Faults:

1. Plastic shield at bottom of windshield has fallen off.

2. Paint is peeling off the hood.

3. Tire pressure on delivered automobile was at 18 PSI.

4. Rear license plate mounting assembly fell off car 3 days after purchase.

5. Radio reception is dismal.

6. Headlights are very poor after dark.

7. Car is extremely LOUD (road noise).

8. Car has the most uncomfortable seats I have ever experienced.

9. Had to remove headrest in order to drive car - extreme pain with it in place. Pushes too far forward.

10. Trim falling off interior of car.

General Comments:

I have owed and driven Honda products for 20 years. Until I purchased this vehicle on March 27, 2010 I was a true Honda fanatic. After ending up with this piece of junk I will never do business with Honda again. Not just their automobiles, but all of their products.

One day after taking delivery of the car I drove 500 miles. The noisiest, most painful 500 miles I have ever driven. These characteristics are not apparent on the short test drive that the dealer gives you. The level of road noise in this vehicle is absolutely intolerable. My 1990 Integra is much quieter (as measured by a db meter), and the Integra is purposely designed to be a noisy car! I have spent many hours in 2010 Toyota Camrys and Nissan Altimas, and they are MUCH quieter.

The seats are extremely uncomfortable, becoming very apparent after 15 minutes or so. The worst thing is the headrest. It leans very far forward. Your head is bent down and your shoulders forced off the seat. Just try driving like that for more than 5 minutes at a time. I was forced to either remove the headrests, or park the car. The dealer and American Honda were both useless in attempting to find a way to correct this situation. (the headrest is only adjustable up and down, not in any other direction)

These are only my primary complaints. I brought these issues to the dealer and American Honda. American Honda was especially disinterested. American Honda made it clear that because the cars are selling they could care less. They also stated that they had no knowledge of either of these problems. (In 5 seconds you can find thousands of complaints on the Web about these deficiencies.) I have interviewed several dozen Honda service managers. They freely told me that they frequently get complaints about these issues. I submitted a summary regarding those interviews to American Honda, and they told me that unless customers contact them directly they are not interested. I guess my purchase of a $30,000 automobile does not qualify me as a "customer".

When I bought this car I had a need to purchase 3 vehicles. Due to a set of unexpected circumstances I purchased the first vehicle alone. Thank God for that. Now I shall be spared the horror of owning 3 of these terrible things.

Before you consider Honda be very careful to research the vehicle thoroughly and make sure you spend enough time in the car to make an informed decision. I was completely shocked by my experience. The only solution is for Honda sales to dry up, at which point they may finally get a clue and fix these simple problems. But in the meantime they will continue to foist this unacceptable crap on the populace.

Faults:

Engine revs on upshifts (this is not the first stick shift we've owned).

Car feels prone to stalling.

Nothing has gone wrong that hasn't simply required initially awkward changes to driving style.

General Comments:

This car was chosen because of a reputation for reliability and generally good vehicle pricing in 2008. The interior felt well-assembled, and the vehicle looked generally good.

We purchased the base model to replace an inefficient truck with something that has space for more than two people. The car provides ample room for at least four adults, with space in both the front and back seats -- however, moving the front seat forward to accommodate additional passengers makes getting into and out of the car awkward.

While we were presently surprised by the increase in interior space, we have mixed feelings about its layout. The radio is an attractive unit integrated into the dash, but the buttons are large and unintuitive -- further, the same knobs did different things in other Accords we test drove. Although our Accord is wide, the front seats have a large console in between them -- and feel narrow. The car is comfortable and useful, but we just don't understand some interior details.

The engine has plenty of power for any driving situation, and once we got used to the drive-by-wire throttle response, the transmission shifted smoothly and easily. Of our four recent vehicles, including a diesel model, the Honda has the loudest idle. Once we get to speed, the noise seems to calm down.

Although the engine has plenty of power, we have noticed that harnessing this power requires restraint from shifting up during acceleration. While this is not a huge problem, it makes for some nervous moments during highway merges (even at 65 MPH) and is a challenge to get used to, coming from a diesel. This car has iVTEC valve timing, and proper shift timing is something we will just have to get used to.

Overall, we like this car, and it does a good job. Problem is, we don't love it. Even thought it has reasonable style, it lacks personality; and while it has space, it feels like a small car's seats were simply installed in a larger car. Our main disappointment comes from an utter lack of good surprises from the car, but there has yet to be a major letdown. We look forward to a predictable 15 years of ownership.