Less than 2 years after buying the vehicle, we started experiencing rough shifting. At the same time, the maintenance minder came on indicating the transmission fluid needed changing. I assumed that was the issue and did the change (yes, I used DW-1). All was well for a couple days until the shifting got really bad causing my wife and daughter to be concerned about getting home. I drove it around later and experienced some very hard shifts into 3rd gear when the check engine light came on and the transmission refused to shift higher than 3rd. I thought maybe the fluid was a little low. So I added some and cleared the code. Again, it was fine for a day when we started having issues again and I saw the same code was pending. I took it to a dealership, but they couldn't find anything wrong. I had them replace the fluid 2 more times anyway per Honda's recommendation.
All was okay for 3 more days when the issue returned while we were on the highway at 70 miles an hour. Again, I limped home and later took it back to the dealership. Now they are telling me, at 121,000 miles, it needs a new transmission, which they are quoting to cost almost $11,000! I looked back at the Carfax service records, which shows that the transmission fluid had been replaced at 30k and 60k miles. I guess it's supposed to be replaced every 30k miles, but this was the first time the maintenance minder indicated it needed a fluid change since I owned it. And any reliable transmission will easily go 60k miles without detrimental problems. I have never changed the transmission fluid in any of my cars (I know I should) and have never had this problem, though I have taken many of them well past 150k miles.
Honda is not only unreliable, but it is unreliable in the most critical components. Every issue we've had has left this car unsafe to drive. What's worse is that these seem to be common issues and Honda knows about them. These are bad designs and the transmission, especially, is trash. I can only conclude that Honda is riding on its reputation from the cars it built in the 90s but they are certainly no longer reliable. Never again.
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Less than 2 years after buying the vehicle, we started experiencing rough shifting. At the same time, the maintenance minder came on indicating the transmission fluid needed changing. I assumed that was the issue and did the change (yes, I used DW-1). All was well for a couple days until the shifting got really bad causing my wife and daughter to be concerned about getting home. I drove it around later and experienced some very hard shifts into 3rd gear when the check engine light came on and the transmission refused to shift higher than 3rd. I thought maybe the fluid was a little low. So I added some and cleared the code. Again, it was fine for a day when we started having issues again and I saw the same code was pending. I took it to a dealership, but they couldn't find anything wrong. I had them replace the fluid 2 more times anyway per Honda's recommendation.
All was okay for 3 more days when the issue returned while we were on the highway at 70 miles an hour. Again, I limped home and later took it back to the dealership. Now they are telling me, at 121,000 miles, it needs a new transmission, which they are quoting to cost almost $11,000! I looked back at the Carfax service records, which shows that the transmission fluid had been replaced at 30k and 60k miles. I guess it's supposed to be replaced every 30k miles, but this was the first time the maintenance minder indicated it needed a fluid change since I owned it. And any reliable transmission will easily go 60k miles without detrimental problems. I have never changed the transmission fluid in any of my cars (I know I should) and have never had this problem, though I have taken many of them well past 150k miles.
Honda is not only unreliable, but it is unreliable in the most critical components. Every issue we've had has left this car unsafe to drive. What's worse is that these seem to be common issues and Honda knows about them. These are bad designs and the transmission, especially, is trash. I can only conclude that Honda is riding on its reputation from the cars it built in the 90s but they are certainly no longer reliable. Never again.
- Jeremy T., Miamisburg, OH, US