Is this Prelude worth buying (again... 3rd installment)? - Honda Prelude Forum

Keith · 07-24-2004, 12:25 AM

As the search continues to find my wife a Prelude (actually, she'll take something else too), we check out this Lude 25 miles away from us... The stats...

- 1993 VTEC
- 154K miles
- Kid has had it for 2 years since he was 18 yrs old.
- He hit a wooden sign (hydroplaned in the wet) and the post hit the front bumper, hood, toppled over and hit the sunroof on off to the passenger side... hence the dents. That happened 2 years ago and never fixed it.
- 2nd gear syncho is gone.. grinds grind grinds
- Has a cat back exhaust, generic strut bar, intake and Tokico front shocks and springs.
- Exterior was dirty, inside was flithy (cleanable).
- Engine sounded fine and pulled hard still.
- Front tires had inside wear due to bad alignment.
- Has some rust developing on passenger side wheel well (typical).
- Driver's door has been replaced (bad paint job... can see that the old door was red).

Looks like it would need to make it look newish..
- new front bumper.
- front signal light (passenger side).
- Probably a hood (dented).
- sunroof.
- Dents need to be pulled out... One on the passenger side A-pillar arm could be a cause for concern.

Dude wants 3500$ but would take 3000$.... thoughts?

Keith

Jacques · 07-24-2004, 12:58 AM

Not too bad, IMO, for the price. The 2nd gear grind is expected for that high a mileage. Cosmetically, you can get that all fixed up in time. Alignment can be done at any reputable shop. Pending a CARFAX on it, doo eeet!

UWNTSUM · 07-24-2004, 01:19 AM

3k? ouch, my buddy jus got the same car 93vtec in forest green for $3500 and it was mint, even came with oem fogs, new tires, leather interior and the arm-rest. I wouldn't pay no more than $2000 for the car. There is alot of work that neeeds to be done. Cosmeticly speaking. Unless u don't care if the car is all full of bondo.

KB798 · 07-24-2004, 01:30 AM

One thing that would worry me is if the owner neglected to repair the damage for 2 years, what else could he have neglected? Yea the same could be said about any car, and that the owner didn't have the money to repair the damage, but 2 years does seem a long time....

cantdrive55 · 07-24-2004, 01:38 AM

Much better than the last one you were looking at.

ME · 07-24-2004, 10:08 AM

Ya, I would say given all of that damage and rust it's worth $2k. I have pretty much the same car i(same year and color) in really good condition w/ 97k miles and I would ask $5500. I'm getting ready to sell it if you're interested.

red92si · 07-24-2004, 11:50 AM

Good for the price... I would take it.

New bumper, new tranny (LSD?), and some detail work and your good to go.

Edit: rare color to boot!

Qveon · 07-24-2004, 12:21 PM

If you are doing the work and body work and paint yourself it would be worth it. otherwise you are looking at round numbers:

$600 at least for a tranny
$400 in labor for tranny
$800-1000 at least in bodywork and paint and rust removal and parts
$400 in labor for bodywork and painting
$400 in tires at least for decent tires. not racing but decent all weathers
and thats just to get it right again and at least 3 weeks down time to get all that done.

depends how goo you are with bodywork and maitence work.

UWNTSUM · 07-24-2004, 01:46 PM

to get that car to look somewhat newish again, you would probably be better off repainting the entire car due to the amount of damage and body work that needs to fixed. That will probably cost u about anywhere from 2-3k and thats assuming your getting a good price on labor and paint and u buy all ur parts from a junkyard/used. They you have to worry about the tranny and tires and whatever else this guy neglected to take care of. With the amount of time and $ you will spend to get the car back to a GOOD running condition, your better off spending 5-8k for a newer prelude that has less problems.

FullyLudedSi · 07-24-2004, 02:18 PM

I dont think its worth it unless you can do most of the body work yourself and get the parts very cheap.

preludatic · 07-25-2004, 12:05 AM

i agree. unless u can do alot of the work yourself, not worth it. Ludes have only been proven to have longevity with owners who take care of them... that'd be my first concern

Keith · 07-25-2004, 06:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Qveon

If you are doing the work and body work and paint yourself it would be worth it. otherwise you are looking at round numbers:

$600 at least for a tranny
$400 in labor for tranny
$800-1000 at least in bodywork and paint and rust removal and parts
$400 in labor for bodywork and painting
$400 in tires at least for decent tires. not racing but decent all weathers
and thats just to get it right again and at least 3 weeks down time to get all that done.

depends how goo you are with bodywork and maitence work.

Thanks for the opinions guys...

I could get an H23 tranny for pretty cheap (250$) and I would install it myself.

IDK if I would fix everything right away... I mean, it's comestic... I'm more concerned about reliablity.

UWNTSUM, I guess your friend bought a 93 VTEC with aftermarket leather since they didn't come with them. As well, Preludes are a dime a dozen in California... that's not the case in MidWest...

Keith

UWNTSUM · 07-25-2004, 09:22 PM

I know 92-93 preludes don't normally come with leather seats, but i thought it was possible to get leather as a option from honda when buying the car new. I have seen 92 and 93 preludes with leather seats eventho it wasn't a standard like in 94-96 if you had the VTEC model or the SE model. 92-93 had non-preferated leather seats/door inserts where the 94-96 did.