thekoth

My father has worked at Honda Marysville for 23 years.
I can recall standing by with my little sippie cup watching him work and customize countless Hondas.
I never really understood his passion for Honda untill i grew older.
Honda is not about whats cool or whats popular.
Honda is about benchmarks,innovation and ground breaking ideas.
S2000 hands down can not be matched by any other economy companys out of the box sports car.
As with most Honda die hards i was sad to see the s2000 go.
Then when they named the CRZ as its new "sports car" i thought, "wow what a joke Honda has become".
But then i started thinking, "who else is trying out a hybrid as a race car?"
Yes it would be great if more designs would be similar to the likes of the RWD heros like the S and NSX. But lets face it money talks. Not alot of families or first time drivers are interested in a car that can lap the Nurdburg in record time. Or that can go zero to 60 in 3.5. All that matters today to the average buyer is MPG,Cost and safety. Average buyers out weight enthusiasts.

Honda was making fuel friendly cars way before it was made into a law.
Honda does'nt rely on turbos or superchargers or computers to run its vehicles.
So 120,000 miles later when it comes time to do your first mechanical maintenance, you wont have to have a NASA degree to know what your doing.
Honda remains "backyard mecanic" friendly.
Honda never attacks other inferior car companys in its ads like EVERY other company does.
Honda is unique.
I could go on and on about what makes Honda such a great company.
Bottom line, everyone has their own needs when it comes to what they want in a car.
A company cannot survive doing the same thing forever. Engineers change things and it cannot cater to the needs of ever car goer.


I for one am never giving up on Honda.

JHo

I've typed a reply to this a couple times and always deleted it because it never stated what I thought.

Since I was introduced to the brand in 2005 (no market penetration where I grew up) I only know the economical, reliable, family car company. And in that respect, I still feel Honda leads the pack. However there are some car delivery problems, that Honda must fix before showing that level of competency to new customers (my parents waited 4+ months for a particular Crosstour color/option combo, then bought a Dodge when the dealer couldn't get it). They are now happy Dodge customers until something goes wrong.

Unfortunately I don't feel those of us on this site represent that customer. Yeah, we may buy a family go everywhere vehicle, but at heart, we are sports car guys.

Sounds like a great discussion to have in person, but until my employer removes a new restriction on social websites I don't feel comfortable posting my real opinion. I need my job.

neuronbob

I think most of us understand that if no one buys regular cars, the enthusiast projects will have no funding. While I, as a 3-time Acura owner, will continue to gripe about the loss of NSX and the cancellation of the V8/RWD platform, I completely understand why it was done (who's going to buy those in the middle of a worldwide depressio?), and I understand that if the economy improves, they may come back. Honda makes money on peoplemobiles and they actually made money during the recession. That's what finally prompted me to buy some Honda stock--it was a good investment at the time. I just wish they were better-looking like they once were.

What makes (or made ) Honda different was that even in their more plebian offerings, they got excellent mileage AND were fun to drive. The Civic, of which I owned three, is the best example of this. Those little cars were so fun to drive and were pretty damned indestructible when cared for. Unfortunately, Honda got into the "bigger is better" game and now we have an bloated, ugly Accord :ugh: and the Civic is headed the same way--bloated but not yet ugly. The current styling is, shall we say, not good and is worse at Acura. This is what is making people ask whether Honda has lost its way.

Yes, current Hondas are fuel efficient and super-reliable just like always, but do they beg you to drive them even when they are not moving? Not anymore....other than the Fit, which I am totally infatuated with.

I'm not giving up on Honda, either--as stated above, I'm a stockholder.

You forgot the Acura RDX, which has a turbo.
Every car has multiple computers to run operations.
Not being rude, just saying.

I noticed that.

thekoth

[QUOTE=neuronbob,Dec 30 2010, 01:02 PM]
You forgot the Acura RDX, which has a turbo.
Every car has multiple computers to run operations.
Not being rude, just saying.

zenracer

Not true, Acura brand is also in China

j2damilla

I know Honda likes to play it safe but I wish they were more ballsy when it comes to putting out exciting new models. The economy has been rough but now that we're getting back on the right track, I'd like to see them take more initiative in making "enthusiast" cars.

I mean Toyota is also a very respectable company that has put out the Lexus IS-F and LFA and are looking to bring us a FT-86.

I just want to see another race-inspired Honda that screams ingenuity.

thekoth

Not exactly.
Honda Marysville has actually cut production January 3rd due to lack of sales.
Accord and Civic is the only models really posting profits.

pgarratt

Thanks. The one recall ends with car 004331 and mine is 004346.....
That is for the electrical issue. The torque issue are for cars made in 'bama and mine was built on a wednesday night in Marysville.