Got forced to drive a Honda at work today.....A Test Drive/Review.

Topic: Got forced to drive a Honda at work today.....A Test Drive/Review. (Read 1425 times) previous topic - next topic

Got forced to drive a Honda at work today.....A Test Drive/Review.

November 09, 2007, 12:30:41 PM

It was an impound. '97 Civic base motor with a 5 speed and 93K on the odometer. Cold air intake, fart can ler, and not much else. The car had been well maintaned under the hood, but the interior was a disaster....really dirty.

So how does a 10 year old Civic hold up overall? I'll put it this way. It is my opinion that NO ONE with intentions of keeping a car for more than 6 or 7 years should ever buy a Civic. First off, those motors have ZERO torque. NONE. NOTHING. This coupled with the clutch pedal with 7 inches of travel and the apparent 4oz. flywheel to compensate for the lack of torque actually made it quite interesting to get moving from a dead stop.

I found revving the motor to 2K before I even remotely lifted off the clutch gave the smoothest take off devoid of wheel hop and/or bucking. The shifter (stock Honda materials) seems to be made of a combination of rubber and tree sap used for the bushings making all shifts; especially the 2-3 shift; a dreaded affair. I finally got annoyed to the point where I would just wind out 2nd to redline and drop the car straight into 5th.

The windows would not roll up or down. The entire lighting system would flicker completely off intermitently at idle. Moving the front seatbacks forward to gain rear access is pointless. They hardly go forward at all. The trunk pistons were so worn they would not hold the trunk up and when it would close without being told to do so it would slam as if I had taken an 8 pound sledgehammer to it. The doors were almost as bad. I am not someone who slams doors. I shut them. From the bellowing echo these things made you wouldn't know that.

It is my understanding that one of the pre-requisites for something to be considered reliable is that it must stand up to the test of time. As stated earlier the car seems well maintained, just dirty. No loose wires or connectors; new plug wires and plugs (she idled and revved perfectly in nuetral I must confess). The frame was straight. The car appears to never have been hit. I'm sure when it rolled out of the dealership lot for the first time in the hands of it's brand new owner MOST of my complaints were non-existant. But as for the old Honda reliability, This car has shown me it just plain don't exist.

I'll also add that my brother -in-law just sold his '95 Cougar 4.6 that he absolutely abused for just over 8 years as a daily driver. Aside from some rust on the hood from a poorly prepped re-paint, the car soldiered on for him day in and day out, three of those years with a 30 mile commute to Laguardia Airport on the infamous LIE in rush hour traffic where 30 miles can take 3 hours. He just bought a Honda Fit. I only hope he is smart enough to sell it before 7 years comes up.

Got forced to drive a Honda at work today.....A Test Drive/Review.

Reply #1 – November 09, 2007, 12:50:03 PM

“Got forced to drive a Honda at work today.....A Test Drive/Review”
:nono: Paul are you playing w/the customers cars again

Got forced to drive a Honda at work today.....A Test Drive/Review.

Reply #2 – November 09, 2007, 01:00:22 PM

Define "customers" :D

Oh! You mean the people that like yellow rubber blankets, runny eggs and grey coffee while they stay at the incarceration motel? :hick:

I was actually pretty gentle. I did have to floor it once while going up an incline on a major road in 2nd gear @ 4K. The car went no faster at all....

Got forced to drive a Honda at work today.....A Test Drive/Review.

Reply #3 – November 09, 2007, 01:05:44 PM

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'97 Civic base

Kinda sez it all right thar...you get what you pay for.

It's way too easy for a lot of us here to get defensive and protect our cars when test-driving other vehicles. And rightly so: our cars were never "commuter" cars, never a base model--they were mid-level luxury sport coupes. From the start, then, our cars were built with better materials and priced higher than a basic commuter car. It's really no surprise that our 1980's (and 1990's MN12) cars tend to hold up better than some cars made less than a decade ago. They're not perfect, and there are many more vehicles out there with similar or better quality, but we will always be able to hold our own.

My brother's friend is a mechanic who primarily works on GM vehicles (since that's the overwhelmingly prevalent brand in our area) but does work on all makes and models. He's always telling us how abused some of the Hondas and Toyotas are when they come into his shop. It seems the overwhelming sentiment among our local Honda/Yota owners are that they're supposed to be reliable and "bullet-proof"...so they don't have to do regular maintenance like, oh, timing belt changes at 60K miles, regular oil changes, etc...as if these were "magic" cars or something. These idiots actually think they don't have to put ANYTHING into the cars and they'll be just fine, like the almighty Consumer Reports says. Talk about playing into the hype! He tells us that he's seen Hondas that need engines replaced at just 70K miles because no maintenance was ever performed. Unbelievable.

I've been in a few Hondas before...usually not by choice. Wasn't impressed with anything. They were about as cookie-cutter as you can get. If you want a car with a soul you gotta pay extra.

Got forced to drive a Honda at work today.....A Test Drive/Review.

Reply #4 – November 09, 2007, 01:33:09 PM

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Kinda sez it all right thar...you get what you pay for.

True, however it amazes me when someone would gladly take one of these over another used car with more power, refinement and durability that could be had for the same price if they only looked around a bit.

Quote

He's always telling us how abused some of the Hondas and Toyotas are when they come into his shop. It seems the overwhelming sentiment among our local Honda/Yota owners are that they're supposed to be reliable and "bullet-proof"...

This Civic doesn't even compare to the '91 Toyota Camry wagon I drove two weeks ago. It was the first time I was truly afraid in a car I was piloting while under 20 MPH.

Got forced to drive a Honda at work today.....A Test Drive/Review.

Reply #5 – November 09, 2007, 05:21:11 PM

My neighbor uses Civics for his work car. He gets a new one every four years and runs them 300K miles.

Got forced to drive a Honda at work today.....A Test Drive/Review.

Reply #6 – November 09, 2007, 05:31:16 PM

That's why I bought my old Saturn instead of a Honda - the fact that I know my way around them was only part of the reason. The facts that Saturns don't (visibly) rust and that they're every bit as reliable as anything with a Honda or Toyota badge on it were the main reasons. Hell, Saturns even smoke like 10-year-old Hondas :hick:

Got forced to drive a Honda at work today.....A Test Drive/Review.

Reply #7 – November 09, 2007, 06:59:53 PM

My dad had a 90 Accord LX when I was younger. He preformed all the schedualed maintinance on the car. At 70,000 miles the electrical system went to hell:hick: . Speedo stopped working, trans controller died, windows stopped working. Where the hell was the incredible reliability:hick: ? I've said it before and I'll say it again: since the mid 80's any car (foreign or domestic) has about the same quality. Really. We've had puppiesenese cars that died before 90,000 miles and American cars that went 200,000 miles with no problems.

To add to this: any time you buy a cheap car it's cheaply built no matter who makes it. Our cars were fairly expensive when new. For example look at how many old T-birds, Cougars, Mustangs, Crown Vics, Grand Marqs, Caprices, Le Sabers, and other old, more expensive cars you see on the road. Try finding a 94 Escort, Civic, or Cavalier. You can't:hick: . They were cheap cars and they died fast because they were cheap cars. They are ment to last 5-6 years and die. Then you go buy another cheap car. My girlfriends '04 Kia Rio is a POS. It has a dashboard rattle, the breaks keeping ****ing up, the car always goes out of alignment, and it rattles over bumps. It only has 49,000 miles (she's the original owner) and has never been in an accident:hick: . My 88 T-bird feels more solid than this thing ever did.

Got forced to drive a Honda at work today.....A Test Drive/Review.

Reply #8 – November 09, 2007, 11:15:30 PM

My '96 Cougar has faithfully carried me through 3.5 years of service. I'm not easy on the car, either. I honk on it and go WOT at least once a day. Factor that into 30,000 miles since I've owned it and it makes its own statement: reliability.
Of course, I fixed all of the weak links when I first bought it, including the transmission cooler (with Mercon V), shift accumulator piston, intake manifold, etc.

I have driven plenty of Hondas. One of them sticks out in my mind. It was a 2001 Civic EX with all of the good options - power windows, power locks, CD, moonroof, automatic.
That car was a complete turd. I don't know if I've ever driven a car so slow, and it was only a year old when I drove it.
I'm still amazed to see kids modify those cars and drive them like they're the fastest things on the street.
I also drove a '95 Civic with a 5-speed. This thing had the total aftermarket package - Euro tails, clear corners, loud exhaust, poor-fitting spoiler, etc.
Again, this car was a total dog. You have to bounce the engine off the limiter to even fool yourself into thinking it's fast. I just don't get it.
Oh, yeah. Both of those examples had their share of electrical and mechanical glitches.
I'll keep my 12-year-old RWD domestic car, thank you very much.

Got forced to drive a Honda at work today.....A Test Drive/Review.

Reply #9 – November 09, 2007, 11:30:32 PM

My wife's 92 Integra has treated us pretty good. It hasn't needed any tranny rebuilds and it's at 175K miles or so. I don't put it on a pedestal as high as Consumer Reports or other Honda loyalists but it's not a piece of like the other Hondas described here.

I will say though, these 87-88 Cats rank up there as far as overall package. The only thing in their way of taking the top is the AOD.

The Mark 8 ranks the top for the most problems, broken parts, warped parts, faded parts, etc, of the cars I have owned. Great power and comfort though - just not daily driver durability.