Any cars you regret buying? - My '14 CR-V experience

[dgunay]

I would not run from Honda even these days with new and modern technologies; case in point our both Honda in my signature;

both overall well build vehicles; first, the accord we bought it used with 20K miles on the odometer in May 2020; no strange sounds, very quite, spacious, very predictable power delivery and smooth, fuel efficient city at 27mpg; downside, its just that suspension is firm and its seats are uncomfortable at least in our EXL model

the CRV, we have owned it since day one; bought it in Nov 2016; for 89k miles of our ownership, no light bulb was replaced on it. the only thing I replaced was the fuel cup; again smooth, quiet, and efficient at 26mpg city; the only downside perhaps its CVT that gets busy at times, also it burns some oil but i'm staying on top of it, no biggie there

in the end, their resale value is one of the best in the industry; needless to say, i'm very happy with both cars would get another Honda in a heartbeat

Good for you - my car is pre-facelift model and I can only talk about 2012-2014. I rarely see a drivetrain update in the same generation when they facelift a model (2015+), and I think I am not the only person complained, that's why they updated it in the mid-cycle instead of waiting new gen.

I'm sure 2015+ drives much smoother with higher torque figures and CVT trans and gets better MPG, as a bestseller compact SUV it better be. In my situation, I try not to buy a used direct injection and CVT car and wanted to have oldschool Honda experience (as reliable as it can get), that's why never considered 2015+.

I was also brand loyal like your case, but realized life is too short to stick with one brand and worry about resale value if you keep your cars long term.

 

[miden851]

Good for you - my car is pre-facelift model and I can only talk about 2012-2014. I rarely see a drivetrain update in the same generation when they facelift a model (2015+), and I think I am not the only person complained, that's why they updated it in the mid-cycle instead of waiting new gen.

I'm sure 2015+ drives much smoother with higher torque figures and CVT trans and gets better MPG, as a bestseller compact SUV it better be. In my situation, I try not to buy a used direct injection and CVT car and wanted to have oldschool Honda experience (as reliable as it can get), that's why never considered 2015+.

I was also brand loyal like your case, but realized life is too short to stick with one brand and worry about resale value if you keep your cars long term.

i'd say if I wanted to replace one of the cars in the future that would be the Accord, its so firm and uncomfortable for my liking; on the contrary, CRV is very conformable yet not the plush ride; very balanced ride i'd say

also, I think this experience on both cars is greatly influenced by the set of tires on the vehicles; CRV rides on Michelin xTour AS and they are great touring tire in my experience; on the other hand, my Accord rides on Bridgestone Ecopia and they are not so great set of tires to begin with

 

[meep]

We have a 15crv with the CVT, wife’s car. The CVT in it is remarkable for a utilitarian runabout. It favors super low rev driving, which I like, and Honda knows how to let a motor rev for power if called for it. It doesn’t rubber band as much as earlier cvts, but as someone else mentioned I think one learns to anticipate heavy-throttle roll-off. What I wanted to add, however, is I genuinely think Honda let a MT enthusiast have a shot at building the “sport” mode profile. For what they have to work with, it’s pretty good - favors a “lowest” allowable engine rpm relative to mph, 2k around town, 3k highway, and provides usable engine braking and control when jockeying in dense traffic. It’s certainly able to set the little suv to more raucous driving than you see them dishing out. I find it handy in crowded city and interstate conditions, allows me to drive more precisely & smoothly with less braking through congested passes.

 

[FZ1]

We have a 15crv with the CVT, wife’s car. The CVT in it is remarkable for a utilitarian runabout. It favors super low rev driving, which I like, and Honda knows how to let a motor rev for power if called for it. It doesn’t rubber band as much as earlier cvts, but as someone else mentioned I think one learns to anticipate heavy-throttle roll-off. What I wanted to add, however, is I genuinely think Honda let a MT enthusiast have a shot at building the “sport” mode profile. For what they have to work with, it’s pretty good - favors a “lowest” allowable engine rpm relative to mph, 2k around town, 3k highway, and provides usable engine braking and control when jockeying in dense traffic. It’s certainly able to set the little suv to more raucous driving than you see them dishing out. I find it handy in crowded city and interstate conditions, allows me to drive more precisely & smoothly with less braking through congested passes.

Different strokes. I feel the honda cvt lugs the engine. I prefer a "real" auto trans with individual speeds and shifting. Example Camry. Jmo

 

[Brybo86]

What causes the oil burning in the 2.4L, piston rings? I just don't have much experience with them besides basic maintenance. My grandparents' CRV probably burned a quart every 2000 miles. I'm seeing a girl with a 2009 Accord 2.4L that has higher mileage but it eats oil like crazy.

If she knows how to keep the oil topped up she is a KEEPER!

 

[Brybo86]

Our most disappointing car was a 2008 Honda Accord with the 3.5L V6. Oil consumption, fouled spark plugs, transmission shutter, multiple recalls - I think we got rid of it after 1 year.

Needed a VCM muzzler

 

[Quantico]

My nightmare cars. Vw jetta. 94 and audi 80 1989 . And my f150 pickup 83. And my 1990 and 1991 jeep wranglers.

My old porsche 944 purchased at 100 k and kept it 150 k more miles and 22 years. Cost almost nothing. Most inexpensive and reliable vehicle i have owned.

 

[bullwinkle]

My ‘03 Vibe 5 speed, first car I ever bought new (well, low mileage demo)-could not keep the CEL off! Dealer just kept throwing parts at it, including cats, even a new cylinder head-just kept throwing misfire codes, even though I never heard it misfire! A shame, too, it was capable of 40 MPG+ highway because it had the optional higher/lower numerical gear ratio included. GM finally gave up & bought it back, that’s when I bought the xB in my sig, in early ‘05. Slightly better car, other than lower highway MPG.

 

[Rmay635703]

2002 VW Jetta TDI Automatic, worst car ever purchased constant expensive repairs and had to unload because after rebuilding the injection pump at 110,000 the transmission started to go

 

[MrJayhawk]

My 1st car was a '64 Corvair. Don't ask. I will never tell anyone this again.

My 1st car was a '64 Corvair. Don't ask. I will never tell anyone this again.
I leased a 2013 Accord LX Sport. Loved it; shoulda bought it at lease end. I let the jackass talk me into leasing another. I hate leases.
We leased a 2018 RX450h. I should have test drove the F Sport, but I got some bad information about them. So we ended up getting the 2021 F Sport. Another stupid lease.

Did I say I hate leases?

I’ll fill in some details on Corvairs. I bought a 64 back in the early 80s while I was in college. Where shall I start? It leaked oil like a sieve. I bought oil from Kmart in 5qt jugs as it went thru a quart in 100-200 miles. I could barely run the heater as it would suck oil burning fumes in from the engine compartment. If I hit a pothole, the steering wheel would shake until I slowed down. It caught fire twice, mainly due to the carbs overflowing. The only real positive was it did do pretty well in snow.

 

[svtrit]

My first car (in my name):
1984 Dodge Charger. (Dropped the mic)

I had an 86. It was my first car and I liked it.

For us it was the 2013 Altima we bought. Traded a 2012 Routan on because we no longer needed a van and it needed tires. We could only afford the beige one with the beige interior. That is the only reason we didn’t like it. Great car otherwise.

However, we ended up needing a van when we became foster parents.

That leads to my next biggest regret, the current 2014 Town and Country I own. It was priced right, but I spent a year sorting out electrical issues and some mechanical things. It had been mistreated by the previous owners and had launched off a road at some point based on the evidence I found when I was replacing the broken front spring. Bought that car in a hurry when it was 4 degrees F outside. It’s also starting to rust bubble on the passenger side dogleg.

If the market wasn’t so bad I’d be selling it off for another one. Once I sorted out the problems, it’s been good.

I wish I had kept my 2012 Routan. I found it on an auction site having been totaled out in Colorado. It’s fun to search VINs on your old cars.

 

[mjk1967]

Hey fellas,

I was wondering if it's just me, or do you also have an experience

I regret buying the wife's CR-V in my sig at 86k miles, bought it last year with 79k miles and paid $15k CAD. I've been a Honda guy and I've been driving a Honda continuously since 2004 (and since 1998 if I add family cars to the list). This is my 7th Honda/Acura product and I can easily say that by far the most disappointing one.

1) Oil consumption - yeah Hondas are known to burn oil, not for me. This is the first and only (out of 7) Honda that burns oil, not a lot but even my sportier (Civic SI - Euro spec EP3 Type-R) Civics that were revving over 8000 rpm didn't burn any oil, not even a drop. Fortunately, oil consumption has dropped quite a bit after changing the PCV, but it's still there (0.3-0.5 qt every 3k miles). I'll try different brand/type of oils to see if it changes anything.

2) Transmission issues - yes it will not leave you stranded on the side of the road, it's a Honda. I especially chose 2014 model year to avoid the CVT, but guess what? They have torque converter problems. Honda updated the software to fix the 3rd gear shuddering and Valvoline Maxlife ATF also helped hiding the problem, but the problem is mechanical and software update is just a band aid. (Note - I always change my ATF every other oil change)

3) AWD System - It is all wheel drive version, as long as front wheels have traction. If front wheels start to spin, then it becomes a front wheel drive as it can't send any usable amount of power to the rear wheels. So basically, it is a front wheel drive car that can rotate the rear wheels if needed. It would also overheat super quickly (5 minutes of deep snow driving with few wheel spins) and officially becomes a front wheel drive car by giving you CEL for AWD system.

This is not just me, there is a video about this problem. I tried it myself and the result is 100% same.




4) Overall engine performance - I am not a person that demands high power from a soccer mom SUV, as my previous daily driver was an Acura CSX with 2.0L n/a engine that pumps out 150 hp, but that car was smoother and accelerated much better than the CR-V. I know having a rear diff and AWD makes things heavier, but I am talking more about the engine character.

Honda decided to use the same (or very similar) engine from 2012+ Civic SI with the K24 engine, which engages VTEC around 5200 rpm. Our CR-V redlines around 6500 rpm, so it revs significantly less than the Civic SI (redlines at 7200 rpm) but dumb Honda engineers kept the VTEC engagement point at 5200 rpm instead of lowering it down to 4000 rpm range. As a result, you only have 1200-1300 rpm to accelerate with decent torque/power.

Due to the long gear ratios (for better MPG), every time it upshifts the rpms drop down to 4500, so you have to wait literally for more than 2-3 seconds to get back to VTEC zone (5200 rpm) to have decent amount of roll on power again. It's like an on and off switch that you have to go through every gear. Of course, you have nothing below 5000 rpm as it is designed for a sportier compact sedan that's meant to rev, but for a CR-V - it's a terrible decision.

It doesn't end there, the transmission tune makes things even worse, as it wants to upshift constantly below 50% throttle, so you constantly have to fight throttle pedal to keep the revs high enough to get going. As a result - MPG sucks. You have to be very patient to have anything over 20 MPG. My long term (since I bought it) average is around 22 MPG and I live in a suburb, so it never sees stop and go traffic. According to Honda, the average consumption is (or should be) 25 MPG.

Last but not least, the VTC cam gear noise. After driving so many other K20/K24 engine variations before the CR-V, this is the first engine that does this noise at cold startup (occasionally). I just don't understand this. K20/K24's been on the market for the last 20 years without a problem, and instead of improving things, Honda decided to go backwards and wanted to make your life more "fun" by adding more problems to the proven platform. I didn't have this problem in my EP3 Type-R, Civic SI and/or Acura CSX and they were all built several years before the CR-V.

5) Interior quality - this car was around $35.000 CAD when it was brand new, now they sell it for $45.000. I can't believe the interior quality is this bad, there is absolutely zero soft touch material anywhere in the dashboard. Thankfully, the seats are quite comfortable, and I like having a separate armrest for both driver and passenger, and that's pretty much it. You may say "it's a Honda", yes I wasn't expecting S-Class interior, but I was expecting to see better build quality and materials than my 2009 CSX or any other Hondas from 2000s.

6) Small problems - first thing came to my mind is the trunk latch gets frozen if the temperatures drop below 40 degrees (closer to 0c), I think it's an electronic actuator, but pretty annoying for a car that is meant to be simple and "reliable", don't understand why they wanted to reinvent the wheel. In Toronto, winter temps are constantly below 40f, meaning that you can't open the trunk pretty much whole winter time.

There are also good things about it, I love the practicality and overall interior space is great for this size of a car. I also like the driving position as it feels more like a truck with great visibility, I am sure it'll last long time if I do maintenance on time. That's pretty much it. My expectations weren't that high, as I mentioned I drove 2009 car and I was pretty happy with it. I was just expecting better from one of the bestselling compact SUVs of the last decade, but now I know why people say 2010-2016 is the worst era for Honda.

I am not going to sell it for now, but I am planning to do DIY valve adjustment/spark plugs (earlier than scheduled) and hope it'd perform better with those changes.

Sorry for the long post, I just wanted to share my honest experience for people who are looking to buy 2012-2014 CR-V, hope it helps.

View attachment 78140

OP,

i am glad I took some time to read this, as I am literally days from jumping into a crossover....and 11/12 CRVs were high on the list. Also have looked at a couple of 09 and 10 RX 350s. Might be headed in that direction. CX5s are so overpriced right now, it is ridiculous.

 

[Bud]

In 1976 my daughter was born and my son was 3. We had a 73 Honda Civic. We were on our way to the beach one Saturday, stuffed to the gills in our little Honda and drove by a AMC dealership and saw a orange Pacer wagon in the showroom with the fake wood sides. In a huge lapse of judgement my wife and I stopped in and bought the thing right off the showroom floor and then continued on the the beach in our new upside down bathtub. What a horrible decision and what a piece of crap that thing was.

 

[mjk1967]

If she knows how to keep the oil topped up she is a KEEPER!

I had offered this a few years ago. Had an 07 accord, 1800 miles per quart. Ran back to back Kreen in my oil changes. Last oil change before getting in an accident, it was 1/2 quart low at 3k.

I believe there are issues getting Kreen now ?

 

[measureman]

I had 2 VW's and a couple of Dodge mini vans, both so bad I'm soured on both brands.

 

[walterjay]

I think it was a 93 or so Mercury Sable. Everything broke including me in the end.

As a side note for all the Hyundai bashing out there, not one mention of them on this thread. A bit telling.

 

[Coastie05]

OP,

i am glad I took some time to read this, as I am literally days from jumping into a crossover....and 11/12 CRVs were high on the list. Also have looked at a couple of 09 and 10 RX 350s. Might be headed in that direction. CX5s are so overpriced right now, it is ridiculous.

Take the OP’s comments with a grain of salt. He bought a used car with 86k miles. I bought my 2013 brand new, it now has 117,7xx miles with no issues. No oil burning, no torque converter or transmission issues, engine performance and interior quality are subjective. I do have the VTC actuator noise, though annoying, has never caused a real issue. All I’m saying is mine has been completely reliable for the almost 9 years that’s I’ve owned it.

 

[macarose]

I own a dealership and have sold thousands of cars over the years.

A not so short list.

1) Cadillac Catera - the rolling embodiment of junk
2) VW Beetle Turbo - Y2K thru 2005. They age terribly in the Georgia sun.
3) Any hybrid left in 'wholesale heaven' for a long time. If a hybrid has been sitting I don't buy it.
4) 1995 Chevy Astro AWD - I couldn't sell this thing to save my a$$ from first base. Pointless van for the South.
5) Olds Silhouette / Chevy Lumina APV - When they need work, it's usually a lot of work.
6) Any Ford Taurus that never had its transmission fluid serviced.
7) Volvo XC90 - Owners always trade them at 150k because they don't want to change the belt. Every. Single. One.
8) Any Nissan or Chrysler product with a CVT.
9) Last-gen Dodge Neon - Financially I have done well selling them but tons of decontenting and cheap plastic.
10) Saturn L-Series - Good cars but nobody knows they exist. In hot climates the trim on the outside and inside fall apart, and GM doesn't make those components anymore.

 

[dgunay]

OP,

i am glad I took some time to read this, as I am literally days from jumping into a crossover....and 11/12 CRVs were high on the list. Also have looked at a couple of 09 and 10 RX 350s. Might be headed in that direction. CX5s are so overpriced right now, it is ridiculous.

11-12 MY are known as oil burners (worse than 12-14), they have a recall if I remember correctly.

In my case, after changing the plugs, valve adjustment, valve cover gasket change and changing viscosity to 10w30, the car didn't burn any oil for the first 1000+ miles, I guess that's a good sign.

By the way, good luck finding the right car nowadays if your budget is tight. I bought my car for $15k CDN and now it's worth almost $20k. Prices went up significantly.

Take the OP’s comments with a grain of salt. He bought a used car with 86k miles. I bought my 2013 brand new, it now has 117,7xx miles with no issues. No oil burning, no torque converter or transmission issues, engine performance and interior quality are subjective. I do have the VTC actuator noise, though annoying, has never caused a real issue. All I’m saying is mine has been completely reliable for the almost 9 years that’s I’ve owned it.

You need to remember the fact that he is also buying used, like I did. Buying used doesn't make the car worse, in terms of how it's taken care of. I know "first owners" skipping OCIs, redlining cold engines and I also know cars with several owners in almost showroom condition.

My car was 1 owner (lady in her 50s) dealer maintained vehicle (have all maintenance records). I am the second owner. Also, here is a picture of the valvetrain if you haven't seen it already, which shows the overall condition of the engine.

https://bobistheoilguy.com/forums/t...e-cover-2014-honda-cr-v-k24-86k-miles.348917/

Last but not least, most problems I listed have TSBs, those are FACTS and widespread issues - not a personal opinion.

https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/2017/MC-10108756-9999.pdf
https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/2018/MC-10129413-9999.pdf
https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/2014/MC-10128883-9999.pdf
https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/2016/SB-10086081-2280.pdf

 

[CharBaby]

1980 Plymouth Horizon TC3 what a piece of crap, everything didn't work quite right on that car. The car would overheat easily and the engine was a Volkswagen and if you turned on the air conditioning the car would be extremely underpowered in town. I have had the best luck with Honda Civics and Corvettes. Ford F-150's have treated me very well too. Auto companies use the consumer as guinea pigs.

We owned a new 1984 Turismo 2.2(same body style as the TC3/024/Shelby Charger). It was similar in terms of repairs. Anything that I replaced, I replaced at least twice. But, it was still a decent car due to always starting and running OK but grough. The 2.2 was not a smooth engine. The 3 Spd Auto never faulted and the only engine issues were head gaskets.

However the amount parts that I replaced was unbelievable. Funny thing is, is that I owned it for 17 years and then JUNKED IT. The car literally rotted in half and fell apart.

My wife & I both agree. This Turismo had the most comfortable front seats we've ever owned. The heater was unbelievable in the winter and the car never got stuck in the snow even with just all season tires(195-60-14 G/Y Eagles, GT Qualifier, Kelly Charger).