25th May 2010, 16:49
This is an urban myth that just refuses to die. One of my good friends was a mechanic who ran a local garage. He retired in the late 80's. He told me that he made enough money to retire very quickly after Nissan, Toyota and Honda started selling large numbers of cars in the U.S. because (to quote him) "They required repairs every other week". Our own experience with Japanese-built imports from the late 70's through the late 80's pretty much proved his point. They were all built in Japan, and they were all horribly unreliable, requiring near-constant repairs.
26th May 2010, 21:57
Really?? Because I just did a search on the top ten list of cars in 2010. Yes Ford is on it with the F-150 at the top... but it's a work truck and it has been a top seller for decades, so no surprise there... The Fusion is BELOW the ACCORD and CAMRY, and the Nissan Altima and Corolla too in sales. Focus is on the list too, and the Escape is as well, but at #9 and #10 respectively.
27th May 2010, 08:40
American built, however it's a Japanese design and with Japanese engineered specifications and corporate orders, all the spec'ed machinery, robotics, tooling and has plants built. Other than emissions requirements and crash requirements, do you think it's designed different in Japan? When I read on consumeraffairs.com, I see sludging, air bag issues, braking, transmission and engine failures on many imports. Maybe we could design the cars here from the ground up?
27th May 2010, 11:39
08:40 makes a good point. Japanese companies have lost their edge in product design years ago, and are now only concerned about profits. That is why the top vehicles are now Ford and GM. According to J.D. Powers (one of the most reliable sources) Cadillac is the most reliable, followed by Porsche, then Buick, Lincoln, Mercury and Ford. The domestic auto companies now lead the world in engineering and build quality.
27th May 2010, 19:22
From my personal experiences, any "import" that was built in the States was not up to the quality of the Japanese-built models. I've owned both American and Japanese-built models of imports (both Honda's actually) the Japanese-built model was far better in quality and reliability. Just my experience though.
28th May 2010, 13:37
Our Japanese-built Honda was without doubt the most poorly built and unreliable vehicle we were ever cursed with.
28th May 2010, 14:50
The Japanese built were very low production vs today where they are rushed in my opinion.
31st May 2010, 16:07
"Who would have thought Toyota would ever be in trouble even 10 years ago?"
I would have. My 80's Japanese imports were the worst built and most unreliable cars we ever drove. They parts were very cheaply built, poorly assembled and grossly under-engineered. After working on Japanese cars and seeing how much smaller and flimsier the major components were I have never owned another one, nor will I ever. Even the sub-frame components were like tin-foil.
1st Jun 2010, 17:10
Sacrificing mass for lighter cheaper components for higher gas mileage is my thoughts on the little econoboxes. I would rather pay more for safer cars for my family. Small brakes and flimsy metal and light frames seems a waste also. I went through brakes every 20000 miles on my Hondas.
2nd Jun 2010, 11:02
I couldn't agree more. The brakes on our Ford compact were TWICE the size of the brakes on our Honda, and lasted 4 times as long. All the important structural components were also much beefier and better engineered. Cheap construction is the way the Japanese made so much money. It sure wasn't on quality.
8th Jul 2010, 13:46
I buy higher end cars. My Acura Legend new was fine, later the Acura TL was terrible; trans issues on cars nearly 40k is deplorable. No more brand new Hondas.
My kids drive now, and I bought a Corvette. The Bose sound system is equally good. The GM is far superior, no mechanical issues.
Honda was a sports sedan in our household, but did not hold up.
8th Jul 2010, 17:17
What is your point here? The Bose system is equally good to what? Hard to compare a $60K Corvette to a Honda. It had better be superior! Corvettes are made under much stricter quality standards than any run of the mill GM car. Ironically the only transmission issues I have ever had or heard about were with GM cars, not Hondas.
16th Jul 2010, 19:13
Honda/Acura had plenty of transmission problems. Do a search... I've had good Hondas and terrible ones. Same goes for GM and Toyota. I do agree that most GM cars used to be built more substantially than Japanese cars. It didn't seem to matter though except in some accidents. On average, Hondas and Toyotas have outlasted GM, Ford and Chrysler with a few exceptions.
17th Jul 2010, 11:43
Same here. Our Honda was without doubt the worst built and most expensive car to maintain ever. Very poor build quality and a total lack of reliability. Our domestics are much better built and far more reliable. Our Fusion is absolutely flawless.
24th Jul 2010, 16:36
You must not read much. This site, and the Internet is full of Honda/Acura transmission horror stories.
As for GM, I've never heard of a GM car or truck having ANY transmission issues. The GM 4-speed automatics were some of the smoothest and most reliable transmissions ever built. We've owned several, including one that made more than a quarter million miles, and none even had so much as a fluid change (which was not recommended by GM for these transmissions).
25th Jul 2010, 12:05
I know of multiple trans in the same Honda, and I am now done with them. I have late models GMs now, and all I buy is upgrades; not needed, but to enhance them even better. I also love the LS2 engine as well.
25th Jul 2010, 16:15
Well, you must not read much either, as I have stated that my Trailblazer has had tranny issues and is now traded in thankfully. My cousin blew the tranny on his Blazer due to a common problem in the Chevy AT that is still prevalent today, as they have never refined it or updated it in the last 20 years or more. Why don't you look around this site and the Internet, and read about all of the GM transmission issues. They exist just as much as Honda. Just because you don't like imports, doesn't mean that GM is any good.
6th Sep 2010, 00:36
Type in 2010 Toyota Camry transmission problem, and you will find 1.6-million web pages on Google, Type in the same thing on any car, and you will find millions, 2010 Honda Accord, etc.
All cars have problems.
I know a lady who has bought 5 new Honda Accords over 20 years, she said that a Honda was flawless - always.
I told her to look beside the dealership at all the new Honda vehicles with the hoods off and a tarp over the engine area. I told her to look at all the mini-vans with the wheels and transmissions missing.
I went up to the auto park to give her a ride to pick up her Honda and showed her. She said that all those people didn't drive the cars right. I took her behind the Chevy, Toyota, Hummer, and Acura dealership buildings and we saw the same thing. 1 to 4 year old cars up on blocks waiting for parts to arrive. Mostly SUV's and minivans.
Then her 2008 Honda Accord with leather, at only 57,000 highway miles, the engine blew up. A piece of the engine came loose inside and the piston busted through the block. I told her that she must have been hot rodding the car as a Honda would not do that. She got upset and said that the dealership must have done something to the engine, as she had just picked it up a few days before. I told her they would not do that, because they would just have to fix it as it is still in warranty.
The Honda dealership fixed it, and her nice little red Honda sat beside the shop for almost 2 months waiting in line with about 13 other Hondas for major repairs.
My point is that any car can break down at any time.
We have owned 10 vehicles in the direct family with Ford's 4.6 L V-8, everything from a 91 Lincoln Town Car, 3x 95 Town Cars, 1x 2003 Grand Marquis, and 5x F150 trucks.
All but one were great cars. All the engines/transmission etc. made it to over 150,000 miles when we traded them off with no problems.
One 1995 Town Car engine seized up at only 55,000 miles. We still buy Ford products with the 4.6 L engine. Yes we took excellent care of all of them. The one that seized up had such a clean engine that the top of the head bolts still looked brand new. We had the engine replaced, and put another 100,000 trouble free miles on the car before we sold it to some extended family who just recently sold the car for scrap due to the torque converter slipping and rear air suspension leaking, broken A/C and needing a whole new front end- ball joints etc. and the car has over 240,000 miles on it. All original except the engine.
Just buy what you like and drive it. Most all new cars with give you 100,000-200,000 miles of trouble free service. You must do all the service work, drive it right, and use good fuel and oil. Just a guess, but I'd say that about 1 out of every 500 new cars with have an engine or transmission fail before 2 years of age.
25th May 2010, 16:44
Yes, it IS. If a car can't stand up to using its full potential, it's not built very well. I routinely floor the accelerator in ALL our vehicles, inducing wheelspin (though I never get axle tramp in any of them). I often smoke the tires pulling out into traffic in my Fusion and my Mustang. Ford vehicles are built to take aggressive driving. The only vehicles that broke under hard use were a Honda, a Volkswagen and a Mazda. I wouldn't buy a car I had to worry about babying constantly. That's why I won't touch another import with a 10-foot pole.