As the final year, is it worthwhile paying a premium for a lower mileage (40000) 2009 model year? Or are they basically a toss up with any other 2004-2008 cars?

 

At a high level, ‘04-‘05 are the last direct throttle. ‘06-‘07 are first drive by wire. The ‘08-‘09 have the update wheels and different dash layout.

The 08-09 are identical and some say the 09 are leftover 08’s but there are are only 355 ‘09s produced.

If you are looking at the red 09 at Eagle Honda in TX, I myself checked that one out when it was previously listed for sale in MA. I believe it’s a 1 owner car, but structure was a problem for me. I’m in Florida so any sign of rust makes me walk.

I would have much rather had an 09, but my 08 looks the same. In my mind, an 09 would be worth a premium because they are so rare, but not if the car itself isn’t sorted.

 

Good valuable comments. Yes that was the one I saw. Any particular areas where the rust shows up on these cars?

is it common to send a car to a local Honda dealer for a ppi inspection? Do they perform those? I guess if it’s already at a Honda dealership you just have to ask the service dept to send underside pix?

 

Unlike NSX, all of the structure underneath is stamped steel so you need to take a look at the underneath carefully. Everybody has a different standard for rust so if you are from the north, you may accept more. I would def ask the service department to send you the underneath pics taken from a lift - not just some guy holding a camera underneath the car.

I had my PPI done by a Honda dealer but that was because I bought from a private seller. When the dealer is the seller, it's up to you. Maybe you should take it to another dealer or maybe someone on here could recommend a good independent shop in Dallas. I like to use dealers in general because they typically come up with a laundry list of things wrong and then you can decide if they are going overboard.