black label

As some of you know I work for Honda at the dealership level (US market). My GM has to go to a corporate meeting regarding improving current products and what else is needed in the Honda line. Being the resident car geek of the dealership, this has been passed on to me. Valuing your input, I am looking to my fellow aziners for suggestions.

I have 2 forms to fill out. The first is on existing products and it is looking for "priority items" and "secondary items" that could use improvement (or to be added). The Second form is in regards to future products and is asking for the same "priority" and "secondary" items.

The things on my mind are bluetooth and USB connection being more readily available across the models and trim levels.

Remember this is for the Honda side only so no bring back the NSX suggestions. If you love to bitch about what they do wrong, here's your chance to have a miniscule amount of influence.

Moog-Type-S

Bring back the RWD roadster.

Bring the turbo 4cyl into the honda line-up.

New Honda exterior designs are HORRIBLE!!!

Bring the civic-R hatch from europe over here.

Bring the euro accord wagon from europe over here.

Kill the element.

Get direct injected engines.

Get diesel engines into the lineup.

teranfon

I hope I'm not out of line by asking a motorcycle question, but why does Honda refuse to bring it's two adventure bikes, the Varadero and Transalp, to the US marketplace?


Terry

Moog-Type-S

Dunno.....I got another bike question: DN-01 Seriously?!?!? Why?
It's not a motorcycle, it's not a scooter, it's not a sportbike, it's not a cruiser...and it's 14 grand US for 600cc Is Honda

dallison

remember when acura had cars we wanted to buy?

iTimmy

Keyless ignition, Honda is missing the boat on this and it's unacceptable.
K23 Turbo Accord and/or CRV AWD.
6MT Accord V6 Sedan.
Civic type R that is like they get overseas.
The vehicles are all big enough, tighten up the lines and stop with the bloating.

Moog-Type-S

Print this pic, and give it to your higher-ups.......they'll get the idea.

Sly Raskal

iTrader: (1)

^^^

fsttyms1

Ask when they will build desirable cars again.

Moog-Type-S

You won't like the answer.

TheMirror

Would like to see some sort of AWD available in the Accord.

An Accord wagon should be brought back.

Diesel engine options would be great.

Bring over a Type-R variant on the Civic Si.

Honda seats have aggressive standard lumbar settings. Please back off on this.

neuronbob

Appreciate the oppo, black label.

Some realistic requests:

BRING THE EUROPEAN ACCORD TOURER TO THE U.S., STAT. It is HOT. It will sell as a TSX wagon. It will bring traffic into Acura showrooms.

Offer a top-of-the-line Pilot with rear DVD AND navi in the same trim level. The fact that wasn't available on our Pilot really bugged me. The two are still not available together on the Pilot. I would have paid extra for those features together, especially with a 3-year-old kid now. is this available on the Odyssey? If not, that trim needs added to the Odyssey.

Direct injected engines in both Hondas and Acuras, please.

Agree on bringing the overseas Civic Type R.

...and an unrealistic one....
Um, fire the U.S. external design team? Their record lately is as bad as the Clowns, I mean, Browns.

Will Y.

Smaller, tighter, more responsive faster cars.
I'm OK w/FWD, although a mid-engine sports car would be nice down the road.

Dump the crossovers like the ZDX and RDX.
As a high priority.

mrmako

Offer AWD on more vehicles.

Offer the V6 on more vehicles.

And sell this car:



An Accord wagon would sell.....

alex2364

They need a true S2000 replacement.

black label

Terry, I can't imagine you ever being out of line however, Honda cars and Honda Motorcycles are different divisions, I'm only working with the cars here.

Yes I do, however, this only applies to the Honda division. Unfortunately Acura may be beyond repair.
Some form of sporty car will be on my list, Civic Si doesn't count. It's sporty, but no where near S2000 sporty

What would you want to see a V6 in that doesn't have one? The only vehicle that I can think of would be the CR-V.

Keep them coming guys, the Accord Tourer is something I would like to see as well, but with the Crosstour coming soon, it may be difficult to get them to bring another wagon type vehicle out.

Eggplant-EX

Yup!

AWD that does not cost an arm and a leg
Heated seats as a standard feature
A great sound system does not hurt

Shift_Acura

The Accord, Civic, CR-V, Fit, Pilot and Ody are all better than their own predecessors. So im not sure what everyone is complaining about?

My only suggestions would be to drop the Ridgeline and Element or drastically re-design them to look more NORMAL

Their not bringing over diesel engines just like every other jap car manufacturer! Dont know when North Americans will realize that...

We dont need RWD or an S2000 replacement. It cost around $52k for an S2000 in Canada so no thankyou.

I personally would never buy Honda vehicles in Canada because each model almost always costs about a couple grand more than Nissan or Toyota and now maybe Hyundai

knight rider

iTrader: (1)

Keep up the good design work with the Honda Accord coupe! Do a sport model with 19" wheels, xenon headlights, sportier seats and a non-EcoTech engine. Save that for the sedan.

Oh, and put some power in the front passenger seat.

I want to like this car sooo bad (it's beautiful), but driving it was very underwelming.

Costco

I want a high-revving V6 RWD roadster. or give the K23 a front-mount intercooler which will probably give it the clearance to fit under the hoods of other Hondas. and put it under the hood of the next S2000, or bring over a Type-R variant with the K23 underhood

At the very least I want another RWD roadster. Keep it pure for the enthusiasts; raw, lightweight, handles like its on rails, though heated seats would be nice. I would definitely be in an S2000 if it had a lot more torque and more power. It's the only thing that drives me nuts about it.

fixed and on everything

iTimmy

Driving home on a gloomy fall evening and I realized how much I miss the HID's from my S2000, so HID's on EX models, and the Si would be really nice.

phee

iTrader: (5)

a v6 civic si.

a 6mt in the accord

LED tails in all models wold set u apart from competitors

higher revving engines in the 4 cylinders. if your going to make the car heavier, make it perform better than the last generation.

u guys really need a very very basic sport coupe.

csmeance

Go back to honda's roots

Innovation and efficiency

1. Get the "comfort access" style entry.
2. Start offering options rather than dealer accessories or full blown packages.
3. Rather than stuffing in a larger 3.5/3.7L V6's, stick in a high revving 3.0L v6's like in the 328i that produces a lot more power OR go turbo, look at the RDX, that is a fun cross-over to drive.
4. Try to get a 6sp AT in the works and perfect the 5AT.
5. Try to go back to proper designs, for example take a look at the center console in the new Accord, the buttons are HUGE!
6. HID's, try to shift over to them and be the first manuf. to do so in economical cars. Its safer for both the driver and others as there is reduced glare and better visibility.

Mokos23

Merge with Nissan/Infiniti.

oonowindoo

HELL NO. They will put the TL Grill on my G37.. fuck that.

Merge with Hyundai!

Mokos23

well, i was thinking that Nissan/Infiniti will become the controlling interest if they merged. So, they would use the Infiniti grill on Honda/Acuras and keep their own grill on their cars.

cp3117

Wow....you hit everything pretty much dead on.

I agree a lot with number 2 as im tired of Honda/Acura telling me what i like to drive or what i should be driving.......Sure i can go elsewhere and buy another brand........Oh ya thats what I have been doing..

Bring over more models like the Honda Legend and scrap the RL. You would sell many more as a Honda than as an Acura. Honda needs some higher end vehicles with some more luxury to compete with other parent company premium models ie: Maxima, CC, Touareg, Avalon etc etc.

Diesels, AWD's etc etc etc.

Damn Honda has some catching up to do. I am so tired here in Canada seeing no premium models in the Honda lineup (or very very few) and about half of their premium brand (Acura) seeling rebadged Honda's from around the world......whew...sorry guys "End Rant".

neuronbob

My friend, I disagree here. We need V6 engines with more low-end torque like Nissan's excellent VQ series. That was my only power quibble with my RL--the J35 IS a high-revving V6 as it makes its peak power high in the powerband. There's just little low-end torque...below about 4k rpm it was lacking.

mrmako

Agree. The J25 engine I had was a nice engine, but it really was a bit gutless until I hit 4K plus RPM's.

For the OP: I get that the V6 is available for pretty much everything, but how about making a 6 MT available with all V6 vehicles (cars, not the SUV/ Cute- Ute things), and a small V6 or a turbo 4 for the Civic.

pmptx

also get auto trannies that will hold up
The engines are amazing, the auto trannies, not so much.
The manual trannies are also great. Just a weak spot that is glaring in the US as we drive a lot of auto trannies.

CocheseUGA

Give us a sub-$10k car that we'd actually want to buy.

High-rev I4, manual tranny, sub-compact hatch. Two or four seats.

Basically, I'd be extremely happy with a 91 CRX with a new powertrain, refreshed interior and a 7/70k warranty.

fsttyms1

Diesel Engines.
More Trim/Engine Options
AWD (and it doesnt have to be the expensive SHAWD)
A replacement to the J series. (lord knows its about time to maybe have a chain driven DOHC)
Better Designers.

CocheseUGA

I <3 your avatar. Brilliant.

F23A4

- CRV with a J35 variant as an option (competitor to RAV4 V6)

- De-uglify the 2G Pilot with something that resembles a full size CR-V

- Intelligent Key (a la Nissan/Infiniti) and HIDs as part of any EX-L package (i.e.: Accord EX-L V6)

- Add a Civic Type R SH-AWD (sedan only) with a K23A/SH-AWD powertrain adapted from the RDX (Evo/WRX competition) NOTE: Keep the rest of the Civic lineup as is as it's THE benchmark of the class!!

- Bring IMA back to the Accord but, apply it to the 4 cylinder model this time. (While I liked the 7G AV6H for its tech, it felt heavy and wasn't any better on gas than the 4 cyl Accord.) Make ALL the lights LEDs and enhance the aerodynamics (read: drag resistance) a bit to make it more 'eco-oriented'

- Bring back the Prelude with the same powertrain as the Civic Type R SH-AWD I mentioned above. If the current Honda/Acura designers are still on the payroll then, see if the designers from Infiniti, Lexus or Hyundai can be contracted to design it's appearance. (designer alternative: Institute a random drug test policy so that the current designers can do so in sobriety.)

- Create an inhouse aftermarket oriented group (i.e.: NISMO, TRD) but cover the parts under the factory warranty provided it's installed by a Honda Dealership.

Granted, I dont deem anything that I've posted to be a priority item per se. Rather, secondary items (i.e.: intelligent key) and pipedreams.

savage

-Bring back the S2000 with a DSG transmission option, either turbo-4cyl or compact high revving V6...

iTimmy

Those who are saying the S2k should come back should look at the sales of that car for the last few years, they have been declining for a number of years and while it was/is the "image" car for Honda, it was on the cusp of not being competitive in it's market and that's a bad image. As a former S2k owner and lover, I can understand that it's no longer the direction that Honda is going in and while it saddens me, from a business perspective I understand enthusiasts are not the majority and are not a large enough group to sway the decisions of companies like this. When the production numbers are low and there are left overs on dealers lots for up to 2 years it makes it hard to continue producing a car and remaining profitable.

pmptx

Agreed. but this car is also 10+yo without any major updates (AP1/2 are minor engine)
A successor car might have the sales impact the S2K did in its first 5 years vs the last 3.

mrmako

Honda does have an accessory arm here in Japan, called ACCESS (as in accessory) Modulo. It's mostly appearance items, but they also have exhaust and suspension items. Bring that to the US.

Costco

IMHO, the stagnation of the S2000 is what lead to the drop in sales numbers. Knowing how reliable Hondas are in general, I think very few would hesitate to buy a used S2000 (myself included), even with the knowledge that its a car that would probably be flogged regularly. Given the prospect of getting a 1 or 2-year old used S2000 and low mileage for mid-high 20s compared to over $35,000 for a new one, there are many people out there who find it a better value to go for a used one.

Honda maximized their profits on the tooling and design and whatever, at the expense of ultimate sales numbers. But I don't think the sales model late in the S2000's life are what Honda cared about the most. They just didn't offer any absolute must-have features or make any significant changes on the newer S2000s. When I was looking at S2000s I didn't want to go older than 2002 (glass window, better radio, etc.) but at the same time, didn't see the point of getting something newer than 2006.

You just can't try and sell a car that's been relatively unchanged for the better part of 7 years or more. The S2000 had over 9 years of production! Arguably for ultimate performance, in its early years it was one of the best performers out there, hands down.... and I still would choose one over many other cars but new vs. new, there are quite a few cars out there that outperform or perform similarly as the S2000 at a lower price or offer more amenities, or both.

Hypothetically, who would go out and buy a Camry if it were unchanged for 10 years, meanwhile the Accord has been through 2 full model changes?

As you can tell, yup I'm an S2000 enthusiast too... I kind of wish I never got used to an LS1 because now I don't think I can go without the torque. The S2000 would have been perfect for me, but I just couldn't afford one, let alone THE one I wanted. If only it had just a little bit more low end pull (ahem, V6?), I could overlook the other things since its such a great, fun car all around.

I would swear this with my own blood.... if Honda made an S2000 successor with a high-revving DOHC V6 reminiscent of the NSX's C-series, I would do everything in my power to own one. If they had a car like the S2000 with a V8..... well, I don't want to incriminate myself

Moog-Type-S

So did Honda get fixed yet?

If you want what Honda should be, by a Hyundai