1998 Honda Accord EX from North America - Comments

Power steering pump leaked.

Oil pan leaked.

Stalling at highway speeds.

Underpowered and slow.

Weak factory stereo.

Weak factory A/C (Compressor failed twice in 3 years)

Lots of road noise.

Transmission can't decide what gear to stay in.

Transmission leaked, jerked, and shuddered.

Poor fuel economy for a 4-cyl.

Head gasket at only 26,000 miles!

I'm starting to get the feeling that Honda pays people to lie and say they have good quality. The big magazines rant and rave about Honda, but my experiences and the experiences I've heard from many others tell the true story. Doors and fenders feel like they're made of recycled soda can, not sheet metal. Engines and transmissions that fail under normal use at under 50,000 miles. The styling is OK, but the fit and finish of all Honda's leaves much to be desired.

Hi:

You are right, but there are some exceptions. I believe Hondas are excellent cars, tough and never break down. This is what I can say for my Honda. It is the year of your Honda. I have a 91 Honda Accord. Hondas are no longer built the same and rugged. They are building junk, because now the Americans have plants in the United States. My Honda was built in Japan. I have over 208,000 on it. Only thing I have ever had to replace was the timing belt and regular maintenace, wich was minimal. Tires, brakes and rotors. Between 94,95,- 3003, Honda has been really slipping on it's quality. Look at what happen to Mercedes. My Honda never breaks down! It does not leak oil and that is rare for a car of it's age. Has a bullet proof engine. I hear stories about this model you have and heard they had the same problems you described. My suggestion would be to look for older models. Thanks for letting me voice my opinion.

Michael.

People who state that most Honda cars are "lemons" did not buy their Honda from planet earth. If Honda's were mostly "lemons" you wouldn't see as many on the road. Judging your own Honda is fine, but putting most Honda's in your category really sounds like your venting. Need more proof that Honda doesn't produce mostly "lemons"? Take a glace at their market share.

To the person making the first comment, it isn't very helpful to tell people to look for older models. That's great if it works for you, or if that's all you can afford. But people buying late model cars aren't interested in shopping for decade-old heaps, no matter how well built they are.

2nd, Accords have been built in Marysville, OH, for a very long time. My 1988, 2000, and 1999 were all built at the same plant, and were all fabulous cars. The Accord's reputation for exceptional reliability in this country has come about from the buying public's experience with the American-made models.

If you're driving your '91 in the U.S., and it really does have the "J" at the beginning of the VIN, then it's rare.

I believe that Honda makes one of the best cars out there. I have worked as a mechanic for almost ten years and have found there repairs to be minor (brakes, etc). I myself have had two so far my first a 1988 civic that got me to 435000 km before I had to park it because the body was rotten. My second one is a 1991 civic that now has 600000 km. I purchased this car a few years ago for 200 dollars and have only had to do a clutch and brakes. I couldn't ask for a better car and I tell every one I know to buy Japanese.. Maybe one day when Ford Chevy and dodge build a quality car again, I will return to my roots, but for now I'll drive my Honda's and laugh all the way to the bank.

My 1999 accord was built in Japan.

Honda's are really well built cars and are always class leading in safety and engineering. My neighbor was just involved in a head on collision with his 2002 "1HG" "American built" Accord and was unharmed at speeds excessive to 65 Miles per hour. His car had over 60,000 miles and had no issues other than the brakes and one rear wheel bearing. I think it is Honda that is sometimes not given enough credit. Because of my neighbors crash, I will for sure buy my third Accord without hesitation, because I know my family will be safe.

Everyone screams that Hondas are the best, but that's only because they bought one. If you want to really see how great Honda is, check out how many used Honda's are for sale! Toyota, GM and Ford sell more cars than Honda, but you find so few of them for resale. Right now, I have counted 521 used Honda's for sale in my region and only 498 of the other 3 combined. Hmm, sounds like people are buying Honda then selling them just as fast. I wonder why?

Well it sounds like if you don't like the quality of Honda... don't buy one! I would much rather their price depreciate as quickly as american junk does. But the fact is they don't, and another fact is that the Accord has been the best rated car in its class more times than the number of fingers you use to count on... so if you dislike Honda just don't buy one. I surely would be happy to purchase a used Honda anyday, I already own an Accord with over 230,000 miles, and it still runs very well.

I don't like when people try to pass off a company's bad quality products by saying it is built in the US or Mexico.

I owned an '88 Camry a long time ago that was built in Japan and it was by far the worst built car I've ever had the misfortune of owning!

My '92 Plymouth Acclaim was built in Mexico and it was very well built and held up with no squeaks, rattles, or broken interior bits in almost 200k miles of driving. The fact that Hondas might be built in the US has little to nothing to do with the bad quality. It's not like Americans are the ones engineering them, so you can pass off all these mechanical problems on anyone else but Honda.

I swear, people can't bring themselves to say something bad about Honda when the facts are there, as if cursing God's name in vain. Gimme a break people. If the same problem is reported by Honda owners over and over again, what does that tell you???

ROFL... I know there's a N American car in there somewhere. Those stupid stats... nobody believes them anyway... right???

The Warranty Direct Top 100 Most Reliable Used Cars Of The Past Decade.

1 Honda Accord 2 Subaru Forester 3 Mazda MX-5 4 Mitsubishi Carisma 5 Toyota Yaris 6 Honda Civic 7 Nissan Almera 8 Honda CR-V 9 Toyota RAV4 10 Nissan Micra 11 Lexus IS 200 12 Mazda 626 13 Jaguar X-Type 14 Toyota Landcruiser 15 Volvo S/V40 16 MINI (BMW) 17 Suzuki Vitara 18 Mazda 323 19 Toyota Carina E 20 Saab 9-5 21 Lexus LS400 22 Ford Ka 23 Rover 45 24 Hyundai Lantra 25 Mercedes SLK 26 Citroen Xsara 27 Ford Cougar 28 Subaru Impreza 29 Skoda Octavia 30 Audi A4 31 Nissan Primera 32 Toyota Avensis 33 Volvo 850 34 Vauxhall Corsa 35 Seat Toledo 36 Volkswagen Golf 37 Daewoo Lanos 38 Fiat Brava 39 Hyundai Coupe 40 Mitsubishi Shogun 41 Rover 25 42 Mercedes CLK 43 Fiat Marea 44 Ford Focus 45 Peugeot 106 46 MG MG TF 47 BMW Z3 48 Hyundai Accent 49 Volkswagen Polo 50 Fiat Punto 51 Vauxhall Zafira 52 Mercedes C-class 53 Volvo S60 54 Toyota MR2 55 Mazda Xedos 6 56 Ford Puma 57 Vauxhall Astra 58 Vauxhall Omega 59 Chrysler Neon 60 Audi A2 61 Ford Fiesta 62 Ford Mondeo 63 Vauxhall Corsa 64 Citroen Saxo 65 BMW 3 Series 66 Vauxhall Vectra 67 Isuzu Trooper 68 Mercedes M-Class 69 Subaru Legacy 70 Rover 400 71 Fiat Ulysse 72 Mercedes E-Class 73 Renault Clio 74 Toyota Celica 75 Peugeot 306 76 Peugeot 406 77 Volvo S70 78 Rover 75 79 Daewoo Matiz 80 Peugeot 206 81 Mazda MX-3 82 Vauxhall Tigra 83 Seat Ibiza 84 Peugeot 106 85 Renault Megane 86 Peugeot 406 87 Saab 9-3 88 Audi A3 89 BMW X5 90 Mercedes S-class 91 Toyota Corolla 92 Seat Alhambra 93 BMW 5-series 94 Daewoo Nubira 95 Alfa Romeo 145 96 Saab 900 97 Mazda MX-6 98 Jaguar S-Type 99 Daewoo Leganza 100 Porsche Boxster.