2003 Honda Accord EX V6 3.0 Liter gas from North America

Summary:

Decent but overrated car

Faults:

Paint is coming off hood like the chicken pox.

Transmission replaced at 20,000 miles.

Driver seatbelt latch replaced 60,000 miles.

Rear defroster electrical switch replaced 71,000 miles.

Window wiper motor failed and replaced 72,000 miles.

Driver's seat wearing badly despite yearly leather conditioning.

General Comments:

The car is a nice car, drives and handles well.

For a family sedan it is a well rounded car.

City gas mileage is not the best - about 13-16 mpg.

Highway gas mileage is quite good - about 27-30 mpg.

Disappointed in the reliability. Nothing major except for premature replacement of transmission (new 5 speed unit had chronic problems when this model launched in 2003). Record shows six failures over 80,000 miles. Not the model of reliability I have thought Honda to be. My GM product with 40,000 miles has had zero problems - what is wrong with this picture?

The dealer is plain annoying - you have to get an outright failure before they will do anything to fix something under the extended warranty. For example, claimed nothing was wrong with the driver's seatbelt. I told the service agent that if he could get out of the car and unbuckle it in 5 seconds, I would take the car and be on my way. He got in, buckled himself in, and then was stuck... I had to help him get out of the car after he swore at the seatbelt! I got a great laugh out of that, and he had to take the car back and replace the latch - which it finally was.

Overall, it is not a bad car but not worth the dealer price you have to pay to get it. Honda appears to be living on their reputation, rather than supporting it with future superior products.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No

Review Date: 29th July, 2009

29th Jul 2009, 19:07

Having fallen for the ad hype and been stuck with a real lemon of a Honda, I TOTALLY agree with the title of this review. No more Japanese cars for us!!

30th Jul 2009, 05:10

Happened to us too, and we have new GMs as well now. Very nice reliable vehicles. We have a Silverado Trailblazer and recently bought a low mileage 1998 Corvette Convertible for fun.

2003 Honda Accord EX 2.4 i-VTEC from North America

Summary:

Great car, but honestly Honda, fix the brakes!

Faults:

The only problem I have experienced with my Accord is that the brakes squeak 95% of the time. They also make a metal on metal grinding noise when braking from much lower speeds.

General Comments:

The brakes on this car are pretty bad. They work fine, but they squeal most of the time and grind off and on, but mostly from low speeds.

I just had the rear rotors and pads replaced. The Honda dealer service department said that the front pads were fine and were not in any need of replacement. I can live with the squeal and occasional grind if that is just the way they are. The grinding noise is not normal to me though. My dad has a 2004 Honda Accord EX-V6 automatic and his brakes make no noise AT ALL. They don't grind or squeak or anything.

I went to school in California and my car was not driven much since I graduated high school in 2003, so that is why I only have 40k miles on the car in 7 years!

I have not had one single problem with this car since they replaced my rear brake pads and rotors on my car. I keep seeing comments online that it could be my brake pad squeal wear indicators, but it is not a screech, it is a squeak. If I press down harder on the brakes they will not squeak nearly as bad, if they even squeak at all.

I have an appointment at Honda tomorrow for them to look at the front and rear brake assembly and whatnot. My brakes also shimmy slightly, but not like what other people on here are complaining about, and I am hard on my brakes. I drive quick and use my brakes for what they are supposed to do, which is stop the car, and if needed, I will hit them hard. THEY ARE BRAKES. That's why we have them.

If anyone knows anything about the slight grinding noise at low speeds or the squeaking noise, comment PLEASE!!! I just would like to know if this is normal.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 19th July, 2009

23rd Jul 2009, 10:27

The last portion of your review confirmed the root cause of your brake trouble. The problem here is not the unit, but the operator.

23rd Jul 2009, 10:47

Accords are not sports cars. They are family cars that handle a little bit better than other family cars, but at the expense of some more road noise relative to other family cars. If you want to drive like hard, buy something more suited to your kind of driving. Sounds like it will save you money in the long run, not having some many brake repairs.