High school student?

[tradosaurus]

My son just turned 16 and after looking at various cars from 1990 - 2005 that I picked out from Craigslist he really liked the Honda del Sol.

 

Will this car fit him? He is 6'-1" and 185 lbs and probably will get to 6'-3" before he graduates high school.

 

I read the "Common problems" so I know what to look out for when buying.

 

I did find a 1994 Honda del Sol S for $3500. It has 170,400 miles and supposedly may need a throw-out bearing soon. New paint job withing the last 2 years.

 

 

 

 

[Xeryon]

I am 6'2", 200lbs and the Del Sol fit me just fine. It's a bit tight in elbow room. If he rides with another buddy the same size or larger it will get cramped. On the up side its cramped enough there isn't a lot of room for other things that teenagers do in cars.

 

The del sol is almost the exact same mechanically as a Honda civic of the same year. They are very easy to service with the exception of body and interior panels being harder to find due to low production numbers. A bad throw out bearing isn't too hard to fix. An amateur mechanic with your general auto service craftsman tool set and the Haines service manual can fix it in an evening. The corner auto service garage can do it too for a couple hundred as well.

 

$3500 for a 94 with 170k on it is a little on the high side if the wear on the body and interior is consistent with age and mileage. If it was well cared for and maintained it would be reasonable. With new paint in last two years that makes me think they probably fixed the usual rear quarter panel rust that plagues these.

 

If at all possible pull up the carpet to see if the floors are wet or rusted. If that isn't possible look closely at the seat legs. They will be rusty if the roof has been leaking badly.

[tradosaurus]

Thank you. That was very helpful.