My Honda Accord 2.4L AT: An exhaustive ownership review

5 years & 58,000 km later, there still isn't a single reason to regret my purchase decision.

BHPian ritedhawan recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Chapter 1: My tryst with the Honda Accord begins

My tryst with the Honda Accord began in the year 2007. It was the year in which I got my driving license at the age of 26!!, yes, believe that. I learned to drive in an accidental carburettor Suzuki Esteem, and no one taught me, I first understood what goes ‘under the hood’ of a car from the moment the ignition is turned on till the time the exhaust gases spew out from the exhaust. Therefore, armed with the theory, I merely put it to practice on the Esteem and voila, I learned to drive! This story would fetch me the membership of T-BHP two years down the line in 2009. But that’s a done deal and therefore, let’s get past it to get back on track.

My sister was married in the year 2006 and she had an MT 2006 white 2.4L Honda Accord, she used to bring it home and lo and behold. That car was beautiful, its length, colour, interiors, etc the likes of which you could find in any other Honda model of its generation, if I am not mistaken. This car was mesmerizing. Well, I was not the only one who had a special liking for it. My father too liked it and so did my elder brother. It’s no wonder, that within the next two years, they caught hold of a second-hand 2007 AT Carbon coloured 2.4L Honda Accord. It merely had 14000 KM on it. It looked great. As always, our go-to point for second-hand cars has been Karol Bagh, New Delhi. Since 2003 when my father bought a second-hand Opel Astra—That car was my ride during those times-- from Karol Bagh. That place has been the sole point for us to look for second-hand cars. My father would purchase three different second-hand from that place in the 2003-2017 timespan. Later, I too would buy my beloved used 2.4 L white Honda Accord from that place.

In the year 2010, the 2007 carbon Honda Accord become my sole driver. I drove it relentlessly, to the extent that there were days when I used to wake up in the wee hours grab the keys and head out to NH1 Murthal and beyond just to satiate my urge to drive this car. This repeated pattern would someday end on a bad note. That came in the year 2013. I was doing a single day Delhi-Chandigarh-Delhi, on my way back I drove all night and the next morning when I entered Delhi, I felt drowsy, and in desperate need of sleep yet that overconfidence of having been through it previously and made it home intact drove me to take the risk of driving. Well, all good things come to an end and there was a lifetime lesson awaiting me at the next junction. Those thirty seconds when I slept on the steering wheel till the time, I woke up too late to stop the car rear-ending a standstill Tata 407. The left portion of the front came in contact, SRS engaged, left air-burst open and disengaged. I came out alive and profusely apologised to the Tata 407 driver whose vehicle bore negligible damage quite opposite to the state of the Honda Accord. The lift and carry service arrived and deposited the car to our preferred mechanic who would do wonders to bring it back to shape. My father was not amused by the situation and was miffed. In December 2015, I started off for the highway and didn’t realise that the AT level was below optimal. As a matter of fact, I never bothered about it; to my acute mortification, 60 km outside Delhi, the car broke down and I could sense a lot of hesitation in terms of changing gears. I should have parked the vehicle on the side and should have consulted our preferred mechanic. I did not, I thought, even though the car is stuck in one gear and refuses to change gears, it’s still ambling and maybe I can bring it back home and get it checked. Every KM driven was taking its toll on the AT of the car and by the time I brought it back to the mechanic. He stated that I should have better left it at the very place where it started exhibiting those signs and should have searched for ATF and then filled it. Then I should have brought the car back. Therefore, to assess the damage, the mechanic would have to open the AT and check the bands and planetary gear system. Something my father thought was not worth the effort. Long story short, this would be the final nail in the coffin, as my father decided to dispose of the car.

I cursed myself for not being scrupulous enough to check AT fluid level and never bothered about it. Even though, I periodically checked all other fluids. I already had that incident about which I mentioned in the last paragraph in the back of my mind; Reminding myself to never make that same mistake. I felt responsible for the situation: My not having any car to drive. The car was immaculate and it’s a shame it met its end. Sometimes you need hard knocks to drill sense into yourself. Everyone had those moments. I believe I had my share of those in abundance. Anyway, I rued the fact I lost that carbon Honda Accord.

Chapter 2: In the quest for the elusive Honda Accord, albeit a short one!

My experience with the faithful carbon Honda Accord has been great. I drove it past 6-digit mileage, and it remained a faithful companion. I have already stated the fact that I was kind of responsible for its demise. Therefore, it always bore heavily on my conscience and thus wanted to make up for it. Moreover, I loved that car model from Honda to the hilt. I still used to dream about it. I wanted to make up for it by buying another Honda Accord. However, the idea of buying a new one never came to my mind as this model had long been discontinued. It was in March 2019 that I finally decided to buy another Honda Accord, obviously a used one.

The go-to point was as always Karol Bagh. Me and my brother selected one fine day to tour that market and get in touch with some of the car dealers to get hold of a specimen. We had mentally prepared ourselves to narrow down to 2007-2008 models. I abhorred the cylinder de-activation technology of the V6 and not to forget the fuel-guzzling nature of that machine; had I known at that point that the V6 uses a rubber type timing belt instead of the chain one which is installed in the 2.4L variants, that would have been the third point to knock it out of contention. Also, the 2012 and onwards were out of our budget.

We came across a few 2008-2010 Honda Accords; the first one was not worth mentioning as inside out it felt as if no one really cared for it. The second one never showed up for us to review so went for the third one which was a silver 2.4 L. The moment the driver drove that car towards us and slowed down, we could see the left-wing mirror broken, that was a red flag. My brother took a test drive of it and within minutes arrived and gave the keys back to the driver. He surmised that the car may have been in a fatal accident and should not have been touched with a barge pole! —figurative meaning. Thus, we went ahead and waited for the fourth one. The driver did arrive with the car which was a 2009 white 2.4 L Honda Accord. Little did I know that this would be my companion. Me and my brother had a round or two of the perimeters of the vehicle. The first thing that struck me was the white paint looked splendid, which actuated me into thinking that this was a less-driven vehicle or not that old. But a quick glance at the windscreen corrected us, it was a 2009 registered vehicle. I noticed the sagging stance of the vehicle; something affirmed by my brother as well. Anyway, my brother decided to take a test drive of the vehicle and I was in the passenger seat. The Odometer mentioned 81K Km as the mileage. The interiors were nice and clean. Now at this moment, I had already made up my mind to drop it off our list. Until my brother stated, that at least we should do a test drive. That was the crucial moment. Had I insisted upon letting go of it and looking for the next one, we might as well have left this car without driving it and lost a good opportunity. The fact is, from the moment my brother turned the ignition to the time we completed the test drive, my brother at the end gave his usual smile of being satisfied with the car. I was a bit taken aback. The car was parked, and we pulled ourselves out of the vehicle. To my utter amazement, my brother was satisfied with the drive. He stated there was nothing wrong with the vehicle as per his drive. The brake bite was adequate, and the throttle response, weighty steering wheel and the resultant vehicle movement were right. We checked the vehicle again, this time concentrating on the audio, AC, and window buttons. etc and I was amazed that everything worked the way it should be. We asked the driver to repossess the vehicle and subsequently, he drove off. My brother and I discussed the specimen. He stated the pros and cons of the car, and I agreed with his assessment. He stated that we should go for this vehicle. I concurred. We could use the sagging stance of the vehicle as a bargaining chip to extract a discount on the quoted price. The sagging stance which I have already mentioned twice is a sign of an incumbent suspension overhaul.

The next course of action was wrangling with the dealer and later with the owner to seek a bargain that would suit our needs. Another surprise was in store during this wrangling. It came to our attention that the owner was a second owner of this vehicle and that the vehicle had already changed hands once! This gave my brother further impetus to extract a bargain. Finally, we settled on a price which was to our benefit. The measly budget that I had set aside for the purchase, we were able to shave off thirty per cent. That thirty per cent, I intended to keep aside for future expenses on this car. Once the transaction was complete and with the car keys in my hand within three weeks the transfer of ownership was completed. My brother had some prophetic words for me: Don’t repeat the same thing with this car—alluding to the previous carbon Honda Accord experience—and don’t take it to the Himalayas; the latter advice I conveniently choose to ignore.

This purchase is in direct contravention of GTO’s cardinal rule: never buy a used vehicle with high mileage and age. Yet, with the measly budget that I had and my previous experience with previous 2007 Honda Accord with past 6-digit KM, and under the hood of the car, the 2007 and my white Honda Accord are the same, and I had a foreboding that this would be my last contact which this model. In unison, I had no qualms about this purchase. I knew as per the mileage, I may have taken over the possession of not only the car but the start of the long-term ownership of the vehicle, which includes parts replacement. I on the other hand was anticipating the same and would love to be part of this long-term journey with this vehicle. I was confident that this vehicle would prevail with the test of time.

Continue reading BHPian ritedhawan's ownership review for more insights and information.