Long-term quality index
Intermediate
Joined: Aug 2015
Posts: 345
Likes: 9
From: WA
Every maker goes through good and bad periods. Toyota's been the most consistent of the lot, but they too had a period in the mid-'00s, right around when the first 4LSes were made, where the cost-cutting sometimes went too far. Fortunately that didn't affect our powertrains but it did show up in the control arms and interior plastics issues and in certain details of the original 4LS interior.
What LTQI does well is show you those broad trends over periods of years. It doesn't do as well, because of small sample sizes and very variable conditions, in telling you about specific issues in specific single model years. I expect that '09 spike is just noise, maybe boosted a bit by the first year of AWD in the volume 460.
I've had plenty of Hondas over the years too. They do some things really really well (engines, manual gearboxes, suspensions) and other things less consistently (automatic transmissions, interiors). But they are still a brand I would pick for long-term ownership, as long as it's not one of the early 5-speed automatic cars. My 185k mile Legend with the old 4-speed automatic runs like new.
What LTQI does well is show you those broad trends over periods of years. It doesn't do as well, because of small sample sizes and very variable conditions, in telling you about specific issues in specific single model years. I expect that '09 spike is just noise, maybe boosted a bit by the first year of AWD in the volume 460.
I've had plenty of Hondas over the years too. They do some things really really well (engines, manual gearboxes, suspensions) and other things less consistently (automatic transmissions, interiors). But they are still a brand I would pick for long-term ownership, as long as it's not one of the early 5-speed automatic cars. My 185k mile Legend with the old 4-speed automatic runs like new.
Pole Position
Joined: Oct 2014
Posts: 2,561
Likes: 365
From: New Hampshire
This is my point, it's very much hit or miss with most manufacturers now. I wouldn't trust any car manufacturer right now...not with the never ending quest to achieve the best fuel mileage possible, because that's where you're finding loose piston rings, poor direct injection design, little engines replacing big engines (and not being able to handle it), 9 speed transmissions that weren't running right when they had 5, timing chains replacing timing belts (but they are stretching and the repair is huge), redesigned exhaust manifolds that are now part of the head (wait till those get hot and start warping heads, because that has to be coming).
Five years from now we will remember these times and think...wow, those were some problems...we have it all fixed now. It's just normal historical events in automotive land.
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