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Spent Rs 2.4 lakh to buy a used Honda Accord AT and I am loving it

13th January 2024, 12:15 by Utkarsh Chaudhary

I dived into the deep and dangerous world of used old luxury / D-segment cars. I saw different models like the Skoda Laura, old Superb and Octavia.

BHPian PainlessDeath09 recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Hello, fellow BHPians!

About a year ago, I got my first car, a 2003 2nd Generation (in India) Honda City GXI I-DSi.

It was a well-worn car, to say the least, and was quite a pain to maintain but served me well during its time. However, it is that time again when most offices and workplaces are beginning to stop working from home and start calling all their employees to the office. Bangalore IT folk like me, who have to bear the brunt of its traffic in all its might, would hit us the hardest. And as much as I loved the City (PUN intended), the pain the traffic used to induce on my left leg left a lot to be desired as far as a car/city is concerned. Here we go, off to the hunt for a replacement. An Automatic at that.

For most folk, this is easy. Grab a loan (or straight cash, the 0.001% be wildin'), get a Virtus or a Slavia and call it a day. Not so much for me. I am only 23, I do not want to take on the financial burden of a loan this early, especially on a depreciating asset. So off to the used car market, we go!

Getting a well-used automatic was a pain. Especially when you have strict limits in place knowing how much to spend. Especially so when you have an enthusiast's craving inside of you. I tried Maruti A-Stars, Kwids, i10s etc. Don't get me wrong, most of them are wonderful, functional cars. Functional being the keyword here. None of them gave me the rush I had hoped for, none of them had the character I wanted, none of them had the performance I had hoped for. Especially after years of driving my dad's Stage 1 Octavia 1.8 TSI that puts down around 220 bhp. My lust for power and character was insatiable. Welp, looks like an increase in budget is warranted. And maybe a slight change in the cars I was looking for. I dived into the deep and dangerous world of used old luxury/D segment cars. Saw different Lauras, old Superbs and old Octavias. I had befriended a good deal of mechanics from FNGs I knew during my previous ownership of the NHC so after a few trials of me accompanying them, I knew what to look out for.

Used German cars, as much as I would love to have them, were out of the question. I cannot afford to keep spending money on keeping them running. So we're off to the Japanese and the few obscure enthusiast cars they offered here.

I went to check out a Civic, saw and felt good. Kept it on my list of considerations. That's when a friend of mine called me to tell me about a deal at a neighbourhood dealer. A 2003 Honda Accord 2.4 AT. With a valid FC till 2029. Only having done 88k kms. I had to go check it out.

What greeted me was a beautifully maintained car whose condition was almost unbelievable for 20 years. I was awestruck. I had to have it.

I immediately started inspecting it and took it for a test drive. The engine drove like butter. The NVH levels would beat even the sedans of today. Foot to the floor and the 2.4 Liter engine rose to life, tearing apart the streets of Koramangala. The 5-speed automatic (the V6 variant was known to have some transmission issues, even if these were absent in the 2.4, I was still vigilant) shifted with smooth gear changes that weren't even noticeable and it shifted with zero hesitation. I was in love.

But I wasn't about to get blinded though. No, not yet. The power steering I felt, was kinda off. I couldn't explain it but I knew in all my years of driving, something felt off. I returned to the dealer and told him I would be back.

Now, I was already knee-deep into research even before I started driving this car, I was well aware of the things I needed to look for.

The 7th Gen Accord were notorious for Steering Rack leak issues and Steering pump failures. The latter is manageable, an aftermarket pump replacement would run you about ₹30k including labour. The former, however, was not. If the steering rack was found to be leaking, it would be about ₹1.2L expenditure, lest I keep refilling the fluid. No way am I prepared to do that. Apart from that, this generation of Accord had a myriad of minor cheap issues which I am prepared for which I will get to later in this post.

I returned to the Accord in the morning with my friendly mechanic who I knew previously, who was aware of what to look for. He took the car for a thorough spin, properly putting the car into its paces. We drove around for a good half an hour and returned. The car was put on a jackstand.

A thorough inspection was done. The steering rack was found to be in perfect condition, not even a drop of leak. I was elated. However, I was told that the steering pump was whining and was out of its way. Felt a weird sense of contentment out of the fact that this was what was wrong with the steering and not the rack itself.

Apart from this, the car did have all the expected but very cheap to fix issues like a broken brake light switch, brake light bulb and numberplate bulb burnt out and a rear door latch actuator not working. The A in the Honda Logo missing. The tyres needed replacement as well, they had a lot of tread in them left and looked good in condition with no dry rot in 3 of the 4 tyres, however, they are definitely in need of replacement as they are 2012 tyres. I was off to the table, compiling all my points for negotiations.

After a long deliberation, the final number was set. The car was mine for ₹2.4L. A fitting number, ₹10k for every 100ml of the engine capacity.

The deed was done. The dealer offered to take my poor old NHC off my hands for surprisingly a justifiable cost as well so that's one less headache to deal with. A few hundred signatures later. The car was mine.

I was ecstatic.

I drove off that evening with my brand-new ride. Went for a drive with my friends, loved every second of it. We went to a restaurant I couldn't take my eyes off the car after parking it.

Once we were done, I got back in and was put off by the airbag light. It just stayed on suggesting something wrong with the SRS. I began to hope that this was not an expensive fix as new inflators run at around 60k a set. Not letting that small little light ruin my day, I choose to ignore it for the night and drive ahead. We went for a late night drive, the car accelerated with such immediacy even with 5 people on board, I was awestruck. I am in a happy relationship but man, I was all in love all over again. I slept that night a happy man.

Cut to the next morning. I immediately went to the Honda service centre. No, I am not insane to get my 20-year-old D-segment sedan serviced at the official service centre, I wish I had that kind of money, lol. I just wanted to get an estimate of all the things that may or might need fixing. And I wanted to ensure I did some preventive maintenance as well. Not to mention, the airbag lights staying on really did bother me.

A day later, a rollercoaster surprise hit me. My service manager from the Honda service centre called me and told me that there was an issue and the car would need to be with them for the remainder of one and a half weeks minimum. Now this would ideally cause mass spread panic but bear with me for the actual reason had quite a bit of the opposite effect on me.

The Takada airbag scandal was a very well-known recall in the Car Industry that was quite infamous. Takada Corporation made airbags of very questionable quality and they had a market share of over 20% of all airbags fitted to cars and so it resulted in a widespread recall to the tune of 67 million cars worldwide. It grew to be one of the largest vehicular recalls ever.

And guess what? The weird airbag light that stayed on? That came as a blessing in disguise as that prompted the Honda service centre to check for eligible recalls. And lo and behold, my car was one of the 350 in India that was eligible for the recall. Funnily enough, I was aware of the Takada recall long ago as it was well documented, who knew I myself would be an accessory to it, lmao. The service centre needed a confirmation on the replacement ASAP, of which if I declined, they would have to take a signed affidavit saying I was offered a free replacement which I declined and that Honda would not be responsible for any repercussions. I was about to do no such thing. The free airbag replacement was underway.

While that was being done, I also got a paid inspection done from Honda. A few days later, an invoice came to me. In bated breath, I opened it. I let out an exclamation of relief. Apart from the usual replacement of consumables, the engine and transmission were found to be in perfect health, only minor things needed to be replaced. The bulbs I mentioned earlier, the brake light switch was thankfully found to be working fine, the rubber gasket that the switch uses to actuate had hardened and fallen off so that was quoted at negligible cost. The brake pads were quoted as "needs replacement" and so were the tyres. And a missing washerfluid reservoir cap. I took note of the invoice and asked them to replace just the cheap items like the bulbs, the switch rubber and the cap and told them to skip all consumables including the brake pads and the rubber.

Almost 2 weeks later, I got the car with fully working lights and airbags. Excitement upon excitement. Man, I was a happy man.

However, about 3 weeks later, the impending doom struck. I was on my way back from the office and all of a sudden, the usual whine I was used to when turning the steering was absent. That's when I realised, I had lost power steering. I fully expected this to happen as my mechanic told me that it needed a replacement asap and I was prepared for it. What I was not prepared for was how hard it is to drive without power steering. The car gave me an arm workout like none other, thankfully I was close to home and once I did reach home, I had to take a moment to get some rest before I could step out of the car as I was absolutely exhausted.

The next morning, I contacted various FNGs for Accord 2.4 Power Steering pump replacement. None of them gave me the confidence to send my car as I don't just want the replacement to be wallet-friendly, I also need it to be a job done well enough to warrant the love I have for my car.

After some research, I stumbled upon a place very close by, about 1.5kms from where I stayed. Carsmith Motors it was called, reviews all suggested positive things and there were some TeamBHP threads citing positive things about the place as well. I gave them a ring and asked for a quote. They were a bit more expensive but their professionalism prompted me to pay a visit. I have seen a lot of FNGs with my previous car and needless to say, I was quite impressed. I gave my car there and asked them to inspect my car and I told them I was ready to do any preventive maintenance if need be.

They got back to me after a day and told me that the engine and transmission is in tip-top condition and apart from the power steering pump, they caught a cracked air intake hose (cracked at the joint so it's hard to spot) and a small coolant leak from a broken coolant pipe bracket (which was again very hard to spot as it was a tiny leak amounting to droplets like dew). I was genuinely amazed at their attention to detail as they found hard-to-notice problems two different mechanics and Honda's official service have failed to find.

Apart from that, since mechanically everything was sound (including oil as oil was changed as part of the recent service just 2k kms back and looked new), as part of preventive maintenance, they recommended the spark plugs and transmission oil to be changed as well. Hastily, I approved them of the work.

I waited for about 5 days for all the parts to arrive.

The place seems to be run by enthusiasts as well as the best part is, you receive timely updates regarding the work done via pictures:

About 5 days later, I got the car back, the power steering pump costed me about 25k and it was ready. All the fluids and filters were changed as well. My car was finally complete. With a huge smile, I got it back and went for a drive and it was sublime.

Now, being a 20-year-old car, it did not come with any Bluetooth. It had a (really good for its time) 6 CD changer stereo and that's about it. Replacing it with a 2 din screen is not that simple either as the HVAC controls are integrated into the stereo display and I do not want to lose them.

There are some integrated Android screens specifically built for the Accord but they are expensive and I personally don't like the Android solutions as the ones I've used are painfully slow. And I have separate plans for the stereo in the distant future details of which I will mention later.

The Accord did not even come with AUX which is very very weird considering that Honda even put an AUX input in the back of their stereo but never really gave us the actual AUX port which led me to find an AUX Adaptor built specifically for this car and a bunch of other Hondas like the CRV and Civic. Such a weird decision by Honda to have the AUX input but omit the AUX jack. However, the unit was quite expensive in India compared to its original price in the US at around ₹5k. But right on time, I knew someone who was coming in from the US and I asked him to get me this exact same adapter for a mere $20 and along with that, a rear left door actuator for $25. Bear in mind, the door actuator was priced around ₹8k here, which would've totalled both those things to about ₹13k but since I got them from the US, I spent only ₹3.7k. What a steal. I hate the fact that these things are criminally overpriced here in India.

The installation was something I managed to do myself, it seemed simple enough. Just some trim removal tools and 30 mins and it was done:

This was the adapter in question.

Installation involved the removal of some panels and the lower dashboard storage compartment. The compartment was a pain to get off.

The port in question.

The adapter seems to fit snugly into the space between the dashboard storage cubby and the stereo.

Interesting to note that almost all the panels I took off, even the tiny ones had sound insulation:

Very nice to see the no-shortcut approach by Honda.

And with that. I now have AUX. I plan on getting a Bluetooth adaptor to connect to the AUX and I will have Bluetooth.

The reason I have gone for this cheap but effective solution is that I do have plans to completely revamp the stereo situation without potentially compromising its performance by investing in solutions that involve Android tablets. If you haven't caught it yet, I do not like Android tablets in cars. I have not encountered even a single Android tablet that hasn't been laggy in cars, that's why the bias. If anyone has had any different (good) experiences, please do let me know as I would love to have the features the tablets offer as long as it is lag free.

After some research, I came across this:

Metra 99-7803G Single/Double DIN Installation Kit with Display for Select 2003-07 Honda Accord

This smart piece of kit separates the AC display from the stereo controls and it gives a slot for any 2 din stereo to be installed. It was specifically built for the 7th generation Accords. Now admittedly, this is an expensive kit and it is not available in India which means I'll have to have someone bring it from the US. But this I believe is the cleanest solution for media and I plan to install this in a year or two. Let's see.

So that's about it for my new car. I plan on keeping this one for the next 5 or so years. I will end this lengthy post with some pictures and some tidbits I found out recently:

Interesting fact, for the Accord of this generation, the front wipers on INT mode have dynamic intervals based on what the car is doing. If the gear lever is on P, the wipers are effectively OFF in INT mode. And the faster you go, the shorter the wiper interval becomes.

This was the last generation of the Accord to receive the MID SIZE classification as the Accord that came after this in 2009 received the LARGE SEDAN classification and would turn out to be the largest in terms of length.

The width of the 7th generation Accord is only 1 cm shorter than the width of an Innova Crysta.

The V6 version 7th generation Accord was the last Accord without Honda's infamous VCM cylinder deactivation technology which all the later V6s had, and therefore, this generation is considered to be the last most desirable V6.

The Accord has what Honda called back in the day, 'lazy windows'. Press unlock once to unlock the car, let go of the button and then press and hold the unlock button again. All the windows of the car immediately roll down!

The 7th gen Accord was also the first to come with Lumbar support albeit it being manually operated on the side of the driver seat. Internationally, it also came with ventilated seats.

With 459 liters of boot space, it is accessible from the rear seats. Both the rear seats fold down as well increasing the space to enormous levels.

If the headlights of the Accord are left on and the doors are closed and the car is locked via the key, they automatically turn off after about 20 seconds. And if the car is unlocked, they come back on again. This works well as pseudo 'coming home lights'; if you park somewhere in the dark, you can just leave the lights on and lock the car. And when you're back and you unlock the car, the headlights automatically come back on.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety in the US found that the 7th generation Accords(2003-2007) had the lowest fatality rates in the mid-size sedan class. The Accord was a very very safe sedan for the time.

The bulletproof K24A4. The engine is known to be extraordinarily reliable and it also comes with a timing chain instead of the belt on the V6 which is one less worry.