On 12/31/12 9:31 AM, KWW wrote:
> Fellow newsgroup citizens, we used to be a (nearly) all Honda family - 3
> Hondas and 1 classic VW Beetle (1965). On our earlier Hondas I replaced
> timing belts, entire engines, and some other parts myself. Now, however,
> the 2 remaining Honda cars I and my in-laws have seem to reflect a
> company that has lost its way. Since these are 2002 and 2003 Models
> (Civic and Accord, respectively) I wanted to get some feedback as to
> whether things have gotten back on track. Here are my observations
> based on the 2 Hondas we have:
>
> 1) there seem to be some design weaknesses which are common across the
> platforms. Maybe while trying to be light weight (and less expensive?)
> they made things less durable. One example is the steering rack. Both
> cars had to have the rack replaced (Accord at 90k miles and Civic and
> 134k miles). Both developed oil leaks that took about $600 to track
> down/fix - oil pump seals, oil pan seal, and some things on top of the
> motor even though when the timing belt was replaced all seals, including
> valve cover seal were replace by the dealer.
>
> 2) The Hondas are even less easy to work on yourself. The oil filter is
> very hard to reach. On Civics there is very little room for standard
> wrenches if you want to do engine work. I compared that with Hyundai
> cars where the Hyundai frames even have indentations which coincide with
> where your hand would travel when turning a wrench when replacing a
> timing belt, oil filter is down low where it is easy to reach, etc.
>
> 3) The parts are expensive and the engineering is a bit too complex (so
> more things to go wrong).
>
> From what I have heard from some Toyota owners that brand seems to have
> also lost its way and has been cutting corners on part/design quality to
> keep costs down. So do you folks think that the current (newer) crop of
> Hondas have found their stride and are again great cars or are they not
> as great as they used to be in the '80's and '90's?
>
> Thanks!
>


Yes, that's definitely a good way to determine what's really going on!!

Just go ahead and ask the 35-40 or so folks who post here for their
opinion-- rather that look at the Consumer Reports detailed automotive
reliability survey with hundreds of thousands of responses classified
and analyzed by professional statisticians.

Yup, good post dude.


--
We have a spending problem, not a failure to raise taxes problem.
--Grover Norquist