Essex dwellers - care to check our a car for me?

[Ewan]

hellooo out there, anyone who lives in or passes through Essex and carries on into Suffolk (Ipswich, to be precise...)

I wonder if I could ask a favour? I'm planning on adding another (sensible) car to the family, and have kind-of settled on a 3yo Accord diesel tourer as the best kind of compromise. There's one showing at the moment on Autotrader (here (http://search.autotrader.co.uk/es-uk/www/cars/HONDA+ACCORD/Ne-2-4-5-6-7-8-27-44-49-53-61-64-67-103-133-146-236,N-41-51-55-87-143-169-240-4294966758-4294967196/advert.action?R=200839319540486&distance=15&postcode=CO7+7PP&channel=CARS&make=HONDA&model=ACCORD&min_pr=8000&max_pr=12000&max_mileage=60000)) at a dealer in Ipswich: if anyone's in the area for a few mins and doesn't mind taking a detour, would you be willing to check out the dealer and possibly even the car for me? :D

I don't relish driving over there to find that the dealer's a shyster and/or the motor is a shed, so an informed opinion would be much appreciated!

cheers
Ewan

[woodbridger]

To be precise, eh? (mode=pedant) Ipswich is in Suffolk! ;)

I'd offer to help, but I know diddly squat about inspecting cars, and could only count the number of wheels/etc. :)

[Senninha]

Hi Ewan,

I cannot do either but can offer some insight to the things to be looking for with the dtourer as I ran one for 70k miles up until recently.

- This is the right spec (leather/satnav) as the sport model has the worst trim imaginable
- at 50+k miles check for discs being replaced. The dT has an appetite for rears around 35-40k and the front 50-60k. Not a costly replacement but make sure they are done and most importantly with OEM discs as the aftermarket fronts they put on mine were rubbish!!!
- alloys - the 5 spokes are easy to clean but Honda had a problem for the 54/05 model with poor finish that results in bubbling paint. If affected then the car should have had replacement rims under warranty.
- front tyres: very sensitive to tyre pressure and alignment (bit like the NSX rears) and go for a harder tyre for longer life. I ran F1's for wet performance but was swapping fronts every 12-15k, rears at 25k. Colleague with same car but dunlops was easily to 27k fronts!
- the cdti is very quiet in use and as a result you can easily miss (forget)an up change. This has two issues 1) increased fuel use and 2) increase valve train wear and tear. The latter is evidenced on start up of a COLD engine that has preferably sat overnight. If theres blue smoke, walk quickly backwards. It will drive fine with no noticeable noise increase but performance drops off once this wear sets in.

Although I am in the area I dont know of the independant trader that has the car. As an option you could contact the Honda dealer in Ipswich (Inchcape from memory) and ask if they could check the vehicle (may cost you £50?) or maybe they might have one themselves .....

Hope this helps

regards, Paul

[Ewan]

Brilliant advice, thanks Paul - much appreciated. I may take a run over there in next couple of weeks if it's still for sale and check it out in person (strangely, there are a few "dT"s in "the East" at the moment).

Anyway, I'm from Scotland. My geography of Engerland isn't so good :) Ipswich is only *just* in Suffolk after all ;)

cheers
Ewan