Back to Honda after a dreadful experience with Mazda

[cwa107]

Hello All,

I've been peeking through the forum for a few weeks now since I just bought a new Accord ('07 EX-L V6). This is my second Accord and third Honda. Previously I owned an '02 EX 5-spd, and after that an '05 Pilot EX. I was a very active member over at http://www.hondapilot.org.

Anyway, this forum came highly recommended from the folks over at hp.org and I'm happy to be here. I traded in my Pilot in July '06 on a Mazda 6s Grand Sport Wagon. I thought the Mazda would satisfy my craving for a more sporty vehicle, while also achieving much better mileage than I had experienced in the Pilot (about 16 MPG on average, never breaking 19 MPG - even in constant highway driving). Unfortunately, the 6 turned out to be a basket case, with nothing but defect after defect, resulting in constant trips back to the dealer for warranty work. To add insult to injury, it sometimes took the dealer months to get in replacement parts.

The 6 had P215/45-R18 Pirelli P-Zero M+S tires which were extremely expensive. After about 10,000 miles, they started to exhibit an odd noise at speeds below 60MPH. It was bad enough that my passengers started asking me if I had a flat. The dealer refused to take any responsibility for the issue and suggested that they were "cupped" (worn unevenly) and told me that I would just have to live with it. Rather than spend upwards of $800 on a new set of tires (that size is particularly rare, with only 3 or 4 different choices in tires), I just decided to cut my losses.

Knowing that Honda was clearing out the '07s, with a new Accord being introduced for '08, I decided to see if I could get a decent deal on an Accord. The difference is night and day - and I can truly say I will never buy anything other than a Honda product from now on.

So far, after tooling around this forum looking for tips, I've managed to get the cargo net and fog lights installed. I'm looking forward to further customizing my Accord as time goes on.

The only thing I miss about the 6 is the factory HID headlights, but I've read that there is a JDM part that can be retrofitted to the Gen7 Accords. I'm not sure how comfortable I would be with that install (particularly since I assume they would be a far more focused beam, needing expert calibration), but I may give it a shot.

[mwmcginn]

Congrats on the new accord. I love my RX-7, but that has been a while. Sorry about your 6.

[cwa107]

Congrats on the new accord. I love my RX-7, but that has been a while. Sorry about your 6.

Thanks. I don't mean to generalize about Mazdas, I just don't feel that the 6 is even in the same class as the Accord in terms of build quality, drivetrain or materials. My '02 Accord was my first new car and I loved it. I guess it and my Pilot set a pretty high bar, and although I loved the handling characteristics of the 6, it's charm faded quickly - especially since it was my primary family vehicle. Overall, the Accord just does a better job in that respect.

[mwmcginn]

agreed. I should have said loved... no room for 2 car seats... I think that was a different time for mazda anyway.

[Accordlover]

Can't wait till psyshack reads this thread... :lmao:

Back to the subject...

Glad to have you here! We all love pictures so make sure to post a few pics of your Accord up in this thread or the gallery.

Sorry to hear the circumstances of you coming back though; I know so many people who stray from Honda and make their way back. My way of doing it is to keep a Honda and that 'other' car in my driveway at all times. Being able to go back to the Honda at any given time is a very safe feeling! :lmao:

[cwa107]

Can't wait till psyshack reads this thread... :lmao:


I take it he's a Mazda fan? I don't mean to ruffle anybody's feathers, but my personal experience was not pleasant. Maybe mine was just built on a bad day, don't know.

Just to give you some examples of the quality problems -

During the first week that I had it, the lumbar support failed. Took it back to the dealer, he said that it was a common problem and that it just wasn't well made. They attempted a "fix" involving a wire tie and told me I wouldn't have the problem again. 2 days later, it failed again. This time they ordered a replacement part that had been redesigned. It took over 2 months to get the part in, but once that was installed, it was OK.

My leather seat back was torn slightly from the factory.

My headliner had a nick out of it from the factory.

Vehicle was equipped with a 6-speed automatic. It would put itself in 6th gear routinely at 40 MPH or less, which would make the engine lug. It was so bad that most of the time, you couldn't keep up with traffic. All of the power was at high RPM, so you had to give it lots of pedal which would throw you back in the seat for a few seconds, only to find that you were lagging behind again once it upshifted back to 6th. On top of that, the transmission would occasionally exhibit what the dealer called "shift-shock". This is a common trait to 6 automatics, despite the fact that the transmission was completely replaced from a Jatco unit to an Aisin-Warner unit. If you were rolling slowly and then gave the car gas, it would occasionally bang (literally) into gear as though it slipped. I had several passengers comment that they thought my transmission was failing. Come to find out from forums like this that they basically all do it (at least the automatics). The dealer hooked up test equipment and told me it was normal.

I could go on for paragraphs, but I'll stop now :D


Back to the subject...


Indeed :thmsup:


Glad to have you here! We all love pictures so make sure to post a few pics of your Accord up in this thread or the gallery.

Sorry to hear the circumstances of you coming back though; I know so many people who stray from Honda and make their way back. My way of doing it is to keep a Honda and that 'other' car in my driveway at all times. Being able to go back to the Honda at any given time is a very safe feeling! :lmao:

Thanks for the warm welcome. I haven't had a chance to do some "glamor shots" yet, but the next time I have a chance, I'll be sure to post.

[Accordlover]

I take it he's a Mazda fan?

Not sure, he traded his 2006 Civic EX in for a 2007 Mazda3 because his Civic was plagued with issues is what we've been told. Many were skeptical as to if his trade was a worse for better or better for worse deal. Guess we'll see how he racks up his miles...:dunno:

[stevel]

The 6 had P215/45-R18 Pirelli P-Zero M+S tires which were extremely expensive. After about 10,000 miles, they started to exhibit an odd noise at speeds below 60MPH. It was bad enough that my passengers started asking me if I had a flat. The dealer refused to take any responsibility for the issue and suggested that they were "cupped" (worn unevenly) and told me that I would just have to live with it. Rather than spend upwards of $800 on a new set of tires (that size is particularly rare, with only 3 or 4 different choices in tires), I just decided to cut my losses.

Pirelli's are crap. pure crap after just a couple thousand miles. that wasn't the cars fault. should have taken that one up with a Pirelli dealer. if you made it 10K on those before losing your hearing from the noise, you did better than most.

[cwa107]

Pirelli's are crap. pure crap after just a couple thousand miles. that wasn't the cars fault. should have taken that one up with a Pirelli dealer. if you made it 10K on those before losing your hearing from the noise, you did better than most.

I did take it up with Pirelli - they blamed it on the car being out of alignment. That is, until they did an alignment check and it was fine.

Either way, I know it wasn't the cars fault directly, but it was the last straw. I bought a new car because I wanted to avoid the frustrations that one would have with an older car - and I just wasn't having a new car experience, especially compared with my Hondas which were basically flawless.

[cwa107]

Not sure, he traded his 2006 Civic EX in for a 2007 Mazda3 because his Civic was plagued with issues is what we've been told. Many were skeptical as to if his trade was a worse for better or better for worse deal. Guess we'll see how he racks up his miles...:dunno:

I wish him luck, really I do. I know what it's like to be in a car that is a total basket case. If that was the case with his Civic, more power to him for jumping over to a Mazda - but I think he'd have been better off with a Toyota or a Nissan.

[GRdotNet]

The 3 is a much better built and designed car than the 6 in my experiences. I looked at the 6 while Accord shopping and it's just not even in the same league. The 3 and Civic are much closer competitors - I know lots of people with both cars and no one's had any significant problems yet.

[cwa107]

The 3 is a much better built and designed car than the 6 in my experiences. I looked at the 6 while Accord shopping and it's just not even in the same league. The 3 and Civic are much closer competitors - I know lots of people with both cars and no one's had any significant problems yet.

I drove a 3 as a rental. It seemed pretty well screwed together, much more so than the 6, with a lot better headroom. The big failing point for me was the A/C, which was incredibly weak. I've seen a number of people complain about it on the forums (Mazda6Club).

[GRdotNet]

I'll agree with that, although the auto-climate control cars seem to be worse than the manual control ones. My brother's 07 3i without the auto controls seems to get much colder than my ex-girlfriend's 06 3s GT.