Hondas SUCK!

Own a 2001 Honda Accord here. The transmission started making funny sounds while based overseas in Germany. The Honda-Germany team there couldn't help me, so they put me in contact with Honda-America. These guys ended up shipping a new transmission from the US to Germany for me, paid for the labor associated with installing a new transmission, and even paid for my rental car while my car was in the shop.

All of this while my vehicle was out of warranty and overseas.

Originally Posted by joel_954

Click to expand...

GM isn't any better. I'll NEVER buy another American car again. Japenese all the way. Give me a Toyota. Although the German's make a nice car too. A Benz would be nice when the time comes. But no V-dubs!

I knew it would not take long before the American Sucks thing started. Honda's are good cars. GM also makes good cars (yes I am in Detroit but not a part of the auto biz). The perception is they suck. All the manufacturers have some good and bad. I have a Cadillac that I love! I also have a S55 Mercedes that I ABSOLUTELY HATE! You just got one of the bad ones. One ****** apple should not ruin the whole bushel.

Originally Posted by jjgold

Click to expand...

I knew it would not take long before the American Sucks thing started. Honda's are good cars. GM also makes good cars (yes I am in Detroit but not a part of the auto biz). The perception is they suck. All the manufacturers have some good and bad. I have a Cadillac that I love! I also have a S55 Mercedes that I ABSOLUTELY HATE! You just got one of the bad ones. One ****** apple should not ruin the whole bushel.

I loved my Ford. GM, not so much.

That rotten Honda comes from a really really big bushel. Check the Honda websites and TSB's, my transmission problem affects hundreds of thousands of cars. It took them over a year to fess up to it. Other recent models have massive engine problems are require engine swaps! They just don't have quality control anymore and they don't stand by their cars. In these cases they should be extending their warranties. 3-years/36,000 miles is not sufficient when they know of a defect that will fail after that!

Buy a Japanese Honda, ie Fit and S2000. When I buy Japanese I don't want it made in Ohio.

Originally Posted by PolePosition

Click to expand...

I used to work for Honda and I can assure you that they most definitely do not suck....sure there are lemons that come through just like any other manufacturer.....but then again look at how many cars actually have significant problems out of the entire lot produced in any given year. I don't have hard data to back it up but from my experience Honda is pretty low on the percentage of vehicles that have issues like yours does. Being a Honda owner myself and having many friends with Hondas, experience has shown me personally that Honda reliability far exceeds that of other manufacturers in the price range.

Doing pretty well if not tops: http://www.jdpower.com/corporate/new...df/2008115.pdf

You can buy a plain Jane (under $25K) Honda model and easily dial 200 grand on hit.
How many front-wheel-drive American-engineered vehicles can touch that ?

I drove a 93 Civic until last year

Originally Posted by Artisan Fan

Click to expand...

Doing pretty well if not tops: http://www.jdpower.com/corporate/new...df/2008115.pdf

Didn't they give an award to AT&T Wireless too? I don't put much stock into their opinions.

Originally Posted by Christofuh

Click to expand...

You can buy a plain Jane (under $25K) Honda model and easily dial 200 grand on hit.
How many front-wheel-drive American-engineered vehicles can touch that ?

Mine would be lucky to hit 61K the way it's going.

Originally Posted by joel_954

Click to expand...

GM isn't any better. I'll NEVER buy another American car again. Japenese all the way. Give me a Toyota. Although the German's make a nice car too. A Benz would be nice when the time comes. But no V-dubs!

I say it is all a crap shoot. I have had a GM for the last 6 years-not one problem. My GF, had a toyota Celica-that ************* broke down so much and cost so much in repairs that she gave it away and bought a Cooper Mini.

I have six friends that had Mercedes in the past 6 years-they all got rid of them because they broke down too much and cost a fortune to fix. My mom gets a flat tire, calls triple A and gets her car fixed-She asks the guy, what is the number one car you tow in LA-the response-BMW. She says, well, what is number two? Guy says BMW. She asks, what is number three-the guy says BMW.

I had a friend in school that had so many problems with his new Volkswagen, that he finally told them to keep it after they replaced it twice. He went and bought a Honda and didn't have any probems.

I have a friend that bought one of the new Audi sedans-it broke so much in the past couple of years that he finally just told me today-I am getting rid of that piece of crap and buying a Toyota.

My mom had a Toyota in 1999-brand new-six months into ownership the water pump and radiator go out! The dealer said sorry, not covered by waranty-$1500 please! Yet, my brother had a Toyota pick up in the 80s that ran for ever, with no problems other than routine maintenance.

I have a co-worker that had a Japanese Mazda-brand new, that broke so much she had it replaced under the lemon law. The dealership were assholes, but being an attorney has its advantages I guess-at least it did for her.

I had a friend ask me, I have a lexus now, and have had it for the past two years, before that I had a Lincoln for three years-what do you think was more reliable is what he asked me. I said-the Lexus of course. His reponse-I had no problems with either car-both equally reliable.

In the 80s and 90s, I would have said hands down-Japanese build the best cars. Today-I no way would I say that- they are all pretty equal in quality-just fit/finish, price, style and service is what varies-not reliability. All manufactures are using CAD/CAM systems which takes out alot of the human error. Plus, electronics have gotten a lot better to enhance a car's reliability.

So, go figure? I think it is a crap shoot-some cars are good and some bad, no matter who the manufacturer is-it is just hard to tell.

Originally Posted by the.chikor

Click to expand...

...
So, go figure? I think it is a crap shoot-some cars are good and some bad, no matter who the manufacturer is-it is just hard to tell.

I agree with you, but my car and what Honda is doing (or not doing) is still bullshit. Back in college I worked as a troubleshooter at AAA. I could tell you that Audi's, VW's and BMW's would be the bulk of the calls. V6/4-banger American cars (the V8's were always solid) were right behind that (Cadillac Cimarron was the exception), but barely. Of course, BMW owners would talk about their car problems like it was some kind of badge of honor instead of the pain ********** everyone thought they were.

I find the overall reliability of Honda, Toyota and Subaru has decreased because of their rapid expansion in the late 90's-early 00's. Mercedes reliability isn't what it used to be either. At the same time, everyone else's reliability and build quality has approached/equaled the Japanese.

VW/Audis are no longer the pariahs that they were in the 90's (those were BAD cars). American cars are, leaps and bounds better than they were back in the 80's and '90's. Jaguars, OMG! Nissans are much improved. Mazda is like a different company too, ditto with Hyundai/Kia!

The two most reliable cars I've come across had to have been my mom's '89 Mercedes 300E and '92 Toyota Celica ('95+ Celicas were crap but the engine was SOLID). The things those two cars went through, they never quit. The Mercedes was a bit more quirky than the Celica, but both those cars were unstoppable, literally! The Merc's only problem was a broken AC Compressor.

The Celica was run over, up to about mid-hood, by a Ford F350-HD driven by an Amtrak employee (funny story around that). She never got it fixed, it ran fine. The Celica was in 12 accidents, my mom gave up fixing it after 4. Later in that car's life my friends and I would just drive it into ****. Bent in half hood, trunk that couldn't open anymore because it was bent, dents on every side, years between oil changes and I would get her up to 140MPH on the highway (shook a bit). She was able to sell it for $1,000 after all that in '03.

I'm getting the Infiniti next month anyway, better than waiting for this car to blow up on me on the highway.

All three of my cars have been Hondas and all three of them have had 0 problems whatsoever that weren't fixed in a standard tune up.

Originally Posted by the.chikor

Click to expand...

I say it is all a crap shoot.

To some degree I think this is the ultimate truth. I've had good luck with Honda. But surely there are other good makers. And there are bad Japanese cars too. My parents owned a Mazda in the early 80s and it was just ****. They've never bought one since. Brand dis-loyalty? Is that a word? The first Honda they bought was great and they've never had a problem with them since (after about 8 or 10 of them in the last 25 years).

But people have good experiences and bad experiences with others. I rented a Ford 500 while my Civic was getting body work done (thanks hit and run driver!). It was atrocious. Too big, I sat too high in it, it looked and felt clunky. I just didn't like it. But it ran fine for the week I had it. I also had to rent a Mazda (thanks other hit and run driver!) and it was nice. Just different so I wasn't real fond of it.

It all comes down to our tiny sampling of data and brand loyalty.

b

2000 s2000 going as strong as ever here.

As others have said, I think you just got a lemon for a Honda. Then again, I don't have any experience with Hondas newer than the mid-90s.

That being said, I'll never buy a Honda or a Toyota. Both companies only offer completely boring cars at the moment, and Toyota has been having recall issues as of late (or not mentioning them for years, then finally recalling a ton of cars at once under pressure). Honda also seems to add a premium to the price just for the name. I could buy a Civic with less horsepower and more plastic, or I could buy a Mazda3 for cheaper with a substantial increase in power and much better design. The S2000 new is way overpriced. I'd rather deal with the higher cost of maintenance on a German car in that price range. Its also nice to have torque before 7k.

If you're going to go ***, go with Nissan or Mazda. If not, go German (BMW) if you're willing to deal with the necessary maintenance schedule and the much higher repair costs. My Bimmer is currently in the shop (someone was nice enough to leave lumber on the Capitol Beltway... ouch), and I've had the displeasure of having a Camry as a rental. I'm paying each day just to have a waterbed suspension. Shoot me!!

The new Camry V6 had transmission problems too when the bodystyle changed (6 sp auto).

I have a 08 G35 sedan and that 5 speed auto trans has been used since the 2002 Q45 (which had a V8). That trans has been more or less bulletproof.

The '09 G37 has a new 7 speed auto transmission which isn't proven in the marketplace... so you may be taking a risk there. But if you plan to keep the car forever an extended warranty to 7 yr/100K should be $1200-1500 (don't pay more).

You might want to see if any '08 G35s are left? Huge discounts right now!