Both the DCT 8 and the ZF 9 have caused complaints.

But the biggest chunk taken out of Honda's and Acura's reliability ratings the past two years has to do with AcuraLink and HondaLink, and old loyal customers finding the systems difficult to understand.

They might not be intuitive for a first time user.

But it's interesting that the original reviewers who were naysayers (Alex Dykes, Brian Cooley) now seem to like the systems.

Those of us with 2014 RLX's of any kind were on the cutting edge of this, so we also have the rollout bugs, and that's unfortunate. TSB after TSB after TSB....

:-)

 

Some of the J Motor Hondas are also plagued by customers who can tell when the cars are one one bank of cylinders, and they object to the sort of pinging noise which, while unobtrusive, might lead you to believe it's a kind of spark knock.

People who know what the older J Motor sounded like are going to complain about this, if their ears or hind parts are sensitive enough to notice.

A lot of users never notice at all. And the ones who seem to be oblivious are the newer users, not the people who remember the halcyon days.

 

Thanks George for recognizing that there are those of us who just want to see Honda/Acura excel at their engineering and products like they did for soo many years.

Really...that's it.

My signature list should be a reminder to anyone who reads my issues and challenges that I have been a believer in the brand for soo many years and just want to feel that "glory" again.

 

I feel badly for those with newer products who have not had the typical Honda/Acura experience. My 4G TL is a wonderful car, and I intend to keep it for a while. Our 9G Accord is a revelation for its class; the driving experience is exactly what first attracted us to the company -- but updated and more refined. I'm hoping that bodes well. I had a TLX loaner a few weeks ago and was impressed, as were my co-workers - mostly Lexus owners - who rode it in. Nice looks, nice interior, lots of tech, and plenty of acceleration for a FWD car. It's definitely set up for the luxury side of sport/luxury, so it's not necessarily for me (maybe a Type S, 6MT version would be), but it's a nice vehicle, and I can see why they are selling well.

 

One would think with the HUD and power distribution monitor would show VCM. Didn't some of the other Honda hybrids show green leaves?

 

Whether they know it's VCM or they don't is probably not going to matter to them.

They just don't like the feel and sound of it.

I can tell when my car is using VCM, although they swore to me I would not be able to tell. It's not really objectionable, but I can tell.

My car doesn't sound or feel anything like a friend's Odyssey, though. If I knew what I know and were driving his Odyssey at mild throttle, lower speeds but higher gears, I would also complain.

If you know much about motors, it just doesn't sound right or feel right. They've given everyone an extended warranty as a sign that Honda knows it's working right.

I wonder if other manufacturers don't experience the same thing, but their repeat customers aren't used to what we were used to, so they don't complain as much.

 

It's so strange how some people are able to tell when VCM is active. I can't tell, at all, when VCM is on, except by a sudden and dramatic increase in instant fuel economy. No vibration, no sound, no nothing, in 13 months of leasing this car. Different people have different views of reality.....

 

I'll 2nd that one. As a long time owner of BMWs I just got fed up with the constant failures. Just take a look around any BMW dealers shop and see what they are working on. Driving a BMW out of warranty is akin to Russian Roulette.

 

I haven't been to all those rock concerts. :-)

Whether you can tell or not, I guarantee you that what we are experiencing is very different from what the Honda Odyssey people are talking about.

In their case, it feels like a sort of spark knock sometimes, and a ping other times. It's definitely there, and perceivable even to anyone. After they tell me what it is, I'd probably forget about it and deal with it.

But it's especially annoying to people with a mechanical background who know what the old motors sounded like and felt like.

The way that I think about my own car is nothing like the way I think about the Odysseys. With my car, it's just a knowledge...just a whole image realization that it's a different motor, now.

That I can tell does not mean that I care, especially.

But with the Odyssey, I sympathize. I think I'd care about that more.

 

"A different view of reality" [sic] seems to be epistemologically challenging.

I'm not sure how to think about that because I believe I've said the same thing about Donald Trump.

 

^^^^^

The reality we each experience is different from another's. I guess I was being overly philosophical. Been thinking that way lately, in my offline life.

 

Completely off topic, but, well....epistemological.

:-)