Torogo

The car sold to a mechanic colleague of mine whose wife agreed a comfortable auto box would ease her clutch leg pain. She didn’t immediately spot the 3L badge on the boot lid! He fixed the non-functioning dash lights, and moved it on to an enthusiastic friend in Wales for a respectable profit. The new owner ‘John’ plans to refinish the wheels, get a SS exhaust built, and the car Waxoyled Think he sees it as a keeper 👍

nah, sadly my ‘99 Aubergine (purple) is exactly the same, and has started at the N/S front of roof corner just the same. What I don’t know is if a coat of acrylic lacquer (aerosol) over the exposed base coat brings back some of the lost shine, and stabilises the edges, but I have no doubt the decline will continue until a full respray. btw, planning to take her to the Festival of the Unexceptional in 10days time, not that these cars are unexceptional, but definately under the radar - has one ever been subject of a retro review in the classic car press? I’ve not seen one!

Very well maintained low mileage example, recent major service from Honda. This is an opportunity not to be missed, any questions don't hesitate to message me.

My street also features the green/purple combo, though both 3l Coupes - the ‘99 purple is mine 116k miles, whereas the ‘01 Green on 62k is the one that inspired my purchase. Learned recently that the owner of the green one (since ‘04) had died unexpectedly, so his widow needs to find a new home for it. The car was mot’d in March, at same time as major service at Honda (belts, plugs, filters, fluids etc costing £1500.) Anyone on the forum know of anyone able to offer an exceptional Coupe a good home? Reckon anything over £2k would secure it.

Thanks Guys, appreciate that hot pinning is a repair option, but if the economics stack-up, I’ d rather put unmolested plastic back on there ahead of a full repaint - and a pilgrimage to H6 HQ no hardship in one of Honda’s finest!

My 3L Aubergine coupe has been in the wars a bit of late. A psycho BMW took out my O/S door mirror at a traffic calming pinch point (mirror crazed, case cracked), then a Volvo estate punctured the corner of the rear bumper by backing into it. With the roof and bonnet lacquer finally starting to peel after 22year I am grappling with the idea of a full respray (makes no economic sense, I know, but car’s too good to give up on!). I’m based in west Berkshire; does anyone have a good mirror glass/ drivers side mirror assy / rear bumper skin - that could be made available? Thanks, Torogo

...Booked for a re-run with Reading Honda on 30th Dec. Little Christmas treat for them to have a real Honda to play with! Will keep you posted 👍

...Turned up at 08:00 to be front of the queue to be told ‘they’d been trying to get hold of me’ as they didn’t have details of the car to order the parts against. Was all booked in 3 weeks back, and full details given then (or they shouldn’t have booked it!). The lady receptionist played the ‘my first week here’ card to stem my irritation, so as it stands they have the details now, but I’ve not been contacted with an alternative booking. I get that it’s a 22year old car, and the task won’t make them rich, but overlook the fact that we bought a car there just last year, so it could hurt them in the longer run. and yep it was the main franchised dealer for Reading (Basingstoke having closed a couple years back so their patch has grown) will try again at some point!

Heading into Honda Reading for my airbag replacement on Saturday. Hoping for the VIP treatment some have reported, but not holding my breath... any other members down here been thru the process there?

Thinking about it, you are right about the ‘sterling’ bit; had all the spec, but no need for badges. An auto would have suited my dad better; I recall he used to skip the even numbered gears -probably cut his teeth on the 3-speeders of the fifties! Still the Rover had the torque to handle it - beautiful car. meanwhile the trip to MIJ in the W. Midlands has been completed, and am delighted with the quality and appearance of the system; they plainly know their stuff, and I did stick with standard spec, so no rude-boy soundtrack or quad pipes. Car rubs very sweet, and was pleased with the spec-up in fuel economy associated with this longer journey - over 300 miles in the day and plenty left in the tank (it’s the most miles/longest journey I’ve ventured in a day since I bought her in November. the only slight bummer is that they used the electric mirror adjustment to crank down for reversing onto the ramps, and the ‘up motor’ appears not tho be interested so lane-changing on the M40 proved a bit hairy on the return (have since teased it back up manually, but if anyone knows the likely fix, I’d be keen to know (all is well with the drivers mirror, so it can’t be the switch!) finally Stu, you should have seen a paypal payment come through for £45 - just the forum advice on using MIJ for the exhaust saved me hundreds over the local ‘powerflow’ alternative, so a wee contribution to website costs seemed the least I could do! Did take some exhaust pics up in the ramp if of interest - not sure if I have upload rights, but happy to share 👍

My dad bought a metallic blue Rover 827 Sterling Coupe in 1992 from new, and ran that for about 10years. Lovely car, and doubtless one of the influences to my wanting a bit of that styling and luxury 20years on. Still saw a few around as recently as 10years back, but prone to scabby rear arches by that point. Come to think of it, I also visited Austin Rover plant at Cowley in the late 80s, and saw the 800s being assembled on a factory tour (on the north side of the site, as an enclosed conveyor/bridge linked the two sides of the Cowley plant, over the ring road, ahead of the BMW/Mini era. Am pleased his Lairdship is keeping the Rover corner of the Honda UK story alive 👍👍

MIJ quote just in at £450, so will be booking-up for a trip to the Midlands! Thanks everyone

Thanks for the quick responses guys, I’ve currently got a bean-can wired round the break mainly to keep the rear box supported - even without any exhaust paste I’m amazed how quiet the exhaust still is in it’s broken form! Ive dropped a note to MIJ as suggested by Stuart, cos for that money I’d be happy to drive the 2hrs to get a new stainless system on there - very aware that the exhaust is quite visible from the tail, and the existing one just lets the car down, whether made gas-tight or not. i guess having sold my ‘modern’ to run this not-yet-classic quality motor, I’m quite pleased to see values edging up, and to spend on improvements some of what I’m saving on depreciation. Six months into my ownership of this 22yr-old gem, and everything just keeps running right. A last crack at proper motoring before the Electrics take over the world! (The missus runs a Jazz PHEV, so I have a taste of the way the world is heading, and it’s not pretty!) Thanks for keeping us all on the road as our always rare Hondas get ever rarer 👍

According to Marshall Honda (Reading) the OEM exhaust system for my 1999 V6 is still listed, but one rear box on backorder to August. Total cost for the 3 parts is £650 plus fitting kit. Local stainless fabricator (Longlife, Basingstoke) has quoted £899 to make-up a suitable system!. Meanwhile my 22yr old system has finally rusted through on the bend forward of the rear o/s box. i dream of finding a fabricator to do the job for around £500 as referenced in this chat. I love the car, but hard to see the exhaust close to equalling it in value! Does anyone have an affordable supplier they have used? Not looking for anything fancy or noisy, just OEM spec would be fine. Would travel for the right solution. Hoping someone can help!

Aahhh, Looks like I’ve oversimplified things in my mind horribly😩 the Bose unit came from an eBay seller, and was advertised as from a coupe. It looks identical to the one in Pete’s pics, coming with the hlamp wash / hlamp height and blank panel below it. My car was registered sept’99, but as Stu picks-up with no Bose badging on the rear speakers. (My Mar’2000 5-door Accord exec had the Bose system from new, so I naively thought all similar aged coupes also Bose compatible😖) ref my DIN connector comment Pete, there is a label on the Bose head unit bought, that states the din plug is intended for autochanger connection only, but I found no compatible cable lurking in the dash cavity when I opened her up - there was though a multi-pin connector in there on a long lead connected to nothing, so maybe that was the earlier autochanger connection, thus not compatible with the Bose head unit. Think i I may be better seeking the advice of ICE professionals - I now realise reading the informed inputs from you two gents that the security code may be the least of my challenges in getting this up&running satisfactorily! (Btw i have contacted the seller - “all units tested prior to sale” suggests the PIN must be known to him? - we’ll see! - otherwise it seems there are online sources including Honda, that can advise the PIN from the head unit serial number once you’ve demonstrated you have valid reason to know. So; live & learn - in the short-term it still looks a whole lot better in there than the tatty aftermarket unit previous owner had fitted - & that didn’t work either! All the best for 2021 👍

Hi Guys, decided to reinstate an original Bose fm radio cassette unit to my ‘99 V6 coupe in place of the aftermarket toy the last owner got fitted that didn’t actually work. Big oversight though, while the ‘new’ Bose unit powers up OK, I can’t get beyond the demand that I enter the security code. As it’s off a car presumed broken for scrap, I hold out little hope that the seller will know the code. Any clues if there is a way to reset it, if it’s marked anywhere on the unit, or indeed if it’s the car it needs to match to? Had completely overlooked this when I saw the unit on eBay, and not a big spend if I have to write it off , but thought I’d ask just in case there is a work-around. First month of ownership has seen the alloys powder-coated, ATF dump1 completed, underbody waxoyled, headlamps upgraded (as originally bought they were woeful, upgradedbulbs much better, though in truth still can’t hold a light to ‘moderns’) The car continues to run beautifully, and the doubters in my camp finally understand that a 20year-old ‘quality’ car, bought for peanuts is a fabulous alternative to the depreciation mules that everyone feels compelled to drive these days! Any clues on the radio code conundrum appreciated... ps was expecting to find a din connector lead in there from the auto-changer in the boot (based on a label on the head unit). Nothing found to connect though. Am I barking up the wrong tree??

Hi Skeng, appreciate the thought, but my 9mth search finally bore fruit in Nov, so I have a very presentable purple 3.0 v6 to play with now. Hoping you find an appreciative new owner to cherish yours - great cars 👍

Sound advice Kelvin; i’ll see what’s on offer around here 👍

I’d happily pay that Kelvin! The clever bit is finding an operator who knows what they are doing so that the new coating lasts I guess. Having had a few Hondas over the years, I’d say wheel finish survival isn’t a strength. Was yours blasted then powder coated, or painted, and did you have to remove tyres first? Having seen the inside surfaces of the wheels (no finish left at all☹️) I don’t underestimate the hours a DIY job would consume in prep - so it is tempting!

Thanks Guys, it’s a credit to the original build quality I guess that they hold together and run so well at 20+ years old👌 So that MoT fail, first I was pleased to see that it was the same testing station that passed the car on the same day as the rather damning fail on outer sill rust that could affect rear suspension mounts. (So it wasn’t touted around to buy a pass).The tame mechanic had fairly neatly welded in 15’’ of new steel to the rear end of the N/S sill after removing the plastic oversill. The hole I’ve poked though front end of wheelarch aligns with that area, but is only a couple inches square in area. The subframes, tank and general metalwork under there otherwise look very good, with little surface rust, so the Waxoyl should be fully effective in holding back any rot. Of course the worst rot is always from the inside out, so next spring I’ll remove oversills and front & rear bumpers to access the rest and get Waxoyl into box sections. There is nothing like an afternoon of rolling around and wire-brushing the underside of a car to give a real sense of what you’ve bought and the Waxoyl should deal with all those soft fails on corrosion to brake/fuel lines, and slows the deterioration of rubber hoses and bushes, so you sleep easier knowing it’s done! the Laird is right that it’s ‘come home’ to Berkshire; car came with its original bill of sale from Honda franchise on the A4 in Maidenhead, and lived local to Reading for the first 6 years. Total cost new was £24k (including CD autochanger and boot spoiler and paint treatment adding £1000). A 6yo Prelude was part exchanged as part of the deal. (Part ex value £9k). Autochanger still in there, but I assume powered off the original radio/cassette (now absent) so no idea if it works. If I can get an original radio to reinstall I’ll probably do it. I can live without usb and coax connectors. The only soundtrack I want is that sweet Sweet V6! Great being a part of this great big forum family- thanks for all the encouragement !

This is the car I picked-up from Essex last Saturday, ran sweet as a nut on the 100+ miles home to Berks, used the dry mild weather last week to get her waxoyled, paintwork cut and polished on Saturday gone, plus leather cleaned and fed, headlamps polished, Carlube ATF-U on order for monthly part changes (though gear shift is sweet, and kick down potent! Never really drove one before settling on. v6 Coupe, but boy am I delighted with it. Wheels are very scabby, and radio swapped-out for a duffer, rendering the CD autochanger in the boot redundant, but all stuff I’m keen to fix.

The guy has a tame mechanic who has serviced the car every year for the last several, and he did some localised welding to resolve the fail, which looked like a neat job on the sill, but couldn’t see the suspension mount fix. Was a bit confused by reference to suspension mounting corrosion, as would have thought that would be referred to as subframe rot (I’m not yet fully familiar with layout under there) it could be that this is the reason car is being sold of course, but a charge was made for the welding, so am hoping the description reads scarier than the issue (for MoT fault recording, anyone know; is this drop-down menu stuff, or does tester really have to type all that wordy stuff in each time?) very few fails in the car’s DVLA MoT history, which suggests they have kept an eye on things, rather than just ‘fix the fails’ but I know with cars (and rust) that problems are usually worse than you fear, rather than better, so there is a risk that the next MoT (sept21) could be a tipping point. It is just such a handsome car, good paint lustre and no dents or scrapes, great leather, and sooo smooth!! I’ve got it bad !! good point on possible use of 2nd MoT venue - hope not, but won’t know till I see the paperwork at the weekend (ps any clues on where I find hints on photo upload approach for this website - I do have the ad photos to share)

I’m going to have to break the habit of scanning all the car sites daily for cg6 Coupes, as I’ve finally put a deposit on one🍾🍻🥂. Picking it up on Saturday from Essex. It’s a ‘99 V-plate on 104k miles. Private sale, and family owned since 2006. Nice guy: it’s been his weekend car doing 4000miles annually, original purple paintwork, good pale leather interior, and drives like a dream. MoT history clean as a whistle till this Sept when rust to end of sill showed that no car is immune. The documentation includes original bill of sale at £31k - so I can see why they achieved rarity. Alloy wheels are original but very scabby - lacquer lifting across around 30% of visible surface, and near side rear arch swelling at the base from rust. Exhaust gas-tight but looks scabby. Otherwise am optimistic that it’s an honest well maintained and oil-tight car. (Has CD autochanger in the boot, but Honda/Bose OEM radio no longer in there, so it’s of no use. will get some pictures up as soon as I master the technology! Have kissed a few frogs in my quest to find a good one, and am feeling irrationally excited about this one! (Current owner unaware of the H6 forum, so this one may be new to you. (I did journey to Truro to see the purple x-plate 2l still advertised on C&C at 45k miles. Looks like they’ve gone out of business- found the site, but no car there, and DVLA history shows a serious MoT fail list from May, no pass since, despite the ad saying MoT to Jan21 - and it’s priced at £3k in the ad.) (also went to Dymchurch Kent to see a low owners/low miles 2l auto coupe in gold. This one again near £3k asking price and supported by good MoT history. Nice elderly chap selling (also has a gold Legend in the garage too - his & hers Hondas!). Sadly being a seaside car it just looked too crusty underneath for me to proceed - still felt soft around rear jacking point, and everything was flakey under there, so I departed without test drive) high hopes for V825GCF though, I love aubergine with pale leather, the V6 auto combination is silky smooth, and seems great value at £1200. Everything crossed for the weekend when my 100+ collection miles will be the real learning curve, thanks for all the advice give on auto trans servicing etc. The waxoyling she gets as a priority will give me the chance to get under there and explore. Sorry for all the words - I know photos needed!!