96RedSE5Sp
Hard-core CEG'er
You don't think safety is an important consideration when deciding whether or not to upgrade?
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Contour SVT vs my 1989 Accord... what to do
- Thread starter Cash68
- Start date
Not really. I feel safer than most people purely because I pay attention and have a car that handles and brakes pretty well. Also, my commute 3 days of the week is only 3.8 miles of city driving. The other two days it's on the highway at higher speeds...but... I still feel really safe.
Is it feasible for you to own two vehicles? You obviously like the Honda still, and it's worth next to nothing (especially with a bad carb). I'd park the thing for a while, while you save to rebuild the carb, and buy an SVT for at least the meantime.
Keep in mind at 150K the SVT might need some more expensive maintenance items, such as struts. You don't know the history of the car, which makes its reliability and repair life difficult to determine.
From my experience, the Ford has less expensive problems, but more mysterious and frequent ones (an odd grinding noise here, a rattle there) that can require some diagnostic skills. The Japanese vehicles have much much more expensive problems, but they occur less often. Just my experience. :shrug:
Keep in mind at 150K the SVT might need some more expensive maintenance items, such as struts. You don't know the history of the car, which makes its reliability and repair life difficult to determine.
From my experience, the Ford has less expensive problems, but more mysterious and frequent ones (an odd grinding noise here, a rattle there) that can require some diagnostic skills. The Japanese vehicles have much much more expensive problems, but they occur less often. Just my experience. :shrug:
CruzCorp
CEG'er
It depends what you prefer really. I got my SVT at 152K for a steal of a price and have reached 163K with no major problems other than routine maintenence (brakes/WP/hoses) and a few other things that I will get too when my income stabilizes. It isn't as easy to work on a SVT compared to a Honda and parts may not be as easy to find, new atleast.
My 2 cents would be to check out the SVT in and out, get a price and take it from there, it never hurts to window shop. I also believe you may not want the Honda after you drive the SVT for a little while, but I wouldn't drive the SVT full time either. Hondas are not rare, SVTs are. This also adds a bit to the SVT experience IMO. If you would go with the 2 car route you could use the Honda until it craps out for work and use the SVT for play. The SVT is a fun car!
My 2 cents would be to check out the SVT in and out, get a price and take it from there, it never hurts to window shop. I also believe you may not want the Honda after you drive the SVT for a little while, but I wouldn't drive the SVT full time either. Hondas are not rare, SVTs are. This also adds a bit to the SVT experience IMO. If you would go with the 2 car route you could use the Honda until it craps out for work and use the SVT for play. The SVT is a fun car!
SicSE
Veteran CEG'er
asdfa
As much of a svt fan i am....
You might want to pay attention to these Very known common problems that occur with these cars, regardless of 50k or 150k miles on it...
1. 6cly rod bearing goes. so means new engine or overhaul is needed. So always put 1 qaurt extra due to oil starvation, because of our heads no draining oil fast enough.
2. Water pump failure
3. Dash warp...it gets ugly:blackeye:
4. Wiring harness rusts (sucks)
5. Diff gets eaten alive and breaks (it's like glass):help:
6. 1998 Rear springs got recalled because they rust out and break.
7. Headlights fade in alomost 3-5 years.
there is more but this pretty much covers the cars engine suspension trans etc etc...i lve them but i'm not naive at the same time.
You might want to pay attention to these Very known common problems that occur with these cars, regardless of 50k or 150k miles on it...
1. 6cly rod bearing goes. so means new engine or overhaul is needed. So always put 1 qaurt extra due to oil starvation, because of our heads no draining oil fast enough.
2. Water pump failure
3. Dash warp...it gets ugly:blackeye:
4. Wiring harness rusts (sucks)
5. Diff gets eaten alive and breaks (it's like glass):help:
6. 1998 Rear springs got recalled because they rust out and break.
7. Headlights fade in alomost 3-5 years.
there is more but this pretty much covers the cars engine suspension trans etc etc...i lve them but i'm not naive at the same time.
The Mad Ugly SVT
CEG'er
Contour SVT: Love it or hate it.
My 98.5 with 145k on it runs and drives ALOT better than my 98 with 94k on it. its got a new problem every day
Its all about maintainance. The car you want has 150k on it, do you know how the previous owner(s) treated it? No.
My 98.5 with 145k on it runs and drives ALOT better than my 98 with 94k on it. its got a new problem every day
Its all about maintainance. The car you want has 150k on it, do you know how the previous owner(s) treated it? No.
CLASSVT
Veteran CEG'er
This is pretty misleading. The diff isn't like glass unless you drop the clutch every chance you get, my 8 year old headlights have barely any haziness (and many new cars have plastic headlight leneses that haze eventually), not all cars prone to dash warp actually have it occur (mine didn't), the impellar on the waterpump was only a problem from '95 - '98.5 as they used a different plastic from '99 on, and IIRC the wiring harness was only an issue in '95. Feel free to correct me if I'm inaccurate.
1.Ford acutally made a dash repair kit due to the common dash warp.
2. Headlights haze on all cars. but we are talking about contours and they haze like no tomorrow. That is why we have services for this. Baggeds head light service that took place etc etc. We all now they do.. it's okay.
3. The diff is like glass!!!! no joke and no misleading here. Any body from daily driving can just blow it out. It's very common to break it without hard driving. Then again most break it from leaving at 2-3k rpms. :shrug:
4. Don't forget our rear sway bar brackets. Those things break soo easly. Even from people daily driving hitting pot holes it snap right off.
CLASSVT
Veteran CEG'er
IMO contour headlights don't haze any worse than other cars in similar price-ranges, as I said mine aren't bad and are 8 years old. There are headlight clearing services all over the place for all cars. I don't think Walmart carries the headlight clearing kit just for contours, now do they? I've driven two MTX contours aggressively for a combined 210,000 miles with no "glass" diff shattering as you speak of. To be honest I haven't heard much of this issue throughout my time on CEG.:shrug: I understand that Ford made the dashwarp repair kit...doesn't mean that every car after 98.5 will have dash warp. And again, I know nothing of the rear swaybar brackets, only that I've driven the snaut out of two contours with none that have broken "so easily". That being said, I feel like I'm getting a little defensive, but you are making these things sound as if they are a fact for anyone that has ever owned a contour. When in my eight years of owning and driving contours, couldn't be further from the truth.
Dash warp was a 99+ problem..
Wiring harness was a 98 and earlier problem, mostly.
Differential IS weak, but "weak" is a relative term and used when comparing performance ability. If you don't drive it in a performance oriented manner, it isn't weak.. if you do.. it is. How exactly you drive is up to you.
ALL headlights of plastic, especially those of that era, yellow and fade and haze over.. look at any BMW from that year, or neon, or intrepid, etc. all hazy, yellow, faded lights.. There are services on here, but it isn't like the Contour is the only platform to have people restore headlights.. they make HEADLIGHT RESTORING CREAM and sell it nationally for pete's sake.. its a common thing.
Wiring harness was a 98 and earlier problem, mostly.
Differential IS weak, but "weak" is a relative term and used when comparing performance ability. If you don't drive it in a performance oriented manner, it isn't weak.. if you do.. it is. How exactly you drive is up to you.
ALL headlights of plastic, especially those of that era, yellow and fade and haze over.. look at any BMW from that year, or neon, or intrepid, etc. all hazy, yellow, faded lights.. There are services on here, but it isn't like the Contour is the only platform to have people restore headlights.. they make HEADLIGHT RESTORING CREAM and sell it nationally for pete's sake.. its a common thing.
CLASSVT
Veteran CEG'er
It also depends on your definition of performance-oriented driving. If you mean drag racing then yes, but I drive my cars on public roads and through twisties pretty aggressivley. I consider that performance-oriented driving, and I've had not one issue with the differential in either car. And man did I ever beat on that '96 SE, and that includes dumping the clutch at high rpm... That car has achieved bulletproof status, and that includes the diff. Man I love that car.
I already have a rare car.
http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2289595
I keep that in storage, I drive the accord, and my wife has been driving a minty fresh 89 Prelude with 4ws. If I get the SVT, I'm ditching the accord. 3 cars is enough for 2 people, at this point in my life. Down the road, I'll probably collect more.
If you like the car that much, why not hunt down everything needed to convert to fuel injection? If the FI was only available on a different engine, why not go with an engine swap?
If you like your Honda THIS much, you may not be happy with ANY other car until the point where you HAVE to get one. That's what happened with my GSR.
It's not that simple. The EFI conversion for a 3g Accord is VERY indepth. Swapping engines and wiring harness? Piece of cake. The real
is you have to take off both front fenders, the bumper, and REMOVE THE ENTIRE INTERIOR. All of it. And I really do mean all of it. You need to remove the pedal assembly, the steering column, all of the dash, the carpeting, freaking EVERYTHING. Reason being is that EFI cars have the ecu under the passenger seat, so the entire wiring harness is completely different. It'd take me weeks, even if I had a garage.elraido
I kant speel
Always loved SVX's. Actually was looking at buying one before I bought the SVT. If they only came in a 5 speed and if they tranny wasn't like glass. :nonono: Great looking car, decent power (for its age), awesome interior.
Detailed
1 BIG CAT
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gdub520
Veteran CEG'er
i can remember when a coworker bought a brand new accord back in 88...we all went out at lunch to take a ride in it....i remember checking it out and thinking "damn as much as i hate hondas this thing is pretty nice"...til i sat down in it :shocked::nonono:....terrible, thinly padded, uncomfortable seats...i had a vw gti 16v so i was used to much much better and more supportive seats
anyway, what im getting at is...if you have the same seats in that honda from when it was new i cant imagine it can possibly be comfortable to sit in....maybe for such a short commute to work for you it doesn't matter, but i'd be ready to get rid of it right there
anyway, what im getting at is...if you have the same seats in that honda from when it was new i cant imagine it can possibly be comfortable to sit in....maybe for such a short commute to work for you it doesn't matter, but i'd be ready to get rid of it right there
Maybe you sat in a civic or something, because the Accord's seats are really plush. A lot 'softer' and have more give than my SVX, Prelude, or any other car I've owned. They're kinda like buick seats in my opinion. If they were any softer I think I'd get back pain.
Yeah, the lack of a manual transmission really blows. You can convert them now for around 3 grand, so as soon as I graduate I'm going to be picking up a used 6spd from a wrecked STi. About the glass tranny comment though... I'm not sure. I have over 100k on my transmission, and it works perfectly. I read somewhere that the number one reason that automatics fail is overheating. Then I read that if you overheat your fluid even ONE TIME, it's expected lifetime is cut in half. Overheat the fluid twice, and your fluid will now last only 1/4 of the time it would have if it hadn't overheated. So... knowing that, I switched to Mobil 1 Synthetic ATF, and I drain and fill it at every other oil change. It costs an extra $20-30 each time, but I know I'm safe from driving around with bad fluid, which is what kills them. >shrug<
About the glass tranny comment though... I'm not sure. I have over 100k on my transmission, and it works perfectly. I read somewhere that the number one reason that automatics fail is overheating. Then I read that if you overheat your fluid even ONE TIME, it's expected lifetime is cut in half. Overheat the fluid twice, and your fluid will now last only 1/4 of the time it would have if it hadn't overheated. So... knowing that, I switched to Mobil 1 Synthetic ATF, and I drain and fill it at every other oil change. It costs an extra $20-30 each time, but I know I'm safe from driving around with bad fluid, which is what kills them. >shrug<