EJ's '99 Accord Project

* Backgrnd *

Background: I originally became a Honda owner after having been abused repeatedly by Chrysler and Ford products (I grew up getting carsick hanging out the tailgates of Chevy & Pontiac wagons, so GM products had too much baggage for me to consider as personal transportation).

My first car, a '79 Chrysler Cordoba, purchased in summer of '85, was a great looking car, but with 100K miles on it, and a good amount of undercarriage rust, its days were numbered. Eventually the 318ci engine developed an odd loss of power anytime it rained - sometimes causing the car to barely pull 25mph up hills on I-88. The trusty neighborhood garage was at a loss as to the source of the problem, and could only offer up a complete carburetor rebuild as a shot in the dark. I decided the money would be better spent on a newer car, so I then bought a used '84 Dodge 400 coupe in the summer of '86.

A reasonably practical car, the '84 Dodge 400 was just about at the end of its run. It came off the DePaula Chevrolet lot with 3 different size tires - 2 were the same - but with a mix of 70 and 75 series tires it looked sort of strange. It could pull through snow better than some SUVs (perhaps it was the tires?), but the last straw came when the transaxle started giving me problems (the division between 'reverse' and 'first' became less and less discernable, and would pop out of forward gears anytime the throttle wasn't being depressed), so I went and traded it in on an '85 Chrysler LeBaron GTS, purchased in spring of '87.

The LeBaron GTS was a 2.2L turbo model, with 4 doors and a hatch. Another practical car (except maybe for that turbo!), and much to like in the way of looks and ergonomics, but Chrysler build quality hit this bad boy, uhh, bad. It blew a head gasket, leaked oil, chewed up $125 Goodyear Eagle GT tires every 10K miles, spit out audio tapes randomly during playback (and I mean literally "spit", with the tape flying out of the player!), and started requiring $400 power window replacements every 3 months. My big mods - a 'Turbo' windshield banner and GTS smoked headlight covers. After the 3rd window motor replacement, I figured I couldn't bleed money any longer. I asked friends for advice and ended up looking at a new '88 Honda Accord DX hatchback, purchased in the fall of '88.

My red '88 Accord DX hatchback gave me 39 months of faithful service (a length-of-ownership record for me at that point). Eventually, back-to-back-to-back side-swipe accidents (none my fault - it was parked for 2 of them, and 1 of those I was a passenger in the vehicle that hit it) took their toll on the car and I decided to trade it in before it showed problems from poor quality body work (a favor to my then-girlfriend who backed into it). My big mods on this vehicle - window tint, a rear hatch louver (aluminum), and some white letter cheapo tires.

I turned to Motor Trend to inspire my next vehicle choice, and their pick for 'Bang for the Buck' winner in 1991 was a Ford Escort GT. I purchased a brand-new red 5 speed in June of '91, and loved to drive it. It was mildly punchy - the 1.8L Mazda 16-valver could have used more power - but it cornered like it was on rails. However, anything on the car that wasn't Mazda-sourced began to fail - the coolant sensor, the tachometer, plastic interior trim pieces, the air cleaner bolts, the windshield seals, and the front bumper paint came off at the car wash. All of that occurred in the first 10 months of ownership! My local Ford dealership, Latham Ford, was absolutely no help in addressing these problems, and left me to hang.

I decided to trade the Escort GT before any more problems cropped up, and went to a '92 Honda Civic LX. The Civic was a lot of fun. Once I got the anemic 13" stock wheels/tires off of it and replaced them with 15" OZ rims and Dunlop SP Sport tires, the car was a pleasure to drive. It was punchy, could corner well, and got an average of 34mpg. It never caused me more problems than an odd steering wheel squeak that would appear twice yearly as the average daytime temperature would hover in the 50-55 degree range. After 80 months of ownership (a new record for me!), I decided it was time to get a new vehicle. I looked at 4 vehicles - VW Jetta GLX, VW Passat GLX, Honda Civic EX, and Honda Accord EX. This time, I decided to splurge and go as high up the trim line as I could. The Jetta was too small, the Passat was too expensive, and the Civic was too much like my old Civic. My wife liked the Accord EX, and I did too. I went for an Accord EX sedan w/ a 2.3 liter 4 cylinder, hoping to keep the good gas mileage from my Civic experience, and decided I just didn't need the V6 (dang it!) since the 150HP 2.3L would be a step up from my 102HP 1.5L and I wouldn't be able to get a manual tranny paired with the V6.

The mods I added made it much more fun to drive, but there were some compromises in ride quality, durability, and plain old image. In the end, these features just whet my appetite for something bigger and greater than what the Accord could be. Over the course of those 4 years, I still had a lot of fun with it...