Faults:
Engine a bit noisy > ~3000 rpm.
Tyre noise, may be due to stiff suspension, but prefer suspension this way, so does not mater.
May be the car could benefit from beter sound insulation.
Dealer opted for fiting locally sound system instead of offering the original honda system, and this has not been made clear at the time of purchase. So I ran into trouble finding a matching sound system myself. Despite that the advertising leaflet applicable for the local market listed clock, eventually the car did not offer that. The car comes with no clock and relies on the build-in clock of the sound system. The locally fited sound system by the dealer did not offer clock and the colours did not match well the instrument panel.!
Eventually I had to shop around myself to find a matching system (for colours and clock.!), but is not the same as the original manufacturer offering (as I have seen it on the US website).
I think Honda needs to control better the alternative offerings of some of the dealers and put restrictions to them in what is acceptable to offer. Some dealers may want to cut prices by offering cheaper alternatives, but if they don't do it right at the end it will cost Honda repeat customers.
Honda and dealers needs to be more careful in specifying what is optional and what is standard. In this way end users will be clearly informed of the suitable alternatives without hassle and know what to ask for at the time of purchase.
Dealer at service, without asking the customer if wanted to, washed vehicle in automated car wash, which produced minor surface scratching. Again, I think Honda needs to device customer service proceedures to be followed by dealers to ensure customer satisfaction. Also, can adopt manufacturer to end-user satisfaction surveys (satisfaction questionaire pages in the service log book) which the end-user can tear off and mail directly to regional Honda centre with comments. In this way, Honda will be able to recommend better practices to the dealers where needed.
General Comments:
Despite the above, an excellent, well composed car. Well done Honda.!
Very spacious and very good driving position, ergonomic controls, every control is clearly visible by the driver without effort. Very good suspension, very refined and willing engine. Very good gear change. Flat floor is an excellent idea. One of the best cars I have driven in its class.
Spacious as said above, but it would be good if the car was fitted with some under seat trays, more and larger pockets, etc., for the driver and passengers.
28th Jan 2009, 06:44
I think you exaggerate on some things my friend.
0-60, I clocked it around 10-10.5 seconds, which is quite fast, but after that performance drops significantly.
Top speed is about right; I topped it reaching 175 on level ground. To go any faster you need a downhill.
However I have to disagree on handling. The car understeers heavily under pressure and can turn easily to oversteer when decelerating. Furthermore the handling worsens to an immense degree when the surface is watered or slippery. The chassis feels very flexible and cannot always predict with extreme accuracy on what's going to happen next when pushing to the limit. On the other hand, the handling is reasonable for a family saloon.
Comfort is OK; nothing spectacular, nor completely bad.
Fuel consumption is also a point I disagree. Normally I get to do 400-450Km on a tank, so it's around 10L/100Km (mixed)
It's a basic family saloon, not a sports car nor an offroad.
Build quality feels better than the mainstream rivals of the time, and the AC/heating unit is just about perfect.
Engine reliability is legendary.