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2005 EX AWD - 38,000 miles

2K views 13 replies 7 participants last post by  KAYLI 
#1 ·
Found and quickly bought an exact match of the car I sold 4 years ago. Missed that car but found a “new one”. This car has virtually no wear on the inside - the steering wheel looks like it hasn’t been touched, all accessories are in their original bags unopened. Interior still smells like the “new plastic/rubber” that I remember when my other car was brand new. Only downside is that my original car was it spent 100% of its life in FL and CA

On this one, 38,000 original miles but spent its life in NYC. Here are a few pics of the underneath - would appreciate any feedback. I don’t know what a “northern car” should look like after 14 years, do I have much to worry about? I did look at a 2011 and a 2010 which has 100k miles each and they look much worse than this one.

My opinion is that this car was in the garage it’s whole life and while it was driven in snow, due to low mileage it just hasn’t been exposed as much as a car regularly driven.

Opinions welcome. Love this car and it drives and drives and idles smooth.

I
 

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#4 ·
As a rustbelt guy, I'd say be happy. Be VERY happy. I bought my 2005 4 1/2 odd yrs ago as a one owner with 65000 miles from a part of eastern Wisconsin where because of the tempering effect of Lake Michigan not much salt is used. It looked pretty clean underneath except for the exhaust flanges but nothing like yours. When I looked at it I gave it a rustbelt 'age' of 5 yrs or so and happily bought it. Spin forward 4 winters in the western part of the state and I'd be embarrassed to post an underbody pic. Yours is way way cleaner looking there. Because of metallurgy and heat/welding changes I think the best quick visual tell is the exhaust flanges and the heatshield mounts -not the pipes-. and yours look great. Enjoy it.
 
#8 ·
Thanks everybody.

On the same day I found this one, earlier in the day I was too slow to the get to a 2008 SC with 35,000 with documented Florida miles and dealership service (at least according to Carfax). I was very disappointed and then that same night this one popped up online. All things being equal, I’m more attached to this one anyway because it’s exactly what I used to have, but I would have been happy with either.

I had spent the previous weekend looking at;
A. 2010 EX 2WD with 169,000 miles, all dealer service, but it’s whole life up north. $8,000. Significant rust. When I had it up in the rack at the dealer, a mechanic comes by and says to another mechanic “yeah, the problem’s in the right front, don’t know what happened”. Salesman’s face dropped in disbelief. I walked immediately.
B. 2011 EX AWD with 94,000 miles, $14,000 (way too high in my opinion) which had spent 5 years in MA. Looked like the first one underneath. I commented on rust, salesman says “well we are near the ocean so we do get some salt.” Nope.
C. 2005 EX 2WD. Wholesale car lot. 135,000 miles, $5,800. All Florida car apparently. Interior trashed- rear seats with large spots of what looked like glue. Couldn’t take car for drive because dealer said he needed to install Vtech solenoid first so they asked me to come back tomorrow. I didn’t.
D. 2010 EX AWD. Apparently a Miami car. $9,300. 120,000 miles. Had navigation and dog package. Rough idling, drove ok. Not a bad car, but having seen A and B above, that light color interior (seats) from 2009-2011 looks hard to keep clean. I guess I just had high expectations.
E. 2008 EX 2WD. All Florida car. $8900. 126,000 miles Drove well but had one of those feelings where something’s just not right: 3 owners, the last one only had it for a few months, pinstriping missing only on passenger door. Car was orange and I’m not good at judging paint, but something looked off.

I only have what I have because it was pure timing. Right place and the right time, quick to put deposit down, and told seller I would be paying full asking price if it checked out - I never tried to negotiate which I’ve never done in my life with any car purchase. I am blessed by God that I found this after being disappointed with losing out on the 2008 SC the very same day.

It really does feel like I’m in a time machine back to 2005. It’s a “younger version” of what I let go of (previous car had driver seat rip in left bolster like we have all had, some scratches on surface near A/C dials, small dent in hood from buzzard strike).

PS. It’s not completely perfect - I do have to replace the rear silver bumper cover - it’s had its share of nicks and scratchers from either a parking garage life or city parallel parking.

The comment above is right: I’m smiling every time I’m driving.
 
#9 ·
Seeing what u found and the deal you found I hope I don’t regret my buy. I was shopping around and was tired of the jacked up looking ones with 100 miles radius in Miami. I wanted to avoid AT if the car had high miles and many had several owners and accidents. I wanted AWD and MT. I decided to look at other states and found one how I liked it (EX MT AWD and good color) but the only downside it’s a northern car. So hopefully it won’t have any bad rust issue. I also was trying to keep price at 4K and below so the car will arrive this weekend. Land vehicle Vehicle Car Honda element Honda
 

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#11 ·
Keep us posted

ajusaf - let us know how it goes when you get it this weekend. At $4k, you have risked considerably less than I have, plus you have a manual AWD, which will always be in demand and a lot more rare. I've got some deferred maintenance to take care of on mine anyway. Otherwise, yours looks clean from the pics you posted. .
 
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