New member: considering purchase of an old '89 civic wagon beater - need help

[cwhiley]

Long story short I just need A car.

I found a 1989 Honda Civic wagon blue in color in the next town over for $750. It has a straight body and it runs and drives and has 229K miles on it.

The seller says he spent about $400 getting it running by putting on a new coil, starter, and battery. It runs but he says it runs rough. He says it won't rev very high. I asked him if it would go highway speed and he said it will but it just takes a while to get there. He also said a mechanic said it probably needs a new throttle position sensor. I wonder if that's true or if it's about to die completely?

I'm not a mechanic and I'm not wanting to just get this thing and not even make it home with it. After all I'd have to drive it 60 miles over a pretty steep "mountain" highway. Then again, I know these cars can be reliable for a very long time and so long as it just works I'm not worried about it being a nice car. Just don't want something that will leave me on the side of the road.

Can I get you guys' thoughts on this?

Thank you!

 

[Mr.Baker]

Listen, don't get into that mind state of "you just need a car", and fall into the first thing that's cheap.
At the end of the day it's a 300k mile, sub $1k car, you get what you pay for. Not saying the car is going to die on you and completely fail, but it's 30 yrs old, things are old and worn.

It runs but he says it runs rough. He says it won't rev very high.

What does that specifically mean?
How far will it rev, and Check Engine lights on?

 

[cwhiley]

Well, I bought a different one.

That one was 75 miles away up a mountain and REALLY high miles - to heck with that problem once I found this other one.
Today I lucked out and found one for sale about 7 or 8 miles from my home.

1989 Civic Wagon with 144K miles. Nearly perfect body. Super crazy clean inside. Runs great! Brakes are a little off. Needs a valve cover gasket. A/C needs service. Also probably needs a new front axle as it clicks when turning hard right. $850

I'm very happy. This is my first Honda and I'm going to fix it up a little. Can't wait to start driving it once I pick it up on Tuesday.