I've been stepping up my used car shopping efforts lately in hopes of finding a deal so good that I can't pass it up. Despite the fact that I can probably fix what's ailing my 2002 Dale Earnhardt Chevrolet Monte Carlo currently for maybe a couple of hundred bucks, with almost two-hundred and fifteen thousand miles on it, my wife had told me several times that, "it might be time". I found this this quasi-interesting 2009 Honda Accord EX-L coupe the other day and I was intrigued enough buy it to break quarantine and take it for a test drive. My time spent amidst "the virus" was time well spent. Did I buy it? No. Of course not.
Why not? Well, it's not that it wasn't a solid car or a great value or the fact it has a salvage title. To make matters even more tempting it has just over eleven-thousand miles on it and an all-in price, car, tax, tags, doc fees and whatever, of $10,300. Wow. How could I walk from such a deal?
Because it's ugly. Honestly, as much as I liked the car I just can't get over that since 2003, Honda's Accord coupe styling has been awful. I blogged about it here not too long ago and it's funny to review that blog and see that everything I felt about them then is still true today. More importantly, my sentiments so strong, perhaps it's more like contempt, that I could turn my back on one with very low mileage on it and a near absurdly good asking price. Salvage title and all. Read more about my take on cars with salvage titles here.
How could there be a 2009 Accord with only eleven-thousand miles on it? Apparently, it was a snowbird's "Cleveland car" and they barely used it. They took it for a jaunt one day last summer and got into a bit of a fender bender. I saw the before pictures and it really wasn't bad. The left front fender, front fascia and hood all had to be replaced, but here in Ohio if the sum of the cost of the repairs of a damaged vehicle plus it's salvage value exceeds its actual cash value or what is known as "book value", then the vehicle is deemed a total lost. Odd that Ohio has such an aggressive junking policy when their stance on vehicle safety is as lax as it is; you should see some of the tin can jalopies up here people use for transportation. Wouldn't be surprised if Governor Dewine changes that.
In fairness, this car does look better in person than in two-dimension, might be the silver that I'm usually not that fond of but it's not so much better looking that I was like, "damn, that's my ride". There are certain angles on this car that are just awful; like this one. I mean, this is so bad it almost hurts. That's a shame because there's so much to like about this car. The interior was cavernous for a car with such a relatively small foot print, the driver seat was an orthopedic throne, the dash layout brilliantly intuitive, the 3.5 liter V-6 was a buttery, powerful gem, Honda rates it at twenty-hundred seventy-one horsepower - felt more like well north of three hundred, it handled better than any Camaro or most Corvettes (ok - older Corvettes) I've ever driven. Damn. What a car.
Is it shallow of me that I can't see past it's questionable styling enough to jump on it? To some extent, I guess, then again, to thine own self be true; where I to buy this car knowing I felt this way about it's styling, wouldn't I be, in some odd way, be lying to myself? Us coupe buyers are a fickle bunch - just because a car is a coupe doesn't mean we're going to like it. That's like thinking because my wife is blonde I find all blondes attractive. I want an automobile that makes me smile every time I look at it despite even if it's a heart breaker. Now, granted, there's a fine line with that sentiment but I hope you get my gist. I like cars that are more than an appliances and this very, very capable car is really nothing more than a fancy looking dishwasher or stove.
I'll stick it out with the Monte Carlo and fix whatever's wrong with it. It's old and breaks my heart on a constant basis and I wouldn't have it any other way.
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