[Guest]

After having my 94 for 1 month short of 10 years I was hit in the rear. The bike was totaled and I am now looking for a new Wing. I have located 2003 and 2004 for models, some colors for the 04 are not in stock yet and will be 30 to 60 days till they arrive. What would you get a 03 or 04.....thanks

 

[DaleC]

Get the one that is the color and bike you like and that you can get the very best deal on. They are both great bikes. The only other thing you need to ask yourself is how long do you expect to own and keep this Wing. The longer you intend to keep it, then I'd be inclined to tilt the scale towards the 03, slightly.

Either one is likely to be the best motorcycle you've ever owned so get the one you want.

DaleC

 

[Bulldog]

Mike,

With all things being equal, I think that I would go for the 04 if the price is right. Also I would insure getting the ABS model.

The 04 will not have any of the ECM or frame problems (we can only hope). Resale of an 04 is better than on an equivalent 03.

Seeing that you keep your bikes till the color has time to bleach out.....LOL Resale just might not be a consideration for you.

At any rate, get the bike that you like the best.

Welcome to the board and all the best with your choice. Make sure you give our host, HONDADIRECTLINE a shot at giving you a price. He has been able to beat just about anyone and he has super deals on aftermarket and Hondaline doo dads.

Bulldog

 

[Purple Haze]

Check around

I went to two of my favroit Honda dealers when I was looking.They want gold for the 03"s.I did some checking and got a 04 for same price as the 03.I seen the dude that got the 03,and he is POed, ECM recall then fram crack,he raise nine kinds of fits to no avail. When the dealers seen me on my new 04 they said why they getting a shot,they didn't think I was serious. I went their in 02 with a valkyrie ,and a valk I/s and said I would swap even for a 02 wing.I had them sweating,at the time the Valk was still worth some money.At least 20K in bikes.I called their bluff.Myself I would not get a 03 unless it was in the 14K range.

 

[Slather]

If you don't have a color preference get the 04. I would get an 03 only for color. Better deal with the rebate.

 

[loren]

i had the same decision to make back in october. what do i do, get the 04 thats absolutely red that i want and spend a lot more money.

or look for a hold over and save a lot of money.

i ended up with a zero mileage 2002 that was not in the frame recall range. yes it was unusal to find one, but i did and saved a lot of $$.

i also plan to keep it for a long time.

if i were worried about resale, i would for sure have gotten the 2004.

loren

 

[WingNut43]

"Deja VU"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I had my '93 for 10 years almost to the day when I was hit in the rear ... by another Gold Wing!!!!!!!!!!! Needless to say, the bike was totaled. I loved my '93 and had 90K miles.

I started looking and found an '04 was only a few hundred dollars more than the '03! A no-brainer for me. I ordered my '04 back in September and from what I've heard, got one of the few Candy Black Cherry bikes shipped. I love my '04 so far, and have NOT had any of the problems I've read about in this forum - YET. Fingers crossed.

 

[YellowWingBen]

Well, I was looking at a bunch of options when I bough my wing in Nov. I considered a low mileage used 2002, a brand new 2004, and a new 2003. I ended up with a demo 2003. I got it for $14,500. It had 2200 miles on it, but it was sold as new. At that time, the 2004's were going for MSRP. If I was going to buy a 2004, I would have gone for one with ABS. That would have brought up the price to over $19 grand. At that time I was not totally sure how much commuting I would do on the bike. As it turns out, I ride in about 4 days a week. My 2003 was out of the vin range for the frame recall. I had the ECM done in January when I got my 4K service done.

As far as I can tell, the only major differences between the 2004 and 2003 is that the windshield and the lighted controls. Both of these are great things, but not enough to cough up the extra for it.

I guess if it came down to a difference of less then $1,000 I would go for the 04. In my case it worked out great.

Enjoy