Blue Christmas?

Well, after 3 years driving in the ATL, it happened. Lady made a left hand turn right in front of me. Avoided others several times, but as my Dad put it, "you were due". And my 91 has been totalled.

Found a 90 for 3,000 (by owner) and found a 97 for 2,980 (bike shop).

So my question is this:

Which is better. 3rd Gen or 4th Gen?

Nostalgia has me leaning for the 90, but the 97 only has 11,000 miles and seems like a deal being the newer bike.

Any input?

Brik

 

I think 3 and 4 are the same as far as balance and power goes. I think the 3 is prettier, but that is all subjective. If you want a significant gain in performance, skip 4 and go to 5.
This is just what I have heard from others that have owned them all, not trying to rustle anyone feathers out there.
I am happy with my 3 for now.....possibly forever.
Sorry to hear about your loss buddy.

 

Thank you sir. Because of budget, I don't think I can make the leap to 5th Gen. But just seein' your 90, reminds me of what a good lookin bike the the 3rd Gens are!

 

Thanks for the kind words.
Now I am on atlanta craigslist hunting a 5th gen for 3k or less for ya. hehe.

 

This one sounds too good to be true, but worth a look.

2002 Honda VFR Interceptor <---- craigslist ad. I am bad at geography but it was on atlanta craigslist so maybe its near you.

 

Y'know, I saw that too, and because there's no pic I became suspicious. plus she's got 50,000 miles on her.

yeah, everything's a drive in ATL. No one seems to live in the city, except crazies like me. I've come to accept I will have to put some miles on my truck before can decide on a bike. The price ya pay....

 

Gen 3 is the best looking IMO.:biggrin:

 

Sorry to hear about the crash and totaled bike. You didn't say how you are, so I'm hoping you came thru 100% OK. (Friggin' cagers, GRRHH!!)

Just my $0.02, but newer is better. Technological gains in engines, drivetrain and brakes are good, but so is simplicity. Also, think about all the hoses and wiring and the diff. 7 years and thousands of mi. can make.

If you prefer carb'd bikes, stick with a 3rd or 4th gen, but if you want FI go for a 5th. I've seen nice ones in the northern half of the US go for under $4k many times, so if you can afford up to $1k more I think it's worth it.

 

Ooopps, yeah, forgot to mention I walked away from the wreck. Right ankle bruised bad and left knuckles are pizza, but that's it. Through all my bitchin about the bike being totalled, my wife has to remind me I need to be thankful. And I am. And amazed she's letting me get another bike (she's a keeper), so I wanna stick to the 3,000 mark for her. And our budget (we're actors).

 

If you don't mind having to ship a bike (I'm in CO), my 3rd gen is for sale. Its a 93 with 24k miles.

1993 Honda VFR750F (VFR 750)

 

Glad to hear you came out of it (relatively) Ok.

Sorry about the bike, but there are more bikes. Take your time and find a good deal.

Keep the wife! :thumbsup:

 

I enjoy the third gen. I have to say I have people who want to buy it but I cant let it go..

 

4th gen does have a lot better balance then the 3rd. They did a lot of improvements when they did the 94-97.

 

Thank you for the info. I've never ridden one, but there is one for sale at a bike shop north of here. They're asking $2,980 for it and it has 11,000 miles. Thinking about checkin' her out.

 

WTH .........Are you waiting for

Run to the shop and check her out........I am sure you can knock the price down to 2500 OTD

 

Yep pretty much a small step forward in the VFR evolution, yes a 5th gen is nice, but it's the staring of the new era, has the better engine but that IMO is about it. the 4th gen is a more refined 3rd gen, biggest hurdle for some is the looks as those nascar ducts to some are kinda WTH where they thinking, but over all it's another notch up on the VFR, with what i read you found on the price, I'd be jumping on the 97, I can agree the white 93 is a good looking machine. the only thing that jumps out for me is the rear wheel on the 3rd gen is way cool,and can sport the 180 series rubber, but the 4th gens rim is lighter, but ya know what? it's really your call, thanks for asking. Oh BTW take Cundalini message with a grain of salt

 

Heh, yeah. The Blue Book is $2,180 so clearly they are trying to make 800 bucks on it. If it seems good in person, was thinking of offering $2,300, and see where it goes from there. Their room looks packed so I'm wondering how bad they wanna get rid of it.

 

Thank you for the insight RVFR. Those are some great specifics.

 

Blue Book isn't necessarily an accurate gauge for market prices. It depends on the supply and the demand in your area. Although, KBB is a good source for a ballpark idea of what a bike/car should go for, I don't think it's the ultimate cost determiner. I don't think they take into account the rarity of the bike or the high demand (and fanaticism) for some of these bikes.

For example, I used to own a Honda Insight (hybrid that got about 60 mpgs) and I listed it above blue book because of the high gas prices at the time and the fact that there were no others in the area. I had so many calls within the first days of the ad, I couldn't keep the people's names and locations straight; in fact, I had people calling from Texas and Alabama! One guy tried to talk me down saying that the KBB value was less than my sale price, to which I retorted, something to the effect of "I've got people calling me all day for this car, so I know the price is fair." That same guy bought it for the listed price. Could've probably got another $1.5-2k out of the deal.

Furthermore, the economic climate also plays a big part, and if there hasn't been much interest in it, you can get it for cheap, which also invalidates the estimated KBB value.

Just my 2 pennies.

 

True. In fact, I had to do a bit of that talk to get the insurance company to give me more than the blue book for my 91. Had to fax them ads for comparable bikes that were selling for 2,500 to 3,000. Guess it's rather shrewd of me to revert back to KBB when dealing with the bike shop, but what's a poverty-level bike junkie to do?

That's a helluva pic Jamiev. What's the story behind it?