Originally Posted by jaje
when you buy an older used honda you are taking a chance...it is almost 50/50 that someone has modified the car, drove it hard and did not maintain it over that period where they also started having problems...
I'd say that less then 5% modified it without notice to the next buyer, but I'd bank on a solid 90% not maintaining it properly. A stupid owner is easily the number one killer of cars.
From my experience, a person selling a used car is selling off their problems. Buy a used car and you have to understand that you have to fix problems inherant to a used car... the trick is knowing the fixes. When I bought my current RX-7, it had a shitpile of problems thanks to the previous&original owner not maintaining it. I knew how to cure these issues, so it wasn't a big deal.
It takes a lot of love and devotion to take care of an old car... you just have to figure out if you are up to it or not.