I'm kind of a newbie when it comes to cars, and I'm looking to buy a car this summer/fall with a budget of $3-5 grand. The most I've done is change brake pads and a thermostat on an Integra, and I know all the crap about what mileage to expect a water pump/timing belt to be changed. That gives you an idea of my aptitude I guess.

Right now I'm driving a POS 94' manual Integra that was driven for several tens of thousands of miles with a broken thermostat and worn struts (not by me, and the thermostat is okay now). It's kind of a deathtrap, but with airbags at least.

My question is this: I'd ideally like something like a 93' or higher Prelude, manual, with V-Tec if possible, but I don't know what the market is like for these cars. Seems like all Honda stuff is price inflated by tuners and would probably be scarce. Does anybody know anything about this market? And what kinds of things I should look out for, questions to ask?

Thanks TWW garage if you have any advice, I appreciate it. If I'm in the wrong place, I'll STFU.

4/21/2006 8:03:43 PM

Look on http://www.honda-tech.com, there are a couple of vtec preludes in the $6k-$8k range (4th and 5th gen). Some of them are obo, so you might get some of the $6k people to come down a bit.

[Edited on April 21, 2006 at 9:08 PM. Reason : ]

4/21/2006 9:07:44 PM

my girlfriend has a 93 prelude 4ws 2.3, it isn't v-tech but it is the dohc motor w/ 4 wheel steering that is kinda cool. She's gonna sell it later this summer, probably for 3500 or so. Its a 5 speed w/ about 130K miles i think

4/22/2006 8:52:16 AM

might also want to look at toyotas. From personal experience their build quality is better. Either way you will get a nice car

4/22/2006 11:21:29 AM

^^i have one and hadnt had much problems with it. i got an internal leak in my master cylinder (failry common for honda) and and electrical glitch with my ac/heater controls. other than that it only needed routine maintanace for the last 50k or so. pushing 175k now.
also it looks way good for a 93, especially the interior

4/25/2006 8:19:27 PM

what's wrong with a '94 integra? just replace the struts and shocks

i'm guessing you have the LS. there's a huge aftermarket for the engine and you can have prelude-like POWR for relatively cheap. even if you don't want to go that route, I figure an LS is OK straight outta the box for people who don't fiddle with cars

if you have the GS-R, it'd be worth a pretty penny

4/25/2006 8:32:46 PM

how much you want for your 94 piece of shit integra?

4/25/2006 8:36:26 PM

^ i second that

4/25/2006 9:50:07 PM

how much you want for your 94 piece of shit integra?

4/25/2006 10:02:09 PM

Quote :

"v-tech"

yeah most of them didn't come with phones in them


Igor that electrical problem is common too....there is a fix for it, you just have to open it up and re-solder the cracked points.....or i'll sell you my unit for $50 if you are interested in having a/c this summer

4/26/2006 1:22:23 AM

on the back of the switch panel? i need to read up a lil bit on it. it only started to occur recently so i havent had time to look into it.

4/26/2006 1:24:51 AM