This thread caught my eye as I'm a recent victim of having my '95 Accord
stolen.
I had no idea how easy it is to take on of these cars. I found myself
getting angry at Honda's engineers having designed such a great car that
could be so efficiently stolen with only a screw driver.
I'm lucky. I got the car back in great shape. It was stolen by a
professional who merely wanted the airbags. He didn't trash the car and when
he dumped it at a local Park and Ride, he even locked it up! Along with 4
other stolen and dumped cars.
After he meticulously lifted the airbags, he took my wonderful stereo
system - which is the only part of the whole experience that left me feeling
violated.
Anyway, I have a few comments and suggestions:

>> If they want they car they will get it.

Absolutely true. If a professional car thief wants your car, they'll find a
way to get it.

> Not every car thief is a pro,or willing to take the time to deal with an
> alarm.And LoJack does not prevent smash n grab thievery or stripping on
> the spot.You could come out and find your car on blocks,no wheels,or no
> stereo,or no headlights.

No way to prevent this either. Just make sure your insurance is payed up.

>> I think the best investment is lo
>> jack. My wifes honda was stolen and I did not have that on there. But the
>> next one I bought we installed it. Since it is hard to catch them in the
>> act you might as well have them caught while they are driving it. It
>> seemed like a pretty good investment and was really not very expensive in
>> retrospect. but that is just my personal thoughts!

I spoke to a police detective about this. He said that, yes the LoJack
works. And the police love them too because it gives them a shot at busting
car theft rings and putting them out of business. The detective even
mentioned his frustration that a LoJack type device doesn't come standard on
new cars. (Not a bad idea.)
If I had a real expensive car or was very attached to it (always a bad idea
to get too attached to a mechanical device), I'd put up the bucks for a
Lo-jack. Not too practical for my cars though.

> If they haven't stripped it by the time the car is located.
> I'd rather have an alarm to PREVENT most theft/burglary attempts.

Alarms can be surprisingly ineffective according to the police. They go off
so often that nobody pays much attention to them anymore. When was the last
time you heard one go off in a supermarket parking lot? Did you investigate
or just igore it?
However, if the alarm also triggers an effective disabling device, they can
work quite well. Car thieves might just take a car that they can disable the
siren on - even after it's been triggered, if they can get it done and get
away quickly. But they usually won't stick around to try to figure out how
to get the fuel pump or starter working while the siren is howling.

A good manual kill switch is OK too. So is the club - even though it can be
disabled with a saw through the steering wheel. But it does add a layer of
hassle to the thief. Maybe he just might decide to take a different car.

The detective recommended a multi layered approach. First a club. Then an
alarm with an automatic or manual kill switch. If money is no object, go for
the LoJack.

Or, just get a car that nobody would want to steal.