Every single American car Brand is on the bottom in Consumer reports 2018 Reliability ratings

Kevin S.

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Glad your Corvette has not caused you any issues. Yes, I heard the Type R has grinding issues, at least the 2017 model. People who had the issue say that Honda replaced their trans. I wouldn't discount CR to much, a lot there analysis is not only based on their tests but on user surveys, over 5000 I believe
I have a late model 2018 build date ctr

Hopefully Honda resolves these issues but I'm not putting much stock in it.

I feel like most big corporations don't care about the consumer especially in a low volume car like this. How many people had to die before takata stepped up and that whole thing went down.

Meh...
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xbbnx

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My dad and grandpa both retired from GM. Famlies been loyal, and I owned 4 GM cars and SUV's. The 2012 Cruze I had was the last straw.
Why is that?
 

Gruber

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I use all kinds of reviews and rankings including CR, but each with its own customized grain of salt. All these data I treat only as input, the final output and decision is made only by my own judgement.
The biggest problem is with the final rankings often based on unclear weighing of many factors. Such as infotainment vs. the drivetrain. The reports on the horrible electronic system in the civicx I simply discounted. I knew they are based on the reports of various maturity people connecting their weird iPods (wat's dat?), hacked phones, suspect pendrives with downloaded mp3s and what not, dowloading hondahacks and tons of android apps and then complaining that some Gong Wong phone was not playing clearly etc.

I also expected Honda to keep improving the system on newer models.

I was right, since I don't have a single problem with the head unit and other electronics. I was actually pleasantly surprised by relatively logical and simple menus, because in many other sytems an idiotic layout of the menus is the main problem. I was fully aware before buying the car of the climate system being partially on the tablet and I got used to it as I don't change these settings often.
 

Hondaman_MI

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Why is that?
Transmission failed on my 1998 Tahoe. The Cruze I owned 2 years. Steam would come out of the hood, the coolant boiled in the reservoir tank, it leaked on the ground. Parts were replaced at the dealer, but it happened a total of 3 times in 2 years, same parts replaced every time. Obviously a poor design, if you google Cruze coolant problems it's really common, class action lawsuits resulted. The reservoir tank and parts around it look cheap and flimsy like it was from a toy at Walmart. In contrast, on the Civic it looks durable, sturdy, and thicker material. Had a oil leak, trunk would randomly open up, MPG was less than EPA rating, engine felt under powered...it struggle going up hills. Resale value is poor.
 

civicdabest-foo

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The title of the thread should not of course be taken to mean that every domestic is a POS. Far from it. Talk to 'vette owners, most will tell you happy stories about their car. Same with owners of the high-end Buicks.
 


civicdabest-foo

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The HU is hardly logical.

To change fan speed I have to hit the Climate button under the HU and wait for the slow thing to fetch the climate page from its memory and then and only then can I change the fan speed. This used to be a point of complaint, but I've gotten used to it.

Also with the HU in the Touring, the Garmin app is just useless when you have Google maps on your phone.

The HU is pathetic really. I can't believe they'd sell a car with something like this.

The iDrive interface on early 2000 BMW's was far more responsive than the turtle running the HU in the CivicX.
 
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amirza786

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The title of the thread should not of course be taken to mean that every domestic is a POS. Far from it. Talk to 'vette owners, most will tell you happy stories about their car. Same with owners of the high-end Buicks.
I agree! Not every American car is on that list, but a lot are
 

SoCalCivicSI

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I saw a reliability list from not sure who (could have been JD Powers) about a year ago and it had LEXUS #1 and BUICK #2 with CHEVY #5!!

As far as American cars go what exactly IS a "American" car nowdays?
Half the Japanese cars are built in America by American workers and half the American cars are built in Canada or Mexico or other countries.
It's been a "world market" for decades now, nothing new really.
Ford and GM and Chrysler have been making cars in Canada and Mexico since the 1960's

I guess my point is......is Honda really a "Japanese" company when half their cars are built here in America by American workers? I'd call it a "world company".
 
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e85sbm

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With all of these ratings it is hard to judge on the results. You always tend to see certain brands higher on the list than others. Most likely because there are some brands target a certain demographic and that demographic is less likely (or more likely) to identify faults. In addition to this, these results are based on perception of owners, so if a brand like Honda has a bigger pool of active forum users and engaged customers, there will always be a record of more faults, versus a brand like Buick where 80% of buyers are over the age of 65 and probably have limited care to complete surveys or to identify niggles like a squeaking dash
 
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amirza786

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I saw a reliability list from not sure who (could have been JD Powers) about a year ago and it had LEXUS #1 and BUICK #2 with CHEVY #5!!

As far as American cars go what exactly IS a "American" car nowdays?
Half the Japanese cars are built in America by American workers and half the American cars are built in Canada or Mexico or other countries.
It's been a "world market" for decades now, nothing new really.
Ford and GM and Chrysler have been making cars in Canada and Mexico since the 1960's

I guess my point is......is Honda really a "Japanese" company when half their cars are built here in America by American workers? I'd call it a "world company".
I think you hit the nail right on the head. A lot of brands like Toyota and Honda are now built in America. But what I want to add is since that has happened, quality had definitely gone down. For example, my 2006 Toyota Camry was built in Japan, but assembled in America. In 12 years I had no issues with it. My 2013 Toyota Sienna was built and assembled in America. I have had a bunch of quality issues with it like failing strut's, hotspots in one of my rotors, and fit and finish issues. I don't know if this is due to American workmanship or just plain old cost cutting...
 


IDriveACivic

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Lessons learned:

1. Compare car models instead of brands.
2. Buy a car because you like the features, and you can live with potential flaws. Perceived reliability and resale value can plummet at any moment.
 
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amirza786

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Lessons learned:

1. Compare car models instead of brands.
2. Buy a car because you like the features, and you can live with potential flaws. Perceived reliability and resale value can plummet at any moment.
1. If you are one of those people who keep your cars 3 years or less or lease, buy American or German (or Italian for that matter)
2. If you are one of those people who plan on keeping your car 10 years or longer or riding it out 200K, buy Japanese (Toyota, Honda, Mazda etc.)

Although choice number 2 may be changing (Japanese car quality is on the decline), I strongly believe if you are one of those people who buy a car that you are going to drive long term until it can no longer drive, Japanese cars are going to be your best bet
 

IDriveACivic

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1. If you are one of those people who keep your cars 3 years or less or lease, buy American or German (or Italian for that matter)
2. If you are one of those people who plan on keeping your car 10 years or longer or riding it out 200K, buy Japanese (Toyota, Honda, Mazda etc.)

Although choice number 2 may be changing (Japanese car quality is on the decline), I strongly believe if you are one of those people who buy a car that you are going to drive long term until it can no longer drive, Japanese cars are going to be your best bet
1. I was referring to the reliability reports. It's more worthwhile to look at the scores of each model (Civic/Corolla/Golf), rather than the brand as a whole (Honda/Toyota/VW).

2. It's a tricky balance. According to some, Asian economy brands are susceptible to rust over time. One might find more creaks and rattle in said cars as well. European cars, from my experience, feel more durable in the long run because of better fit and finish. I owned a Volvo. It wasn't unreliable, but definitely expensive to own.
 
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amirza786

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1. I was referring to the reliability reports. It's more worthwhile to look at the scores of each model (Civic/Corolla/Golf), rather than the brand as a whole (Honda/Toyota/VW).

2. It's a tricky balance. According to some, Asian economy brands are susceptible to rust over time. One might find more creaks and rattle in said cars as well. European cars, from my experience, feel more durable in the long run because of better fit and finish. I owned a Volvo. It wasn't unreliable, but definitely expensive to own.
Yes, even among brands there are models that suffer more quality issues, such as in Toyotas case their large pick up truck (Tacoma or Sequoia, I can't remember) while the Corolla outlasts most lives. European cars in my opinion offer excellent fit and finish, but suffer from annoying issues that are expensive to fix. I've owned a few, and I woke up every morning wondering if my car would start or not
 

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Depends why you choose the car that you do. Not everyone buys a car for reliability. The April CR rated the Corvette's Predicted reliability in the lowest (red) category but Overall satisfaction in the highest (green) catagory.

I have a 2018 Civic EX-L & a 2018 Dodge Charger and enjoy them both but for different reasons. The Charger has Chrysler's 8.4" Uconnect infotainment system which usually is highly rated, & it is superior & more responsive than the Civic's system.
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