Would you buy a late 90s Japanese car?

ShandyAndy_2

Looking for a reliable, dependable, trouble free family car for me, my wife and 7 and 3 year old daughters, don’t like modern cars as they’re pretty soulless, seen a 1999 Honda Accord 1.8 Auto Executive with 2 owners and FSH, 42k for £1300, looks a clean motor, also like the old shape Primera GT , am I being sensible or just looking for trouble?

A._Badger

ShandyAndy wrote: »

Looking for a reliable, dependable, trouble free family car for me, my wife and 7 and 3 year old daughters, don’t like modern cars as they’re pretty soulless, seen a 1999 Honda Accord 1.8 Auto Executive with 2 owners and FSH, 42k for £1300, looks a clean motor, also like the old shape Primera GT , am I being sensible or just looking for trouble?

Having run an ancient Accord I would say they are pretty bomb-proof but you might have trouble with any esoteric spare parts you might need. Regular service items (brakes, filters etc) will be plentiful but anything beyond that and you might be in trouble. Indeed, that's what finally made me part company with mine.

Londoner_1

Why waste money on an old inefficient car, there are plenty of modern uncomplicated efficient jap cars for sale today.

konark

£1300 is strong money for a 20 year-old non-prestige car.

mollycat

I had a 1999 Toyota Avensis about 3 years ago, loved it.

Only cost £190 spares/repair but i'd sussed it didn't need very much at all.

£1300 sounds a bit mental; is the seller thinking his car is worth near that because of it's (problematic) low mileage of about 2K a year?

darrensurrey

I wouldn't pay £1300 for a 90s car. You might as well play the shed roulette game and buy a £500 shed with a recent MOT and scrap it when it dies on you ie when repairs cost more than a couple of hundred (ie close to half the value of the car).

That way if it lasts until it fails the next MOT then you've hired a car for under £50 a month.

ShandyAndy_2

To be fair it’s really clean and has a private plate 5 digits

tonyh66

buy it and let us know how you get on.

Arklight

ShandyAndy wrote: »

To be fair it’s really clean and has a private plate 5 digits

Are you buying the plate or the car? Because £1300 for a 20 year old runaround is nuts.

Tokk

Arklight wrote: »

Are you buying the plate or the car? Because £1300 for a 20 year old runaround is nuts.

Couldn't agree more.
Unless you really want the plate and it's worth £800+, naturally.

Jackmydad

I'd buy it if it seemed OK, and it was £250.
They could keep the vanity plate.