If you are from an area that uses road salt, I would avoid. Old Hondas are great cars but they are very susceptible to rust. Note how many Hondas have rusty rear quarter panels near the wheel well. If you don't have to worry about road salt here's some other drawbacks to consider:

• The popularity of older Hondas and their rudimentary anti-theft devices also means that they are stolen frequently. The Accord, Civic, and Integra (uses the same platform as the Civic) are all perennial listings on the top ten most stolen vehicles reports.

• Older Honda vehicles use a timing belt to control valve timing and their engines use an interference design. This means if the belt isn't replaced on time and breaks while in operation, the valves and the pistons collide, effectively ruining the engine. It costs a few hundred dollars in labor to replace a timing belt so many people forgo the repair until it is too late. When buying used, factor timing belt replacement into the cost of the vehicle.

• Side impact protection in older Hondas isn't the greatest.

Older Hondas excel in how fun they drive compared to other cars in their class. If that doesn't matter to you and all you care about is an appliance to get you to point A to point B, I would look at other options.

Some other cars to consider:

• 2002+ Ford Focus. Very steep depreciation and domestic parts availability make them a good buy used. Avoid earlier model years as they had many recalls that were later worked out. Some models have side air bags and stability control. Has a timing belt, but non-interference design engine.

• 2001+ Hyundai Elantra. The transition car for Hyundai while they were trying to improve their brand image. Very steep depreciation but still has decent reliability. Side air bags a plus. Has a timing belt and interference design engine though.

• 1998+ Chevrolet Prizm. A Toyota Corolla in disguise. Same car, but the much higher depreciation thanks to the Chevrolet badge. Uses a timing chain instead of belt. Great deal used.

• 1999+ Toyota Echo / 2004+ Scion xA (both share the same platform). The Echo gets great mileage (34 mpg city / 41 mpg highway) and is very reliable. It also has a timing chain. The Echo is pretty ugly though, very bare bones in terms of features, and its safety isn't the greatest. The Scion xA gets slightly less mileage (32/38) but has more utility owing to its hatch and has more standard features.

No matter which car you end up choosing, go for one with a manual transmission. They are cheaper both in initial cost and repair, get better fuel mileage, offer better driver control, and are arguably more fun to drive.