12th Sep 2008, 11:20
Sadly, imports are not all their ads make them out to be. I've heard of countless stories of major problems with Camry, and quite a few with the normally reliable Accord. Our Civic was one of the most poorly made, unreliable cars I've ever seen. We long ago went back to 100% domestic vehicles for all 3 of our cars and none of our domestics has ever had one single problem ever. The current crop of domestics is better in every respect than most imports. A domestic SUV, the Chevy Suburban, has the highest resale value of any large SUV, while the lowest resale value is an import (the Nissan Armada). Though Honda has excellent resale value, it is more than offset by the much higher purchase price and repair costs on the newer models.
As for styling, yes, the new 4-door Accord is almost indistinguishable from a decade-old Saturn LS sedan. My advice is to try the new Ford Fusion (highest rated car Consumer Reports has ever tested) or the world-class Chevy Malibu. Either is more affordable, more reliable and less expensive to purchase and maintain.
13th Sep 2008, 18:10
That’s not going to happen. I never buy American cars and I don’t agree with the resale value. Don’t know where you got that information. The resale value is much higher for Japanese cars.
14th Sep 2008, 10:58
Import resale values do NOT offset the additional high purchase prices and higher maintenance costs. If you pay $7000 more for a car, keep it 4 years and get $3000 more for it than a comparable domestic, you've still LOST $4000.
Add in a $5000 transmission replacement and you're even further behind.
Car and Driver just featured an article about used cars and one was an Acura with only 78,000 miles on it. It had already had one engine replaced and TWENTY FIVE sets of front brake pads!! In the 8 YEARS I've owned my GM car I've had NOTHING replaced except ONE set of front brake pads. If I GAVE the car away I'd be better off than that Acura owner!!
18th Sep 2008, 10:30
After making comment 10:58, I went to my office and discovered that a good friend had just bought a 2009 Honda Civic. He paid $19,165 for a basic 4-door with automatic. He then paid an ADDITIONAL $1000 to extend the puny 36,000 mile warranty to 100,000 miles (which comes on ALL GM cars for free). Honda (and Toyota) now have the second worst warranty in the auto industry (the worst is the Smart car's 2-year warranty).
If my friend had followed my suggestion, he could have bought an identically equipped Ford Focus with a 60,000 mile standard warranty for a total of $7000 less. I can already hear shouts of "RESALE VALUE!!! RESALE VALUE!!" from import owners. Well, I looked it up. I went to KBB and put in the identical mileage and equipment for a 3 year old base Civic and a 3 year old base Focus. The Civic was higher... by about $1850. Which means my friend will LOSE $5150 on his investment over a three year period. To me that IS not a wise buy. $5150 will buy a LOT of gas.
This just goes to reinforce my previous comment. Any possible "savings" in higher resale value of Honda is more than offset by the much higher purchase price, even if the car does NOT trash the transmission at 40,000 miles.
18th Sep 2008, 19:58
"10th Sep 2008, 17:33
Uh, if you thought it was so ugly, why did you buy it in the first place?"
I believe she stated in her review that her husband talked her into buying it, due to high gas prices.
6th Oct 2008, 12:24
Actually Honda's come with a 5 year 60K power train warranty standard. Not sure where you heard 3/36 was standard or if you were talking about the bumper to bumper warranty only. In any case it seems the Focus has the same warranty. I agree the Focus would be a better choice though as it is a really nice car for the money. Unfortunately old habits die hard and import owners are tough to sway when it comes to foreign cars versus domestics, which is why the resale values are higher on the foreign cars. Look at a base Accord for $21K or so and a base Malibu for around $22K and you'll come out way ahead on the Accord. Point: There is an argument for every side of the car debate. Nowadays most of the import cars sold here are designed and/or built in the U.S. (or Mexico/ Canada) so it really doesn't matter so much what you choose. Imports have declined in quality and domestics have gained quality so to me they pretty much are at the same level...finally. Just buy what you like and move on...
18th Oct 2008, 19:39
I've owned a lot of small cars over the last 3 decades. I've been most impressed with the Hondas. I just bought my daughter an 09 Civic LX Coupe, and I paid $17,200. Probably not the very best I could have done, but I was tired of haggling, and it was quite a bit less than others have paid for 08 and 09 models. Dealers will tell you their cost prohibits them from selling an LX for less than $18,000. Don't believe it. I love the new styling on the front and back end vs. the previous models. It's a beautiful car, all around. For those considering the new Honda Fit, I'll give my opinion. If you need the versatile fold-down seats for cargo (or 10 cup-holders), it beats the Civic, but the Fit has less power, a rather noisy, bumpy ride, and gets slightly worse gas mileage than the Civic. Accelerating to highway speed felt way too slow for me. I feel the Civic is just more solid, responsive, and fun to drive.
20th Oct 2008, 16:01
My God son test drive a new Fit and came away with the same impression as commenter 19:39. He opted to go with a Pontiac G5, which has a much better warranty (100,000 miles), is rated at 37mpg, and saved him nearly 5 grand. That will buy a LOT of gas.
14th Nov 2008, 12:36
Most Honda models today are basically domestic makes with a foreign name. Most notably, Accords, Civics, Odysseys and Rideglines are all manufactured in the US along with the CR-V. Yes, the resale values on these vehicles are higher typically when they are well cared for.
20th Nov 2008, 07:57
FYI
Most of the Japanese cars are made in the US nowadays. My father owns a 99 Honda CR-V in SAUDI ARABIA, and it's made in USA... even the manual, which is in Arabic, is printed in USA.
There is no such thing as imports/domestic cars any more. The thing is that build quality is becoming the worst thing about cars, my 97 Acura with 170k drives and feels much better than my 07 Dodge with 12k, which is made of nothing but cheap plastic, I think 100% plastic, the cheapest kind.
Don't get me wrong, new imports are somewhat plastic too, but still a better decision, at least for me.
Why for me... I've had over 10 so far, and I have a big family, which means much more cars to test drive or hear about.
10th Sep 2008, 17:33
Uh, if you thought it was so ugly, why did you buy it in the first place?