Hondas

2008 Honda Accord

2-Door Coupe

I picked up my new 2008 Accord EX Coupe in January of 2008. I am still really enjoying driving this car! It has more power than my old

1992 Accord and a lot of that great quality feel to it with all kinds of extras I never had before. I feel totally spoiled rotten and am loving

every minute of it. I am always happy to get in the car and drive. Great radio system, 6 CDs full of MP3s at the ready at all times.

Car runs awesome as is expected from a Honda. Gas mileage is about the same as my old Honda. I stayed with the 5-speed manual trans. Again like when I bought my 92, I am hoping to get about 10 years out of this car. Let's see if the 2008 is as high in quality as the 1992 was. So here we are now in 2017 and the car's still running well and has been to Vermont, Michigan and Texas and many other states. So we're at 9.5 years and while I still love the car, I am getting the itch to start thinking about selling it and moving to a newer Accord. This car only has about 52,000 miles on it, so it's a hard call as I know there's a lot left in this baby yet.

Above photo was taken in Vermont in 2008 near Ludlow / Okemo.

Above photo was taken at VMI, Lexington VA in 2011. I stopped here on my way to Texas when I moved from NJ to TX for a few years.

Above photo taken in 2017 in Cape May, NJ.

I was the owner of this 1992 Honda Accord DX, 2-Door Coupe from December 31st, 1991. 16 years As of December, 2007, the car had ~244,000 miles on it! I traded it in towards my new 2008 Honda Accord Coupe. I will miss this great car, but was time to move on. I drove it 3 hours down from Pompton Lakes, NJ to Cape May, NJ. She made it safe and sound and I only hope she gives someone else some good quality time as well. Great car.

Still running great, I honestly did not think I'd be here 16 years after I bought the car still driving it daily and she still looks and sounds almost as good as she did the day I bought her. Fantastic car! A little rust on the corners of the wheel wells, but other than that still in awesome shape. The radiator was replaced in August of 2007.

I just had a major tune-up done in May, 2006. Oil change, T-belts, water pump, plugs, wires, belts, rear brakes, master cylinder, distributor cap and rotor, fuel filter, drained and refilled brake system. The oil leaks were coming around the distributor, Honda believes they fixed that and the 3 seals by the T-belt were replaced as they were leaking as well, so hopefully that will take care of that. Will probably need to replace the radiator and possibly look into tightening up the suspension again with new sway bar bushings, but for now that's all I could afford and that's the stuff that will keep me safe on the road with this old gal, she's an awesome car. Honda said she's in the top 5 of mileage for Hondas they service at Route 23 Honda, be interesting to see if I have her long enough for her to ever be #1. A new battery was put in the car not too long ago also, either late 2005, or early 2006.

Late in 2004 I had the noisy muffler removed, it was sporty and fun for a while, but I started to long for the quiet, to be able to listen to my music at a reasonable volume without drowning out the bass, and thus it now has a stock muffler on it again, well it's a walker, not stock, still stainless. Also the driver's side rear brake cylinder was leaking, that has been fixed. Soon it will be time for a tune up and timing belts and I really need to get a good solid coat of wax on her, she's a great car and I'm glad I've been fortunate enough to drive her for almost 13 years now!

I just replaced the windshield again here in January of 2004, the 2nd windshield cracked early in 2003, but I held off on replacing it until I had to have the car inspected this January. It wasn't my plan to keep this as my primary car by this year, I was hoping I'd either sell it or keep it as a backup car. But my new budget does not allow for a new car in it at this time, perhaps in the next year or so I can work on that. But for now, this old but reliable car will continue to be my daily driver and only car. Had to replace the AMP, one channel was completely shot, also had to replace the head unit, it was no longer reading CDs. The new unit is fantastic and was cheaper than the original Aiwa, the Alpine stuff is awesome! :).

Until 2001 the car remained entirely stock and received only normal maintenance, an oil change every 3,000 miles, wash/wax, etc. I had always wanted to make some modifications to the car. In 2001 I replaced the clutch, the original clutch lasted 136,500 miles. The front brakes finally wore completely down to the rotor at around 138,000 miles. I knew a lot more needed to be done ASAP, before I started getting stuck, I was lucky enough with both the clutch and the front brakes to be able to make it safely to a Honda Dealer without being towed. I knew the timing belt and water pump were definitely due, the axels were showing signs of CV leaks, the oil pan gasket was shot and I decided to spend the money on a major overhaul. I love this car and it's been so reliable, that I really don't want to get a new car at this time, the repairs end up being far cheaper than selling my Accord and buying a new one. Here's a list of what was done in the summer of 2001:

Parts Replaced:

  • Front Struts

  • Resonator Pipe

  • Timing Belts

  • Water Pump

  • Front & Rear Axel

  • Radiator

  • Battery

  • Oil Pan Gasket

  • Belts

  • Wipers

  • Rear Wheel Cylinder

  • Sway Bar Bushings

  • Left Front Turn Signal Lens

Customizations:

  • Ractive Polished Cold Air Intake System.

  • Stainless Muffler Assembly.

After Shots:

Above photos taken by Michael A. Munno on August 18th, 2001.

All above work was done by Scott Jacobs of Motorcar Makeovers. He did a superb job on the car, not only is the car far more safe, but the customizations have given me approximately a 30hp performance increase. The car handles so well and accelerates so smoothly, it's hard to believe it's the same car. The suspension repairs have restored the flat cornering and smooth ride I had for many of the past 9.5 years. The intake and exhaust not only provide a performance boost, but bring out the beautiful deep sound of this engine. I never realized what a great sound the 2.2L 4 cylinder engine has! Simply has to be heard to be believed, it's awesome! I have some more testing to do, but it appears my gas mileage has increased from a combined highway/street avg. from 27 mpg to 31.5 mpg. I have a 5-speed model and it was always smooth, but now it's simply incredible.

Here's what my Accord looked like for the first 9.5 years.

Above photo taken by Michael A. Munno in July of 2001.

Previous Repairs/upgrades:

  • The Front Windshield was replaced in July, 2001.

  • An Aiwa MP3 CD Head unit was installed in place of the Stock Honda Tape deck head unit I had in July, 2001.. **Highly recommended upgrade**

  • The Left Side-view mirror was replaced in December, 2000.

  • The Right Front Headlight assembly was replaced in August, 2000.

  • The Distributor assembly was replaced as per a "call back" in 1997.

  • The Timing Belt was replaced in 1996 with 68,000 miles on the car.

  • Stock Radio/Cassette deck installed in January 1992.

  • Honda installed rear spoiler with LED 3rd light in January 1992.

  • Mud guards installed by Honda in January of 1992.

  • Drove a beautiful Frost White, 1992 Honda Accord DX, 2-Door Coupe, 5speed, no A/C, no radio, no power options, etc, with a gallon or two of gas in the tank off of the lot on December 31st, 1991.