After many faithful years of service to my family, our 2003 Honda Accord has been decommissioned.

A 2003 Honda Accord LX, 4-cylinder, automatic transmission. Bought new in 2003 to replace our old Ford Taurus, I was only 8 years old when we brought it home.

It’s had its share of accidents. On a snowy night in 2007 it rear-ended another car.

And in 2015 it was on the receiving end of a rear-ending.

At just over 7 years old, in 2010, it reached the milestone of 100,000 miles.

A great highway cruiser, the Accord has been the vehicle of choice for many road trips, including trips to Ohio, Indiana, Virginia, Maine, and a 3,600 mile round trip to Dallas, Texas.

While the first car I ever drove at all was our 2001 Civic, the Accord was the first car I drove on public roads.

I also did my first oil change on this car, right before the Texas trip. Like many high-mileage Hondas, the Accord suffered from moderate oil consumption.

In the summer of 2016, all the indications showed that the timing chain had stretched, and I was all ready to replace it when it miraculously healed itself. The same symptoms began to happen about a month ago, in March 2017. As the Civic was out with a bad brake line we didn’t get a chance to diagnose and repair this time, and we were too late.

The timing chain failed on April 11th, 2017, and the trusty 2.4 liter four-cylinder was no more.

14 years, 179,158 miles. Loved by many, the 2003 Accord is survived by its brethren, the 2001 Civic, 2001 CR-V, 1997 Civic, and 2003 Subaru Outback.

-Dan