Car mileage

Mileage is not such a big concern as it was a few decades ago, but you will want to find out when the timing belt was replaced last. Honda used to recommend they be replaced every 75,000 miles and they typically broke at 65,000 miles leaving you with a very expensive repair bill. Replacing the belt is expensive enough but if it breaks, most import engines are of the "interference" design which means the open valves get hit and bent by the pistons as they coast to a stop. That more than triples the cost of the repair.

You'll also want to have the steering, suspension, and brake systems inspected at a tire and alignment shop. Honda doesn't have any high-failure parts that break leading to loss of control and crashes like Ford does, but you want to be sure there are no worn parts in those systems.

What does that mean? Are they going to install a new timing belt before you buy the car? That would be dandy if you could stand there and verify they really did replace it. My preference would be to buy the car with the old belt for less money, then YOU pay someone to replace it. I tend to be rather trusting of people but when it comes to a timing belt that is a common failure item, and on an interference engine, I would be real nervous anytime I drove the car. I don't own a cell phone so I would be walking home if the belt broke.

My daily driver is an old rusty trusty '88 Grand Caravan with a Mitsubishi engine. It has 401,000 miles and is on it first replacement timing belt, but I know that is not an interference engine, and I know their belts are definitely not high-failure items. I still could end up walking home but the repairs are pretty simple when a broken belt has to be replaced.