Faults:

I have now owned my car for three weeks and less than 1,000 miles and I am on the second visit to the dealership for repairs. This is particularly disappointing since my former 1992 Accord only went into the shop for repairs five times in 11 years.

The first trip to the dealership, two weeks after purchase, was to stifle the myriad of rattles coming from the interior. Both front doors, the headliner, and the rear parcel shelf rattle constantly. The dealer did their best to fix them, but all rattles still remain.

The most recent trip to the dealership, three weeks after purchase, was to address creaking/popping noises coming from the right rear suspension. The dealer tells me certain parts of the suspension need to be replaced. I am currently waiting seven to ten business days for the parts to arrive.

After having a remarkably good experience with my prior Accord, I am extremely disappointed in the seemingly poor quality of my 2003 Accord.

General Comments:

Other than the continuing quality problems, the car has a lot of good virtues.

The seats are very comfortable, especially on long trips.

The factory stereo is excellent, as is the 6 disk in-dash CD changer.

The engine runs smoothly and the five speed transmission is a joy to operate.

Faults:

Noise rattle from the hood.

Rear speakers in my accord stopped functioning.

That's about it.

General Comments:

Other than the lousy seats Honda put in their accord this car has been great. Stepping on the cluth is like stepping on a marshmallow. Ample torque throughout the rpm range thanks to the variable valve timing and electronic lift control.240 horsepower is more than enough for this car. Also I love the 6-speed close ratio gear box which is extremely fun for high speed driving.

Faults:

This car has had numerous problems since delivery.

- Since delivery, the air conditioning fan shuts off randomly and intermittently, at which time all lights associated with the air conditioning or fan also go out. The second time the entire air conditioning dash unit was replaced with no results. The car is in shop currently for the third time to attempt fixing this.

- Possibly associated with the fan and also since delivery, there is very sticky whitish goop running down from the air conditioning/audio unit area onto the door of the storage compartment below. In the shop currently for this also.

- At delivery the car had many squeaks, rattles and buzzes. Most notable are a buzz in the rear passenger speaker at anything above the threshold of hearing volume levels, a plastic on plastic squeak in the dash on the passenger side on anything, but perfectly smooth road, and a rattle under the hood that can be heard when shutting the door or when hitting the brakes. Seems like the same rattle, but the brakes part is mystifying. None located or fixed by the shop.

- At delivery the black coating on both door sills was wrinkled. Evidently this is an issue on all 2003 Accord coupes, don't know if it also affects sedans. This was fixed on the first shop visit approximately 1 week after delivery.

- At delivery the driver's side door had something (which turned out to be an inside door panel attachment device) rattling around inside it. Also fixed on the first shop visit.

General Comments:

- I purchased the car Jan. 9, 2003 and the car is currently in the shop for the 3rd time attempting to have the fan and goop problem fixed. Total time in shop to date (Mar. 2) is 2.5 weeks, no estimate on when it will be done this time.

- Overall fit and finish on the car is comparable or lower than the Mustang I recently owned. NOT reminiscent of the Honda Quality I've heard of.

- One of the keys to my opinion on this car is that during the quite considerable time mine has been in the shop I have driven two other 2003 Accords for extended periods as dealership loaners (4 cylinder 4 door LX sedan, and EX V6 coupe with leather) and both displayed the same level of fit and finish as mine. The EX has the same rattle under the hood and same squeak in the dash, however on the drivers side. The LX sedan had an audio system that had barely functioning rear speakers. Both these cars had window stickers and less than 2500 miles during the time I had them.

- This car is going to be returned under my state's lemon law if (most likely when) the fan problem happens again. Although the loaners had no obvious problems except the ones stated, my gut reaction with them is that their quality level is not significantly higher. I'm sure I'm biased on this due to the problems with my car, but that's my reaction after driving them extensively.