I am thinking about buying a Honda Accord. Am I crazy? What model years are best/worst? I've been looking at the 2001-2002 models.

Any suggestions or comments would be welcome. Also, if there is another make of car I should be looking at instead -- I'm just looking for something reliable and safe, with good gas mileage.

Stay away from the 6th gen V6 (98-02)
tranny issues

anything Honda will last you for a nice period of time. my last car, even though it was an Acura, is a division of Honda. I had around 240,000 miles on it and the worst thing i had to replace on it was the high pressure power steerin hose. Honda's have a name for reliability, and supposedly they are safe. i got my sister a volvo and those things are tanks, they are one of the safest cars on the road. as far as gas mileage though, i get around 26 mpg in the city about 31 or so highway(drive a 97 accord). my sister's volvo gets about 17 city and 20 highway. just do some research and go test drive something that you are looking at. good luck.

90-93...best year...look for a 5-speed coupe...prices here rance from $1500 to $3000

I read about the tranny issues -- however, I read that they resolved them in the 2002 models. Should I avoid the 2002 (that's what I was looking at)?

I have a 2002 accord, I love the car but it has had an transmission problem already. The check engine light was coming on so I took it to Honda and they said the transmission had an internal error. Luckily I have an warranty and they gave me a new transmission and a rental car while they fixed it.

I drive a '01 v6 ex, and I've had no issues with it except for the tranny getting stuck in park, but we just released it and haven't had problems since, but the check engine light flashes 5 times when the car is started, but then turns off. Other than that, no problems at all.

So, are the only problems with automatics? Just go with a manual then. Quicker to get going too... =}

Blu Civic is right on the money! IF you can find one with 100K +or- 25K and the body is solid...that's a great value. These are easily 250K mile vehicles and very few things that go wrong with them. (Yes I know there are some that have had the dog snot run out of them, I'm not talking about them!) :grinno:

Good luck (if you are still looking)

dl