If you are a long time reader of ELYM, you know that I’ve gone through a bit of a transformation, or enlightenment. For my entire adult life I have drooled at and spent way too much money on cars. If I had a nickel for every new car I’d bought, I’d have….. well, I’d have more than a quarter. As a college student I owned 3 different new cars. Pathetic. Each time I bought one I’d take it in the shorts when I got the urge to trade up or across. About a year ago I made the decision to stop the madness.
We now own two used cars. Both of them were built in 2000 and have between 60,000 and 90,000 miles on them. The first is a Toyota Tacoma pickup. It was a friend of mine’s and I love it. It’s simple, doesn’t have a ton of bells and whistles and just runs. I have absolutely no regrets on that purchase. The second is a 2000 Honda Accord that we own for the second time. Yeah, it’s a little confusing but we bought it new in late 2000, drove it for about 40,000 miles and then sold it to my sister. After a couple years, we bought it back from her and are continuing to drive it. Unfortunately the Honda is the car that is testing our resolve to drive older cars. The first test was when the alternator failed about 3? months ago. Luckily AAA came to the rescue and we ended up spending over $400 to get it fixed. Just when I got over that unexpected expense and told myself that it was better than a car payment and massive vehicle depreciation, the car has thrown us another curve ball. What now, you ask? (okay, maybe you didn’t ask, but humor me). We now have an intermittent “SRS” light coming on. After a little research on the wonderful world wide web it turns out this is a well documented feature, I mean problem, with the Honda Accord from 2000-2001. Apparently it has to do with a control module that malfunctions. When the “SRS” light is on, it means that the airbags will not deploy. While I fully trust my wife’s driving, I don’t particularly trust all the strung out crackheads that she might be driving by each day. From what I’ve gathered on the Honda forums, it sounds like it’s anywhere from a $400-$1300 fix. UGH.
The good news is that we are currently experiencing a fully functioning Honda Accord that doesn’t have the SRS light on. (It went off last night). I can’t say I really trust it, but I’m going to wait and see what happens over the next week or two. I really hope I don’t have to take it in so soon after the alternator. I guess this is the price we pay for driving older vehicles. Good times. Good times.
Wow, you think you have problems with 2K over 8 years? Try 9K over 4 years. I thought I was ‘doing the right thing’ by getting a descent deal on a 2 year old car. Turn out I’ve replaced an alternator, the back struts (twice), the back springs, the front springs (one snapped while driving), a bunch of suspension work, wheel bearings, and now for the final knock down the oil pump failed and destoyed the engine. I’m picking it up tomorrow.
I think you’ve had it pretty easy.
Traciatim,
Thanks for putting it in perspective. I feel better already. What the heck kind of car did you get???????
It’s a 2002 Ford Taurus, but I wouldn’t put this in the reliability of the cars in general. My Dad’s has 260000KM on it and he has far fewer problems than mine. I think I just got suckered :)
In general Tauruses last a really long time, you still see ones from the 80’s and 90’s all over the road, so I figured I was getting a fairly reliable car. You usually have to do back struts and springs because if you notice them they always seem to have ‘saggy ass syndrome’, but other than that they are usually pretty solid.
I still like it because of the 200HP engine, and just about perfect size for a family of 4 . . . now Ford went and ruined it by making the 2008 Taurus too big and the Fusion too small. . . oh well. My plan is in 2012 to get a 2010 model, hopefully by then I’ll be able to get a better deal on a more reliable car.
Ok, you built a house, you should be able to do a little car maintenance :)
www.car-part.com
2000 accord SRS computer
…ate part of my comment
2000 accord SRS computer is less than $100 (as cheap as $30!, depending on which SRS setup you have)
Used alternator, $30-40; easy job to change it.
Most car work is just nuts and bolts. Get the Chilton’s repair manual and save yourself a bundle.
Get another Toyota! The Toyota Tacoma you have should last you about another 20 years… No seriously, I drive a 1995 Toyota Tacoma and it’s really had no problems at all except that I had to replace the starter a few years ago. Great cars!
From what I know of Hondas, that seems strange. I drove a 1995 Accord until last year (it had ~170K miles) and never had any problems other than things wearing out due to normal wear (i.e. clutch) or old age (CV axles). I passed it along to my brother and he’s still driving it with no problems. It’s still in very good condition and everything still works though he did mention the AC doesn’t seem to get as cold as it used to.
Do a little internet research be for you buy used and stick with the cars that get good ratings.
That is one of many reseaons why i will never buy new. There is no research to be had on a new car. You have no idea what might go out a 20,000 miles. But with an older car there are many websites that will tell you x,y and z might fail at 50,000 miles.
Consumer reports often does storys on the best used cars and they have never steared me wrong.
I also only buy from private parties. I have never had joe blow try to screw me over but every time i have walked onto a dealers lot they try to sell me some piece of crap with a leaky trunk or the under side of the car is covered in rust. Plus there is no 40% mark up buying off craigslist.
I had an “SRS” problem on my 2000 Accord in the December of ’07, my car had ~87k miles than. After some research online, I went to my local Honda dealer and got the part replaced for free, since there was a warranty recall on it. I believe the dealer had to replace the seat belt buckle, and not the SRS module.