Buying a car soon, Advice is nice

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NWDRVRBWE

Hands Off my Balls
hey,

im looking to buy a car from a friend i know. i was wondering if anyone could give me a few good pointers of what i should be looking for.

the car is a 1992 Honda Accord EX 2Dr. seller wants $3000 for it. has a body kit, racing stripe (although the stripe is irrelevant) new AEM air filter, engine has been swaped at about 80,000 miles, car probobly has 120-140,000 miles easy. straight piped all the way to the catalyc converter so its loud. also is wired for 700 Wattsfor a bass sub, has a small dent on the right fender (seller has part to replace). allready went on one test drive, car started great and drove nice. steering was a breeze, but im worried about the transmission...

if anyone knows about these kind of things i would really appreciate the information. i want to know if i should be looking for some major problems with this model of the car or if it is just an amazing car for the price...?

thanks
 
Did he swap to a different motor or just another of the same? If it's just another of the same then that should tell you something. It probably means the car has been romped on and the original engine was trashed so bad that it blew up. I'd probably skip it if I were you...but it's your choice...
 
dont give him 3000 for it. offer 2000 and drive it first and test it all out, and then its up to you, obviously take to a garage also, but if he wont take 2000-2500 just walk away from it.....you will find another one
 
well actually 3 sounds good if the motor is in good condition, nd i looked at your post again and seen hes your friend, so as long as u can trust him go ahead, nd go to nadaguides.com and check the value of the car, might help you decide
 
car should be worth about 2k with normal wear and tear, and said dent. I have a 93 accord (same gen) and have checked it out recently. what engine was put in the car? the f22 is one of the most reliable engines honda has made. That's the reason I looked for one as my dd. the only problems I've had with mine (200k) is distributer, which is an oem defect, there was a reccall in 96. other then that just general maintainence (axels, ball joint, exhaust ect). Also if it's an automatic check to see how well it shifts. they are too expensive to replace/rebuild which makes the car a junker, if it's your dd and can't afford the down time to do the work yourself. If it's manual transmission, you could do the clutch yourself with a chiltons over a weekend, with no experience.
 
well actually 3 sounds good if the motor is in good condition, nd i looked at your post again and seen hes your friend, so as long as u can trust him go ahead, nd go to nadaguides.com and check the value of the car, might help you decide

Meh...I wouldn't offer three with the way he's described it. Only if it was an H22 or H23 swap would I pay 3 grand or more for it. It also depends on the condition of the car...if the tranny is slipping like he said, then definitely not worth 3 grand. You have to remember that stuff like body kits, aftermarket parts don't really add to the value of the car...I would still be going off of NADA/Bluebook pricing...
 
my advice, NEVER EVER buy a car/truck/house/dog from a friend/family. just trust me on this.
 
car should be worth about 2k with normal wear and tear, and said dent. I have a 93 accord (same gen) and have checked it out recently. what engine was put in the car? the f22 is one of the most reliable engines honda has made. That's the reason I looked for one as my dd. the only problems I've had with mine (200k) is distributer, which is an oem defect, there was a reccall in 96. other then that just general maintainence (axels, ball joint, exhaust ect). Also if it's an automatic check to see how well it shifts. they are too expensive to replace/rebuild which makes the car a junker, if it's your dd and can't afford the down time to do the work yourself. If it's manual transmission, you could do the clutch yourself with a chiltons over a weekend, with no experience.

you brought up the main point that im worried about.
since the car is automatic i dont want to buy it and then end up replacing a new transmission for the price i bought the car. However, when i drove the car the transmission was fine. there was one point when i stepped on the pedal that the transmission grabbed weird...? kinda jumped the car... but other than that there were no problems. i didnt really take a good look at the engine so i cant tell you engine type, that will probobly be my next move...
 
yeah, i also checked kelly blue book and it said somewhere around 3g's for it... but still the defects deffinently decrease the value... and the ones i told you of were only on the outside. there are some interior messups too. the handle to get out of the driver side is jacked (might be easy to replace?) probobly some others also that i didnt see in the back seat.
 
Buying something from a friend is never a good idea. If it breaks or something goes wrong that makes things complicated. Just look on Craigslist for a few months, I'm sure you'll find something even better for the same price or less.
 
Buying something from a friend is never a good idea. If it breaks or something goes wrong that makes things complicated. Just look on Craigslist for a few months, I'm sure you'll find something even better for the same price or less.

simply put,

very true.
 
id say it worth 2 maybe 2,500 if tranny shifts nice, but id start haggling at 2 and if he wont take it, find another deal. what motor was swaped in?
 
you brought up the main point that im worried about.
since the car is automatic i dont want to buy it and then end up replacing a new transmission for the price i bought the car. However, when i drove the car the transmission was fine. there was one point when i stepped on the pedal that the transmission grabbed weird...? kinda jumped the car... but other than that there were no problems. i didnt really take a good look at the engine so i cant tell you engine type, that will probobly be my next move...

You wouldn't necessarily have to pay a couple grand for a new tranny. It's very possible that you could find one on Ebay or Craigslist. People pull them out when they swap to an H22 or swap to a manual and then sell them for cheap.

Even so, I still would probably skip it if you think it has transmissions problems. I've owned three different Accords, two of them reached higher mileage than this one you're thinking about buying. Never had any problems at all with the engines or transmissions (two autos, one manual).

The very fact that the transmission seems bad and the engine was replaced at 80k miles should tell you that the car's probably been beat on pretty hard. If a Honda engine is properly maintained then it should be doing just fine at 80k miles. Replace the timing belt and keep up with the maintenance and it should easily go 100k more.
 
What you need to do is tell your 'friend' to shove it up his ass. That car is probably not worth anywhere near 3k with all the rice you described. Besides, he's probably selling it because there's something wrong with it now that he has beat it to hell and back.

Buy a car from someone with kids, or a grandma. As a general rule, don't buy a car that someone your age has owned. (Unless you like fixing problems that tend to cost a lot to un-do.)

yeah, i also checked kelly blue book and it said somewhere around 3g's for it
Yeah, that's when it has the same engine that honda put into it. A swapped car is worth less, not more; Generally 2/3 of what the middle BB figure is.
 
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