It seems to me like these two companies make the best cars. I'm retired and need to get a good four door and my main concerns are reliabliity, low cost maintenance and initial cost. I would consider a year or two year old also. I hear of Honda Civics going to 300,000 miles with few problems. Which is better, the Accord or the Camry or did I miss one?
I'm thinking about getting a new Pilot but I want the side curtain airbags and the 2006 model might have them. Anyone know? When is the
2006 Pilot going to be available.SG
Check out the Audi A6. Very reliable and a thrill to drive.
Audi, isn't that a Volkswagen, terrible reliability.
Tom
On 2005-05-23 snipped-for-privacy@sbcglobal.net said: >Newsgroups: alt.autos.honda >It seems to me like these two companies make the best cars. I'm >retired and need to get a good four door and my main concerns are >reliabliity, low cost maintenance and initial cost. I would >consider a year or two year old also. I hear of Honda Civics going >to 300,000 miles with few problems. Which is better, the Accord or >the Camry or did I miss one? >-- >73 >Hank WD5JFR Ny '85 Honda Civic wagon is still going strong at 282,956 mi. Near-identical '84, at 215,459 mi., presently laid-up while I get around to checking drive-end of cam for suspected cracking, replace it. (I've had several of these failures - bad design - sharp corner produces stress concentration cracking. Honda should know better. Any mechanical designer worth his salt does!)
But... reading what you guys are posting, I'd probably not buy Honda today - looks like a lot of trouble.
Wonder if there are any decent VeeDubs around? Had several real goodies in the '60's. Always lusted for a crew-cab pickup, canoe on top, dirt bike in the back, junk-yard dog nearby.
Gawd, don't I sound like an old hippie!
Tom Willmon near Mountainair, (mid) New Mexico, USA
Bug free, cheap, on time, works. Pick two.
Net-Tamer V 1.12.0 - Registered
Nope.
In fact, I'd buy a Chevy or a Ford long, long before I'd buy a German car. That's from direct experience.
IMHO either one will be a fine car for you. There has been some concern here about recent Honda automatic transmissions, but frankly I have no direct knowledge. It is something to learn about.
Mike (former WA6TDG... many years ago)
most of the small fords & chevy's are designed in germany & use german parts extensively. focus, cavalier...
in terms of parts quality, even though i don't care for vw either, their standards are definitely higher than our domestics.
Cavalier? Nope. Pure American.
But I wasn't thinking Focus when I was thinking Ford.
nope, pure german. may be assembled here, but i assure you, it wasn't designed here. checking out opel.de gives you an idea of how much gm europe has invested in an entirely euro product range, some of which finds its way here.
true, not the first to come to mind, but there's a number of euro fords sold here - essentially all the small ones.
fwiw, the dodge stratus was/is german too, even before chrysler was bought by daimler.
I'd give the camry a miss. Friends got an 05, in 6 months, its had a headlight unit replaced, been in 3 times with the airbags, another time with the ABS, paints already chipping, because of rust underneith. This car is about 6 months old, and in georgia. hardly salt+spray central.
I agree.
The same companies make Acura & Lexus so consider them also.
These will be higher initial cost. Much lower on Excedrin bills later.
Yes, get used - even older - and save on initial cost.
My first choice is either brand if the serial number starts with a "J".
After that, I'd prefer a timing chain over a timing belt.
Certain Toyota engines can burn oil and some get lower gas mileage than Honda, but other than that, Toyotas are better built and last longer IMHO.
Good luck.
toyotas are junk. get a honda they have higher resale value. you won't be disappointed.
We have been very happy with both Toyotas and Hondas. Our current Toyota is a 2002 Prius and is in very strong demand on the used market, leading to used Prius cars sometimes selling for more than they cost originally.
Mike
um, no and no...
I don't think you can really go wrong with either a Honda or Toyota. I have had many Toyota's and they have all been rock solid reliable. Just bought my first Honda (2005 Pilot) today so we will see if their reputation holds up. Another car you might want to consider is Nissan Maxima. I had a Maxima for eight years and 128,000 miles and never had to do ANYTHING to it other than routine maintenance (oil changes,brake pads,etc.). I would still have it if it had not been totaled in an accident . If you look at JD Powers quality and reliability rankings Toyota has better initial quality scores but Honda has a slight edge in long term dependability ranking. I think with the quality level here you would not go wrong with any of these choices and it comes down to personal preference of styling, layout, fun to drive, proximity to dealer, which dealer will make a better deal, etc.
Others to consider: Infiniti G35 Hyundai Sonata Nissan Altima
Brett Rohlfing
Someone mentioned the exhaust pipes on new Toyota Cambry cars. He said that they look terrible. The following day after I read his post, I was behind a new Toyota Cambry while driving down a local road. The poster was right. One section of the exhaust pipe was really close to the road. It's amazing that Toyota enginers did not do a better job related to the exhaust system.
I'm soured on Nissan as the '84 300ZX we traded for the Toyota was nothing but trouble. I bought it at 115K miles and it was pretty good for a couple years. Then the electrical system became a bundle of intermittents. I fixed a dozen of them or so (three lighting, one immobilizer, one ignition, one window switch, one fuel pump control, one at the ECU, and a few others) but there were two that were still making life miserable when we traded the car away around 150K miles. At that point I was working on it at least once a week and had the intake plemum off about once a month. In comparison my daughter's '93 Accord LX is well over 200K and I have to pry it out of her hands to do the routine service. My '85 turbo Volvo is still a reliable daily driver at 235K (in spite of the interior disintegrating.)
Mike
if you get up underneath & measure, the pipe is parallel with the road, it doesn't dip. it /looks/ like it from behind because of the way it's routed, but it's an optical illusion. and it's actually better than a honda mdx, which really /does/ dip down.
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