2008 Honda Accord Coupe EX-L Nav from North America - Comments

I was quite excited to have purchased a Honda given its extremely good reputation for quality. However I have been very unimpressed so far with the build quality of the vehicle. Upon driving it off the showroom floor, it had a rattle in the rear window "shelf" that required 2 separate trips to the dealer to have fixed. The entire back seat and shelf ware taken apart and reassembled to fix this issue. All under warranty. So far, this has remained fixed.

At about 8000 miles, another rattle developed in what appears to be coming from passenger side rear seat side airbag unit. I have yet to find the time to take it to the dealer for inspection.

At about 11,000 miles I discovered yet another rattle coming from the rear window shelf again.

The fuel door release usually only works after pushing it at least 5 times, and sometimes requires more pushes than that. When I asked the dealer to inspect this during my first oil change, it opened the first time he tried it, so no work was able to be done on it.

I love to drive this car and it looks incredible. I love to walk up to it in the parking lot after work knowing it is my car, but it is frustrating to buy a US $30,000 plus car from a manufacturer with such a high reputation for quality and be so disappointed in the quality of the product. The car drives beautifully, but the build quality is so awful.

I know the dealer will fix this all under warranty, but due to Honda's program of no loaner cars, it is very inconvenient to find a day to sit at the dealer while they attempt to fix my car. I traded my old Pontiac with 98,000 miles before it started to require frequent trips to the dealer. Guess I should have held on to it since even at 98,000 miles there wasn't a rattle to be heard anywhere.

Moral of the story: don't buy the first year of a new or redesigned (as the Accord was for 2008) model if you want to avoid problems.

Even Honda needs time to get the bugs worked out.

I hope you will have no more issues with your Accord. Just I'm wondering how they can design the tail of such a respected car that ugly?! It's a shame that I could not convince myself to spend my money on a 2008 Accord just for that reason!

P.s. My wife does not agree with the coupe which does not have this problem; We are still looking for a car then!

I totally agree with you! I love the way my Accord rides and drives, and I think the looks are stunning. However, this car has been back to the dealer numerous times already (It's a 2008) and has under 20K miles on it. The reason I bought it was for the reputation. The worst part is that the Camry is worse!!! I won't drive Nissans after my Altima was dreadful. Perhaps I'll go back to a domestic; you get tons of the same features, and they're cheaper...we'll see...

The only issue I had with my 2008 Accord was the gas mileage. It's the EX-L 4 cyl, and I get 20-22 in town and 24 on the highway. I took it in several times, but they keep saying nothing is wrong with it. My 2004 Solara V-6 convertible gets better than that!

"this car has been back to the dealer numerous times already (It's a 2008) and has under 20K miles on it. The reason I bought it was for the reputation. The worst part is that the Camry is worse!!! I won't drive Nissans after my Altima was dreadful. Perhaps I'll go back to a domestic; you get tons of the same features, and they're cheaper...we'll see..."

I've been the Japanese car route. NEVER AGAIN. Our Honda did not even make 100,000 miles. It was a total nightmare of never-ending repairs. So was our Mazda (which was made in Japan before Ford took them over and dramatically upped the build quality). We now drive Ford and GM. None of them has ever had a single problem. GM is warrantied for a longer period than our Honda even lasted.

2nd Jul 2009, 20:04 I made the comment that you are referring to. I did end up trading in my Accord. The main reason was that my transmission failed, and I have a new born and I can't have a car that is costing me so much. I liked the car. It drove great and was a solid performer. I bought a Dodge Charger instead. Drives great for a sedan, is somewhat efficient for its size, and is just a nice car overall. I'm very happy with it and I hope that it stays that way!

I am definitely looking at getting an 08/09 Accord Coupe 3.5L EX-L.

Love the fact the car gets supposedly 27-28mpg on the highway with the 3.5L.

I have a 2008 Accord with 5000 Km on it.

I also experienced a rattling noise coming from the rear deck of the passenger side. Apparently this is a known problem and it was fixed by the dealer.

I occasionally hear tick noise from the center console. I think it's the hard plastic that causes this. I expected a better quality build from Honda, but hey, these cars are built in the US, so it could be some ex Ford or GM employee that put this car together.

"I expected a better quality build from Honda, but hey, these cars are built in the US, so it could be some ex Ford or GM employee that put this car together."

Nawwww, an ex Ford or GM worker wouldn't take the pay cut to work for Honda!

I purchased my 2008 Accord EX-L with Navigation on December 31, 2008. I made this purchase because of the reputation of Honda having a quality product. Although I have not had any major defects in the car I must say that I am disappointed with the fit and finish of the vehicle for the price. A rattle like sound in the driver side window that my dealer said was caused by a build up of road grime in the seal areas. They cleaned it up and the sound went away.

My family also hates to take long trips in the car due to poor circulation for the rear passengers. This is poor engineering and I don't think I will be buying another Accord anytime soon. It is a shame since I really like the way the car drives and the Navigation system.