Beige Sedan

So I bought a 2000 Honda Accord lx from a good friend for cheap cheap. My dd, Rasputia the diesel excursion, is having issues and I need to work on her. So, I decided to buy their old dd. Mechanically the car runs super well even with 209k miles on it. My buddy is a car enthusiast and always keep his cars up mechanically. 

My only plans are to replace the steering wheel, clean the interior as best as possible, tint, and drive it until I'm ready to sell all my stuff to buy something on the newish side. I might do something about that fender. 

First time I've owned a car that I wish was manual lol

I've had a bunch of Accords, one of each from the fourth gen on. The 1998 LX was one of my favorites, although I agree that it needed either a stick or a V6. The only other thing that I didn't like about it was that the passenger seat didn't go back far enough for me to get comfortable in, although the driver's side was fine. Ours was dark green. I always thought they were really nice looking cars.

Needs more Camry for that perfect beige.

Appleseed said:

Needs more Camry for that perfect beige.

I think the only thing more common than a beige Camry is a Beige Buick Century.

My parents have a 2001 with less than 100k on it. Every time I drive it I'm struck by what a nice basic car it is. 

Not great seats.  The rest of those cars are bland and flawless.

Congrats. Those 4 cyl are dead reliable. The v6 of those years eat the transmission. 
 

I had a 01 accord DX sedan. Crank windows. 2 winters in Boston. It was ugly forest green. Used to drive it Boston to NYC every weekend. Soul less as can be. but reliable. Bought it in 2010 for $6500 at Honda dealer in MA. 68k miles. Sold it for $5100 , 115k miles in Los Angeles. 

enjoy it in good health 

my 93 Accord EX coupe 5MT was the best accord  I ever had. 
 

I like my current beige sedan 

https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/build-projects-and-project-cars/vtec-dd-to-take-the-kids-to-school-log/160789/page1/

I don't see anything. Is there a car in those pictures? You just posted pictures of your neighborhood?

(Do I need to include the smile emoji?)

After I collected a nice payout on my second Yukon Denali, I had a $900 version of that exact car in manual lined up but was instead convinced by an unnamed person that I needed another full-size GMC. I could've pocketed ~$5,000 

I always thought these were attractive. Much more so than the next generation anyway. My dad had a V6 manual and it was a riot. How it sits it's a car and it should do a great job of car. These are the cars that make people simultaneously love Honda and hate the act of driving. 

These aren't bad to drive at all though. Independent suspension all the way around, tight ride compared to a Camry, and crisp shifts from the transmission. The seats are firm, yes, but I like them. 

LoL I have never been so inspired to put my xjr back together or to buy an AMG lol. 

The car is surprisingly good at being a car. It doesn't have an excess of anything and does exactly what its supposed to do. 

Any advice on how to clean/shampoo these tan cloth seats? I don't think I've ever owned cloth seats lol

In reply to yupididit :

Unbolt them on a sunny day. Sunny weekend preferrably. Wash them with diluted purple power or dawn or whatever you choose. Scrub brush. Don't be shy. Rinse with all the water from a hose. The foam soaks up surprisingly little water and they should be dry by the end of the weekend. It's the best way to get them truly clean. 

In reply to mazdeuce - Seth :

You can also put them back into the car wet, close the windows, start the car and crank up the A/C for a few hours in the driveway. For the modest amount of gas you’ll burn, you can let the car do all the work  

I agree with the Seth approach if possible.  

For me, in colder climates, I use

• Bissell Little Green Machine (could also use a shop vac w/ tools)
• Tuff Stuff Brand spray cleaner
• Scrub brush
• Lot of clean water, more water than you might think is wise to use.  

Woody said:

In reply to mazdeuce - Seth :

You can also put them back into the car wet, close the windows, start the car and crank up the A/C for a few hours in the driveway. For the modest amount of gas you’ll burn, you can let the car do all the work  

 

I learned a good trick years ago. Roll the windows up (maybe a crack open) and hang a shop light inside. Obviously an incandescent bulb not LED.

In reply to yupididit :

That car is about as bland as they come. the goal would be to buy a car you would have zero desire to modify. 

ChrisLS8 said:

In reply to yupididit :

That car is about as bland as they come. the goal would be to buy a car you would have zero desire to modify.

I'm going to be in that very position in the near future.  Wife and I are currently sharing a truck and she just got a verbal offer on a job on the other side of town.  So, I'll be looking for a cheap DD to get me to work.  I keep finding myself trying to look towards something more "fun" and mentally trying to convince myself that a manual is somehow more reliable than an automatic.  I know I need to find an Accord or Camry, but it's hard when I see things like a 3-series.

Looks like a good buy that won't do anything special, but will do it for a very long time. 

In regards to cleaning, renting a steamer for a day will do wonders.  For me, I vacuum first, sometimes twice, cover the seats in Tuff Stuff upholstery cleaner, scrub with a soft-ish brush and vacuum again.  Then, I'll pull the seats and use my cheap standup steamer with it's hose attachment to go over the seats once with cleaner and then again with fresh water.  Sometimes twice for the rinse.  To help the drying process, you can lay towels on the seats with some weight (books, bricks, free weights, etc) to pull the water out faster.  I'd recommend the same process for the carpet when the seats are pulled and do your deep interior cleaning when the seats are out to get to all the nooks and crannies. 

-Rob

Super jelly rn. Love me some beige 90s accord. I actually prefer the 4/auto. 

ChrisLS8 said:

In reply to yupididit :

That car is about as bland as they come. the goal would be to buy a car you would have zero desire to modify. 

 

Goal met! 

I have a steam cleaner but it isn't the vacuuming type. It just streams E36 M3 at a high pressure and temp. Works great on bathtub grout and tile lol.

ChrisLS8 said:

In reply to yupididit :

That car is about as bland as they come. the goal would be to buy a car you would have zero desire to modify. 

 

I might be able to beat it. My Son keeps spending money on dumb cars, so I told him I'm going to find him a car that is not good at anything other than being a car. He can just use it as a car, and will have zero desire to modify it at all. I just picked it up an hour ago. 1998 Corolla, beige on beige, with crank windows. 1 owner with 51k miles. All in at $2500. I figure it''ll be pretty much free to own for years. 
 

In reply to Steve_Jones :

I looked in the dictionary under "car" and there was a picture of your Corolla.  

Well done.  You achieved your goal and then some.  

This is making me miss the ‘01 Ex 4 cylinder 5 speed that wifey used to have.  What a great car it was, and decent fun to drive all things considered.  I put a set of KYB GR2 shocks/struts in it at 175k and man, what a difference they made.  Might want to consider that if your are originals still.

OK, I cant stop laughing at the name Rasputia... Just went on a driver's ed mission with my daughter for 45 minutes, and we said Rasputia at least 30 times...

Anyway, this am while walking the dog thru the development, I counted 5 of this generation of Accord, and surprisingly in my inside concentric circle of rust belt hell, they all still looked good.  Good paint, no visible body rust anywhere.

Regarding seats, interior cleaning and such, Ive been watching a bunch of detailing videos since rescuing my latest Saab from a probable trip to the shredder. I just got a set of drill brushes to deal with the driver's side carpet. I'm guessing these would be helpful, combined with the Bissell, on cloth seats as well.

My wife had one in the same spec (beige on beige on beige) and her mother was the original owner. That thing got us through the first few years of our marriage and it was amazing. Wish we never would have gotten rid of it but someone offered me $6k for it when we moved to DC bc it was a unmolested Florida car and I couldn't turn that down.