Wow, so you hated the '79 Accord??? I think you’re the first person I’ve heard speak ill of the 1st-generation Accord. What was so bad about it? Did you buy it new?
I briefly owned a 1980 Accord 4-door when I was 16 (in 1991) and it had definitely seen it’s better days. But it had over 200k miles on it, the fabric and most of the padding on the back seat was dry-rotted and it burned more oil than gas. The head gasket blew about a month after I got it and that was the end of the line.
I upgraded to a 1985 Civic 4-door, A/C that worked and didn’t burn a drop of oil. It had around 140k miles on it when I bought it and I really liked it. It was a 5-speed manual (as were all my vehicles until 2012) and was surprisingly quick. I had it for less than six months when I got rear-ended by a truck and it was totaled. :smack:
I replaced it with a 1985 Honda CRX, same engine but much lighter and quicker! I kept it for about a year before buying an almost-new 1991 Civic Si 3-door. It was the most godawful color (Tahitian Green) but so much fun!
Anyway, I’m looking forward to hearing about your '79 Accord!
It’s funny how the only difference on a higher trim level (SE vs. Base) could be just a nicer seat fabric, a visor mirror and maybe a clock or something. I bought a slightly used 1991 Civic Si in 1992, but only after seriously considering a leftover '91 Civic DX 3-door. The DX actually upgraded the engine and transmission from the Base 3-door (70hp/4-speed manaul vs. 92hp/5-speed manual). The DX also got cloth seats instead of vinyl, tilt steering wheel, wheel covers and body-color bumpers and that was about it. It still didn’t have power steering, tachometer, clock, radio or a rear-view mirrror on the passenger side. Oh, but I think it had intermittent wipers and a change holder…
BTW, I now have a 2006 Mazda3 Hatchback that I’ve owned since Dec 2005 and it’s looks and drives like new. I also have a 2012 Mazda CX-9 GT Crossover/SUV because I needed something roomier sometimes, but I couldn’t let go of my Mazda3, so I kept it.
I’ve yet to own one, but the wife just picked up her new Toyota RAV4 today and is positively giddy. Maybe one day I’ll have a car that nobody else has farted in.
Well, other than the factory mechanics. And the dealer mechanics. And the salespeople, and anyone who test drove it. Still, fresh as a daisy!
As a fresh off-the-boat immigrant, I had my share of used cars before I got a brand new Audi Q7 in summer of 2007.
No complaints. It drives great, sound system is great, Audi quattro works as advertised, my top speed was 220 km/h few times and you wouldn’t feel it inside.
The plan is to get rid of this one and buy another new Q7. Unless I save enough for BMW X6
I bought it new but I am no longer positive that it was a 1979; it might have been a 1978—my memory is not what I would like it to be.
As to what was wrong with it, the exhaust system was a total failure that led to exhaust valve failure and the collapse of piston rings, both due to excessive back pressure. The cure was a major engine overhaul and replacement of the exhaust system with minimal assistance from Honda as to warranty repair.
Another problem was that the front fender design resulted in trapping garbage and sludge; particularly salt used on winter highways. The front fenders would rot almost overnight—it wasn’t that bad but it didn’t miss by much.
I thought about overhauling the engine myself but gave up that idea when I learned that crankshaft journals were not necessarily uniform in diameter. That little detail allowed each journal to require a separate main bearing; IIRC the main bearings met the tolerance spec from Honda but the practical result ruled out buying a bearing set—each bearing had to be hand selected. Plus, I bought the thing with an automatic transmission. If you ever had the experience of driving a 1953-54 Chevy automatic you would recognize the Honda automatic: two speeds in drive and failure was scary simple. The shifter was on the floor and it was easy to knock the damn thing back into low gear regardless of the speed. My son grabbed that shifter handle from the back seat and low gear was immediately dead and gone. I have absolutely NO good memories of that car. And it does make the list of the worst cars ever. The more I think about it the more inclined I am to say it was a 1978 and not a 1979.
I forgot to mention that I had previously worked for a large VW dealer in Hayward, California. The shop foreman was one of the best mechanics I ever knew; that VW dealer took on Honda for a reason I no longer remember—I called the foreman and he sang the praises of that Honda so I bought it. When it began falling apart, I called the guy again. He told me that every time the dealership replaced the engine in that model that he thought of me. He said he wished he hadn’t told me it was a good car and he was sorry I had asked him-----live and learn I guess.
It sounds more like a '78 than a '79 because the '76-'78 models had the same 68hp 1.6L CVCC engine and more than a handful of them were problematic. For '79, it was replaced by a 72hp 1.8L version (with electronic ignition). Even when the Accord was redesigned for 1982, that engine carried over thru the '83 model.
Honda doesn’t make mistakes, after all, so why would you expect them to warranty any repairs??? Sort of like the 5-speed automatic transmission failures that affected HUNDREDS of THOUSANDS of vehicles from 2000-2004 (Pilot, Odyssey, Accord V6 models, Acura CL/TL, among others). It took a class action suit and years of raising hell for them to do anything to help owners after the warranty expired! The worst case I ever heard about was a guy leasing a 2002 Acura TL Type-S (an entry-level luxury/sport-sedan). He had FOUR transmission replacements in the first 40k miles and demanded that they take the thing back when it needed tranny number FIVE!!! He still had a year or so to on his lease, but they took it back.
Living in the Southeast (Georgia), rust isn’t something we’ve ever had to worry about. But now that you mention it, I remember reading stories about front shock tower collapsing on some higher mileage early Accords in colder climates.
Ah yes, the 2-speed semi-automatic “Hondamatic” transmission. It actually carried over to the '79 model and it was 1980 before a 3-speed “fully” automatic transmission was introduced. I never had the (dis)pleasure of driving one with the 2-speed semi-auto, but with only two gear ratios performance had to be dismal, at best. I have driven a 1981 with the 3-speed auto and the acceleration would best be described as ‘glacial’…the 5-speed manual improved performance immensely!
The lack of any sort of lockout or protection against downshifting at speeds that would exceed the speed for the gear or over-rev the engine didn’t even occur to me! :smack: The Honda automatics (at least thru the 80s) were reliable as long as they had religious ATF changes (with Honda’s anointed fluid ONLY, of course) and were NEVER abused in any way. A shift from Reverse to Drive without a full, hard stop (even just once or twice) could trash the entire thing. Even if it didn’t destroy it, you could look forward to harsh jolts with each up/down-shift forever!
But Honda insisted on their own automatic transmisison because they refused to pay royalties to use a patented transmission design!
I can understand how you hated your 1st generation Accord…in your shoes, I would certainly have felt the same!
I strained to remember that CVCC and couldn’t call it up----I said my memory is bad and is getting worse. CVCC = Controlled Vortex Combustion Chamber (it wasn’t well controlled) Because the exhaust manifold sucked, excess carbon build up killed the exhaust valves and piston rings. I lived in South Dakota when the thing breathed its last; a friend and hauled to the junk yard. That junk yard was owned by another friend and just to yank my chain he said he wouldn’t accept that car because there were no parts on it that could be salvaged. Anyway, I think now that it was a 1978; it turned me off of Honda for quite a while.
1972 Subaru coupe, manual transmission, manual choke, 4-cylinder flat opposed engine, bucket front seats. $2600, which I paid in cash (Nixon floated the dollar in 1973 and the price went way up, so I saved a lot of money). I don’t remember driving it off the lot. I do remember dinging it once on each side of the body front within a few weeks! I was pissed!
The car handled very nimbly, which was fun. It was also a bit roomier than it looked. I once fit a 6-foot ladder inside by placing it horizontally on the passenger side, extending from front to back. It just barely touched the windshield and the rear window.
I drove it to Detroit a few times to visit my aunt, uncle, and cousins. My uncle advised me to park it in his driveway because he had heard stories of foreign cars on the street being vandalized (I don’t know the true extent of that).
There were (and are) few Subaru dealers, and my dealer had gone out of business, so my biggest problem was getting it maintained and fixed. I finally sold it to an acquaintance in 1978 and bought a new Chevy Chevette.
My first new car: 1980 Ford Fiesta hatchback, manual transmission, sunroof. $5000. It was a great little car, even used it to go camping in the mountains. It was similar to a VW Rabbit, which I could not afford at the time.
I’ve had many used cars over the years since then, but just bought my second new car this fall: 2013 Ford Fiesta hatchback, manual transmission, sunroof. I had no idea they were being made again, was looking for a Ford, thought I’d get a Focus, but saw the Fiesta and couldn’t pass it up. I’ll claim it was the price, features and fuel economy, but I think there’s a bit of nostalgia there as well.
I just bought a 2014 Chev Silverado 1500 so I could participate in this thread (there were also other reasons). I’m pretty happy with my first new vehicle - I’m near 40 years old and this is only my 3rd vehicle since turning 16. I appreciate that the new engine uses only 4 of 8 cylinders whenever possible.
My first was a 200? Scion xB. (Whatever their first year here in the states was.) Bought it w/ money I inherited from my grandpappy. It was a fun ride, though the suspension was punishingly stiff and it didn’t have cruise control. Never again will I have a car without that one most essential of features. Less than three months after I got it, it was parked outside of my parents’ house one night and someone sideswiped it and took off, though they were caught later. Probably should’ve been totalled, but my insurance company nickel and dimed it for well over a month and eventually got it back to me. Wasn’t quite the same, so I traded it for a Honda Civic, which I traded for a Hyundai Elantra. Then I moved to Manhattan.
Anyway, now that I’m back in the driving part of the country, I’ve got another brand new car–a 2013 Mazdaspeed 3. Fun little rocket…
The only brand new (not pre-owned) car I’ve ever purchased was a 1998 Jeep Cherokee. I drove it 202,000 miles and just last year gave it to my teen-aged nieces and nephews to drive (according to them, raising their coolness factor among their friends considerably).
End-of-year 1984 Dodge Daytona (well, it was branded a Chrysler Laser, but I’m pretty sure they’re the same car) Turbo - which Geico (back when it was pretty much limited to federal employees) wouldn’t insure. Sold it in 1988 as I was told that I could expect the turbocharger to burn out after four years, especially with the miles I put on it.
1991 Mazda Protege(picture isn’t of my car, though mine was also black). I was trading in a '87 Chrysler LeBaron, which I had bought used when I got my first full-time job in '89, and which had proven to be an utter lemon.
I’d originally intended on buying a Honda Civic, but the Honda dealer was kind of a jerk, and wouldn’t budge on price (at that time, Hondas sold so well that they could usually get full sticker for them). So, I opted for the comparable Mazda model, and got a pretty good deal on it.
That little Mazda was danged near indestructible. I hit a deer head-on with it at highway speed in '94 – while the car took a beating, it survived the impact well enough that (with the blessing of a state trooper) I was able to tape up the spiderwebbed windshield (so it didn’t collapse into the cabin) and drive it another 100 miles to get home. The repair job was fairly extensive, but it kept going for another 7 years (and another accident, when it was rear-ended while parked in a lot).
I got rid of it in 2001, when it had about 120K miles. It was still running quite well, but I figured it was just a matter of time before something big went wrong. It would not surprise me if the little beast were still running somewhere.
There is nothing to tell. I have never had a new car and at this point in my life I probably won’t. I’m absolutely fine with that. A new scooter, however, now that’s quite attractive.
My first brand new car was also a Honda Fit. I got mine in 2010 and it was a 2010. I wouldn’t have purchased a new car at all, but I did want a Fit and after using the Costco internet car-buying thing they have, the price was cheaper than any of the used Fits. When I took possession of it it only had 17 miles and 2 1/2 years later there are only about 28K miles on it.
I love the car, except for 2 things: it sucks ass on any serious grade so going over mountains is a trial. Thankfully I almost never do that. Second, the gas tank is very small so while I get great gas mileage (~28-30mph surface; 36-40 highway) I have to fill up just as often as I did in my old car that didn’t have as good mileage (about every 300 miles).
Sort of like the 5-speed automatic transmission failures that affected HUNDREDS of THOUSANDS of vehicles from 2000-2004 (Pilot, Odyssey, Accord V6 models, Acura CL/TL, among others). It took a class action suit and years of raising hell for them to do anything to help owners after the warranty expired! The worst case I ever heard about was a guy leasing a 2002 Acura TL Type-S (an entry-level luxury/sport-sedan). He had FOUR transmission replacements in the first 40k miles and demanded that they take the thing back when it needed tranny number FIVE!!! He still had a year or so to on his lease, but they took it back.
