Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community  

Go Back   Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community > Interests > Tilted Motors


 
 
LinkBack Thread Tools
Old 11-29-2006, 07:03 PM   #1 (permalink)
/nɑndəsˈkrɪpt/
 
Prince's Avatar
 
Location: LV-426
Honda/Volvo

My wife and I need a second car... Going to buy something used, since we're not rolling in dough. I'm pretty picky about my cars, but I've never bought one in the States before, so I'm not really familiar with how easy/cheap parts are here for different makes/models.

Basically, I'd prefer a sedan, a late 90's / early 00's Volvo (any model really) or a Honda Accord. I like Volvos best of all, and have driven several back in Europe. But my question is... which would likely have cheaper parts and maintenance costs here in America? Honda or Volvo?
__________________
Who is John Galt?
Prince is offline  
Old 11-29-2006, 08:28 PM   #2 (permalink)
We work alone
 
LoganSnake's Avatar
 
Location: Cake Town
Volvos are notorious for having expensive repair bills. My friend has an S80 T6 and it gave him all sorts of trouble that ran up the bill pretty quickly. Honda should be cheaper, but still about twice as much as a domestic.
__________________
Maturity is knowing you were an idiot in the past. Wisdom is knowing that you'll be an idiot in the future. Common sense is knowing that you should try not to be an idiot now. - J. Jacques
LoganSnake is offline  
Old 11-29-2006, 08:37 PM   #3 (permalink)
Addict
 
My vote would go to the Honda Accord. Less expensive to maintain and may well outlast the Volvo. Parts and service will be less with the Honda for sure.
newtx is offline  
Old 11-29-2006, 08:48 PM   #4 (permalink)
Crazy
 
zed wolf's Avatar
 
Location: The Darkest Parts Of Places Unknown
Personally, I like both as cars. I would recommend the accord though. Likely to be a bit more reliable then the Volvo and repair costs would be cheaper. And the only reason I say it would be cheaper is availability of parts. I don't think either one would be a bad choice but the Honda would be slightly better.
zed wolf is offline  
Old 11-29-2006, 09:43 PM   #5 (permalink)
Junkie
 
Ilow's Avatar
 
Location: Pats country
I think that the Honda may be slightly less expensive to repair (depending on the Volvo model), but the Volvo will be worth repairing longer. Hondas seem to stop being fun or nice cars long before they stop running (JMHO).
__________________
"Religion is the one area of our discourse in which it is considered noble to pretend to be certain about things no human being could possibly be certain about"
--Sam Harris
Ilow is offline  
Old 11-29-2006, 10:04 PM   #6 (permalink)
/nɑndəsˈkrɪpt/
 
Prince's Avatar
 
Location: LV-426
If the cost to maintain a Honda is only slightly less than the average Volvo, I might go with a Volvo. Parts may not be as cheap, but being that I just moved into one of the biggest cities in the state, don't know my way around, and will be driving on the interstate a lot, Volvo might be a safer choice. I used to work for my uncle, he owns a repair shop back in Europe, buying totalled cars and putting them back together and selling them. And the Volvos were always in much better condition than the rice cups.

I haven't even considered domestic cars, in all honesty. I know next to nothing about them, and the little I've heard hasn't been good.
__________________
Who is John Galt?
Prince is offline  
Old 11-29-2006, 10:23 PM   #7 (permalink)
Adequate
 
cyrnel's Avatar
 
Location: In my angry-dome.
Both can be very expensive for dealer service. Service is their real profit and upscale almost always means higher margins. That'd slightly favor the Honda. For out-of-warranty there are always good local guys with better prices, and usually much better work. Check enthusiast forums for your area. Even if you do your own work it's good to know a local garage for parts NOW or for troubleshooting perspective. If I'm just buying parts and not in a rush I use online sources. The prices are mostly a wash for similar items.

As for servicing, I much prefer working on Volvos over Hondas. I find them simpler and more durable. At 100K most of the 1990+ in-town Hondas I've worked on have been burnt out in multiple areas while the Volvos are getting started. BUT, I haven't worked on the 8x0's and understand they can be real turkeys for both cost and reliability.

Just one perspective.
__________________
There are a vast number of people who are uninformed and heavily propagandized, but fundamentally decent. The propaganda that inundates them is effective when unchallenged, but much of it goes only skin deep. If they can be brought to raise questions and apply their decent instincts and basic intelligence, many people quickly escape the confines of the doctrinal system and are willing to do something to help others who are really suffering and oppressed." -Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media, p. 195
cyrnel is offline  
Old 11-29-2006, 10:40 PM   #8 (permalink)
Tone.
 
shakran's Avatar
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ilow
I think that the Honda may be slightly less expensive to repair (depending on the Volvo model), but the Volvo will be worth repairing longer. Hondas seem to stop being fun or nice cars long before they stop running (JMHO).

ALL reliable cars stop being fun and nice long before they stop running. That's why they're called reliable - - because they annoyingly don't give you the excuse to replace them.

I'll vote Honda. It's definitely cheaper to fix than the Volvo, and as to the reliability, I'll put a Honda up against any other car any day of the week. It may not beat all the other cars in reliability, but it certainly at least matches them.

Have you also considered looking at an Acura from the years you're considering? The CL, TL and RL (this one may still be too much for you) are roughly the size of an Accord, and they're MUCH nicer. You can get 'em for a song too since they've been replaced with newer versions.
shakran is offline  
Old 11-30-2006, 07:06 AM   #9 (permalink)
Riding the Ocean Spray
 
BadNick's Avatar
 
Location: S.E. PA in U Sofa
Honda is a good choice, but I drive an '89 Acura Legend sedan that just keeps going and refuses to give up and is still reliable; so I agree that an Acura would be a very good choice that is upscale and more substantial than the Honda and still have Honda reliability. Not sure what resale value is of a used one, but we really like our '04 Acura TSX a lot and since new one in '04 cost $25k I figure a used one might cost as much now as an '01-ish Volvo.
BadNick is offline  
Old 11-30-2006, 11:49 AM   #10 (permalink)
Crazy
 
zed wolf's Avatar
 
Location: The Darkest Parts Of Places Unknown
If you like volvo then go volvo, I'm sure you will be pleased with it.
Normal maintenence should be about the same for either one, oil is oil no mater what car you are puting it in.
zed wolf is offline  
Old 11-30-2006, 12:52 PM   #11 (permalink)
Kick Ass Kunoichi
 
snowy's Avatar
 
Location: Oregon
I love my '94 Volvo (940 wagon). It was our family car before it was given to me. My family has really only ever owned Volvos.

The key to doing right by your Volvo is to find a good mechanic to work on it, one who has reasonable prices and gives you good service. There are a number of good import mechanics out there, you just have to look. Ask your friends who have similar European cars where they take their BMW or Mercedes or Saab. Chances are their mechanic works on Volvos too.

I really love my Volvo, and can't imagine driving anything else.
__________________
If I am not better, at least I am different. --Jean-Jacques Rousseau
snowy is offline  
Old 11-30-2006, 04:47 PM   #12 (permalink)
Junkie
 
Ilow's Avatar
 
Location: Pats country
Quote:
Originally Posted by shakran
ALL reliable cars stop being fun and nice long before they stop running. That's why they're called reliable - - because they annoyingly don't give you the excuse to replace them.

I'll vote Honda. It's definitely cheaper to fix than the Volvo, and as to the reliability, I'll put a Honda up against any other car any day of the week. It may not beat all the other cars in reliability, but it certainly at least matches them.

Have you also considered looking at an Acura from the years you're considering? The CL, TL and RL (this one may still be too much for you) are roughly the size of an Accord, and they're MUCH nicer. You can get 'em for a song too since they've been replaced with newer versions.
I think with your suggestion of the Acuras you may have unwittingly been speaking to what i was talking about, which is mainly that there is a difference in the fit and finish of a Volvo compared with a Honda. They are both very reliable, but a 10 year old Volvo (or Acura) often feels virtually new while the Hondas seem more dated. Naturally there are exceptions and this is MHO.
__________________
"Religion is the one area of our discourse in which it is considered noble to pretend to be certain about things no human being could possibly be certain about"
--Sam Harris
Ilow is offline  
Old 12-01-2006, 11:10 AM   #13 (permalink)
Crazy
 
Location: MS
Volvo's are great, but STAY AWAY FROM A '99 S80 T6! Trust me on this one. I own one and that was the biggest mistake of my life, now i can't get rid of that piece of junk. Possibly a newer or older model would suffice. Either way both Volvo and Honda are nice cars. Honda would be tons cheaper on you 'more in-depth' parts.
__________________
Never grow a wishbone where your backbone ought to be.

~ Clementine Paddleford
tfpfreak is offline  
Old 12-03-2006, 04:12 PM   #14 (permalink)
Tone.
 
shakran's Avatar
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ilow
I think with your suggestion of the Acuras you may have unwittingly been speaking to what i was talking about, which is mainly that there is a difference in the fit and finish of a Volvo compared with a Honda. They are both very reliable, but a 10 year old Volvo (or Acura) often feels virtually new while the Hondas seem more dated. Naturally there are exceptions and this is MHO.
Well I dunno, I have 3 hondas that are 12, 14, and 16 years old respectively. They all look great, but then I do take very good care of them because I'm a nut about things like that. Once you get into the 10+ year old territory, you have to consider the actions of the owner as well as the car itself. A guy who bought a (much cheaper) Civic or Accord very likely stopped taking immaculate care of it long before the guy who bought the (way more expensive, higher "status" (whatever that means)) Volvo.

When I said the Acuras were much nicer, that's because their engines generally have a better power - weight ratio, and they put more luxury crap (leather, GPS, automatic climate control, etc) in them. New Hondas have caught up there - hell the Civic can be gotten with a built-in GPS and leather now - but we're talking about older cars where there was MUCH more differentiation in the luxo-features between Honda and Acura.

Don't get me wrong, I think Volvos are very nice cars too, and no matter which one the OP goes with, if he takes care of it it'll last him forever. It's not terribly hard to find either a Volvo *or* a Honda with half a million miles on it, still running fine. But taking care of a Volvo is going to be more expensive than taking care of an Accord or even an Acura Legend (which, btw, was a DAMN nice car that was well ahead of its time in the sport-luxury sedan category)
shakran is offline  
 

Tags
honda or volvo


Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are On
Pingbacks are On
Refbacks are On



All times are GMT -8. The time now is 09:46 AM.

Tilted Forum Project

Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
Search Engine Optimization by vBSEO 3.6.0 PL2
© 2002-2012 Tilted Forum Project

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360