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Can Honda get its mojo back?

510 messages,  Last post on May 14, 2013 at 7:27 AM

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#1 of 510 Can Honda get its mojo back? by tlong

Mar 03, 2011 (4:18 pm)

There's been a long running thread on Toyota being on the mend. I didn't see any similar topic for Honda.
 
As a long time Honda fan, I think they've lost their way and become complacent. IMHO their best current vehicles are the Fit, Civic, and CRV. Most of their other vehicles have become too big, too bloated, too bizarre in styling, as well as softer. And the interior quality is suffering as well. Competitors like Ford and Hyundai are going to eat Honda's lunch in the next few years unless Honda can step it up.
 
Acura is also a mess. In the mid 2000's they had one of the best looking cars on the road in the TL, and one of the best value luxury compacts in the TSX. Now those two cars are ugly and bloated. They got worse than the cars they replaced.
 
Honda is the company that had the first hybrid, had the first compact SUV, had the CVCC engines, had class-leading fuel economy. What have they done lately that is at all leading?

#2 of 510 Re: Can Honda get its mojo back? [tlong] by steve_ HOST

Mar 03, 2011 (4:36 pm)

Replying to: tlong (Mar 03, 2011 4:18 pm)
Funny, I was just reading a Wall St. Journal article about Consumer Reports' 2011 car ranking. Honda is number 1.
 
"The score card takes into account a variety of factors as measured by Consumer Reports, including on-road performance, reliability and fuel-economy."
 
Honda Tops Magazine's 2011 Car Rankings

#3 of 510 Re: Can Honda get its mojo back? [steve_] by tlong

Mar 03, 2011 (4:56 pm)

Replying to: steve_ (Mar 03, 2011 4:36 pm)
Funny, I was just reading a Wall St. Journal article about Consumer Reports' 2011 car ranking. Honda is number 1.
 
Hard to argue with that - AFAIK their reliability, in particular, is still tops. But their Accord sales are slowly losing ground to Toyota and others. In the '90's wasn't the Accord the top seller? I know we had a '92 Accord, and I currently drive an '05 TL. Although the TL has more goodies and is more luxurious, the '92 Accord's interior was better designed and built, and it didn't rattle at all, unlike my TL. And it also had tauter handling and better steering than the TL.
 
I'm also perceiving that this is a trend that is downhill, although they haven't fallen too far yet. And certainly Toyota's recent problems haven't hurt Honda. But with Ford and Hyundai coming on strong, will Honda step up? I don't see them trying nearly as hard as those two.

#4 of 510 Re: Can Honda get its mojo back? [tlong] by fezo

Mar 03, 2011 (5:34 pm)

Replying to: tlong (Mar 03, 2011 4:56 pm)
Yeah, first it was the weirding of Acura and then came the 08 Accord which has had virtually taken all the Hondaness out. It's almost a Camry which is the last thing I want an Accord to be.
 
I've had three Accords but right now I can name maybe half a dozen crs in its class that I'd look at if I were buying as opposed to 10 years ago when I would have just automatically bought another Accord.

#5 of 510 Where Honda went wrong... by lemko

Mar 03, 2011 (5:50 pm)

...was with the super-ugly Crosstour and Acura ZDX. You just look at them and wonder, "Who greenlighted these monstrosities?" They actually make the Element look sexy.

#6 of 510 Re: Where Honda went wrong... [lemko] by fezo

Mar 03, 2011 (6:05 pm)

Replying to: lemko (Mar 03, 2011 5:50 pm)
True enough. They seem to have gotten an ugly stick half a dozen years ago and started hitting the whole lineup.
 
Meanwhile they seem to have decided that the old engineering ahead of the competition was old hat and stopped doing it.
 
THey are still fine, dependable cars but that alone won't cut it.

#7 of 510 Next Civic and Accord by hpmctorque

Mar 03, 2011 (9:10 pm)

I think the next all-new Civic, which will be introduced in April or May, and the '13 Accord, will tell us a lot about whether Honda is getting its mojo back. From the pictures I've seen, the '12 Civic doesn't look like a great leap forward in styling, but it would be unfair to prejudge the car based on a few pictures. I look forward to reading some reviews and comparison tests.
 
The Focus and Elantra will be much tougher competition than the compacts the Civic has been competing against. The Cruze, while okay, doesn't look like a home run to me. The next Mazda 3 could also be a worthy competitor, and it will be interesting to see whether Toyota takes more risk with the '13 Corolla. Oh, and then there's the new Jetta, which is good on value, but less than great, overall.

#8 of 510 Re: Next Civic and Accord [hpmctorque] by tlong

Mar 03, 2011 (9:35 pm)

Replying to: hpmctorque (Mar 03, 2011 9:10 pm)
Unlike a lot of the comments I've read, I actually think the new Civic looks pretty good in photos, though that could change when we see one in person. IMHO the Civic was one of Honda's very best products, so they don't need to improve it THAT much. The Accord is a very different story. Hopefully the new Accord (2013?) will be smaller, better looking and perhaps more refined and quieter.

#9 of 510 apparently by nippononly

Mar 04, 2011 (12:43 am)

Civic is being dropped in the home market. Doesn't bode well for the next-gen - I'm sure they will Americanize (make it big, numb, and boring) it even more than it already is.
 
Wish we knew more about the changes they will make to the SI.

#10 of 510 Re: apparently [nippononly] by tlong

Mar 04, 2011 (1:02 am)

Replying to: nippononly (Mar 04, 2011 12:43 am)

Wish we knew more about the changes they will make to the SI.
 
Don't forget they used to have the CRX, Prelude, S2000. Now we have the Crosstour.

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