Originally posted by: OS
03 accord, auto i4 LX, paid 20K OTD new, basically invoice (18K) before TTL.
pros:
Very good, well rounded car. Chassis is solid, when i first drove this car coming from a 2000 corolla, it felt like the body was milled from a solid steel block. Interior looks good and solidly built, I notice on my friend's G35 with same mileage/year his interior has more loose parts/fittings. Highly rated 5 star crash safety.
Engine is new generation K series I4, on a displacement basis, the new engines are superior to older generation I4s. Torque is better, power band fatter and wider. Automatic is 5 speed, gives better acceleration and gas mileage than older 4 speeds, cruises 90 mph at 3000 rpm flat. Took the car to the dragstrip, ran 16.0@87 corrected, with no traction on stock junk gas saving tires, wheel hopping all the way through first gear. Nothing incredible, but good for basically stock auto i4. Ran door to door with 300 HP Titan at the same drag strip.
Uses expensive/high performance double wishbone suspension on all four wheels. Swapped a $50 rear sway bar from 04 TL into the car and the mid to high speed handling is very good and balanced despite junk tires. Run side by side with E46 325i on empty/winding freeways right up until you smack the speed limiter at ~130 mph. While cornering flat out on tighter interchanges/exits, it corners hard enough to make myself kind of sick.
Good brakes, ABS standard, strong initial bite. If traffic piles up in front of me, I worry more that if I brake too hard, the guy behind me will rearend me before I run out of stopping distance.
Gas mileage is good despite lead foot, ~25 mpg. Other owners/easier drivers report atleast EPA mileage, which is 24/34. Maintenance is easy, car is maintenance free for 100K miles besides filters/fluids. Uses timing chain, no set replacement interval. Distributor less ignition, no dizzy/rotor to replace. Iridium spark plugs last 100K+ miles. Oil change is easy, filter easily accessible from top. Air filter easy to change, tranny fluid easy to change, brake pads easy to change. Needs nothing else really. Insurance cheap, $400 every half year for full coverage. Costs almost nothing to buy, costs almost nothing to keep.
Resale value is good, car is still worth 14K despite 2 years and 50K miles of use. Great in case you need to sell or car is totalled out for insurance.
cons:
Car has minor first model year bugs, slight window rattle and uneven pad material deposition on rotors causing vibration while braking. Rotor problem can be fixed with new brake pads and resurfaced rotors. Honda America wouldn't resolve my rotor problem which pissed me off, but later they sent me a $100 gift card.
Car could be more aggressively tuned from factory. Exhaust manifold is convoluted restrictive junk, stock cams are junk, stock tires are junk, stock sway bars worthless. I think honda has a potential untapped market selling I4 and V6 moderately stepped up performance variants of accords, since it can be built using existing parts. But at the same time, I've seen some owners complain about the ride being too stiff already stock. Can't have it all.
Some people complain the car is too common, but IMO this is a strength. Parts are cheap and easy to find because it is common. Keeps insurance down also.
A little bit annoying is that Honda keeps adding features and improvements to new models, side airbags later became standard, revised engine in '06 and they added enough features to the DX that it's basically an LX now for $2000 less, ~16K invoice now. Bad for me, good for new car buyers.
recommend:
Absolutely for a vehicle of this class. Accord is significantly revised for 06 and does away with the ugly ass people bitch about, adds more power/features and longer warranty.
regrets:
somewhat want a more hardcore car. Coworkers/friends all have some sort of high performance cars 350Zs/G35s, WRXs/Evos, V8 BMWs. But at the same time I don't want to pay for those. 😛
