Want a Toyota or Honda?

[Alan L.]

I have come to the realization that, at $3 a gallon, the $458 a month it takes me to get to work and back is getting serious. So I stopped by a Honda dealership to check out Civics and Accords on Friday. They had about 3 Accords and 2 Civics - one of them was a Hybrid.

I went to a Toyota dealer on Saturday to drive the Camry and Corolla. The lot looked like the dealershop was shut down. The reason? They can't get enough cars allocated to them. They had a 2005 Camry, a 2006 Camry, and NO Corollas other than program cars with 8K miles on them.

The salesman said the Corollas are sold before they get them, pretty much.

Funny thing I thought was not believable on Friday. I am concerned about the extra stuff on a hybrid that can go wrong like the electric motor and the batteries. The salesman said that in 8 years neither a battery or a motor has been replaced and that Honda could not even give me a price on the replacement because they had never done it. Sounds ridiculous to me. Especially since I read where the battery only has an 80K warranty.

 

[Dargo]

Been there, done that, got the cars and the "T" shirt. In case Mr. Skurka is reading, yes, I also ran over one of my existing Honda cars. /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif

I personally prefer Honda over Toyota. Have had both and have studied both at length. In general, unless things have changed greatly in the last month, it will still take well over 5 years to just break even for the additional cost of a hybrid model.

My wife's Civic gets 36 mpg overall. My son's got nearly 40 even with 150k miles on it. My '06 Accord EX V6 only has 40 miles on it. But, hey, it's still on full. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[sneaky_pete]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( The lot looked like the dealershop was shut down. The reason? They can't get enough cars allocated to them.

The salesman said the Corollas are sold before they get them, pretty much.)</font>

And this without employee pricing discounts...

 

[kokopelli2]

personanally I would go with a civic with a stick and never look back. I would also stay away from hybrid if you commute on the highway. They were not ment for that. hybrids are ment for city dwellers that want a car. They are great in stop and go traffic.

 

[jim_wilson]

I bought a Honda CRX (basically a Civic in a swoopy 2 door body style) back in 1990 and drove it 167,000 miles before it finally came to a stop in 2003. In all that time I replaced the brakes a couple of times, a radiator, the clutch, one front drive axle, and the exhaust system a couple of times. I ran it out of oil a couple of times, crashed it a few times, it got stolen and returned, crashed into and generally did not get babied. I then took over driving my wife's 1997 Civic which now has 165,000 miles and in all that time has had 1 brake job, 2 exhaust systems, 1 door window regulator replaced, a timing belt, and has had regular services. My mother had a 1987 Toyota Camry that served her well for about 14 years. I personally would favor the Honda over the Toyota but I don't think you can go wrong with either. If you are looking for fuel mileage with reliability get a Honda Civic with a stick. I would personally stay away from the Hybrid stuff until it has proven itself a little more. Like Kubota - Honda is an "engine" company - that is what they are know for and in my experience their engines are very good. I currently have 2 Honda cars in the driveway (I keep the CRX in hopes I can restore it someday), a Honda lawnmower, weedwhacker and snowblower. All of them are excellent. They are not perfect - but are much better than the competition in my experience.

 

[JJT]

I'll second kokopelli2. We have 2 Honda's and plan on sticking with them, (after almost 30 years of buying only domestics). Great reliability, safety and resale value, (low depreciation).

 

[bczoom]

Jim,

Looking at your repair history on your Honda's, I'd think you got some lemons. /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif I've had several Honda's over the years and most required tires/brakes/oil and 1 timing belt each (and that's it) in the first 150,000 miles.

Had a Camry a few years back. Nice car (and very quiet) but still think the Accord is a better car.

We have an Odyssey (the van) now and love it. Mrs. Zoom is going to sell her Audi's and get either an Accord EX or an Acura TL.

Brian

 

[milkman]

I agree, the Honda's (3) that I have owned all had in the 240k range when traded in and have been anvil reliable, brakes and timing belt, and any Honda or Toyota, I would consider low milage at less than 100,000. We bought a used Corolla for the wife to drive 70 miles to work, had 198k now has 228,000 miles and still spunky for its size, and gets 38 to 40 mpg, had to replace one window motor, about $50 installed used. Wife would like to have a TDI Jetta but I think it would not be able to pay back the cost difference in mileage, they're going for full invoice, no dickering. I can't find anything that I think would be more economical over the long haul than a Civic or Corolla.
I have an Odyssey w/ 199k miles that we just drove to Il. and carrying four people and luggage with air on and 70+ got just over 26 mpg.

 

[gsxr1100]

I like Toyota personally since I have a Lexus. The Honda's are good but they lack style for me.

Both are good, just see which you like.

 

[Alan L.]

I have some experience with both Honda and Toyota. I bought a new 1989 Corolla and put 240K miles on it in 8 years. During that time I replaced the radiator, timing belt (twice) and CV joints. That Corolla only got about 29-30 mpg, I think the later models do better. It still ran fine, I was tired of looking at it.

I bought my daughter a '92 Accord with 40K miles on it. She drove it all through college, then sold it to my brother for $6K when it had 106K miles. He drove it till it had 187K and gave it to his son. It has about 280K miles right now and is still running good.

The same brother that bought the accord has an '01 Civic with 106k miles. He has had no trouble but just replaced the timing belt. He gets 36-40, mostly highway.

Because of the stop and go traffic I get into in Dallas, I don't think I want to go back to a stick. Too much clutch work.

I have read some of the Civic Hybrid forums and some claim to be getting more than 50 mpg, others about 40. Hardly seems worth the difference in price.

Something the Toyota salesman told me is that the American automakers employee discounts has killed the values of used trucks. I have a 2003 GMC Sierra with lots of options - captain chairs, Bose sound systems, etc. It has 66K miles which is high. Edmunds shows about $16K+ for a private sale, 15K trade-in value. I owe $13,900 on the truck and paid 4000 down on the truck 2 years ago. Bummer. And, he said I probably won't get that much, realistically.

I think I will wait until some of the panic from the hurricane has passed, to see what the market looks like.