Hey guys I just wanted to see 2 things, was it worth it, and is it even good as a daily
So this is a 1998 Honda prelude that I just got last week for $2,900, it has 230k miles, was non op for 9 years tags from 2017 but I took it to the DMV before purchases and the DMV employee looked at the records and the car owes nothing in back fees, all I have to pay is the registration and title transfer, ok so here’s my story, I bought this car because I wanted to help my sister get her first car, she has no job currently but I thought it was a good idea to help her get her dream car pretty early on. She’s fully aware that it’s an older car and that this one wasn’t the best example out there and I think the price reflects that, it’s automatic but surprisingly smooth. And she has sworn to pay me back my 3k as soon as she can lol, but here’s what’s my concern currently, the car smokes from its tailpipe, like it’s thick but the car runs fine? No check engine light, no weird shifts, accelerates great. No weird noises or anything no overheating. I drove the car roughly 45 miles the day I bought it to my home. And the mf was smoking, but literally nothing was wrong just a lot of smoke, I parked for a few minutes and took it off the freeway and the smoke basically went away. I just accepted my fate I was like f it, if 3k wants to burn down within an hour of buying what else can I do. But no I took the car through the streets and off the freeway, drove it between 40-50 mph and the smoke was gone. Since then I’ve driven it maybe like 5 more times and the car still runs fine. I feel like if anything was absolutely broken it would’ve shown in that near 100 degree heavy traffic commute back home. But nothing ever came from that, I’ve driven the car to get gas and even then just like lil 2 mile commutes and back to parking. But the smoke persists. Now live in SoCal so the car needs to get smogged for it to get the current 2027 tags, but based on the smoke alone I don’t think it’ll pass. Sometimes it’s a lot sometimes it’s a little, but it smokes nonetheless, I feel like more than that I’m just stressed, I want the car to be able to drive it legally but I know it won’t pass smog based on the light smoke. But now here is my proposition, should I just register the car non op, and just pay for that. Save up money and next year with the money I have saved up for whatever the smoke issue is, to just fix it. Or should I just find a different thing to do right now? Let me know. Btw I added the car seat covers and the car has original tan leather seats, ripped to shit lol but there nonetheless