My family has always had at least one Honda car in the driveway, and my mom has been driving Hondas since she started driving. I am in no way a Honda hater. I feel that somewhere during the 2006 model year, the build quality took a dive, and the service now is less than stellar.
My mom's first car was a 1986 Honda CRX. She literally drove it until the wheels fell off and it rusted away. It had close to 200k HARD miles on it when she traded it in. She then had a 1994 Civic that was also flawless. It ran great for 170k before she traded it in for a 2005 Civic. The 2005 Civic is now owned by my sister, has 140k miles on it, and has been great. All of these cars never needed more than basic maintenance items, and still ran well when sold/traded in. My mom now has a 2011 Fit. The car has about 27k miles on it, and the engine sounds like a clacking diesel. It honestly clacks louder than my (previous owner neglected) Jeep 4.0L. There have also been lots of little interior problems with it.
My GF has a 2007 Honda Civic with about 150k. This car is a nightmare. It has always been maintained, yet it hates life. The car has a stalling problem now that no dealership can seem to find. They've replaced sensors, cleaned wires, etc. The problem comes and goes. The car also rides terrible even with new OE struts and many of the parts on it seem cheaply made. Her engine also sounds like a clacking diesel, and the transmission has a bad hesitation going into 2nd gear.
A guy I work with has a 2006 Pilot 4WD. He only uses it to go back and forth to work, and bring his kids to practice. No towing or off roading. The car has just over 100k on it, and just last week a piston shattered. It has always been serviced at the local dealership.
Problems happen, bugs need to be worked out, new technology breeds the potential for glitches. The big problem I have with this whole thing is not so much the build quality issues, but the way Honda handles it. When my mom had her 2005 Civic she brought it in for service. They "aligned" the front end, but never test drove it. She returned home and told me the car pulled "a little bit". I took it for a test drive. The alignment was so bad, if I let go of the wheel I would've went straight off the road. Back to the dealer it went and they claimed "she probably hit a pothole on the way home". Back and forth she went with the dealer until the tech finally confessed he had forgot to test drive it.
Fast forward to her 2011 Fit, and a different Honda dealership. She had a loud vibration in the dash, so she took it into the dealer to have them look at it. While driving her car the dealer managed to pop a front tire, causing them to go off the road and scrape the wheel. They told my mom they drove the car "where they probably shouldn't have" (whatever that means) and that they would need it for another day to buff out the wheel. We went down there and there was no possible way they could simply "buff out" the giant gouge in the aluminum wheel. My dad had to argue with them to get a new wheel and tire. The dealership claimed that if we never wanted them to test drive for the noise, this whole situation wouldn't have happened.
We took it to my buddy's independent shop after to get the whole underside examined for damage.
The guy I work with who had the engine blow in his Pilot had a warranty until 100k miles. He heard a faint ticking noise from the engine bay at around 80k miles. When in for service, he told them about it and asked them to look at it. They told him it was normal. One of his pistons shattered last week at 100,300 miles, just out of warranty. The cylinder wall is scored and they want him to buy a new engine on his dime. He told them that he was in previously a few times to have the noise diagnosed and they told him it was normal. Somehow that disappeared off the service records, and there is nothing saying he told them about an engine noise.
He called Honda America and they basically told him to go pound sand. The dealership is now fighting the idea of him wanting to install a used engine, and he might have to have it towed to another shop in order to install a used engine. He asked Honda corporate if they would partially cover the cost of a new engine since they might want to find out what happened to this well taken care of motor. They told him they might if he paid the $800 diagnostic fee to take it apart, but even then there wouldn't be any guarantees. With 3 young kids and his wife being laid off, a new engine is not exactly something he can afford.
I find it interesting how Honda arrogantly depends so much on their reputation to sell their cars, yet they don't stand behind their products. Honda doesn't take care of its customers, so I think my family will not be buying another Honda product. I see so many people defending the Honda brand. Sure the older Hondas were dead reliable, but why defend a brand that surely won't defend you when you have a problem?
My mom's first car was a 1986 Honda CRX. She literally drove it until the wheels fell off and it rusted away. It had close to 200k HARD miles on it when she traded it in. She then had a 1994 Civic that was also flawless. It ran great for 170k before she traded it in for a 2005 Civic. The 2005 Civic is now owned by my sister, has 140k miles on it, and has been great. All of these cars never needed more than basic maintenance items, and still ran well when sold/traded in. My mom now has a 2011 Fit. The car has about 27k miles on it, and the engine sounds like a clacking diesel. It honestly clacks louder than my (previous owner neglected) Jeep 4.0L. There have also been lots of little interior problems with it.
My GF has a 2007 Honda Civic with about 150k. This car is a nightmare. It has always been maintained, yet it hates life. The car has a stalling problem now that no dealership can seem to find. They've replaced sensors, cleaned wires, etc. The problem comes and goes. The car also rides terrible even with new OE struts and many of the parts on it seem cheaply made. Her engine also sounds like a clacking diesel, and the transmission has a bad hesitation going into 2nd gear.
A guy I work with has a 2006 Pilot 4WD. He only uses it to go back and forth to work, and bring his kids to practice. No towing or off roading. The car has just over 100k on it, and just last week a piston shattered. It has always been serviced at the local dealership.
Problems happen, bugs need to be worked out, new technology breeds the potential for glitches. The big problem I have with this whole thing is not so much the build quality issues, but the way Honda handles it. When my mom had her 2005 Civic she brought it in for service. They "aligned" the front end, but never test drove it. She returned home and told me the car pulled "a little bit". I took it for a test drive. The alignment was so bad, if I let go of the wheel I would've went straight off the road. Back to the dealer it went and they claimed "she probably hit a pothole on the way home". Back and forth she went with the dealer until the tech finally confessed he had forgot to test drive it.
Fast forward to her 2011 Fit, and a different Honda dealership. She had a loud vibration in the dash, so she took it into the dealer to have them look at it. While driving her car the dealer managed to pop a front tire, causing them to go off the road and scrape the wheel. They told my mom they drove the car "where they probably shouldn't have" (whatever that means) and that they would need it for another day to buff out the wheel. We went down there and there was no possible way they could simply "buff out" the giant gouge in the aluminum wheel. My dad had to argue with them to get a new wheel and tire. The dealership claimed that if we never wanted them to test drive for the noise, this whole situation wouldn't have happened.
The guy I work with who had the engine blow in his Pilot had a warranty until 100k miles. He heard a faint ticking noise from the engine bay at around 80k miles. When in for service, he told them about it and asked them to look at it. They told him it was normal. One of his pistons shattered last week at 100,300 miles, just out of warranty. The cylinder wall is scored and they want him to buy a new engine on his dime. He told them that he was in previously a few times to have the noise diagnosed and they told him it was normal. Somehow that disappeared off the service records, and there is nothing saying he told them about an engine noise.
He called Honda America and they basically told him to go pound sand. The dealership is now fighting the idea of him wanting to install a used engine, and he might have to have it towed to another shop in order to install a used engine. He asked Honda corporate if they would partially cover the cost of a new engine since they might want to find out what happened to this well taken care of motor. They told him they might if he paid the $800 diagnostic fee to take it apart, but even then there wouldn't be any guarantees. With 3 young kids and his wife being laid off, a new engine is not exactly something he can afford.
I find it interesting how Honda arrogantly depends so much on their reputation to sell their cars, yet they don't stand behind their products. Honda doesn't take care of its customers, so I think my family will not be buying another Honda product. I see so many people defending the Honda brand. Sure the older Hondas were dead reliable, but why defend a brand that surely won't defend you when you have a problem?
