Faults:

31,000 miles - front struts - replaced under warranty.

44,000 miles - all 4 tires & 4 wheel align.

56,000 miles - left front wheel bearing - noisy.

59,000 miles - right front wheel bearing - noisy.

59,000 miles - front brake pads and rotors.

62,000 miles - A/C compressor - locked up.

65,000 miles - oxygen sensor - check engine light on.

73,000 miles - parking brake cable snapped.

81,000 miles - exhaust manifold/cat converter replaced - cracked and was leaking - VERY EXPENSIVE! 1000 miles out of emissions warranty and Honda told me to dangle.

84,000 miles - Left front axle shaft replaced - grinding/popping noise.

88,000 miles - replaced 4 tires and 4 wheel align.

93,000 miles - secondary cat converter replaced - weld broke, fell off and was dragging - VERY VERY EXPENSIVE!

98,000 miles - both left and right wheel bearings replaced again - excessive noise AGAIN.

99,000 miles - Both oxygen sensors replaced - check engine light.

107,000 miles - all 4 struts replaced - very bouncy ride.

110,000 miles - timing belt and waterpump replaced - part of major maintenance.

114,000 miles - exhaust manifold/cat converter cracked and leaking AGAIN - had welded to avoid a 1300 dollar repair.

115,000 miles - CD player stopped working - no longer ejects discs.

121,000 miles - radiator failed - leaked out all coolant.

General Comments:

After being jacked around at the dealer when I bought it, I decided I would not go back. I found the other Honda dealers in the area to be somewhat more honest, but not very helpful.

I bought this car because of Honda's reputation and the fuel economy of this model. It is the first brand new car I have ever owned. I bring it to the dealer for all of its maintenance, and although it isn't the worst car I've ever had (that honor goes to the Ford Tempo) I was expecting more from this car.

The fuel economy is STELLAR, but I feel like the frequency and extreme expense of repairs on this 4 year old car eats up any savings that the MPG offers.

The ride of this car was harsh and noisy when new, replacing the shocks and tires with aftermarket improvements helped matters, but it is still a loud rough riding car.

I'm disappointed with Honda's refusal to replace the extremely expensive emissions components after they failed less than 1000 miles after the emissions warranty expired.

I never abused this car, and I serviced it regularly, and yet my 1993 Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera I bought second hand for a 1/4 of the price required less in repairs over the same period of time.

I also feel that a modern vehicle should not use a timing belt, but rather a timing chain, to save on expensive maintenance.

Hyundai is eating Honda's lunch. Better product for less money, and a 100,000 mile warranty to back it up. Either that or I'll buy another second hand GM car. I expect a new car to outlive its payment book before requiring multiple repairs that were more than 1000 bucks.

Faults:

The transmission gasket wasn't right from the factory, and it caused hard shifting into the 1-3-5 gears.

The car leaked a bit of oil at the start.

The windshield cracked easily.

The driver and passenger-side front windows are hard to roll up.

General Comments:

This car goes forever on a tank, until you hit 120 km/h. Then you will be surprised by how quickly the tank drains.

For shorter people, the thin seats don't matter, because of the good contours. I've done a trip of 7200 kilometers, 3600 of it in one straight run, and the seats were good, even on the longest stretches.

The transmission is starting to get a bit ropey as time goes on, and smooth shifts aren't helped by the extremely light and grabby (and original) clutch.

The patterned plastic on the door panels and sill plates scratches easily.

The car handles marvelously, if you ignore the weight.

Even with a 5-speed, this is not a fast car.

Five people can make a trip, but when going more than 200 kilometers, four is better.

The back seat is roomy for such a small car. It is nice to see child seat mounts and 3-point safety belts at all positions.

Our experiences with dealer service have been mixed. We use the same place all the time. Sometimes they are efficient and fast, and sometimes they are slow and generate more excuses than results. The same shop that made a chip in our windshield to prove that it wasn't they who made the crack in the windshield (convoluted logic, to my way of thinking) is also the same shop that takes care of scheduled maintenance within an hour of us showing up with the car.

This car, which will have racked up almost 200,000km in our ownership by year's end, has thus far been very good for my (mostly short) family. It is zippy and fuel efficient, with a cavernous trunk. Other than those minor items up top, and a few dissatisfactions down below, absolutely nothing has failed. No suspension failures, no electrical failures, no body hardware falling off, no cooling system faults, in fact it's just been eerie how little has gone wrong.

Previous car: 1993 Ford Taurus wagon. One transmission, one radiator, one set of exhaust headers, constant electrical problems, one very weak engine, and one car that makes this one look so much better.