Source

 

2021 for comparison

 

Honda and Acura are sinking like rocks

 

All the Japanese except Toyota and Mazda. Sad.

 

You're forgetting Mitsubishi which is surprisingly above average. But yes Nissan, Infiniti, Subaru, Honda, and Acura, no bueno

 

So basically every Korean brand is more reliable than every Japanese brand. Interesting.

 

I guess the mass car fire debacle didn't make an impact. Hmmm

 

I have said this for a long time, Honda no longer deserves to be spoken of in the same universe as Toyota.

 

Well, yes and no. They still assemble a vehicle like a Swiss Watch, as they have for decades, but their drivetrains and mechanicals clearly don't have the same quality they once did. Like Toyota, Honda, IMO reached its quality-peak in the 80s and 90s. Honda's quality, though, dropped in different ways than Toyota's. Toyota started cheapening interiors, trim, hardware, etc.....but kept their dead-reliable engines and transmissions. Honda did essentially the opposite....kept the quality in the skin, but cheapened out underneath, in the drive train.

 

A way below average swiss watch perhaps. I have sat in lots of Honda products that had pretty poor build quality..the Odyssey is especially bad.

And how can you say Toyota reached their quality peak in the 80s and 90s? Look at the ratings, they are still making extremely reliable vehicles, Honda is not.

A lot of people by default say "Toyota/Honda reliability" and Honda does not deserve to be a part of that statement anymore.

 

Hondacura has been sinking in JDP for a while and only recently started climbing back up Consumer Reports in the past couple years. The idea of "Japanese reliability" died in the last decade when the only brand it consistently applies to is Toyota.

Buick is doing surprisingly well, but then again a good chunk of their vehicles are Korean too.

 

Thats why I didn't get a Honda Odyssey to replace our 17 Pacifica, I wasn't convinced it would be any better than another Pacifica, and there was a huge downgrade in features and quality. Pacifica has much better fit and finish, materials etc

 

I'm going by the solidness of the materials they used in construction. Not only just in reviews....but my own general experience, and that of my family. A lot of 3rd-Generation Camrys of the early-mid-90s seem to be rolling on forever, while many newer ones are worn out. I myself had a 1995 Celica (the one with the fur big round headlights), and the trim/hardware/interior quality worsened drastically for the all-new 2000 version. The Echo/Yaris was clearly not in the same league in that manner as the 1990s Tercel. And I noticed the difference between my late Mom's 1994 Corolla DX Wagon and the more lightly-built Corollas that followed it. And, as for Lexus, you yourself have commented, several times, on how the 1990s-vintage LS400/430's material-quality was better than its 460 successors, even if the 460's interior looked more plush on he surface.

 

You're talking about perceived quality not actual quality. Absolutely the richness of their interiors took a BIG downturn in the 2000s, and is only now improving (and has become MUCH better)...but their quality and reliability has never taken such a dip, Honda's clearly has.

When you say "newer Camrys have worn out", what is your basis for that? There is just no evidence that I have ever seen, either hard evidence or anecdotal evidence that ANY generation of Camry has been problematic. I can't remember the last time I saw a 3rd generation Camry on the road.

IMO just now Hondas are starting to seem fairly nice inside. They have always felt spartan and utilitarian.

 

Even before the Korean influence, the Opel-based Buicks........Verano, Encore (not the Encore GX), Regal, and Cascada convertible........were helping to raise the Brand's reliability levels. And the older Century/Regal had a good reliability reputation to start with.....Consumer Reports actually recommended it as a credible alternative to the Camry and Accord. They are still driven today by some college students because they are cheap and still running....an exception to the brand's Senior-Citizen reputation.

On the Senior-Citizen reputation, some auto-pundits have tried to explain Buick's generally high reliability as simply because the vehicles are driven very conservatively, are not owned by aggressive drivers, are taken care of and serviced regularly, and usually don't get much stress on the drive-train. While, of course, not abusing a product will indeed make it last longer, I don't totally buy that explanation, because many of the same type of older folks that buy and drive Buicks also have Lincolns, which has had a LOT of reliability problems.