ak47mh

I am thinking along the lines of a family friendly saloon with the above with space for kids and luggage etc. Have done the Scoob thing before and don't fancy the runnings costs.

I have my sensible head more set on the Accord Type R as I will be getting a fairly decent spec one at around £7Kish which is my budget. Yet I also notice the M3 3.0 Saloon falls in this bracket also, for a 1995 one with fairly high miles. Something about never owning a rear wheel drive car appeals to me.

I know there is a 5th gear synchro issue with the Accord, but apart from that you have pretty bullet proof build and servicing is reasonable I think. Yet I don't know much about the M3, I know main dealer servicing costs are very high and if it breaks, it aint going to be cheap.

So which one would you choose taking into account running costs, performance and most of all fun etc?

Cheers,
Ant

Andy M3

Hi

Nice short list you have there. The first thing is the honda is very reliaable, but i was in one on saturday night - it was a taxi !!! So on that alone i would not bother with it, but out of the 2 the honda is the better car.

M3's need to be low miles with few owners to be nice examples. they are so expensive when things go wrong. I personally would have a E36 328 touring, or the saloon if you prefer. Nice capeable cars, that are not a million miles away from the 3.0 M3 in performance, but a lot cheaper in servicing parts and repairs......


Andy

crofty

Mate of mine had an Accord R, great car, had a couple of drives, fantastic chassis, with a screaming Vtec motor very underated car imo.
My brother had an E36 M3 evo convertible, nice car but had a lot of warranty issues, would have cost a fortune if he didnt have the Bmw warranty.

danny-boy

I've now got an Accord Type R (2001), I don't know how much research you've done but there's two versions of the ATR. In 2001 they revised to fix certain issues like the 5th Gear Synchro (costs £1200 to have repaired if you buy a pre 2001) and it has a new map on the ECU so its a lot smoother and accept 95 RON fuel although like the Scoobies 98 RON is always better.

The list of known issues are:

5th Gear Synchro & Reserve
Noisy cambelt tensioners
Auto Levelling headlights

The H22A engine is very tapperty so don't be put off if you think the engine sounds dodgy

The facelift changes are mainly cosmetics such as Bee Sting Ariel on the roof and the H badge is red on the front grill.

Overall they are a great cars and IMO a lot lot better then Scoobies (I had a MY98 UK car) for overall looks both interior and exterior and on the build quality front. They are also lot rarer then Scoobies. Another benefit is they are a lot more discreet so rarely read stories of car jackings/houses being broken into for keys etc. The power delivery is very different, off the mark the Scooby is a quicker but when you hit VTEC they really get going and keep going when you hit 4th in VTEC your doing around 100/110 in the 5th you'll be doing nearly double the speed limit. My only complaint is the lack of a 6th gear which the car is crying out for, If you do a lot of motor way driving it sits at 3.5k at 80 and just wants to go faster which is not good.

Honda servicing is also a lot cheaper then compared to Subaru. My only real compliant is the price for changing the clutch which is approx £750 ish. You might find many old ATR have uprated clutches purely as they are cheaper. I've had mine for 5 months and touch wood I've never had a problem unlike my Scooby which was quite troublesome!

Insurance is also a lot cheaper, in my case its pretty much half the price of insuring a Scooby (I'm 24, 5 years NCB, living in Bournemouth) my insurance is approximately £600 with a £250 excess. My Scooby was costing me £1100 with a £450 excess with the added cost of a tracker.

If you have any further questions have a look on http://forum.hondarevolutions.com/

Fuel Consumption wise isn't the greatest so be forewarned. I get 260 ish miles from £45 worth of Optimax.

Cheers

Dan

ak47mh

Cheers guys and good review Danny-boy.

I am looking at 99-00 ones with roughly 60-70k mileage.

Is there anything I should be aware that needs doing with the above age and mileage like cambelt etc or anything that should have already been done and could cost big bucks apart from the known issues?

Thanks again,
Ant

turboman786

M3 efvery time, its in a class above the type r......drive both and the m3 is IMHO ny far the more exhilirating drive.

M3's have dropped in price recently, so shop around and you will get a nice one, especially if you are after a 4 door which are harder to sell and cheaper to buy!

danny-boy

81k is a major service and costs £330. The ATR was popular with the motorway munchers so there's quite few with high milage around.

The cambelt is done at the 72k Service, the 72k is a minor service with the cam belt change is approx £450 depending on what needs replacing etc. I think minor services are around £170 and a major is around £350.

Look for one with FHSH, the service intervals are 9k with an optional oil change at 4.5k (finding one thats had all the optional oil changes are rarer then rocking horse poop)

If your car is FHSH you can buy Honda warranty (HN2) for for £295.

Cheers

Dan

mc5

I have an M3 saloon with 78k & im the 8th owner. The car has had no probs in the 7 months ive owned it.
In fact im thinking of changing to a coupe so if you want to make me an offer let me know. Ive been looking at a few and theyre are some ropey ones out there for 7-8k & finding it difficult to replace.So Im not sure mileage and owners should deter you as long it has a full service history with lots of reciepts. Vanos goes on 3.2 evos but its luck of the draw.

Owned a scoob & type r and find the M3 a good compromise between the 2 with lots of torque & high end power from fantastic engine with the benefit of looks & build quality. Running cost will be higher than scoob if you use main dealers(£800+ for inspection 2) otherwise not much different. Honda should be less to run.

Gearchange ok but not as good as Honda.Lots of grip in the dry but quite heavy compared to others.Steering could be more resposive. Mine corners flat with shnitzer suspension.

All great cars but I would choose the M3 over the Accord.