I was very pleased when I bought my TSX. After months of test driving and careful scrutiny of car tests and quality reviews I KNEW driving away from the dealer that I had made the right decision until.... I heard my first rattle, it came from the sunroof. I ignored it at first, but it didn't seem to go away. I closed the sun-shade. That helped a little, but it was still there. I turned up the stereo. That worked until I hit the blank space between songs. Well that's to be expected, no car's perfect, even from Honda. But then in the following days other rattles and squeaks began to develop. As much as I tried I couldn't will them away. The stereo was NEVER turned on at that point because it interfered with my obsession of every new and every recurring sound that resulted from driving over every pothole, speed bump and road imperfection. Sometimes I could get most of the away to work without hearing anything. Aaaahh! I thought, it had just been a bad illusion. Only to be knocked out of my daydream by a "eeinkle-eeenkle" or "buzzzz-buzzz" that would last for the rest of the trip.

I was happy at first to find out that all TSX's were made in Japan, I thought maybe that gauranteed an extra level of quality. But since then I've been a little disappointed in the rattles and squeaks that have been building up. Having said that though I have to say that I've gotten spoiled recently being able to drive the best of Japan (I got rid of my last American car several years ago and have never looked back) so the best of Japanese quality is what I compare everything to. I still believe the Japanese make the best built and most reliable cars on the road for the money. Ask any one who owns one or just look at the reliability ratings at Consumer Reports for proof. The reason I'm making such a big deal about my cars problems is that these little things need to be fixed if they (Honda/Acura) want to stay at the top. I'm not necessarily seeing this to be the case when I see all of the owner complaints on this web site. I realize that I am not alone, I didn't get the one bad car. One poll on this website shows about two thirds of TSX owners are complaining of rattles and squeaks.

The reason I didn't even darken the door of a single American manufacturer's dealership was because I knew I wasn't going to put up with that kind of proven crap. But that's what even makes it more dissapointing when I find not just a couple of buzzes or rattles but dozens in a Japanese built ACURA, Honda's premier make! Do I wonder if I should have looked at an American car? Absolutely not! And why am I sure? Because of the last time I was at the Acura dealership to get my fog lights installed. The dealer had run out of Acura loaners and had to get me something from Hertz. I got a nearly new Ford Mustang. WHAT A P.O.S.!!! Raw, plastic edges on the interior, bad ergonomics as exemplified by power seat buttons mounted on the front of the seat (same exact switch configuration as an Acura, only on the front, don't believe that didn't take some extra thought as to which way the seat was going to move!), a V6 motor with no power and strange noises at any engine speed, seats that felt like 1/2 inch of foam over a sheet of plywood, and talk about rattles and squeaks!!! But I almost EXPECT that from the average American car. I don't expect ANYTHING even close to that from the best Japanese companies, least of all Honda's premier marque!!!

Maybe I'm looking for perfection where it can't exist. But, I had heard before that that is exactly what Japanese car builders strive for... PERFECTION. Do you know what American car makers strive for? I don't know about all of them, but I do know that with the re-design of the Ford Taurus/Mercury Sable in 1996 Ford set their sights on being at least as good as the 1993 Toyota Camry. Can you imagine that? Now who do you think made the better car, the company that set their sights on perfection and maybe didn't quite achieve it -or- the company that set out to be no better than Toyota's 3 year old not quite perfect effort and then not quite achieve THAT goal.

It's lonely at the top, and when you're at the top everyone just expects that much more from you. Many of the American auto makers are getting much better in terms of quality than before, which is another reason someone at the top would have to work that much harder to stay out in front. I've been telling everyone for years that the only way I would go back to an American car is if they could prove to me that they SURPASSED, not equalled, the Japanese manufacturers in terms of quality. I never dreamed that could come to pass by the Japanese manufacturer getting worse and the Americans hardly changing. I've steered DOZENS of people toward buying Japanese automobiles, many toward Honda products because I believed they were one of THE top auto manufacturers. I just hope that in the end, Honda doesn't make me a liar.


How's that for no-sleep middle-of-the-night rant! Let the fun start!

 

It seems this thread is not attracting many.

You know what is the difference between a Lexus and an Acura in term of "percieved" quality/reliability? Lexus has that Clinton like "I feel your pain" hand holding when you complain to the dealer vs. "sorry, we can't do anything about it" that you get with Acura. You will probably find that most issues are addressed by the manufactuerer during the productuon of the car and I believe the rattle issue is easing (reason not to buy the first year of a car). The car being built in Japan has very little to do with some of the issues - most folks issues are not of a manufacturing kind but of a design one (the QX56 being the exception).

 

But I bought an '04 not 3 months ago, '03 was the first year wasn't it?

 

I bought an '04 about 15 months ago. '04 was the first year.

 

Here is a interesting observation, however.

I currently have 3 cars. An '02 GT Mustang GT Vert W/ 6K miles, an '04 TSX W/17K miles and an '04 Lexus RX330 with 7500 miles.

THE MUSTANG HAS NEVER BEEN BACK TO THE DEALER FOR ANYTHING. NOT ONCE. NOTHING............ 6000 MILES AND NEVER A SINGLE PROBLEM (1 SMALL RATTLE I FIXED MY SELF).

The Lexus had a brake booster failure at less than 1000 miles. Luckily this happened in my driveway. It also has no less than 4 different rattle spots. Some I have fixed, some the dealer has "tried" to fix. Some persist, after their attempts.

The Acura has had a bad clutch master cylinder, radio backlight failure, A-pillar rattle, sqweeky seat, currently detecting some brake vibration, noisy a$$ weather seals, passenger door rattle, and about 50 stone chips (Stang has none and RX330 has 1 small).

Fit and finish on the Stang are pretty bad, BUT NOTHING RATTLES OR SQWEEKS. And that thing has the structure of a noodle, compared to the TSX or RX330. Maybe it is because of the 1/2" gaps everywhere in the dash, but maybe ACURA and LEXUS should increase theirs a bit and accept they arn't as good as they think, either.

I agree. The TSX doesn't live up to my expectation (but neither does my RX330) for quality. Great engineering on the overall design, but a bit lacking on the QC department.

 

Sveet, Ford's been making the Mustang on essentially the same platform since about 1980. I think they'd have body structure down by now.

 

Also, a "noodle-like" structure is LESS likely to generate rattles than something stiff.

6000 miles + no problems = quality?

 

The Stang is a noodle. It shakes all over the place. They don't design it to be the best in the world, or refine it either. The chassis is a hodgepodge of piecing stuff together from 1980. If you put your finger in between the trim onthe door and the trim on the A-pillar and hit some bumps, you will get it pinched. It moves THAT much!

Yet no rattles......no clutch master cylinder problem, no sqweeky seat, no recalls, no rattles in the doors, etc....

Just an observation.

I, too, have been slamming domestics to my friends, coworkers, etc... yet my pesonal experience seems to be make me a fool.

 

The car shakes all over the road. When you hit bumps it sort of slithers. The suspension is stiff, but the structure is loose. It is stiff. Very little body roll. When I say "noodle-like" it is the fact that you can actually see cowl shake. You can also feel the tar lines. It's not like the Stang GT is a Caddie DeVille............

It is a convertable. Even the top makes no noises.


Once again, just my observation.

BTW : All of the problems I described with the TSX and RX330, both of which cost more than the Stang, developed well before 6000 miles.

I am not saying the Mustang is a quality car. The fit and finish are very crude. All I am saying is that the TSX has been back to the dealer now 4 times and the Lexus twice. The Stang has never been back. And both the TSX and the Lexus both currently have reasons to make a return trip, yet again.