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

That is surprising. Those things (in 4 cylinder variants) are good for 300,000+ miles with proper maintenance.
The Accord I had was the first one down the assembly line on a Monday morning. The engine and tranny were great. The car just wasn't bolted, welded and put together right. Wishy washy steering. When there was a slight jog in the road it was very insecure feeling, kinda like something was broke or loose and jiggling in the suspension. I think one of the rear struts wasn't installed or aligned correctly. They acknowledged It steered horribly but were clueless on how to fix it or what needed to be fixed. Car had lots of wind and road noise in the cabin. Gave up 3 years to the date of purchase and bought a Toyota which was great for 10 years. The only thing about the Accord that was great was the resale value.
 
The Accord I had was the first one down the assembly line on a Monday morning. The engine and tranny were great. The car just wasn't bolted, welded and put together right. Wishy washy steering. When there was a slight jog in the road it was very insecure feeling, kinda like something was broke or loose and jiggling in the suspension. I think one of the rear struts wasn't installed or aligned correctly. They acknowledged It steered horribly but were clueless on how to fix it or what needed to be fixed. Car had lots of wind and road noise in the cabin. Gave up 3 years to the date of purchase and bought a Toyota which was great for 10 years. The only thing about the Accord that was great was the resale value.
Yep, sounds like a lemon.
 
I've had issues with Acuras, 2nd gen Acura TL, 3rd gen TL and the last Acura I had was a 2016 ILX. Solid engine's but I had transmission problems out of all three of the Acuras I owned over years.
 
The only new car I've ever regretted purchasing was a 2019 Tiguan. Just a miserable vehicle overall, the powertrain was terrible, you had no idea what was going to happen when you hit the gas, it might take off like a bat out of hell or just sit there and do nothing. Inevitably when you needed it to accelerate it would do nothing but in a residential neighborhood or a parking lot the thing would be spinning the cheap Giti tires. Basically a VW Dodge Journey.
 
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.

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Old Hondas were good but they started going downhill with the 2nd gen RL.

I would not get a new one.

Old ones are of course tanks, just watch for stolen.
 
My biggest regret is a Honda too, my 2016 Civic Coupe with the 1.5 engine.
Problems
1. Fuel dilution.
2. CVT transmission rattles like a diesel on warm restarts. Had it to dealer twice for it and they did nothing even with cell phone video of it happening.
3. 3rd tail light at top of rear window has a plastic cover that has melted off twice in summer heat waves. Dealership finally fixed it on the 3rd try and its crooked. When the cover was down braking flooded the entire rear view with red light, very dangerous at night backing up.
4. Random no starts. Has left daughter stranded at least 4 times and acts as if the key fob is not present and gives a rolling list of malfunctions that look like movie credits. No real resolution as it comes and goes. Removing battery power helps it
5. Road noise. Car came from factory with tires that actually had a felt like pad on the backside of the tread I guess to lessen road noise. I think they were Continentals.
6. Build quality. I didn't notice it when I bought it but the drivers side of the hood is lower than the fender where they meet at the windshield. No real way to adjust either one to cure it. Its right in front of me as I drive and look at it every time I start the car. The body gaps at the rear trunk lid are off also. All my VW products beat this thing hands down on build quality. Also the doors sound so hollow, like an empty beer can.
7. Seats are comfortable but the light grey fabric shows every little thing. Thats on me though as I figured as much.
Don't buy a CVT.

Only one CVT that is perfect and that is in...
 
Bought a 2005 Honda Accord. Wish I had not. Went back to Toyota.
V6 I'm guessing?
edit: just saw your new post. Always thought those were pretty bulletproof with the 4cyl. I remember how they updated the taillights for that year only. Then a mid cycle refresh for the 06 -07 models.
 
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V6 I'm guessing?
edit: just saw your new post. Always thought those were pretty bulletproof with the 4cyl. I remember how they updated the taillights for that year only. Then a mid cycle refresh for the 06 -07 models.
It was a Monday Morning Special IMO. It was delivered to me with passenger seat wobbling in its mounts.
 
My biggest regret was a 2016 Chevy Cruze I bought new. I really liked the new design. The car was actually great apart from one issue, the 6 speed manual trans. The clutch gave no feedback. I felt like every shift was my first one ever, like I had to rediscover how to drive the thing. Didn't even have it 1000 miles before I dumped it.
I had I think a 2012 Cruze that I bought new. Real POS. Got rid of it at 40k. It rattled and sounded like it had 140k. And I'm easy on cars.
 
I regret my wife's 2016 Town and Country. Trans started acting up at 96k, suspension is garbage, poor city mpg, rattles, moans, whines.
 
Family member had the Cruze... it was a great little car, but it really is true, at just over 100k miles they seem to just fall apart.

Ours appears to have had a bad turbo, which progressed to lost compression on one cylinder somehow. My Uncle put a known good used engine in it and still has it. Thought about asking him to buy it or if it is for sale..
 
Worst new car i ever bought was a 87 Ford Aerostar. Transmission went out at 18k , Couldn't keep freon in it due to the garter spring connectors . Fuel pump went out suddenly at 45k . Power steering pump was noisy from the start service manager said well they all sound like that. Upper radiator hose blows off one day lucky my wife had sense enough to stop and call me. Never could keep its front end aligned and it wasn't from hitting curbs . Needless to say a Ford doesn't disgrace my driveway now .
 
1995 plymouth neon .
1998 mercury mistake . Yes Mistake.
60000 miles = four cv joints ,water pump, battery, alternator , A/C went out, final straw was tranny started acting up so i flushed the turd.
 
Chevy Vega. Bought it for 25.00. Got a ticket for rolling through a red light right hand turn and it was all down hill from there.
 
It fixed mine. its an updated part. The part and labor is under $500 if you what to get it done yourself
Fix it now as it will eventually stretch the timing chain
Owners of CRV's and Civics have also noted that if you leave the noise long enough, it also leads to timing chain guide failures etc.
Only one owner i know of who ran shortened OCI's (3-5k miles) is still on ALL his original timing components (VTC included) with NO noise at roughly 150k miles.
To me, the answer is simple:
Since the oil sump is too small, combine that with fuel dilution from the DI system (and weak piston rings-which assist the famous Honda fuel efficiency) and you'll end up with a worn out engine shortly after the warranty expires.
🤷‍♂️
 
The video about the AWD on roolers is not realistic, and on roads the AWD performs much better than shown on that video.
I wouldn’t say it’s entirely unrealistic… the end of my uphill driveway currently mimics that with all the ice that’s currently stuck on it.
 
2018 Silverado purchased new, within two years and 50,000 easy up and down the highway commuting miles, it had...left me stranded in my driveway (starter), developed the dreaded “Chevy shake” seats would actually move on the highway, it developed a random misfire at 38,000 miles right out of warranty, it developed a torque converter shudder when going up hills on the highway, it had oil consumption from day one, smell of fuel in the oil sometimes, frame rust from day one. This thing never quite knew how to drive right, it would always bounce back and forth between gears, seemingly confused at speeds between 30-50. If anyone ever cut you off and you had to slow down, speeding up was an adventure...it just couldn’t do it. It would first bog down, then sputter, then GO. It had this fish bite sensation when it was cold, kind of like when a fish is biting your line. That’s what it felt Like when you gave it gas, until it warmed up.

Never towed, never hauled anything. Never plowed or loaded the bed up with weight. It was used for easy highway commuting and the occasional trip to the dump on the weekends. It couldn’t handle it. Babied, over maintained...oil changes every 5,000 miles. Tranny service at 20,000 miles and again at 40,000 miles. Front and rear diffs serviced at 20,000 miles and again at 40,000 miles. Transfer case at 20,000 miles, again at 40,000.

Big mistake.
 
Three cars I regretted because each nickled and dimed me to death.
1. A low mileage 1979 Ford Fairmont. 24k miles
2. A low mileage (Grandma only drove to church) 1997 Buick Lesabre. 41k miles
3. A low mileage 1991 Mercury Cougar from my parents. 49k miles.Eventually, head gasket blew @ 63k miles, hydrolocked, the rest is history.
As you can see, I fell for the "low" mileage thing and got burned.
 
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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
 
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