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In all my 28 years of life on Earth I know that every non-Honda that my parents have owned, they had terrible experiences with them and were unreliable.
The cars my parents owned in my lifetime:
1979 Chevrolet Monza
1985 Dodge Aries
1989 Honda Accord
1994 Accord (my sisters and I car)
1997 Accord (my sisters and I car)
1999 Plymouth Grand Voyager
2002 Dodge Intrepid.
2003 Accord
2008 Accord
All the Accords were bought used at one or two years old. The 1989 one we traded in around 180,000 miles and ran great with no problems and ony maintenance but was rusting away. The 1994 one we traded in at 225,000 miles and same story. This car was the one my sister and I learned to drive and used it to pass our license test. I also used this to drive 100 miles round trip every Monday-Friday for two years. The Accord ran like a champ My sister bought a 1997 Accord used in 2002. When she moved away in 2005, I took over driving it. I drove it everywhere and lots of road trips with my future wife until 2009 when I traded it in with 290,000 miles and running awesome. The only thing it needed was a new A/C compressor which broke a month before I traded it in for a new 2009 Hyundai Elantra. We had a baby in the way and my wife wanted a new car to take the baby in but a new Honda was out of our price range at the time. I took over driving her beat up 2004 Chevy Cavalier. Ugh, it was a downgrade.
The Monza, Aries, Grand Voyager, and Intrepid (Voyager and Intrepid bought brand new) were all unreliable and always needing fixed. I remember sitting in the mechanics with my parents for those cars and hardly remember it for the Accords. The Voyager had transmission and electrical problems. My parents dumped it for a 2003 Accord after 60,000 miles. The Intrepid had engine and transmission problems. I remember it burning oil and the transmission needed rebuilt around 80,000 miles. At 100,000 miles my Dad was driving it on an on-ramp to an Interstate and the tranny went again and that was enough for my Dad. The next day he bought a new 2008 Accord and swore he’d never buy a non-Honda again. My parents are still driving their Accords today with no complaints.
Last month, my wife and I were deciding between used Chrysler Town and Country and a Honda Odyssey. My wife liked the features the Town and Country had but the Odyssey drove better and just felt better and right to me. We ended up getting the Odyssey and think it was the right move. I am back in Honda land
Uh, I am a black man and I am here to tell you that some do. So be careful with this.
I realize that some do. I hope you are not one of them. But don't you think iti is silly to punish people today over something that happened a very long time ago (unless the people of today are as bad as those of the past)?
I realize that some do. I hope you are not one of them. But don't you think iti is silly to punish people today over something that happened a very long time ago (unless the people of today are as bad as those of the past)?
I am not one of them. But I think that the OP probably valued his/her grandfather's opinions and maybe has integrated this somewhat outdated bias into their own search for a car.
Personally, I don't care for a lot of Japanese cars because I think they are way too dull and common. But if I had no money and needed something that would be ultrareliable, I would probably buy one. I didn't have a car at all for many years growing up in NYC and moving to Chicago. When I got to LA, I needed one. It was important to have a NICE car due to my job. I still didn't buy a Japanese car though I looked at a few.
I bought this car in 2000. It was built and assembled in Japan. The styling can still stand toe-to-toe with the 2014 styling. Fourteen years and about 168,000 miles later, it still runs as good as day one. For the first 13 years, I only put in gasoline and change oil minus consumable like break pads and rotors and muffler. On year 14th, the front CV Axle's rubber ruptured $450 repairs. The car still has the original transmission fluid.
This car is fun to drive especially with a manual transmission.
I was always brought up to believe (and at the time rightly so) that "Made In Japan" was synonymous with shoddy. Then in the early 70s, I befriended a theatrical sound engineer who fought the Japanese in World War II. He drove a Toyota, and had a SONY TV set! I was shocked. He told me he had nothing but respect for the Japanese, and that their electronics were WAY better than anything that came out of the USA (he worked for RCA at the time)! He bragged about the superiority of his Toyota Corona over any Detroit car he ever owned.
It took me years of reading Consumer Reports, and listening to him to finally buy my first Japanese TV, and Japanese car. My only regret is that I didn't do it sooner. The worst Japanese car I ever owned was better than the best Detroit car I ever owned. My RCA TVs needed repair of some sort at least once a year, but none of the Japanese TVs I've owned have ever seen a repair man. They finally wear out after a minimum of ten years, and it's cheaper to replace them.
Now there are no true American TVs out there. The few former American marques left have been bought out by foreign concerns. Japanese cars are STILL the most reliable cars in the world, and the Detroit automakers will always be playing catch up. Chrysler is now an Italian company, GM is government owned, and Ford is the only unscathed US make. The problem with the Detroit built cars is the UAW. Unions have killed most of the industry in the United States with their greed, shoddy workmanship, and corruption. Thank goodness the Japanese have proven to the world that Americans CAN and DO build great products in their non union plants.
The Japanese have been a wonderful ally for more than 67 years, and their products have enriched American lives both in their quality, and their employment of hard working Americans who are WILLING to do a good day's work for a good day's pay.
It was an American, W. Edwards Deming who inspired the Japanese to succeed in becoming the best. Too bad the people of his own country didn't take him as seriously.
I bought this car in 2000. It was built and assembled in Japan. The styling can still stand toe-to-toe with the 2014 styling. Fourteen years and about 168,000 miles later, it still runs as good as day one. For the first 13 years, I only put in gasoline and change oil minus consumable like break pads and rotors and muffler. On year 14th, the front CV Axle's rubber ruptured $450 repairs. The car still has the original transmission fluid.
This car is fun to drive especially with a manual transmission.
Oh, I forgot to add that my 1994 Nissan Sentra, which I've driven for 20 years and which I still drive as my daily car, was built in Smyrna, Tennessee.
Japanese car? American car? Who knows? All I can say is: awesome car.
I've had one good Japanese car, and one not-so-good Japanese car.
Two good German cars - one was built in the U.S.
I have had no (out of two) good American cars - although, to be fair, the last American car I drove was purchased in 1983. Not the U.S. auto industry's finest hour.
I choose my cars based on value and projected reliability, not on their badge or origin.
It's a big financial mistake to purchase an American car, simply because it's resale value plummets (far more) than Japanese vehicles. KBB numbers can prove this. For most people, including me, the experience with a Japanese v American car is night and day. Japanese cars are far more reliable and for much longer. After having two American cars die on me, I'm never going back.
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