26th Oct 2006, 13:39

Yes! That's the type of HYPE I'm talking about. The only reason you say that is because of something you read in the biased Consumer Reports! All of our GM and Ford vehicles have been just fine in reliability, sure some will be Lemons, but SHOW ME AN AUTOMAKER THAT DOESN'T HAVE THEM. If you are going to try and tell me that Toyota doesn't make lemons, I'd laugh and tell you to go read some Toyota reviews. News flash: There's many people complaining about them. It's not that I don't like Toyota's, but I just think they are way overrated. But go on with your hype, it's quite entertaining.

26th Oct 2006, 20:24

Yeah there is a lot of hype. I have driven my 94 Accord to 242,000 miles and have only had to replace the muffler, timing belt, spark plugs, and clutch pump. Did I mention I got it when I was 18 and drove it to pieces. I have gone down into ditches, over curves, almost had the thing on two wheels on one of those round abouts, and yet, no GM car we have had has had that reliability.

27th Oct 2006, 09:59

Look, I'm not saying that Toyota and Honda don't make good cars, I'm sure there have been ones that go 300k+ miles, but there are Fords and GM vehicles that do too, I've heard of Fords going 600k+ miles and Chrysler's at 500K, so it's not like Toyota and Honda are the only ones that make good cars. All I'm trying to say is just because a brand isn't Ford or GM doesn't mean it's automatically better. Look at the stats., even the biased Consumer Reports shows Buick is just as reliable if not more than Toyota and Honda.

27th Oct 2006, 13:15

I like the last guys comment on Consumer Reports. I have studied their auto rating in GREAT DETAIL and have found that they will often (not every time, but very often) will give a recommendation to a Japanese car and not a US car with the exact same circular ratings! I even found 1 case that the US car had a better rating than a Japanese model and the US got nothing and the Japanese brand got a thumbs up. Hypocrites! I don't trust them much. I only use them as a "rule of thumb".

Now to the commenter before the CR guy. If you have read a large amount of reviews, you will find that Toyota and Honda have more dealership problems than the domestics. I have even read a review on this site of a guy who switched from Ford to Toyota and regretted his decision b/c the Toyota dealership didn't care. You've the opposite experience and your comments are worthy of being noted. Here's my point. Please do not make the mistake of linking Ford Motor Company (or any other OEM) directly to the dealership. This is a gross error. The OEM sets guidelines, but the dealerships are free to give the level of service they are comfortable with. Some dealerships are down-right horrible and others are paragons of courtesy... and the two dealerships could sell the same cars! No body must ever make the mistake of linking dealer service to brand of car, ever. My advice to people is to only buy cars that have at least 2 separately owned dealerships of the same OEM with in "driving range". If there's only 1, the dealership is your only place to turn with difficult problems, especially if foreign. If they're ignorant, you're stuck. Both my wife and I wanted a Volvo, but I would not be sold as there is only 1 dealership within a 30 mile radius. I'm not willing to take the risk.

Enough already, huh. OK, I'm finished. Good luck to all!

27th Oct 2006, 15:14

I have heard of a Honda with 1,081,000 miles on it. To be exact it is a 1994 Honda Accord EX 5-speed. It might not have as many miles as the guy with 2 Million on his Volvo, but the Honda has something going for it for doing that many miles in eight years.

31st Oct 2006, 15:49

Yes a Volvo holds the world record with 2.5 million miles!

That being said, there are plenty of cars with millions of miles on them. VW's, Mercedes', Cadillac's, Chevy's...

And you would see a lot more if people weren't so eager to have the latest model. So in a sense "long term reliability" is a bit overrated when buying new, if you are only planning to keep the car around for 4 years.

31st Oct 2006, 19:28

If you want proof, try and google "GM Lemons" or "Ford Lemons" sometime, then try "Honda Lemons".

Once in a while Honda makes a Lemon, yes. And once in a while, GM or Ford accidentally make a decent car.

3rd Nov 2006, 12:39

Yeah OK, keep telling yourself that. If you want to find about problems with Toyota's, just go to the 1995 4Runner reviews on this site, and you'll find one review in particular where 75 people have added comments claiming head gasket failure on their 4Runners! And Toyota is leaving them high and dry, and refusing to help! So to say that foreign auto makers make a lemon "once in a while" is definitely an understatement.

3rd Nov 2006, 19:22

There is no comparison between the full sized turbo deisel Powerstrokes, Cummins, and Duramaxes these are full fledged heavy duty Pick-ups. The Ridgeline is a crossover vehicle, so what is this discussion really about? Honda may one day produce a real full sized pick-up truck, scared???

9th Nov 2006, 19:44

Uh - did you even read my post? I didn't mention Toyota. But even if I did, remember, I mentioned that all car makers make a lemon once in a while, so maybe the 1995 4runner was one. And if you actually do some factual research, Toyota does not leave customers "high and dry" with a defect.

And the comment from the poster about pulling 9,000 lbs - How many people spend the money on a truck like that and NEVER use it to pull 9,000 lbs? Or maybe they use it a couple of times per year, when they could save more by renting a truck when they need it instead of paying for gas (diesel) and the other costs on the "big" truck for the full year?

I don't own a truck, but I have to borrow someone else's truck about 6 time per year. When I do, it's to haul a piece of furniture I just purchased, or some tree limbs, or maybe some bulk trash items to the landfill, or a table and chair set to a relatives for the holidays. So if I want to buy an new vehicle, why not a Ridgeline and get the versatility of a small bed yet the ride and comfort of an SUV or car? That is the market Honda is targeting people! Honda never intended people to buy one if they need a heavy hauler or tower!

3rd Dec 2006, 13:08

Just to be fair about this, if you are going to do a google search for a car make and the word lemon, please don't search GM and lemon, because there is no such thing as a GM branded car or a GM branded dealership. You would have to compare Chevrolet, Pontiac, GMC Truck, Buick, Oldsmobile and Cadillac to Honda and Acura to make a fair comparison. Of course, it would still be way off, because GM has been so much bigger than Honda for so long that they have millions more cars on the road, so even if the cars were exactly equal in quality, there would be more complaints about GM vehicles. Nothing personal, I'm just asking for a fair comparison.