Hey guys, just thought I would drop by and say whats up, one of the first things I did when i got my accord was look for some good forums on accords and found this one.

Anyways I got a 2006 Accord LX automatic on that special lease deal that Honda's running right now (2000 down, 200 per month for 3 years). While its pretty much the only way I could get behind the wheels of a new car, it also means that I can't modify the car in any significant way.

Previously I have owned a 97 Camry (totalled :() and a 96 Explorer (still running after 162,000 miles, but consuming massive amounts of gas, and not so massive amounts of oil), and this car is my first new car. The Accord is significantly faster than both of them, and the handling feels tighter than the Camry's. Obviously it handles better than the Explorer, but I did enjoy the truck-like ride the Ex offered.

Overall I am pretty happy, but there are some things that irk me. The turning radius seems to be huge, even more than my Explorer, imagine my surprise when I made my first U-turn and ended up having to back up. I also miss my tape deck for my cassette adapter, I'm currently using a RoadTrip with my Ipod and the quality is less than stellar. I would love to get an HU with aux-in , but again I'm on a lease.

Other than that, and the scratches that seem to be randomly showing up (I swear I don't remember any of them happening, but I have to park on the road at my internship), after 2.5 weeks and 1400 miles (internship is 60 miles away) I am loving this car.

Anyhow, I guess you guys wouldn't let me go without a pic :p.

http://filebox.vt.edu/users/asohangh/images/carprofile.jpg

nice I just got myself the special edition 2 days ago also in silver. I got a crazy good deal...less than invoice. Its nice but I miss my audi.

Cool, you got a nice collection of vehicles there man, I love the styling on the 07 Camrys, its like someone took a Camry and gave it some balls.

Do you plan to buy it out or refinance the balance when the 3 years is up? If you limited to 12k a year, its not much room for driving long distances. I plan to buy out my lease and refinance when my lease is up in 2.5 years.

For my car a 06 V6 EX 6 speed I paid 1500 down 322 per month tax included. I got a very low money factor with the lease. It came to 1.9 % for 36 months.

Nice car - I've got an '05 LX in Desert Mist that's pretty much the same. I don't notice the turning radius being a problem - about the same as our Pilots and the son's accord....

As far as a lease, you can modify them as long as you can reverse the mods when you turn it in. For example, on my '06 Pilot LX which I leased, I replaced the steering wheel with a leather wrapped one, and replaced the LX radio head unit with an EX (had cassette for my Roady XT XM radio adapter). Bought both off of eBay, and they can both be removed and replaced with the stock units quickly before I turn it in. You can buy an aux input adapter to plug into the back of the radio so you can have RCA inputs - cost about $100 and not too tough to install (look at the electronics threads). If you need a cassette, you need the aux cassette kit which replaces the flip-open door on the console under the current radio - which can also be installed and then removed at lease turn-in.

good luck! andy

Do you plan to buy it out or refinance the balance when the 3 years is up? If you limited to 12k a year, its not much room for driving long distances. I plan to buy out my lease and refinance when my lease is up in 2.5 years.

For my car a 06 V6 EX 6 speed I paid 1500 down 322 per month tax included. I got a very low money factor with the lease. It came to 1.9 % for 36 months.

Depends on whether I can front 12k at the end of the lease. Right now I'm in college, so even making the lease payments is going to push my abilities a bit. On the other hand if I want to buy the car at the end of the lease and have a decent chunk of the money, I could probably borrow off my parents.

I feel like I got a fairly good deal as well, if I buy the car at the end it would be the equivalent of me cutting 200 dollars of the MSRP and getting 0% interest. Of course I probably would have payed less overall since if I was financing the car I could have haggled the price close to invoice, but my family doesn't do interest, and the monthly payments would be out of my reach anyways. We didn't haggle at all since this deal was pretty much set by Honda, and we had just wasted 3 hours looking at and trying to haggle on a fully loaded Civic EX and after they dropped the price by 2k, the lease had some ridiculous 7-8% money factor for which I would end up paying 4.4k over MSRP.

In any case the mileage shouldn't be too much of an issue. I'll have around 2k miles when I go back to college, but once I get there I drive like 20 miles a week, and make a 500 mile round trip home maybe 6-8 times a year. Although I might be in trouble if I work at the same place next summer.

Nice car - I've got an '05 LX in Desert Mist that's pretty much the same. I don't notice the turning radius being a problem - about the same as our Pilots and the son's accord....

As far as a lease, you can modify them as long as you can reverse the mods when you turn it in. For example, on my '06 Pilot LX which I leased, I replaced the steering wheel with a leather wrapped one, and replaced the LX radio head unit with an EX (had cassette for my Roady XT XM radio adapter). Bought both off of eBay, and they can both be removed and replaced with the stock units quickly before I turn it in. You can buy an aux input adapter to plug into the back of the radio so you can have RCA inputs - cost about $100 and not too tough to install (look at the electronics threads). If you need a cassette, you need the aux cassette kit which replaces the flip-open door on the console under the current radio - which can also be installed and then removed at lease turn-in.

good luck! andy


Yea I read about that, but I'm a little scared about modding it for now. For example if I damage anything I might have some issues. I am definitely keeping in mind some mods like the RCA input, and perhaps getting it tinted through the dealership.

the turning rad is larger because it's front wheel drive

Yea I read about that, but I'm a little scared about modding it for now. For example if I damage anything I might have some issues. I am definitely keeping in mind some mods like the RCA input, and perhaps getting it tinted through the dealership.

If you go to either www.handaccessories.com or www.hondacuraworld.com , they have the instructions for installation of options, and that tells you how to remove items like a steering wheel and the dashboard trim to install options or to install the aux input on the rear of your radio. It's actually not bad at all - the trim pieces snap off and snap back in pretty easily, so I wouldn't worry about messing things up. Remember that if you add anything you can't remove (like tint) that you lose it when you turn the car in. but if you want to buy it at lease end, then it's something to consider.

andy

OPPS!! Misread ;)

If you go to either www.handaccessories.com or www.hondacuraworld.com , they have the instructions for installation of options, and that tells you how to remove items like a steering wheel and the dashboard trim to install options or to install the aux input on the rear of your radio. It's actually not bad at all - the trim pieces snap off and snap back in pretty easily, so I wouldn't worry about messing things up. Remember that if you add anything you can't remove (like tint) that you lose it when you turn the car in. but if you want to buy it at lease end, then it's something to consider.

andy
Those trim pieces seem to be attached with 3M tape, I take it there is a solvent that will take it off easily?

Also I have a couple questions as far as the Honda leases are concerned. I am fairly certain that the lease said I can't make any mods to interior or exterior appearance. If I do is the worst thing that happens is that Honda gets to keep any mods that I don't remove? Or will they fine me for modifying the car, because they have to return it to stock before selling?

Also with the mileage, I take it they check for 36,000 Miles or less after three years or will they check in at the end of each year to ensure I am under 12,000 miles.

Whether or not I will buy out the lease is a decision I will make when the time comes, hopefully my financial situation is far different then (ie I have a well-paying full time job). Although the tranny issue scares me, many of these vehicles seem to be crapping out before 30k miles even. As far as I can remember my family has never had major issues with a car before 80,000 miles or so and this includes 2 Explorers (with 160k and 85k miles), a Caravan (90k Miles), a Camry (60k miles when I killed it :(), and a Benz (12k miles). Though come to think of it, I think my dad had some problems with his 89 Sentra :p.

Those trim pieces seem to be attached with 3M tape, I take it there is a solvent that will take it off easily?

Also I have a couple questions as far as the Honda leases are concerned. I am fairly certain that the lease said I can't make any mods to interior or exterior appearance. If I do is the worst thing that happens is that Honda gets to keep any mods that I don't remove? Or will they fine me for modifying the car, because they have to return it to stock before selling?

Also with the mileage, I take it they check for 36,000 Miles or less after three years or will they check in at the end of each year to ensure I am under 12,000 miles.

Whether or not I will buy out the lease is a decision I will make when the time comes, hopefully my financial situation is far different then (ie I have a well-paying full time job). Although the tranny issue scares me, many of these vehicles seem to be crapping out before 30k miles even. As far as I can remember my family has never had major issues with a car before 80,000 miles or so and this includes 2 Explorers (with 160k and 85k miles), a Caravan (90k Miles), a Camry (60k miles when I killed it :(), and a Benz (12k miles). Though come to think of it, I think my dad had some problems with his 89 Sentra :p.

Hmm - most trim pieces in Hondas (on the dash) are put on with snap clips so you can remove them. I can't remember seeing 3M tape used on anything there - did you see something in the instructions that implied that???

As far as the lease mileage goes, it's the number of miles when you turn it in. So, in a 3 yr lease, you could drive 35k miles the first month then put it on blocks till the last month and they'd never know/care.

As far as modifications go, if you stick to Honda accessories or things that aren't radical mods you'll be all set. For example, if you put ventvisors on the windows, or legal tint inside, I don't think they'd care. If you left in your cold-air induction system or added a supercharger, or put on aftermarket ground effects, then I'm sure they'd not be pleased. Thats why I keep any mods simple and, if possible, removable....

Finally, as far as longevity goes, I'm not really seeing any issues with cars failing like you describe. The 4cyl accord with auto tranny is about as bullet-proof as you can get, so getting 100k+ miles shouldn't be a problem. some of the tranny issues you've seen were with the 6cyl variants, and most of the issues there were with the earlier 7th gen years (although they do appear more problematic, even in the '06 era, than the 4cyl's )

andy

I think that's foam tape you're seeing on the panels...to reduce rattles.

Hmm - most trim pieces in Hondas (on the dash) are put on with snap clips so you can remove them. I can't remember seeing 3M tape used on anything there - did you see something in the instructions that implied that???

As far as the lease mileage goes, it's the number of miles when you turn it in. So, in a 3 yr lease, you could drive 35k miles the first month then put it on blocks till the last month and they'd never know/care.

As far as modifications go, if you stick to Honda accessories or things that aren't radical mods you'll be all set. For example, if you put ventvisors on the windows, or legal tint inside, I don't think they'd care. If you left in your cold-air induction system or added a supercharger, or put on aftermarket ground effects, then I'm sure they'd not be pleased. Thats why I keep any mods simple and, if possible, removable....

Finally, as far as longevity goes, I'm not really seeing any issues with cars failing like you describe. The 4cyl accord with auto tranny is about as bullet-proof as you can get, so getting 100k+ miles shouldn't be a problem. some of the tranny issues you've seen were with the 6cyl variants, and most of the issues there were with the earlier 7th gen years (although they do appear more problematic, even in the '06 era, than the 4cyl's )

andy
I hear you, I'm all about simple, classy mods anyways. Though a CAI or Short Ram would be nice, I don't feel like storing away my stock airbox in my apt closet at school for 3 years lol.

Thanks for the info about the lease mileage, I can rest a bit easier about going crazy now, knowing that hopefully I won't have a 60 mile commute next year.

I know that most of the issues have been with V6 cars, but that still tells me that the transmission design has some flaws, and the jet-kit seems more like a bandaid than a solution. I guess we won't know the whole story until these 05 and 06 Accords start getting upwards in miles. Which is fine with me because I'm in no rush to make a decision. Anyways I hope you're right, a lot of the reason I looked into the accord was because I know countless people with Hondas going into the 200k+ mileage range on stock engine and transmission.

Benji, I think you're right, the tape I saw seems to be more for a better fit and than being the primary means of attachment.