atsx1313

I was reading articles on yahoo and came across this...

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/the...?siteid=yhoof2

The most hated car company is... yea, ACURA...

I don't know how realiable the survey was but I think up to some extent I do get why acura ranked so low.


This indicates that Acura is all time low?

"On the flip side, Acura, which saw a 7% decline in customer satisfaction over last year, is the most unsatisfying car company to consumers, the ACSI revealed.

Morgeson says that this was a surprising finding and that the researchers aren't sure why it ranked so low (last year, it ranked in the middle), but says that it’s possible that this brand simply doesn't meet consumers’ expectations as much as other luxury brands."

well... i don't disagree with the survey, i do own 2013 Acura TSX... but the more i drive, i feel lack of something...

just recently test drove 2015 Lexus IS 250 Premium package, it is AMAZING!! The acceleration seems to be upright with TSX but I feel more like a driver and it's persecution is perfect to my taste... anyways, i know what i am going to get after 2 years from now... thanks Acura..

rawger

In before JoeBlow's PR save.

But seriously, how is Honda near the top of the list and Acura near the bottom. Makes no sense. They should be middle of the pack if anything.

optimusaccord

Oh man.

Great story.

Sell your car.

Bye.

Yumcha

It's more talked about in the Acura-related threads in Automotive News of this forum...but, ultimately, while Acura does have decent cars, the market they once tried to compete in...has since passed. And that's the reality. It almost seems Acura's direct competition now is Buick and Lincoln.

No V8 option. No RWD option. High-performance option...not really...Halo car...nothing (sure, it's in flames right now).

MySoCalLife

Honda didn't have a shitty designer that makes acura from one of the best selling brand in the world , to one of the worst selling brand in their next generation.

rawger

Well yeah, you are comparing a car whose last update was from 2011 to a newly redesigned car. What was the sticker price of it as well? I think the base is near 37k. Unless you paid that much for your TSX, it's hard to compare and complain.

rawger

You think based on design alone, Acura warrants being that low?

I agree with Yumcha's reasoning. Where does Acura really stand? They don't have that one car that draws people in (it was probably the TL and now they are trying to spin it off into the TLX). It's probably 2nd tier luxury after MB, BMW, Audi, etc. although I don't see how they can be ranked the worst.

xtcnrice

On the ball. dwk, have you driven the previous gen IS250? It is garbage! I test drove that right before the TSX, and I absolutely fell in love with the TSX after having driven that other piece of crap. I can't believe that 250 is even considered a V6.

I agree the current gen IS 250/350 are great cars. They're stylish and they perform. If you don't like your TSX, sell it and move on. Why continue to drive your TSX if you question yourself more and more each day? You do realize the car is depreciating in value right? Go get yourself that IS, you've deserved it.

ceb

Persecution?????

opboarding

For what it's worth, I just took a survey consisting of myself and Joeblow and Acura is the highest rated car company out there right now. Can't argue with those stats!

fbt

Even the surveyors say they don't know why. Of course the headline "most hated" is a desperation ploy by Yahoo trying to drum up clicks.

Ken1997TL

Yet Acura is selling more MDX's than ever...

Yumcha

Do you think one car out of the entire fleet makes for success, Herr Solid Snake?

Ken1997TL

No I don't, the MDX and to a lesser extent the RDX are carrying the entire brand. And for a 7 passenger SUV, the MDX is selling VERY well.

Clearly Acura is pleasing somebody. Time to extend that across the vehicle range.

Old Guy

I tend to think Yumcha is correct, the car competes well with a Buick but it is marketed against Lexus etc. Where it falls short (even though it is cheaper). I also think for those of us who love our Acura, the lack of support for the enthusiast market and the painfully slow model refresh cycle, contribute to low ratings.

Yumcha

And to be fair to Acura, there is nothing wrong with their market strategy...seriously.

BUT, if we are to look back to their yesteryears...when they actively meant to push the envelope and even developed the NSX that ultimately kicked Ferrari out of their slump...

Well, you just kinda wish and wonder what-if...what if Honda/Acura continued that aggressive push to be among the best...instead of settling to a middle-tier market...

optimusaccord

The new president of Honda is the designer of the NSX.

He has a lot of trash to get swept off his desk before major changes will be felt.

The new Accord is the best Accord since the 5th/6th gen of the Accord.

To me, it's all about the 90-93 Accord... but I'm biased.

joflewbyu2

That survey is taken each calendar year 1/4 (3 mo) on how satisfied they are with the brand. New 14 MDX and RLX came out with ODMD ( on demand multi display ) and next generation AcuraLink. Some dealers and sales/delivery personnel were clueless and did not explain it right and some buyers were not informed on the correct workings. I have been in the business 25 years and as some cars get more complicated the surveys won't be so kind. I remember everyone complaining about all the buttons Acura had. Acura listened and came out with ODMD to simplify the dash and now everyone wants the buttons back. LOL.

ssjoeboe9

joflewbyu2- Im interested in how you know so much about ODMD

Old Guy

Slowness to adopt technology has definitely hurt the brand. Think about keyless start and direct injection. One was cheap and the other is more HP and better mpg. Both give the impression of a company lagging the market. How long the cars kept a 5 spd auto... I am sure there are many other examples. The jewel eye head lights are cool but... by themselves do not create the right impression

ESHBG

My '09 TSX has left me a little sour towards the brand and if I really think about it, it actually started off while buying the car and with how numerous Acura dealerships behaved during the process. The service has been mediocre at best and while a fair point would be to say that this may be a dealership specific issue, what is not dealership specific is the endless harassing phone calls from Acura about the experience. I appreciate follow up and the opportunity to give feedback but once it gets to a point where you are harassing the customer, that is going to backfire on you.

For the record, this is my third Honda/Acura product (and my fifth when I tally up what was in my family) so I have a lot to compare to. Would I buy another Acura? Possibly, and I say this because I am intrigued by the TLX and think that they may be heading in the right direction again, but they definitely have some work to do and I can see why surveys reflect as such.

musty hustla

The connection to Honda is too tight. The Acura dealers use it as a selling point and I'm sure the Honda dealers use it to their advantage.

To a frugal buyer who can afford a loaded Accord or loaded TL, the Accord looks like a much better deal. The new Accord should not meet or exceed the performance and technology of a current model year Acura TL or TSX IMO.

Lex

Sadly, I've had a negative experience with my 2012 TSX. I Wouldn't purchase another Acura product. The dealership has helped me out with deferring some of the cost but I doubt I will buy another (Elec steering system failed at 70k mi, tranny replaced at 100k mi).

kurtatx

I don't know what Acura is supposed to do about these models, because the TLX is miles better than the Accord. It was evident with one test drive.

jreyes30

Wait so You've put 100k in 2 years and your complaining the car needs expensive maintenance?! Smh

optimusaccord

That is a lot of driving.

My 09 which I picked up in Dec of 08 has 55386 or something on it. I thought I had to drive a lot... Obviously not.

MC MiYoung3269

lol my 2012 is still under 10k

kball

Really?
Makes me feel like maybe im not being so anal and wasteful having the tranny flushed every 30k or so.
But i have major hills that go on for miles all around me.
Crossing fingers.

Lex

Yes, I drive about 60,000 miles annually (business).

I previously had an Accord with 280,000+ miles that only needed an O2 sensor replaced. That was a trouble-free car. I thought I was upgrading slightly by purchasing an Acura.

Hell, I've had American cars (company cars) that were more trouble-free up to 100,000 miles than this TSX!

ceb

Let me try to understand this. Acura is the most hated car car company because the car is "unsatisfying"?

Anybody driven a Tercel or a host of other boring cars recently?

Unsatisfying and hated are two far different things. This just proves how useless surveys are.

justnspace

iTrader: (1)

do they even make Tercel's any more?

Jmark

In my experience the survey has some merit.
My 3G TL has 75,000 miles on it and has been a very good ride.
However most dealings with Service,Car sales,corporate have been less than pleasing.

So maybe what people are saying is similar to my experience?

robpp

iTrader: (2)

you may be on to something. one big reason I bought was what I heard and read about the dealer experience in sales and service. might as well bought another jeep.

one example: my wagon is dropped off on Friday morning for third time for stink from ac. has about 5K miles on it. running stock 17's and winter tires. i get an rdx loaner. they never call me Friday I keep it all weekend. Monday I call and says 'let me check, call back' an hour later 'i went back there and personally tested it. all good come and get it. i show up. he tells me they sprayed the magic potion again but they dont smell anything so will not go any further. we then go speak to the Service Manager. Promises me if I return with same issue again, he will escalate to Acura blah blah blah. So about to leave SM office and service adviser himself goes back to get my wagon.

he drives it around and I get in. I close the door and put my belt on. I have to PUT AWAY my "DO NOT WASH" tags and do a walk around but I notice the I is lit. I hit the button and shows about 10 lbs air in rt ft. I get out to do my inspection before I leave any way and look at tire. and its almost flat. I inspect car for dings or damage. open hood and look. I see SA looking through the window. I motion with my hand for him to come out.

So he approaches and I tell him he handed me the key with a flat tire.
he starts the dealer speak i stop him quickly. I tell him I don't expect the dealer to take responsibility for the flat BUT I CERTAINLY EXPECT to be notified about it, especially since Acura sold me a car without a spare. maybe "if you would like we could air it up so you make it to the tire place?" or something. not just hand me the key with a smile.

I keep it up for a while until the SM comes outside. We all go to his office where I continue to rant about the lack of customer service. how it was no different than the Jeep dealer up the block. They all promised that it was just an oversight. Sorry. Blah Blah Blah.



anyway, it was not what i expected when I switched brands. They might have a few more loaners and a nicer coffee machine but the difference stops there.

ceb

The problem is that now the economy is doing better, the dealers are back to their old tricks - but - and this experience clearly varies by dealer, the two Acura dealers that I generally deal with are head and shoulders above the MB, Audi, VW and GMC dealers I've dealt with in the recent past.

If I were asked which car company I disliked the most, I'd have to point at BMW - they're the ones that continued to sell cars with a high pressure fuel pump that they knew wasn't suitable for the US market and continued to sell it for 4 straight years.

I guess if I owned a GM I'd feel the same way about them but Acura as a brand hasn't done anything terrible.

robpp

iTrader: (2)

my point is while the mother ship might be OK it all falls apart at the dealer/

i was fooled into thinking it would be different experience but its the same ol crap.

ceb you know the delaers around here, not a decent one among them.

if it all rests on luck of a 'decent dealer' then no wonder the most hated/

brian6speed

iTrader: (5)

I would have to go with GM because of the bailouts and cover ups that killed many ppl. The corvette alone plus it's fan boys means it will never be ranked the worst though.

Acura ' s are well built cars, even if you think they are boring. I bought my 03 cls6 new in 02 and I still drive and own it. Not a single issue with that car so far and I autocross it all the time.

I just bought a 14 focus st and already have 2 issues to deal with in the first few weeks.

ceb

You're right, it all hinges on the dealer - and many are really awful.

The ones in Denver were lousy but the one in C Springs seemed competent. The two I go to in the greater DC area are quite good. Rosenthal has improved dramatically in the last year or so and Pohanka is quite nice. Radley is horrible and Chevy Chase is a fiasco.

The Stig CA

I will say that it's partly their bland designs for their cars, and partly the dealer experience. Their designs appear to be getting better (IMHO, the TLX looks way better than the last gen TL).

But, the dealers are just hit or miss, mostly miss. I was drawn to Acura for a variety of reasons, one of them being the ease of buying a car. Few options, and well equipped to begin with, means easier decision. Now, they are adding packages to packages, and putting some great stuff (cooled seats on TLX) in the most expensive package. That's BS.

I know that's not the dealer's fault, but it makes the purchase more of a chore. On top of that, the dealers add so much BS fluff that just pads their wallets, they piss me off with the "Price As Is" sticker next to the real sticker. Example, I test drove the TLX with my sis this past weekend in Ventura, CA. They had 5 on the lot, with one as a test drive mule. All the cars had "Pro Packages" and that paint coating nonsense as dealer installed options. It added $1,000.00 to the price of each car. Now, I have to argue to get that crap off, just to pay MSRP! And, I know it's a new model and not to expect much of a deal, but I expect better than these games from them.

Also, the test mule they had us drive had a $3k, 19" wheel and tire dealer installed package. Why the F would you have that as your test mule? I didn't notice it until we got out, and was furious with the guy. We are not paying for that dealer option, so why would we test drive a car with that? The whole thing left a bad impression in our mouth for the dealer. Going to try a different one, if she still wants the TLX.

LaCostaRacer

^ Dealers often use loaded cars for demos so they can show the best options available. I don't see anything wrong with that and you certainly don't have to buy a car with those options either. The TLX will be marked up the next few months but things will get back to normal when the newness wears off and other competing models come out. I'll use a dealer to test drive a car and determine the options desired- after that it's using an Internet quote service to buy the car. I did that 8 years ago and see no reason not to again.

I wouldn't take that survey very seriously. The top brand has a score of 86 and the bottom brand has a 77- wow a whopping 9 point gap! As the survey said, Acura dropped 7 of the 9 points in one year. Acura has taken some hits with the RLX and ILX but the other cars are pretty solid.

I see Audi, BMW, and Cadillac are close to Acura at the bottom of the list and they seem to have no problem with sales and are respected brands.

Acura 77
Dodge 78
Jeep 79
Audi 79
Mazda 80
BMW 80
Cadillac 80

I'm a very satisfied original owner of an 8 year old car. I really doubt there are many satisfied Mercedes, VW or Suburu original owners with a car that age.

ESHBG

And this right here is the problem, I think. We have many to choose from in the Philly area and I can tell you horror stories I have heard from each; no matter how you slice it, the theme in these stories is the same across the board: poor customer service and not the experience one expected from purchasing an Acura. Yet the Lexus, Infiniti, etc., owners I know do not feel the same way about their dealerships. So now the argument from there could be that Acura is not in the same tier however I will counter that with, "But they want to be, market themselves as such and are heading in that direction for sure," so they really need to step their game up.

I do see good things on the horizon but work definitely needs to be done and you should not have so many negative stories from across the nation. No company is perfect and there will always be good and bad but I have personally experienced and heard way more bad than good and even if one can poke holes in some of this survey's methodology there still does seem to be some merit to it.

I think the fix will be more dealership accountability. I have given my feedback to Acura's corporate (as have others) but the problems persist, yet these same dealerships suddenly end up with goofy service awards and what not. Funny how that works yet you can read dozens upon dozens of reviews over the years with the same exact underlying theme in each.

There is a lot about Acura I like but I don't want to ignore the issues and areas for improvement either, and I think that there are some really big ones that need attention.