90s Accord as a daily/beater?

[spetz]

Hi guys,

I am looking into getting a daily/beater car.
What I want from it:
Reliability
Fuel economy
Spare parts availability
Comfort/practicality

The cars I was looking into:
Mid/late 90s Magna (2.4 or 3.0), Camry (2.2), Accord (2.2)

I like the accord but they are a bi expensive, compared to similarly aged Magna which would be about half the price, and their parts availability is everywhere. I am worried about their fuel economy though.

Does anyone know how those 3 cars compare between each other?

[seanizshort]

I'd go the accord all the way only cose it's Honda. fuel wise I heard the magna's arnt that good. As for the Camry I don't know much about.

Lol sorry I'm not much help dude.

[Troy]

I have a CD5 Accord and my wife has a 94 Camry wagon. Both have been super reliable for older model cars. Accord is SOHC VTEC model and definitely has more power and is nicer to drive. But the Camry gets much better fuel economy and parts are cheaper for it. BTW both are manual.

Also my dad is a mechanic and has a 95 Verada running on LPG, 3L V6. Very comfy car and cheap parts, but overall a heap of junk I reckon.

Some food for thought mate, cheers.

[spetz]

Why do you think the Verada is a heap of junk?
I had a friend with a late 90s Verada and it was very comfortable, smooth, quiet, plenty of torque etc. The only thing that is pushing me off is the mpg.
I think the 95 is the older one though. Is it reliable?

I had ages ago a 1990 2L DOHC EFI Camry and it was very reliable and economical but too much of a beater.

[Troy]

My dad's Verada is the older one, the late 90's shape was a much better car (he has previously owned one of these also). It's not so bad running on LPG but yeah, mileage is pretty bad.

I'm pretty sure you had the model Camry before ours, they were a great car too. When I bought ours I looked at so many, all were beat up and in shocking condition. And all were auto, gutless heaps. Then I inspected the one I bought, overall much nicer and manual was a world of difference to drive, so much more responsive and powerful - for the same engine!

[spetz]

Yes I had the older Camry which was a 2L not 2.2. It wasn't powerful or anything but did it's job and it was so cheap to run (I think I was getting about 8L/100km combined). I assume that with even a 3.0 Magna (the late 90s one) I should be using close to double that. Though maybe the 1-2,000 dollar difference or so in price between the Magna and Accord would offset any fuel savings.

Do you know of any other cars? I was looking at Galants as well, I like them but they are quite rare and if I need parts from wreckers I'll never find any.

[Indie]

The Magna (and Verada) is comfortable and powerful, but its fuel economy won't match an Accord's. It weighs too much to be FWD, its handling isn't great, and its turning circle is atrocious. It's too long. The reliability isn't that great, either, although I wouldn't say it's particularly bad. Don't buy a Galant, either.

I don't see a more suitable option than the Accord or the Camry, considering your needs.

[spetz]

Indie, handling doesn't bother me, it's nothing more than a car that will be used so that I don't need to ruin my coilovers bouncing around roads while going to the shops etc, or traveling between cities.

The accord is my first choice but they are around 4-5K and Veradas something go for as little as 3K or so. To be honest if not for the fuel economy I would go the Verada/Magna.
On top of that I am thinking if I can save about 1-2K by going with a Magna, how much is an LPG conversion? And don't I get a government rebate? I heard it's about 3K to do and you can get as much as 2K back. If that is the case it makes a Verada worthwhile in my opinion.

[Troy]

Shop around for one with it already done.

I converted a Falcon to LPG a few years back now, got $1600 rebate from the government. Me and my dad did the conversion, $50 tank from the wreckers including all extra cabling and everything needed. I fully cleaned it, sprayed it white. $120 for test as it was out of date, passed OK. Put the tank in ourselves and then just got all the cables/hoses/pipes and switch etc... done by a certified shop, I think he charged me $1000 all up. So yeah I made profit from getting the rebate!

[spetz]

And what was the mpg difference?
I know that LPG is much cheaper than petrol but from what I understand a car will use more LPG than petrol per 100km?

I would only do an LPG conversion on a bigger car though. Doing it on 2.2 won't be so feasible, and in my opinion going LPG is more for having a small car/engine economy with big car comfort/torque

[Troy]

I never really knew the mpg in the Falcon. It was a tow hack for work, always towing heavy trailers so used a lot of fuel, I sure noticed it was cheaper filling up with LPG though. Yes apparently the LPG does get used up a bit faster but like I said I never did any testing myself.

Either way just decide on Accord or Camry and be done with it. If you are just looking for cheap I'd probably lean toward Camry, seem to be able to find them cheaper to buy outright and like I said, parts are definitely cheaper for the Camry than my Accord.

[spetz]

Yeah but unfortunately the Camry looks like a rustbucket whereas the Honda is more or less ok in my opinion (ie, it wouldn't be embarrassing to drive).
I guess it depends on which car pops up first at a good price/condition