need input, Prelude with low-ish kms?

[tehwegz]

1999, A/T, odometer read 168k KM's. Price: $4000

I thought it was kind of sketchy because people tend to sell these for a lot even with high mileage. Appearance wise it looks like the paint has some sun damage and there is the usual rust, plus it looks like a deflector & badge on the front was ripped off which caused rust to form there. The windshield will definetly need to be replaced before next winter. :dunno:

I also test drove it and it ran smoothly. It started up in the snap of a finger, handled good, idle speed, brakes, tires/rims all good...

I'm also wondering how to go about getting an inspection for it. I've never bought a used car before. The owner still needs it for a couple weeks and I'm going to test drive it again some time. what to look for?

thanks! :)

[ReflexFX]

Last time I bought a used car, i came to the agreement that I would get it inspected out of my own money if nothing was wrong. However, if anything came up, the seller would pay for the inspection and any parts that needed fixing.

Also, if its your first car and you plan to keep it for a few years, consider looking around a bit longer before buying a potential rustbucket. It took me about 7months of searching before I got my first car and it was a hellofadeal.

[n1zm0]

get the VIN for carproof and lien check, service record for T-belt done ~100k kms?

you might need to get an insurance inspection done anyways depending on your insurance company.

A/T shifts nicely into respective positions without major clunking etc?

[CMW403]

Please don't buy this car.

The auto-trannies on 5th gen preludes are time bombs. It's not "if" it goes, its "when". At 168000km with the original tranny I would bet $100 you'll lose your tranny within the next 30,000km.

Make an account on www.preludepower.com and you'll have access to TONS of horror stories regarding the A/T 5th gens.

EDIT: He already knows the tranny will go very soon, I'd offer him $2000 dollars and then buy yourself a manual tranny with the extra cash.

[tehwegz]

Originally posted by ReflexFX
Last time I bought a used car, i came to the agreement that I would get it inspected out of my own money if nothing was wrong. However, if anything came up, the seller would pay for the inspection and any parts that needed fixing.

Also, if its your first car and you plan to keep it for a few years, consider looking around a bit longer before buying a potential rustbucket. It took me about 7months of searching before I got my first car and it was a hellofadeal.

thats what im thinking of doing with the inspection. the rust is an easy fix from what I saw.


Originally posted by n1zm0
get the VIN for carproof and lien check, service record for T-belt done ~100k kms?

you might need to get an insurance inspection done anyways depending on your insurance company.

A/T shifts nicely into respective positions without major clunking etc?
I'll have to ask for all that. A/T shifted nicely from 1-3.


Originally posted by CMW403
Please don't buy this car.

The auto-trannies on 5th gen preludes are time bombs. It's not "if" it goes, its "when". At 168000km with the original tranny I would bet $100 you'll lose your tranny within the next 30,000km.

Make an account on www.preludepower.com and you'll have access to TONS of horror stories regarding the A/T 5th gens.

EDIT: He already knows the tranny will go very soon, I'd offer him $2000 dollars and then buy yourself a manual tranny with the extra cash.

-fudge-
I just had a look on google... if I ever get a Lude its gotta be M/T. Thats probably why every one I know with a 5th gen Lude has it in M/T. I'll see if I can get it down to $3k at least... I feel stupid for not doing more research. :nut:

30,000km? I'll probably only put half that on it in the next 2 years, but I also read its not worth the gamble. :(

I know for sure he wants it off his hands as he's getting a newer car in a week or two...maybe I could work some thing out.

range of $300-2500 to fix depending on how bad,
or...estimated $3k to swap in M/T.

Not cool

[z2two]

don't buy it. Its gonna be a hassle no matter how cheap it is and it won't be worth fixing anyways.

[ddduke]

Originally posted by ReflexFX
Last time I bought a used car, i came to the agreement that I would get it inspected out of my own money if nothing was wrong. However, if anything came up, the seller would pay for the inspection and any parts that needed fixing.


You think the seller should agree to this? It's a $4k car, ofcourse it's not going to be perfect, I'm sure that atleast a few issues would come up.

I say just do your research on the car and get a full mechanical inspection. No one is forcing you to buy this car and unless the current owner says the car is 100% perfect then bringing up a deal like this just makes you look like a moron.

Maybe if you're buying a car that's worth something but this is a rusty old honda.

[Prelude_dude]

I used to drive a 2000 Honda Prelude, Base, A/T with sport shift.

Bought it at 106,000km, drove it all the way up to 230xxx. No tranny problems. It ran a quite rich and burned a lot of oil, was running low on oil at like 5k. From what i remember when reading about the A/T trannys, was that most of the ones that were shitty gave out really early, i've heard as early as 30-50k. The ones that didn't gave out lasted quite a while like mine. Mine was in pretty good condition, interior was still really good, body had a couple of skuffs and the odd small rust spot, but it was in pretty good condition. Anyways i sold mine for 4k. So im thinking u can talk that one down to like 2.5-3k. Otherwise not worth it for 4k.

just my 2cents, hopefully that provides some insight.

[MugenBB6]

I drove my auto tranny to 200,9xx km and it still ran strong. Sold the car for $4000 last week