1992 Honda Accord Keep or Sell?
 

I have a 1992 Honda Accord EX 4dr automatic with 47,000 original miles on it. The major expenses have been a rebuilt transmission (because previous owner didn't use Honda ATF) and the timing belt/water pump change. For the past week, the ABS light comes on about 30 seconds after I put the car in drive and stays illuminated throughout the entire trip. I'm not sure exactly what this means--if the ABS system is shot or if it's just a faulty sensor. The car has been garaged all its life and the Honda independent mechanic I take it to says the car has been well cared for and that the 1990-1993 Accord era was exceptional for Honda. My only complaints about the car are the poor gas milege--only 22mpg in town in the summer with a/c on and the fact that the a/c isn't the coldest despite the fact that the a/c system was just recharged and there are no leaks found by the leak detector. If this car is one of the top 5 stolen cars nationwide, it must be well regarded.
I've never purchased a new car in my life. In fact, I've always purchased under $3,000 GM cars with very low mileage driven by seniors and then put about 25-30k miles on them and then sold them 5-7years later. The Honda was the first time I went out on a limb, since I regard a car as more of a money pit and depreciating asset and try to limit expenditures on it as much as I can.
I don't drive much and I'm not the type that would want to buy a new car and keep it for 20 years and 200,000 miles and run it in to the ground. I like the Prius and Civic Hybrid there's been debate on other threads as to the future resale value of them. If hundreds of thousands are going to be produced in the coming years, then resale value won't be so hot. I wouldn't mind paying $25,000 for one and then be able to sell it 5yrs later for $20,000 if the current gas price trend continues and this is the future reality. I'm wondering if I should buy a 2001 Honda Civic with 30,000 miles, keep it for 5 years and sell it with 50,000 miles and not lose much depreciation and have a low cost of ownership--which is what I'm after.

that's odd...for your 1992 honda accord ex only give you 22 mpg. should be a little more than that(probably should have a major tune up--with throttle body cleaning, changing spark plug wire, spark plug, and rotor . as for your abs light comes on...it's very common for this accord ex model. I've talk to various mechanic tech from the honda service center and mechanic shop. all said that abs for this particular model is alway bad, and you will alway end up driving with regular breaking instead of having abs(after fixing abs issue). as for your a/c for not being the coldest--i think you should try to check or trace the vent from the blower to see if there any vent that's properly joint--so there's no cold air being leak from the blower. I have a '91 accord lx 5sp--running over 300,000 miles and still running very smooth before I'd sold it....and also have a '93 accord EX sedan 4sp auto--have over 190,000 miles plus. running very well, have the same abs issue as your. it gave me close to 32 mile/gallon on the highway and a little more than 27 mile/gallon during local. sadly it got stolen and claim toward my insurance as total lost.

the engine for this particular accord model is one of the best i have own so far. transmission is not one of the best for the automatic model.

if you are thinking of getting a hybrid model--remember if the car go over 100,000 miles of usage. battery are recommend to be replace and they don't come cheap to replace.