No Bad Choices: 1993 Honda Accord vs 1994 Buick Park Avenue

Good morning! My goal for this week is to present you with what I consider to be legitimately good cheap used cars. That’s right; those of you who hate it when I make you pick from absolute garbage can rest easy for a week. They won’t be perfect, but they’ll be worth some actual consideration.

Friday’s obnoxious V8s were anything but good choices. I expected that absolutely ruined Conquest to ruffle some feathers, and I was not disappointed. Nor was I surprised when it fell to the badly-repaired Porsche by nearly a three-to-one margin. Honestly, I don’t know what the builder of that Conquest was thinking. I’ve got nothing against a good 350/TH350 combo, but there are definitely places where it does not belong.

The 928, while not pretty or pleasant, is still at least an intact and functional vehicle. If you really wanted a car with a V8 and that level of performance, an SN95 Mustang is probably a much better choice, but then you couldn’t brag about driving a Porsche.

All right, let’s take a look at some decent choices. Neither of today’s cars will break the bank at only $2,500, and they both look like something you could buy on a Saturday, spend Sunday tinkering with, and confidently drive to work on Monday morning. And you really can’t ask for more than that. Let’s see which one you prefer.

1993 Honda Accord LX wagon – $2,500

Engine/drivetrain: 2.2-liter overhead cam inline 4, five-speed manual, FWD

Location: Olympia, WA

Odometer reading: 281,000 miles

Operational status: Runs and drives well

There are some cars that always come up whenever someone asks, “What’s a good used car?”, and the Honda Accord is on that list. It’s a hell of a car, and has been for nearly half a century now. Even better, unlike some cars known for reliability, an Accord is actually kind of a fun car to drive – as long as you get one with a manual, like this one.

The fourth-generation Accord came with a 2.2 liter inline-four, nothing that anyone would call high-performance, but it’s powerful enough to get the job done, and like most Honda engines, it’s lively and likes to rev. And front-wheel-drive manual shifters don’t get much better than Honda’s. This one has a lot of miles on it, but it has had a lot of recent work, and the seller says it runs and drives well. It could use an alignment, and there is a squeak over bumps in the front end, but front-end work isn’t a huge deal.

It has a couple of other little issues inside, like a driver’s side window that’s a little off-track and some gremlins in the power locks, but it looks clean enough. Oh, and the cruise control doesn’t work. But on the plus side, this is one of the later fourth-gen Accords with an airbag instead of those horrible motorized seatbelts. And, strangely, this has always been one of my favorite Honda color combinations. You wouldn’t think champagne beige paint would go with a burgundy interior, but I think it works.

It’s straight and rust-free outside, though again, not perfect. It has a crack in the windshield, though if I’m seeing it right in the photos, it’s on the passenger’s side, so I don’t think it interferes with visibility.

1994 Buick Park Avenue – $2,500

Engine/drivetrain: 3.8-liter overhead valve V6, four-speed automatic, FWD

Location: Easton, MD

Odometer reading: 115,000 miles

Operational status: Runs and drives well

While the Honda Accord and Toyota Camry get a lot of attention on used-car lists, they are by no means the only good choices. General Motors has a whole line of cars worthy of consideration by virtue of an excellent engine: the 3800 V6. Refined over the course of decades, this simple cast-iron engine is a marvel of low-revving lazy torque, perfectly suited to GM’s full-sized front-wheel-drive H platform sedans like this Buick Park Avenue.

You wouldn’t think it, but the 3800 is not only durable and reliable, but it’s also pretty efficient in these cars. The 4T60-E transmission has a really tall overdrive fourth gear, which keeps the revs down and the fuel economy up; you can top thirty miles per gallon on the highway with these cars if you’re careful. This one has only 115,000 miles on it, and the seller says it runs and drives well. It needs a couple of little things: the rear valve cover gasket leaks a tiny bit, and the coolant level sensor is faulty, so the “Low Coolant” light is currently on all the time. But if that’s the worst of it, that’s nothing.

The interior of these cars is very comfortable, and this one is in good shape. Unusually for a Park Avenue, it has cloth seats instead of leather, but they’re still sink-into-them soft, and the “Dynaride” self-leveling air suspension just makes bumps disappear. The one thing that always makes Buicks of this era look grubby before their time is the steering wheel; the coloring comes off the rim. It also has a sagging headliner, like every other GM vehicle of a certain age.

It looks pretty good outside, but the seller says the paint on the roof is not great. But how often do you look at the roof of a car, anyway? You set your coffee up there while you open the door, and that’s about it. I don’t see any rust, but you should check underneath, especially the front subframe and engine cradle; they did have a tendency to catch water and salt and rust from the inside out.

Twenty-five hundred dollars, once upon a time, was quite a budget for a used car. These days, however, it’s barely enough to find something that runs. These two not only run, but actually look pretty decent. Sure, they need some things here and there, but they have good bones, and they both have some life left in them. So the choice is yours – will it be the manual wagon, or the comfy sedan?

(Image credits: sellers)