just keeps going and going and going..... (Honda Accord (1994-98))

Member Name: jools30

Product:	Honda Accord (1994-98)
Date:	19/11/01 (1273 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: well built, huge boot space

Disadvantages: parts can be expensive

I would never have intentionally gone out and bought a Honda. However, some kind soul had smashed into my dear old Passat and written it off for me, I was 1 week overdue with my second child and in desperate need of a car as we live out in the sticks with no public transport.

So having scoured the local papers my hubby spotted the local auction was on the next day. In the list of cars was a Honda Accord Aerodeck. What’s one of those, I thought! A quick scan through the pile of car magazines found me a picture. Not too bad. So hubby was duly despatched to the auction to try and purchase said car. After all, I reasoned, if I didn’t like it I could always sell it again and buy something else. This was just a short-term solution to my transportation problem.

That was 2 years ago and I love my Honda! So for anyone else who, like me, wouldn’t recognise an Aerodeck if it crashed into them, what is it? Basically, it is an Accord estate, but obviously being American it would be too simple to call it an estate!

What do you get? Mine is the 2.2 injection model. It does 0-60 in about an hour (well, feels like it sometimes!). Quoted 0-60 time is around 10 seconds and, to be fair, it can be quite nippy for a big car. Because it is. Big, that is. There is loads of room in the car. I can easily fit 2 children in car seats, plus an adult in the back. The boot space is huge. To give you some idea, we are building an extension and use it instead of a van for transporting all our building materials! The back seats fold right down giving lots of flat-bed space.

Anyway, back to features. As it is designed for an American market, as you can imagine it has all the necessary features. Leather seats, electric sun roof and windows, air conditioning, ABS, cruise control, driver and passenger airbags. And it’s well built. Does around 30mpg, so not too thirsty for a big car.

The car does not require a huge amount of maintenanc
e. Mine has now done around 104000 miles and is still going strong. A reasonably regular change of oil and plugs keeps it ticking over and it has sailed through the MOT both times. The downside is that when you do need parts, they can be expensive. I have recently changed the plugs in mine and the plugs are not standard – I have to order them specially at £4 a throw. The only other thing I have had to replace is the radiator which decided to expire – again slightly more expensive to replace than if it had been an English car.

I paid £6000 for my car two years ago (it’s an N reg) and guess I would get around half that now. But I have no intention of getting rid of it yet, it is far too useful and is so easy to drive. Parking can be a bit awkward because it is rather large to manoeuvre but overall a great car which appears to want to go on forever. If and when I need to change it, I will be sorry to see it go. It gets a lot of abuse from 2 children, a dog and narrow, muddy country lanes, but it just keeps going on and all it asks for is a bit of a clean and tidy every now and then. Far less maintenance than a man and far more reliable! (Oops, have I just ruined my chances of getting a good rating from all the males reading!) Seriously, a lot of car for the money.

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