Anyone Owned A Honda Accord Euro?

[StefanVXR8]

As per title, looking at this model for my son, any experiences, recommendations etc? Another alternative would be a BMW 3 Series, both circa mid 2000's.

Stef

[Bibbs]

My mum and her fella have 2. Reliable, but meh.

[StefanVXR8]

Bibbs said:

My mum and her fella have 2. Reliable, but meh.

Yeah, kind of expecting that TBH, not something I would buy for myself but the Lux models with leather look quite decent, he really wants something reliable, with climate etc and the Euro still looks relatively modern, certainly better than the rest of the bland Jap stuff around, price point of around $5k is about right too.

Stef

[Jader1973]

Surely bits for the Honda would be cheaper? And presumably insurance too?

And aren't BMW buying back the E46 3 series because of deadly airbags?

And on that note, make sure any Accord has had the recall done.

[GOATever]

I’ve had one since about 2009. Mines a 2 ltr petrol. It’s been super reliable, although not particularly exciting. The airbag mod, is just an overly powerful inflator, that has been known to burst the ( passenger side ) airbag, and shoot bits of metal into the cabin. It takes about an hour for the job to be done, and it’s done FOC under a recall. The engine isn’t too bad ( in 2 ltr iVTEC petrol guise anyway) it could do with a supercharger though. Mine’s a 2007 MY car, and it has got a few bits on it which are nice to have ( hands free telephone for example). If you want a car that isn’t too slow, cheap to run, and super reliable, it’s not a bad shout.

[forzaminardi]

We've got a Mk2 Accord Euro. The main thing motivating the purchase was good value rather than it having outstanding individual qualities. They're pretty affordable cars that are well built and reliable. I'd like it a lot more with a bigger engine and more contemporary gearbox.

Pros:
- Reliable and feels solid.
- Looks good.
- Comfortable.
- Decent room (good space for baby seat and pram).
- Smooth, feels reasonably chuckable to drive around town.
- OK on fuel.

Cons:
- Not very swift.
- Gearbox (auto) is a bit slow-witted and only 5 speed which seems very outdated these days.
- Was surprised to find there's no bluetooth / phone / ipod syncing in a reasonably recent car.
- Steering seems heavy at first (or it did to us after driving Hyundai and Kia rentals for a while)
- Bit dull.
- Front trim bottoms easily over speedbumps unless you slow to a crawl - which is their point, but no other car I've had has done this as much.

Summary:
- Worth but dull, good-looking and very capable for day to day family sort of things. Decent car but not something to get excited about.

[StefanVXR8]

Thanks for the responses guys, sounds like a solid purchase for a teenager, something sensible, reliable but not going to invoke any stupidity if you know what I mean!



Stef

[Rensko]

I've driven both generations of Accord Euro. The 5sp auto is a decent gearbox, but given the car produces its power so high in the rev range - they are better suited to manuals.

For the price/safety/performance factor - I couldn't think of anything better for a first car. Perhaps a Volvo S40/V50 (if you can stomach the higher parts prices)...

[StefanVXR8]

Sooo, the Honda we were considering sold. We ended up buying a 2006 VW Passat 3.2 V6 4Motion Auto, 144k with service history very well looked after and the only ding is where the owners daughter caught the passenger side rear wheel arch this week, they've owned it for 10 years.

Really tidy inside and out and we got it for $4,500

Took it out for a drive, nice and smooth, gear changes from the DSG all nice and smooth.

Was a little cautious around the DSG but this one seems to be good with decent history etc.

Stef

[romeodelta]

Nice, sounds like a lot of car for $4.5k.

How is the insurance (assuming this is his first car)?

Ensure the DSG oil and filter has been changed and it should be fine. Think these have Haldex as well?

[StefanVXR8]

romeodelta said:

Nice, sounds like a lot of car for $4.5k.

How is the insurance (assuming this is his first car)?

Ensure the DSG oil and filter has been changed and it should be fine. Think these have Haldex as well?

Insurance not cheap, for the moment it will be registered to me and he is a named driver. He has a Subaru Forester at the moment which he's had for a year. I'm educating him on the importance of having insurance on not just CTP!

Will check the history, it's been well maintained so that should have been done, certainly when I drove it the DSG was nice and smooth, which is contrary to some of what I've read!

Yep, fitted with a Haldex too, again we will check history and replace any fluids as a matter of course. I have all the workshop manuals and might try and pick up a VW ding tool as well.

Stef

[forzaminardi]

Passat V6 4motion is a nice bit of kit for a young guy! I've noticed (having arrived here in the past 12 months) that new drivers seem to have a broader choice of cars available to them - not sure if insurance is less than in the UK?

[StefanVXR8]

forzaminardi said:

Passat V6 4motion is a nice bit of kit for a young guy! I've noticed (having arrived here in the past 12 months) that new drivers seem to have a broader choice of cars available to them - not sure if insurance is less than in the UK?

Insurance is a little cheaper for 3rd party, fire and theft or fully comp Vs the UK. However, the compulsory CTP 3rd party (green slip) thing I think lulls a lot of people in to thinking they don't need anything else until they crash and discover otherwise!

The tradie who crashed his new Toyota HiLux in to the train lines when falling asleep on the Mitchell freeway in Perth is a good example, ended up writing off a $60K Ute and he wasn't insured. https://thewest.com.au/news/perth/tired-tradie-nod...

Personally I think they should do away with CTP and make insurance mandatory like the UK.

Stef

[romeodelta]

StefanVXR8 said:

Insurance is a little cheaper for 3rd party, fire and theft or fully comp Vs the UK. However, the compulsory CTP 3rd party (green slip) thing I think lulls a lot of people in to thinking they don't need anything else until they crash and discover otherwise!

The tradie who crashed his new Toyota HiLux in to the train lines when falling asleep on the Mitchell freeway in Perth is a good example, ended up writing off a $60K Ute and he wasn't insured. https://thewest.com.au/news/perth/tired-tradie-nod...

Personally I think they should do away with CTP and make insurance mandatory like the UK.

Stef

Agreed.

A little OT, but for a country with such strict motoring laws, the fact you can drive legally with the equivalent of no insurance or MOT, is madness IMO.

[anonymous-user]

I had an Accord 2.4 Tourer Executive, incredibly reliable and well finished car and surprisingly nippy when you kicked it down, but rather boring and uninvolving at the same time

[aka_kerrly]

I'm surprised by the number of negative responses, I presume a lot are based on experiences of a regular Honda Accord and not the Euro R model.

If a Euro R is considered boring or meh as people have said a Passat is a whole new level of disappointment, that said for a teenager a Vr6 4mo is considerably better than what most teenagers in the UK can get their hands on.

[StefanVXR8]

Not wildly keen on the aftermarket alloys though, might try and source 4 of the originals to go with the unused spare. It does have 4 nearly new Pirelli's fitted though.

[Rensko]

Friend of mine had a Passat with the same motor. Rapid car, but was heavy on the juice!

Pretty awesome first car for the money! Surely you can put those wheels on Scumtree/Facebook and make some cash back!

[aka_kerrly]

Those wheels look like BBS Ch-r, most likely replicas as the centre doesn't look quite right but still worth a few quid.

I don't know the Australian second market is like but that style of wheel is popular on VW/Audi /seat/skoda cars.

If they are genuine BBS in 18inch you potentially have a £1k set out of wheels.

[StefanVXR8]

aka_kerrly said:

Those wheels look like BBS Ch-r, most likely replicas as the centre doesn't look quite right but still worth a few quid.

I don't know the Australian second market is like but that style of wheel is popular on VW/Audi /seat/skoda cars.

If they are genuine BBS in 18inch you potentially have a £1k set out of wheels.

Will take a closer look when we pick it up on Saturday, thanks for the info.

Stef