Well, I certainly respect your opinion, but I've seen a lot of many past-vintage Hondas go 200-300K....although I'll agree that the 90s-vintage models were definitely a cut above the ones of a decade later.

Anyhow, back to the OP's Fit....I suspect that, from the conditions in the picture, he lives in a snowy climate with lots of road salt....and we all know what road salt does to steel driveshafts and other under-chassis parts.

 

Have to agree with Steve here. My extended family and friends have had many Toyotas and Hondas over the decades. The Toyotas have proven to be far more reliable. Honda beats Toyota in some measures other than quality, but when your Honda breaks, none of the that matters.

 

$5500 OBO. No tire kickers! No joy rides and NO LOW BALLERS.

 

Well, we’ll, well.... what do you know.... a day late and a dollar short....

https://hondanews.com/en-US/honda-co...-shaft-recalls

 

You can find many examples of many cars that have 200-300k on them that doesn’t mean that they have a track record for reliability. I had a 95 Ford Explorer with 225k on it, doesn’t mean Ford deserves the same reputation for reliability as Toyota.

Yep, I hear that over and over again.

Haha! That’s pretty funny.

 

bummer you didn't know about that as could have had the problem fixed for free. Your tow guy's going to be very happy with his $800 "cream puff"

 

I'm surprised there was significant rust with it. I figured Honda wouldn't have those issues that soon.

 

225K is 225K, regardless of the symbol on the grille.....although at the rate you and I replace our vehicles, we probably won't see that mileage again, though I plan to keep this GX longer than the Lacrosse.

 

Could part of the issue be the fact that the Fit was also on a rebuilt title per the OP? Maybe this caused some inherent problems that plagued the vehicle from the get-go.

 

I doubt it. The car had relatively minor damage to rear quarter panel. Doesn’t take much to declare total loss on a 8-9 year old Fit.

For chits and giggles, I did a quick search for Honda recalls.... not sure how this list compares to other manufacturers, but the list is surprisingly long.

https://hondanews.com/en-US/honda-co...annels/recalls

 

Sure, any car's best years are behind it at 225,000 miles, but there are clear differences in reliability between brands.

I wouldn't call Hondas "unreliable" I just don't think they deserve their reputation as being exceptionally reliable by a long shot.

 

Today, no, I fully agree. Honda did not slide so far down CR's reliability-ranks for nothing. But that was not always the case. Outside of the rust problem, the 70s-through-90s Hondas built their records on industry-leading reliability.

There were a couple of exceptions, I'll admit....the 1990s-vintage Honda Passport and Acura SLX SUVs, because they were not true Hondas but rebadged Isuzu-designed SUVs. Honda was late getting into the SUV market, and, at first, they signed a deal with Isuzu (you might remember it) where Honda got rebadged Isuzu Rodeos and Troopers to sell under their own nameplate in the U.S., and Isuzu got a rebadged Honda Civic to sell in the home Japanese market as an Isuzu I-Mark sedan. Isuzu had tried selling their own I-Mark sedans in the U.S. under their own nameplate, but with little success, as those cars were well-built but crude and unrefined, unlike Civics,

The Isuzu built SUVs were not lemons, but they clearly lacked the reliability of 90s-vintage Honda designs, and the original Trooper (Acura SLX) failed Consumer Report's roll-over test.

 

Most people are buying cars today, not 30+ years ago. So however their cars were decades ago doesn’t mean much to buyers today.

 

I've always thought with Honda, you buy one of their smaller 4 cylinder cars without a turbo like a Civic or Accord. Manual transmission if you want the full Honda experience, cause their manuals are just sublime to drive. Just something basic, because Honda does basic better than anybody in the business IMO. Thing is the days of "basic" are now gone, no more manuals, no more small cars(Civic is the last one left, they had like 4-5 options back in the 90's/early 00's), no more naturally aspirated 4 cylinders, everything is now a turbo 4 or V6. Which makes me sad, cause old school Honda made some absolutely brilliant driver's cars like the S2000, nothing was quite like driving that car like you hated it,downshifting at 4500rpm because you fell off the cam lol.