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I've never been "stranded" by any car I've owned (1995+), although I'm only in my 30s. Maybe "reliability" in and of itself was a game changer back in the day, but nowadays if that's all you've got going for you...
With that being said, I'd still choose a Honda over a Toyota. Talk about bare-bones vanilla cars.
As I have in C-D before, we had a 03' Accord EX-L 6 cyl. that was a disappointment. Power steering pumps, lots of little stuff and then worrying about the tranny. We sold it and have a Lexus now. After owning a '83 and a '97, the '03 was not the same type of car.
No Dodge has ever stranded me. What is your point? You think the only vehicles that don’t break down are Japanese? Toyota came out 10th on the latest JD Power. Honda and Toyota are living off their reputations from the 70s when they went up against terrible competition. The world is little different now. Now they get beat by, wait for it, KIA.
Well, my Honda Odyssey (2003, I think) has 215,000 miles on it. My other Honda - an Accord (1996) - which my mother now drives has 254,000 miles on it. So, I'm pretty impressed.
Honda is still rated 5th in reliability. Lexus is Number 1.
Bottom 10 includes Ford, Dodge and Chrysler.
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I had an Infiniti G35 coupe for 6 years. Never broke down, but the maintenance was $$$. Things wore out because some of the stuff they used made no sense.
For example, the rear subframe has a fluid fill bushing. It starts to leak at 20k and cost over 1k to replace. The valvecover is PLASTIC, and warps over time. Causing oil to seep into the spark plugs. The Compression Rod Bushing cracks due to the Rods being out of spec, and Infiniti is too cheap to replace the rod.
From personal experience with a 94 and a 98 Honda Accord, they both have seemed to age better and have less issues especially electrically compared to some American cars I've owned.
My mother's 98 Accord has 172,240 miles on the car, the trans was replaced once the first year she bought the car, but as far as other major repairs, nothing big has been done in over 6 years of ownership. I just recently replaced the radiator and thermostat, including both upper and lower radiator hoses, the battery, plug wires, and that's been it so far. She got new tires, and brake work. Other than that the car still has loads of power, idles smooth, and everything still works inside it for as old as it is. Not sure if a GM or Ford car would have been the same in terms of reliability.
Honda's have also designed very refined engines using high quality components, and sophisticated technology. The problems that have always plagued Hondas however is there terrible ride quality and somewhat feather weight body construction that doesn't feel solid or well built compared to even a Toyota that just feels better to be in.
Honda's are technically sound cars, but they haven't bothered much on really constructing a truly comfortable car with zero road noise. Toyota has taken this approach and has succeeded.
Honda's handle great, and generally use good quality materials, but starting the 98 model year, things changed for the worse. This was a time of cost cutting, and it showed throughout interior cabin, using more harder plastics, and thinner materials. Plus the failure rates regarding the V6 engine transmissions were very high and were a common occurrence that Honda never addressed.
So the days of Hondas being the best cars made during that time started to slip away. as more problems popped up, people took notice. At least some of the problems weren't as bad as some of the American car companies, but you can tell Honda was cheapening up it's products as it gained market share. One good example is how many 98-2003 Honda Accords or Civics do you see with peeling clearcoats?? Probably a lot!
The paint quality was horrible, actually the cars made in Japan didn't suffer this paint issue as badly as the ones made at their Ohio Plant. I wonder what happened?
Other than that, Honda generally has good history on their side.
My HOnda was only about 6 years old with 60,000 miles and was having major transmission issues. The dealers claimed there was nothing wrong, even though there had been a recent recall. I got rid of it after thinking I would be able to drive it for a good 10+ years.
So far so good with my 2014 Civic Ex. Its a lease but I may end up buying it out at lease end and keeping it as a commuter depending on how well it holds up. It currently has 14k miles on it and I have to say that the car is very smooth and refined. Not a cvt fan but Honda has done an excellent job with their in house cvt's. Big improvement over the cvt in my wife's Nissan Rogue.
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