Honda commits self-immolation…

IMHO, the Hondas of today and the last several years are nowhere near the Hondas of days gone by. Their quality has definitely taken a nose dive. They're still OK cars, but not deserving of the pedestal that some people put them on.

 

They are still top 5 in initial quality and customer satisfaction.

However I do agree that the car are less passionate than they used to be in the nineties.

 

If you haven't driven a Civic Type R/Integra Type S, they definitely still have 'it' in them.

https://www.roadandtrack.com/review...pe-s-performance-car-of-the-year-winner-2024/

 

Will you walk me out to it blind folded so I don't have to see it from the outside? I'm not a fan of the modern designs. They all look like they are trying too hard. I think this started with that stupid corporate grill nonsense. Now they don't try to make a good looking car they just try to wrap something around whatever corporate grill they have chosen.

The first gen Porsche Panamera is a prime example. They spent so much time trying to make it look like a 911 they forgot to make it look good.

 

And most interiors these days are worse than the exteriors.
Like the corporate grill, they all just want to wrap some gaudy hideous bullshit around a 14" monitor.

 

Why does chevy have the ugliest grill is my question. Are they trying to force buyers into buicks and cadillacs for more $?

 

I have a friend with a newer 1500. He gets mad when I tell him to park it facing down the street away from the house so I don't have to see the front when I go out to greet him.

 

Well that's different, but they do know how to make a car that really excels as a package, much like a Porsche with 4 doors.

Civic doesn't suffer from the corporate grille, but yes BMW really started that I would say with their kidney grilles, and then Audi took that one step further with their huge grilles, and now it's all "luxury" corps have to look the same.

 

I'm sure it's fun to drive. I have fond memories of my 87 CRX. At the very least it doesn't have an abysmal CVT in it yet. But the stupid has started with the Prelude coming back around. Go read what they are doing to make a boring hybrid with no transmission seem like it has a 6 speed manual. It's fucking insanity.

 

Not for nothing, but the amount of people I've personally known with mid-2000's to mid-teens Honda Odysseys and Accords with transmission or torque converter problems has been, not alarming, but surprisingly concerning let's say. like EVERYONE, eventually, no matter who you are, if you keep them long enough.

Anecdotally, my wife got a 19' Acura ILX (fancy Civic) in 2021, and she had to have a transmission replacement under warranty. This was a replacement purchase for her CT200h that was pretty much uneventful til the end, I plan to gently push her back towards Lexus/Toyota next go around, the 3-4 dealership trips it took BEFORE they'd replace it, was enough to say no mas.

 

Honda did its best to hide transmission issues for a while. Nissan is guilty of the same thing with their CVTs. The phrase "swap them out like oil changes" was used by a service advisor. Quite a few Nissan's went in for routine service only to leave with a new CVT in place trying to hide the shit reliability. Honda did the same thing in the early 2000s.

 

If you're gonna be boring, better be easy to own, otherwise what even is their point or catch at this point? I was more than happy to go out and trade my AMG for a Corolla hatchback, cause I know its gonna be a change the oil and forget it, ownership experience. Its slow, and minimal inside, but for a daily what else can you ask for. Maybe they need reminding over at Honda.

 

Their quality left early-90’s.

Honda aren’t doing EV’s, which is why they subbed it out to GM. This limits their financial investment in a questionable market/technology. They’re actually pursuing hybrid technology, as evidenced by the current Accord/Civic drivetrains.

 

Yeah, see, here's the thing... I don't care all that much about initial quality. I care far more about the quality at 200,000 miles or more.

 

Me too. However it's harder to measure and there are less surveys targeting 200k miles vehicles, if any.

 

I feel like most people don't keep cars past 200k miles that aren't diesel somethings, and for those that do, a large amount are probably buying them for $2-5k after 8-12 years and either buy them out of financial necessity, or as a project, or are the fix everything yourself type and probably aren't the type to fill out surveys on their clunker.

 

I am one of the few I guess who tries to keep them for 1 million miles, unless the cost to maintain becomes greater than just buying something newer or less miles. I was also a mechanic for 7.5 years in my previous days before going the IT route.
I also drive them with the intention of making them last, rarely ever standing on the gas pedal trying to out accelerate everyone from stop light to stop light to shave 15 - 30 seconds off my travel time.
Guess riding and racing bikes allowed me to drive my cars like that, lol.

2008 Honda Civic, bought with less than 125k miles off a friend years ago, in great condition, currently has 355,000 miles on it.
2010 Nissan Xterra has 245,000 miles on it.
1994 Mitsubishi Mighty Max with 280,000 miles on the 4G64, bought it like new off an older gentlemen back in 95' with 8k miles on it. I have not been good to it, still runs and drives, but she is rough.

Wife had a couple of Volvo 240's through the years, those had well into the upper 200 k's before we got rid of them. Last one we had when I was working several jobs I did not have the time or money to upkeep and it needed a little more attention than I could spend on it to make it reliable for her to drive around our young son to sports all over the state. Came into a little bit of money and bought the Xterra new.

Also currently have 2 Toyota Prius C's, one with about 140k on it and the other mid 70k's...........
My last Toyota I had was a 94' Corolla with 405k miles on it, original motor and trans. Did not burn oil or leak it I could tell, it did leak a little for a bit, but it was about a half quart every 3,500 miles. Replaced all the front seals while I was changing out the timing belt at one of the many replacements I did and the leak went away. Was still using a very, very small amount (maybe a 1/8 qt) between the 3k- 3,500 mile oil changes I was doing. Body was straight, but it looked old, paint fading, but no rust. Interior was there, but showed age. I sold the car to a 18 year old girl for $750 going to fire academy for fire investigator (Firefighter myself of over 15 years), I saw her driving for the next 2 or 3 years, so I would bet it had close to or over 500k on it before she either moved or got something nicer.

 

Yeah Hondas seem to get a little better with the 10th Gen Civics, but the last great Honda was the 8th Gen. The new motors have a valve tick that drives me crazy after they get about 20k or so on them. The 9th Gen(so the 2012' that Sweatypants wife had) loved popping belts in the CVT for no reason around the 125k mark. I know as same friend who sold me the 08' Civic had a 15' that she was driving and heard a pop one day and it would not go in drive, reverse nothing. Towed to dealer and they told her it was going to be dumb $$ for it. After it sat for a while she told me I could have it if I got it towed. Had a friend tow it home for me where it sat for a year or so before I replaced the trans. I drained the fluid twice and after 2nd time a couple belt links fell out, so I knew the belt popped. And when Honda finally did the recall for "too much pressure on the pulley" bs they did I tried 3 times for them to cover it, even at the dealer I worked at many years ago and they said the VIN was just shy of the range they were covering. Wanted me to pay for all the labor, so I went ahead and replaced it myself in the driveway. I came really close to changing out the bolts for mounting(male studs and female are slightly swapped around) to make a 10th Gen CVT work that a guy who loves rebuilding totaled Honda Civics was going to give me with 5k miles on it, but I would have had to use half of the CV shafts from the 9th Gen and then the inboard side that mounts into the trans from the 10th. They had different spline teeth counts. Which we use to rebuild CV axles all the time when I was a mechanic, vs buying a complete, but I did not want to mess with buying 4 brand new shafts to make two that would work as I was not going to use the originals in the condition and miles they had.

I wish one of the Japanese manufactures would return to building cars that are cheap to maintain and last forever, but where is the ROI in that for them when they can build trash to last just long enough for people to accept it and buy another one.

 

The problem is that the auto manufacturers have no reason to build cars for anyone but the people who buy a new car every 2 years anyway. They want the latest and greatest with all the widgets, while the rest of us beg for them to be simpler.

 

Maybe “Mitsubishi” will now release a new Evo… I mean I hope