I know the OP already bought the Civic and has gotten involved already with the repairs needed to maintain an older car, but maybe this reply will help others with similar thoughts and situations.

There are really some flaws in all this logic:

1) you're driving an older less-safe car with fewer amenities. If you're driving 20K a miles for business, the amenities and safety aspects of a RL or newer car should be a factor for you.

2) you're still holding on to the RL and it is depreciating and costing money in terms of insurance, registration, and space. Hoses, tires, and belts still wear while sitting in a garage so there is still a maintenance cost.

3) if you're pursuing a sales job, do you really think prospective customers are going to take you serious rolling in an old Civic?


The other option, I would go for personally is ditching both cars and buying a late-model or even new Honda Accord or equivalent. If you do the math and I did, you'll see that its essentially a wash after 5 years plus you have the benefit of a warranty for a number of years.

Here were my parameters (it would have helped to know the purchase price for the Civic but I guessed 2K)- note I'm using $5/gal for gas too.

Car MPG Price/gal Distance Cost Registration Insurance Maintenance Cash In Hold Time Final Value Final Cost Total Cost
Honda Civic 33 5 20000 $3,030.30 50 500 1000 4000 5 500 $26,401.52
Acura RL 20 5 3000 $750.00 100 800 300 0 5 2000 $7,750.00 $34,151.52
2011 Honda Accord SE 4cyl 33 5 23000 $3,484.85 500 1000 100 23000 5 15000 $33,424.24 $33,424.24


I'm having troubles aligning the numbers but the Total Cost number at the end is what to notice- there's <$1000 cost difference and could be less if the RL is not driven 3K miles a year. If it's not driven this much it's probably not worth keeping really. Note the one figure I just remembered is sales tax and that of coarse varies. Life is too short to drive an old Civic for 5 years, at least for me.

 

1. I don't require many amenities, this car has everything i really need.


2. I may at some point trading it for a toy. I don't know what it will be yet. It will either be a z3/z4/m3/porsche/supra/something else. That will sit instead of the rl

3. I work in the welding/industrial gas industry. Most of the salesman drive older cars. the one drives a 91 beat lumina and the other drives a 99 gmc suv. Looks aren't important at all.
If i drive a suite and expensive looking car, they might think i get paid too much and might not do business.


If i put 100k on a say, used accord for $18k with 35k miles, how much would the car be worth at the end of 5 years? If it was an 8 year old car with 135k, it's prob worth 6-7k so i would end up losing 10-12k after 5 years. The initial cost of the civic with all maintenance Would be less than 5k and when it has 100k more miles in 5 years it will still be worth 2500-3k. I would end up losing about $2-3k.

Whatever toy i buy will be my fun car and that will have everything i want w/o racking up the miles.

 

Why would you buy a $18,000 35K 3 year old used car when you could buy a new one for 21-24K depending on options with the warranty? If you're driving on the highway, shoot you can get 30mpg with a 3rd Gen TL with all the options even and spend <20k.

It's funny you mentioned the Supra because I had a office mate a long time ago that bought a 1984 Supra new for 18,000. He rarely drove the car and it was preserved well. I bought a 1985 Prelude for 10,000 and put 85K on it in that time. When it came time in 1988 for him to sell his car, I wound up buying it for 10K (with just 18k miles) and I wound up selling the Lude for $7500 with all those miles on it even. So for $2500, I upgraded cars significantly and went back to almost a new car- boy that was the deal!

I guess my take away is that people stress too much on miles many times. If you buy a quality car (and you have), the mile increases are not as bad as you might think. Look you paid $5000 effectively for a Civic with 140K miles. My office mate essentially lost 8K not driving a nice car for 4 years- how did that help him? He bought a Toyota Pickup to keep the miles off his Supra.

 

but i do understand where you are going with this.

 

as phee said the thermostat will be getting replaced today.

 

 

The temp gauge didn't move at all since i burped it and i thought i had the issue licked. I turned on the heat this morning just for fun. The car was fully warmed up and i wasn't getting heat then i would get heat. Then it started to overheat.

I am rethinking buying a peice of crap older and considering selling it if it doesn't co-operate.

 

replace your thermostat. and paypal me 20 dollars for being right

 

for car shopping again

 

new thread:

The Civic needed a new thermostat, so......

 

after one month....


It hasn't overheated since i installed the thermostat(thanks phee). I figured i had to replace it but didn't want to.

The a/c still cuts out after about 5 minutes. The warmer it gets the quicker it happens so it may just be low on refrigerant.

I would have thought with gas prices and all major maintenance i would get a nibble from craigslist.

 

im about to get into the older car game real soon

 

how much older than 99?

 

meh car is gone. The new owner picked it up tonight. I sold it for what i had in it, I lost a little but not much.

I wasn't feeling the old car and wanted my luxury and cushy ride. It wasn't a bad car, but it wasn't me as i thought it was. oh well.

 

 

live and learn

 

Told ya so.

 

The RL does ride quite nicely.

 

I'd rather have a comfy car than that car. It was a great car, but not forr me. At least all the maintenance and fluids were changed for the next owner.

 

Exactly. No reason for a beater when the car is that comfy to daily.

 

Welcome back into the RL.

The Civic wasn't you anyways....

 

thanks, i agree. The car was in great shape after i got done with it, but i would rather deal with 20 mpg than less features and svelt.

There is a happy new owner and he knows he needs to deal with the a/c not working. Beyond that he has every receipt and all maintenance done.

 

Jesal is so right sometimes

 

makes me sad. i came in here just to check how you were doing.

i moved on to a 1993 civic. the only gripe i have are the roll-up windows. im debating whether to leave it OEM or change to SI windows/locks.

 

I couldn't deal with any other possible issues like a head gasket. Once it overheated and the a/c needed service, i dumped it.

 

yea, i kind of saw it coming but didnt expect it to be so soon.

i lucked out with my engine and trans, they both have 117k confirmed by vin from the car they came out of. Problem free so far

 

you guys had my number, or you all suffer the same affliction that i do.

 

So what about all this Z4/M3 talk?