I'll third the Honda myth.
First, my cars are garaged and cared for like *babies*. I don't park near other cars. I change the oil every 3,000 miles, and wax them 4-5 times a year. They look like they're brand-new when I sell them, usually without even a scratch.
Here's a list of the cars I've owned, since my first non-college brand-new car:
1) 1986 Dodge Daytona, 2.5 4, 5-speed. Garnet Red Clearcoat Metallic.
- A "power module" had to be replaced to cure flickering lights (26,000 miles). No other problems. Sold with 31,000 miles. Shouldn't have.
2) 1988 Honda Accord LXi, 2.0 4, 5-speed. Chianti Red Metallic. No clear coat (why?)...
- Permanent water spots in paint (two months old), even after the first wax with Nu Finish. A reply from a letter to Honda instructed me to "Make sure [you] remove all excess water from body parts after any rain." Um, HUH? Is this 1943? That letter alone told me everything I needed to know about Honda.
- Left from door lamp wouldn't work (4,000 miles). The connector hadn't been connected at the factory.
- Right rear door needed alignment to allow it to close properly (4,000 miles).
- Headlamp "doors" needed alignment to stop them from scraping the edges of the hood (4,000 miles).
- Brakes pulsing; front rotors replaced (10,000 miles).
- Right headlamp burned out (10,000 miles).
- Left headlamp burned out (11,000 miles).
- Fully-rusted catalyst heat shield fell off (18,000 miles).
- Brakes pulsing again; front rotors replaced (18,000 miles).
- Enigne wouldn't warm up; bad thermostat (20,000 miles).
- Gas mileage became worse; bad PCV valve (24,000 miles).
- Rear-wheel rubber wheel-opening liners (press-fitted u-shaped rubber with spring steel inside) rusted and fell off (24,000 miles).
- A/C evaporator core blew out all of its freon from a rusted-through hole (25,000 miles)
- Brakes pulsing again; front rotors replaced (28,000 miles).
- Second gear became hard to engage (30,000 miles).
- Rotate-to-open headlamps stopped rotating-to-open (30,000 miles). Arrrggg. Nice corroded connector...
- Left headlamp burned out (31,000 miles).
- Right headlamp burned out (31,000 miles). This is when I learned to replace them in pairs, although I've never needed to replace headlamps since...
- Brakes pulsing again; front rotors replaced (36,000 miles). Other problems:
- The brakes were a joke. The front wheels were always *covered* in brake dust, even after being washed only days earlier.
- A rattle from the instrument panel never went away.
- Moonroof sun shield always rattled, *thunked* whenever anyone got into the car, and fell out of its tracks half the time when moved. I ended up removing it.
- Engine idle speed was far too low. Turning on any electrical accessories caused the alternator to almost bring the engine to its knees.
- Several parts rusted that I've never seen rust on any other car---trunk arms, several undercarriage parts, underhood screws holding the fenders, ...need I go on?
- Power antenna needed a regular shot of teflon lubricant to keep it from locking up.
- Hood release required 10,000 foot-pounds of torque to open the hood.
*Gladly* sold with 42,000 miles. Whoever owns it now is probably sinking their life savings into it, if it's even
*running* anymore.
3) 1993 Dodge Daytona ES, 3.0 V6, 5-speed. Emerald Green Metallic Clearcoat. Zero problems. Zero. Sadly sold with 43,000 miles---one great car. The service manager at TransitTowne Dodge still owns it. Damn...
4) 1997 Dodge Stratus ES, 2.5 V6, AutoStick. Deep Amethyst Metallic Clearcoat. Zero problems. Zero. Lease ended with 23,800 miles. I considered buying it, but I wanted an SUV.
5) 1997 Ford Ranger XLT SuperCab, 2.3 4, 5-speed. Medium Blue Metallic Clearcoat. Zero problems. Lease ended with 21,000 miles. I considered buying this too, but I have a friend that gave me an X-plan deal on a '99 Explorer (next).
6) 1999 Ford Explorer XLT, 4.0 SOHC V6, automatic (5-speed). Tropic Green Metallic Clearcoat.
- Dealer replaced all five Firestones with Uniroyal TigerPaws at 18,000 miles.
- Dealer replaced the turn signal lever. No other problems. Lease ended with 37,500 miles. Almost bought this one, too, but another X-plan deal later, ...
7) 2002 Ford Explorer Eddie Bauer, 4.0 SOHC V6, automatic (5-speed). Toreador Red Metallic Clearcoat. Zero problems to date. Zero.
None of this is untrue.