Honda sweeps honors at Detroit auto show (MY '86 HONDA STILL RUNNING GREAT!!)

Put a half ton of gravel in the "bed" of that unibody "truck" and drive over a bumpy road at 40 mph. When the back doors no longer work correctly, don't come crying to me. (same goes for you Avalanche owners)

Japanese "trucks" are OK if you don't really need a truck.

Don't even talk to me about that freaky Barbie Doll styled NSX.

Ford tried that unibody truck stuff forty five years ago. Any time you see an "innovation" in vehicle construction from the Asians, an American manufacturer did it four decades ago and abandoned it for dang good reasons. Exactly the same situation exists with that little folding hardtop coupe from Lexus, and the 1957 Starliner.

I'm glad most folks have had good luck with their Hondas, and obviously most folks who own them like them. We had one, once. It was a 94 Civic sedan. If all Hondas were like it, they would have been out of business years ago.

The thing that POed me about it the worst (not losing the head gasket at 90K miles, three of the five windows malfunctioning, the cigarette lighter cutting off with the key preventing cellphone charging, having an 85 cubic inch engine with an automatic transmission in a 3,000 lb car, being nose heavy with radically undersized tires and having a high center of gravity, numb power steering with extraordinarily high effort, not enough iron in it to activate the traffic signal to enter our apartment complex, MacPhereson struts on all four corners, etc.) was the fact that being a long waisted six foot tall guy, I couldn't get comfortable in it regardless of the seat position, yet the view out of the rear window backing up was worse than my old Pantera....which says a LOT.

The best thing about it was because of some of the worst things, which for me was being able to drive it in really deep in a sharp turn, jump all over the brakes and jerk the wheel about twice as far as really needed to make the turn, which would pick up the inside rear wheel about a foot off the ground and drain all the color from my wife's face while making her grab the dash and door, regardless of the direction of the turn. It was really funny because she's the one who ran out and bought that sorry thing.

Because of this experience, it is my firm belief that 90% of Honda (and most all of the other import crap) owners weren't really used to much before they drove their first Honda. I can certainly understand why they feel so good if you are used to a clapped out, worn out Lumina, Fiesta or Sundance.

Basically, the popularity of the Hondas (etc.) is similar to almost half of the American vote going for Kerry.

Only enthusiasts do things well, and Honda builds a good motorcycle, like Suzuki. I'll never have another Honda with four wheels unless the wheels are mounted to the frame of one of their generators.

"The Accord and the Civic are both overpriced."

You've got that right - for the few features I care about, I can get a Fusion for $500 less than a Civic, and its a significantly larger vehicle with still respectable gas mileage (and getting fantastic reviews). If I go for a similar size vehicle, the Focus ends up $3800 cheaper.

Sure, the Honda holds its resale value longer, but when you keep a car 10+ years, thats no longer a factor (most cars are near worthless then). Of course, the Focus had recall problems when it was first brought to the states, but recent model years have proven to be very reliable, just when Honda forgot how to build a reliable automatic transmission for the Civic...

Of course, after giving the 97 Taurus its first tune-up, its running as good as new, so I'm hardly looking for a car.

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