Good morning, happy Monday, and welcome to Cheapskate Week! This week, we won’t be looking at a single car over two grand. As you might expect, that will mean some compromises – expect ’em to be ugly, beat-up, needing repairs, or all three. Today’s cars are both functional, but they have salvage titles.
Friday’s cars were anything but cheap, and neither one of them was perfect either. Comments were split; one contingent felt the Buick Grand National was overpriced, and another faction worried the Ferrari was going to end up being a money pit. In the end, the overdressed American beat the fussy Italian by nearly a twenty-point margin.
I agree that the Ferrari is a heartache waiting to happen, but I think getting to that point would make it worthwhile. A nice simple General Motors car is a wonderful thing, but if I had a chance at a piece of the Ferrari legend for the same money, I would not be able to resist.
Salvage titles on cars are a funny thing. It depends greatly on the state that issued it whether or not it’s a big deal. Once a car is sold as scrap in North Carolina, for instance, it’s done for – if can’t legally be put back on the road ever again. On the other hand, Oregon seems to hand out salvage titles like candy, and nobody cares. Still other states, like Georgia, don’t have titles at all for cars over a certain age, only registration. Today’s contestants hail from Washington and California, two states with fairly lax requirements for issuing a salvage title. But don’t fret, neither one was wrecked – one is a theft recovery and the other was vandalized. Let’s check them out.
1990 Honda Accord LX – $1,499
Engine/drivetrain: 2.2-liter overhead cam inline 4, four-speed automatic, FWD
Location: Silver Firs, WA
Odometer reading: 182,000 miles
Operational status: Runs and drives well
When the final history of the automobile is written, hopefully a great many years from now, I hope the Honda Accord of the 1990s has its own chapter, because it has earned it. The Accord has gotten bigger and fancier since then, but I’m not sure you can say it has gotten any better. This car is just about the perfect size, it’s as reliable as a sunrise, it’s efficient, and it’s nice to drive. Unfortunately, it’s also prone to rust, and a target for thieves. This Accord was stolen, driven by the thieves for a couple months, and then recovered. It survived the ordeal, and runs well, but it needs some tidying up.
Power for this generation Accord comes from a 2.2 liter four-cylinder making 125 horsepower, which doesn’t sound like much these days, but this car probably weighs a thousand pounds less than the current model. It’s plenty. In this case, it’s coupled to a four-speed automatic. Yeah, I’d rather have a manual too, but Honda’s automatics, at least in the four-cylinder models, are pretty good. The seller says they took good care of it before it was stolen, and it still runs and drives just fine.
The inside is dirty, and it looks like some trim is falling off the passenger’s side door panel, but that wonderful Honda interior design still shines through. The thing that worries me is that the seller says the power windows aren’t working, and the passenger’s side window is down. Does that mean it’s been sitting open for who knows how long? In rainy Seattle? Not good.
Outside, the clearcoat is toast, and there are some dings and scratches, but I don’t see any signs of rust in the typical places. It’s got aftermarket wheels, but these days it’s hard to find a Honda this age that still has its stock wheels.
2002 Mitsubishi Mirage DE – $1,000
Engine/drivetrain: 1.5-liter overhead cam inline 4, five-speed manual, FWD
Location: San Francisco, CA
Odometer reading: 106,000 miles
Operational status: Runs and drives great
The Mirage, Mitsubishi’s cheap and cheerful subcompact, has now left the US market – for the second time. What we have here is an example of what it looked like when it left the first time: a cheap, simple two-door coupe, with a badge on the back that always made me giggle; it says “DE COUPE.” You can just barely see it in the photo below, just under the right taillight.
De Coupe is powered by a 1.5-liter four-cylinder, which sends 92 horsepower to de front wheels through a five-speed manual. I remember test-driving one of these when they were new, and it felt like enough power, especially for the car’s mushy suspension and skinny tires. A performance machine, this is not, but it does get good gas mileage. It has only 106,000 miles on it, and the seller says it runs and drives great.
It looks good inside, and I dig the seat fabric. Weird fun patterns on seat fabric need to make a comeback; I’m tired of basic blacks and grays. It has a fancy aftermarket stereo, and an alarm system, both of which were installed by the seller. They say the salvage title is due to vandalism; I wonder if the alarm was installed before or after that. Or was it vandalized because the alarm kept going off?
It doesn’t look great outside, but it’s fine for a $1,000 beater. It has some dents and scratches, and somebody stuck some cheap fake chrome vents on the fenders, and added cheesy plastic wheel covers – or is that what they mean by “vandalism”?
Cheap cars are always a compromise somewhere. In this case, they both run fine, but have a bit of a past you’ll have to reckon with. Some insurance companies scoff at branded titles, but you shouldn’t have any trouble getting basic liability coverage, and that’s good enough for the likes of these. Which one are you willing to gamble on?
If the accord had a manual it wouldn’t have been stolen.
Accord.
I won’t buy an econo-box over ten years old. They may keep running, but the noises and cheap materials are just too much. Those cars aren’t built to compete with other vehicles, because that’s not how they’re purchased. They are built to a price and sold on the fact that the dealers will finance the buyer (or will finance ANYONE with a pulse in the case of Mitsubishi when this Mirage was sold).
The Accord is at least built to appeal to a buyer who could go to another brand’s dealership.
That accord is a deal. My mom bought one new, then gave it to my sister for a while, who eventually didn’t want it and gave it to me. It was a solid car that was built VERY WELL, everything was an extremely high quality part and no rattles. It did, however, have an extremely stupid brake design where hte wheel bearings were pressed into the disc brake rotors, which means changing the front rotors requires disassembling the front suspension and using a press to swap the wheel bearings. It’d be cooler if it was a 5spd, but I’d take the accord for $1500. Throw $500 worth of lowering/perofrmance suspension at it, do the brakes while you’re in there, give it a tune up, and some nice wheels and you’d have a pretty amazing Golden Era honda daily for under 3k.
That is the exact amount of Accord I can afford. It’s a perfect ‘first car’ for my daughter. There’s probably nothing she could do to it it couldn’t recover from, and they made something like 20 zillion of them, so parts would be easier to come by. It has an easy 100k more miles left in it.
Mirage looks to be a bit more loved and likely maintained, plus manual trans….so Mitsu for me please.
These Accords are so good. I did long road trips in a ’91 and a ’93, admittedly when they were relatively new, and remember them with great respect. Even with an automatic and a mismatched driver’s side fender, this one’s an easy win for me.
If that Accord was a manual, Accord all day – those were great little transmissions. If I’m going to be taking a 20+yr old econobox, at least give me a manual to get by. DeCoupe wins by default by being cheaper and still giving me that third pedal.
DE COUPE always made me chuckle as well. However, despite the yellow flags, we’ll take de Honda.
The name’s even funnier from a Canadian bilingual perspective… in French, ‘decoupé’ means cut out, or carved up. Fitting for a bare-bones econobox.
I’m voting for the Honda. Theft recovery salvage title cars are the best kind of salvage title cars. The thieves presumably didn’t diligently maintain this car while it was in their possession, but the car appears to have survived intact so I’m not concerned. I would try to negotiate the price down given the age and condition, but this could be a good car for someone.
The Mitsubishi could also be a solid deal, but I would like more information about the vandalism. I don’t see much damage, so I presume any damage that occurred was repaired. Assuming it was cosmetic damage only, this car is potentially a good deal. Still, I would rather spend $1500 on a 35-year-old Honda than $1000 on a 23-year-old Mitsubishi.
I think the vandalism is all the dents. Looks like someone walked on the hood and gave the fenders a few good kicks. It doesn’t take much damage to salvage a 23 year old economy car, and body work ain’t cheap. If I’m right, then that lil’ Mitsu is probably a solid deal.
Worst case, at $1k, it could be one of nicest entries in your next Lemons race.
You are probably right about the dents being the vandalism. It would be interesting to know when the vandalism occurred. I presume it was a few years ago when the car was still worth enough to warrant full coverage, but cheap enough to be totaled due to minor damage. This might be the ideal salvage title car – one that was totaled due to minor damage that in no way impacts it mechanically.
I still am going with the Honda (mostly out of preference; I like older Hondas), but the Mitsubishi may be the better deal.
That Mirage will be the $1000 car-croach you’ll first respect, and then love.
The Mirage is just 2Sexy to pass up.
If you want a car the size of the 90’s Accord you can buy a modern Civic. Miles better in every way and also significantly cheaper than a 90’s Accord adjusted for inflation.
(A base 1990 Accord LX sedan started at the equivalent of $39,558 in 2025 dollars)
Same size on the outside anyway
The current gen Civic is larger inside than a 1990 Accord
EPA class specs:
2025 Civic: Midsize car / 99 cu ft passenger / 15 cu ft cargo
1990 Accord: Compact car / 93 cu ft passenger / 14 cu ft cargo
If salvage title is an issue: I’m sure the Honda can be parted out to, at a minimum, break even.
If I have to drive a penalty box, at least give me a manual to spice the drive up a little bit.
Thought I was going to be a Honda fan today, but I’ll take the newer one with manual transmission, less miles, and not having been in the hands of who knows for how long.
That gen of Accord is my favorite. It was such a great design. Far cleaner and more modern than the dreck from Chevrolet, while being much more refined than the Taurus. It worked very well as a sedan, coupe, or wagon. While by no means performance cars, they were also as good or better to drive than any of the competition of the day.
That being said, the automatic and hard life of this particular example makes the little Mitsubishi the better option.
My thoughts exactly. I love this gen of Accord, even more if it was in wagon flavor!
However, the transmission and the belief that the saying “Nothing parties like a rental” is probably multiplied by 10X when it’s a stolen, mean it is likely hiding some severe defects.
182k on the Accord is basically broken in, even if it was barely maintained. Take a steam cleaner to the inside, judicious use of replacement pins and super glue and use it as a winter beater until it dies (if it dies) or until someone hits it and kills it. My wife had a generation older Mirage and while it was good, it was cheap. On every measure. The Accord at least is a top of the range car.
That Accord design has aged incredibly well (as many Japanese cars do). Such a boring car but what great lines.
My trick to used cheap cars was to buy unpopular cars with manual transmissions.
Or cars with well-known failure points that had sullied the value of the model, but were easily fixable or announced their failure well in advance of stranding you.
The Mitsubishi hits the marks. It’s not subject to the Honda tax. It was never really popular, but had Japanese-level assembly quality. It has a stick, so automatic transmission failure won’t bite you. Sure, the clutch could be junk, but a quick test drive should reveal a borked clutch.
California no-rust car for ten Benjamins? It’s not cool, but this will get you to work.
The Honda probably has more life in it. $1,500 is a lot to ask though with non-op windows and who knows what done to it during its life of crime. The Mirage is a more honest shitbox that will pay for itself if you can squeeze another year out of it.
So back in the day people would swap a Eclipse GSX drivetrain into one of those mirages. That makes it more appealing
Everything says the Mirage is the better option, but they left the market the first time because they were crap. The Accord gets my vote.
I bought a 1990 Accord from my MIL about 20 years ago. It was a fine but boring car. It was the worst car I ever drove in the snow. I think the big wide 60 series all seasons on a not very heavy car just couldn’t get traction. I did not have the money or space for a separate set of snow tires. Also that damn motorized antenna was broken so the radio was worthless.
I have a 94 Accord auto (hand me down from Mom) and “fine but boring” is its slogan. Yes, it’s reliable and I do like the look of the cabin but the auto kills it. It’s always down shifting before I want it too. And that motorized antenna is annoying. Tempted to pull the fuse while in the up position. With some taller narrow tires it’s decent in the snow, tho.
Maybe the grass is always greener, but I’d rather row the gears in de coupe any day.
for sure I would rather have a manual little beater than an accord again.
From the perspective of “I just want a reliable car” – it’s tough not to recommend the one a decade newer but I’d still go Honda. Parts for that generation are getting harder to find but still available and a life PNW means none of the rust issues and fewer rubber/plastic problems.
Personal fun car? Honda all the way. It’s honestly a classic now and rare to see one so original. I would not* manual-swap it, just replace what needs replacing and enjoy parking it next to the 11-millionth 60s/70s hot rod at a classic car meet.
*maybe if the trans was going or I needed to do an engine-out resto. Manual swaps in this era are stupid easy.
Today, De Coupe is de way for me. The stick stirs in a little fun. Lower miles is just a bonus.
Plus, I’d rather deal with the aftermath of vandalism than the possibility of something left in the Accord by criminals after they had it FOR MONTHS being found during a traffic stop.
I am sure those criminals took very good care of that accord for the months they had it. Probably kept up on oil changes, car washes, hell I bet they even changed the trans and differential fluids and did brake job. (This is all sarcasm haha) But yeah I voted for the mirage due to that and also due to having a stick.
Ha, yeah, “drive it like you stole it.” Though that could mean different things such as driving it recklessly & without regard for it since it’s not yours or driving it carefully & cautiously so as not to draw any attention from the police but, yeah, the latter wouldn’t necessarily include doing rigorous maintenance, lol.
If you took a drug sniffing dog near that Honda it would probably have a hard time finding an area that didn’t set off its meth-o-meter.
But not De Coupe with the stick-on vents?
Nah, those vents and cheesy wheel covers scream vape juice and delivery pizza to me.
Why not? You just might hit the jackpot:
CBP Finds 104 Lbs. of Coke Hidden in Roof Liner of Car
…
Agents found a total of 104 lbs. of cocaine hidden in parcels between the exterior roof and the fabric interior.
…
A total of 40 bundles weighing a total of 104 lbs. were confiscated. The estimated street value of the drugs was $708,000.
https://newstalk870.am/cbp-finds-104-lbs-of-coke-hidden-in-roof-liner-of-car/
Think of the clickbait! “How I turned $1000 into $700,000 with one easy step!”