Tips on Buying Cars: Used Hondas, used hondas, mileage vehicles

Question
Hi,

Just thinking about reliability and costs to repair/maintain, would you recommend an 03 Accord (4 cyl) with about 70000km or an 05 Civic with about 35000km?  They are identical in price and features.

Thanks,
Don

Answer
I don't see how you can go wrong with either car (they're Hondas, for crying out loud...), but I have a philosophy about used cars that most people think is crazy.  And that is, I don't care about mileage, but I do care about condition and maintenance.  Low mileage is not necessarily good, and high mileage is not necessarily bad.  Because 99% of the car-buying population is scared to death of high mileage vehicles, I happen to think there are some real bargains out there when it comes to well-maintained, well cared-for vehicles.  I'm trying to tell you to pay more attention to condition than mileage- look at condition first, mileage second.