 minute doing it myself.
Replaced the heater knobs once.
I did the brakes myself at 119,000 miles. It was the first change of brakes for this car. It was very easy and the only cost was that of to purchase brake pads for $17.00. It took me about 1 hour to 1.5 hours. In the case of having a manual transmission, brakes do not go as often as automatics.
General Comments:
This car is the most reliable car that I could own right now. I have had absolutely no problems with the car that consists of a large magnitude.
The car is quite quick for it's given motor. I was considering selling it for a 1998 or newer Volkswagen GTi 5spd or an Audi A4. After test driving multiple Volkswagens and the Audi, I have decided that I enjoy my Honda more than before the test drives of these other cars. I am now going to keep the car until it dies and save money now for a new car for when my Honda dies.
I have purchased a few after market parts for my car that consist of an AEM Cold Air Intake with the By-pass valve (which is necessary for everyday driving), 17x7 inch rims which have improved the handling very much, a full cat-back exhaust, and this spring of 2003 I plan to redo the suspension with full coil-overs. I live in Duluth MN, and to have a lowerd car in the winter is not smart at all. Coil-overs for those of you who don't know what they are, are a suspension set up that allows you to adjust the ride hight by setting the height of the rings on the threaded sleeves of the strut/shock to your desired height. With that, I will raise the car to it's normal height in the winter and then lower it to what I prefer in the summer. I plan to purchase a camber kit for my car and strut braces to stiffen the cars frame and steering response.
These options I'm doing to my car are to increase the performance obviously and I am basically trying to achieve the quality aspect of handling. Moreover, if I would like to, I could get serious and modify many other parts on my car to make it plenty fast. But, I am happy with the basic performance of my car as it is, and I am going to fine tune things a little, such as the handling and it's very simple styling effects.
With the present history of my car and who I bought it from being very impressive, I will bet money that my car will achieve a mark of 275,000 miles if not more. My cousin owned a 1990 accord and drove it to 302,000 miles and the only thing that happened to it, besides the belts, muffler, regular oil changes, new tires, brakes, and new spark plugs, was that the car lost 5th gear. The car was still drivable, just without the option of 5th gear.
Sense hearing this story and many of the other Honda reliability stories, I will buy another Honda in the future. Honda's are excellent cars if you take care of them. Think about it, how much effort do you think your car will give you if you don't put the effort in to give to your car. It's common sense, if you don't care for your vehicle, it won't care for you, simple as that!