I’m going to fort lauderdale on monday with my brother to meet with a dealer friend of his. We are going to one of the larger auctions in the fort lauderdale/miami area to pick up a sub $3500 car for my brother to use as a daily driver.
I was looking at the auction run list, and we have it narrowed down to a few cars.
94-97 honda accord with the 4 cylinder.
Toyota camry of the same vintage with the 4 cylinder.
Volvo 750 Turbo sedan.
Is there any major flaws with the toyotas or hondas of that vintage? Anything to look for?
All I can think of besides using common sense, would be to make sure that the timing belt was done at appropriate times.
Toyota and Honda are the top 2 most reliable manufacturers on the planet but the camry and accord are boring. The Volvo is Swedish, not Japanese, and although it’s probably not the best car out of the bunch, it is definitely the coolest but I believe you may be talking about the 740, I’ve never heard of a 750. Hopefully it’s not an 850 because they are wwd(wrong wheel drive)
edit if its an 850, don’t get it, it no longer maintains it’s cool factor without rwd
I like my Accord a whole lot. But get an EX 5 speed. The automatics aren’t bad, but they’re still automatic.
It’s a reliable car, and drives a whole lot better than the Camry of the same year. It’s also a very good size. It’s comfortable without being huge. It’s really a car from another time, when people were happy with less. Now the Accords are just…ugh.
And anybody that thinks a 90s Volvo is more fun than an Accord. Have you driven a 90s Volvo? Vague steering, rough engines, soft suspensions that are awful to begin with. And not reliable to boot. Yeah, terrific idea for somebody looking for basic transportation.
Show me a forum devoted to the Accord and I’ll show you 5(10?) devoted to the brick. They’re factory turbo and rwd, they are a huge sleeper and they are way more fun that any other 4 door family car. I’m sorry bud but there’s nothing fun about under/torque-steer.
Soft Suspension - I wouldnt say its soft,more “average”.
Not Reliable - FALSE. I cant speak for the 5 cylinder engine,but the N/A I4 is rock solid.Mine has almost 200k on it and I haven’t had 1 problem in the year I’ve owned it.However,they are very slow…114HP in a 3000+lb car makes for a good daily driver and try to pass anyone.:lol:
I was hoping someone would do that. It seems there’s really only 2 boards specifically for the brick although the rest of the many general Volvo boards are dominated by brick traffic.
the only bad thing out of the usual stuff in 94-97 accord is the gas/brake/vapor/gas return lines running from the front to the back of the car in the tray under the drivers side of the car, they tend to rot out bad, requiring replacement of ALL of them. Its a pita job. Other than that, its just typical stuff. On 90-93 accord those lines are nylon coated and hold up 1000X better.
If you have the chance to drive one of the cars do some tight circles while accelerating. Most older Honda’s if they are neglected will need CV axles if the boots weren’t changed when they got torn up. You’ll hear some clicking if they are on the way out. Usually you don’t get to drive auction cars though so good luck.
Have you driven a 90s Volvo? Vague steering, rough engines, soft suspensions that are awful to begin with. And not reliable to boot. Yeah, terrific idea for somebody looking for basic transportation.
