Who builds the best engines in the world

[CatchMe]

In your opinion, from what youve driven and read in the mags, what engine manufacturer builds the best engines in the world?
Heres my thoughts.
It is widely regarded by the experts that Honda engines are the finest in the world. If you look at small power equipment,ie generators, mowers, snowblowers, everyone will tell you that honda are the best. Not to mention Honda cars exceed the level of refinement and dependability of, in my opinion, any other engine in the world.
I dont think Hondas are the best because I own one, I own one because they are the best!!!

[princess]

<<<<<I dont think Hondas are the best because I own one, I own one because they are the best!!!>>>>>>

DITTO!!

[BenjiBoy650]

BMW and Nissan. I own a Honda because they go far but they're not the best, not by a long shot, IMO.

[Inspector1]

I think saying their the best in the World is reaching a little far....
For 1 they produce more engines for their home market that we never see....as for that imagine all engine building companies across the World that design and build engines that we don't even realize, IE Commercial applications only...

So if you are saying Honda builds one of the Best engines that I am familiar with.....
Yes for some
No for me... because Caterpillar,Cummins,Perkins,Infiniti/Nissan(Nissan also builds a tough diesel also), BMW & Mercedes..
And the list could go on.
I have personally witnessed a small block Chevy with over 500,000 on ticker....

I think if you want small gas engines 3-18 Hp Honda is tough competitor....

My2cents

I1:)

[princess]

I've seen other brands with high mileage too, but it's rare. It's the consistantcy rhat keeps bringing us to Hondas.

A little story:

A man was driving a Mercedes suddenly had an axel just go out. It was out of warranty, but he called the dealer anyway. They sent a tow truck. Hauled in his car & repaired it. When he asked for the bill they said, "You don't owe anything." Confused, he asked why, The guy in the service dept. simply said. "Mercedes don't break down!"

I believe that not a single "recall" on a Honda has been AFTER anyone was hurt or killed. None of the so-called US brands can say that. I'd rather have an annoying hard start or rattle than a sticky gas pedal!

My prince started out working in a shop that was for all brands. He's even worked on & driven a Lotus. He's convinced that Hondas are what he'll own & wants the ones he cares about to drive. Are they perfect? No such thing!

[BenjiBoy650]

I agree with I1 that there are many other great engines in the world we don't see. However I have to tell you Mercedes engines are no longer so great....experiencing problems with sludging and not starting at low mileage, among other problems.

Still if you ask me the Honda engines are not that great. It is true that they go very far, are very reliable and basically are like that for every car. However, they are a bit loud and rough (at least the 4 cylinders) and they could use more torque. And again I still think they're great great cars. If I needed a car the first stop would have to be the Honda or Toyota dealer because of their reliability and good service.

As a side note about that sticky pedal...I set the cruise, but then had to shift into neutral because there was a red light up ahead. Somehow I accidently knocked the resume button and the engine just revved in neutral. Pretty cool lol

[princess]

I think it's partly in how we interpret "great".....

Is YOUR great speed, dependable, longivity, power, safety, cost of ownership......

Mine is a combination. If you separate them out another may come out on top. I still prefer Hondas!! :D

[BenjiBoy650]

Mine is also a combination, I just have a higher weight for certain things :) As for cost of ownership Honda's are not cheap...unless of course your husband happens to know how to replace everything :)

[princess]

You got me there! We do only have to buy parts. But don't even need to worry about that until they're 3 years old! Even our older ones didn't cost us much. That wasn't on my list though.

A century or so ago his sister had owned pretty much everything you could buy in a car. They each lasted about a year before they started having problems. Then she bought her first Honda. A '78 Civic. Even SHE couldn't kill it! She had us throw in "tune up" parts in from time to time. She needed brakes once or twice, & a clutch once at about 150K. It ran very well! That is until she mashed it into a bus. Then her son in law pulled the engine out & put it in another civic he bought that wasn't running & it went for a few more years!:D

[BenjiBoy650]

My main concern is Honda trannies. They don't seem to be doing too well :( I grind in 2nd and 5th. Odyssey trannies have been going fast too. Honda is helping to pick up the tab on those though. Did you know it costs $1200 to replace the clutch in my Accord? Jebus thats a lot...

[Inspector1]

Benji,

Is that with a new flywheel??? Seems awful HIGH ....

I think when you want to say the BEST vehicle price per mile on the road today is a Honda, and yes they may be slipping in some quality control issues, but for the past 10-15 years its been one of the best vehicles to own(not lease) unless your using depreciation..

I1

:)

[princess]

BB650, if 5th gear grinds on the upshift it's got a bulletin. #01-070

Replacing a clutch, pressure plate & throw out bearing takes about 7 hours. So about half of that figure you said is labor. Those trannies are a booger to get out!!

Didn't Honda increase the problem tranny's warranty to 100K?? They get points for trying to correct it! My mom has an Ody without problems. It's older, a '95. Even on the newer ones, it wasn't ALL of them. :)

[Inspector1]

labor rate out there is $80 per hour on cars .. ouch!!!!:( :(

flat rate techs 20-25 $ hr pay ???....

[princess]

Labor is closer to $100 per hour. The cost of electricity you know.... The tech's don't see it. They see about a quarter of it, sometimes a third. If it's a flat rate shop it would depend on how long it takes. Some need closer to 10 hours, some only 5. Of course, the customer pays whatever Honda says, not how long it takes.:)

Hey I1, still freezing out there??

[Inspector1]

22.1 deg and windy.... 0 wind chill Bbbrrrrr. . . . . .7:30pm

It's not that bad I'm only out in it for 10-15min 8 times a day....
I just layer clothes.... my Cassiopeia PDA and camera's don't like it.... batteries & below freezing temps not a good mix....:)

I1

[princess]

Oh burrrrrr!!!

My toes are frozen & I'm still whining about the couple of weeks of 40's. We normally don't do this for this long! A few days, yes, but not weeks!

:bawling:

Where did all the sunshine go???

[BenjiBoy650]

I think the quote was for a resurfaced flywheel. Still I think it's outragerous when I can get parts for $200!! Yeah they extended the warranty and even helped to replace trannies that were out of warranty. Still, not typical of Honda :rolleyes:

[princess]

You think you can get the parts for 200? You need a clutch, throw out bearing & a pressure plate & you let it go so long that the fly wheel may be damaged.... I doubt it.

Sure you can go after market, but most of the time those clutches cause chatter. There really isn't very much savings. I've actually seen parts chain stuff cost more than Honda's parts! So shop carefully!!

As far as "not typical for Honda"... In the '85 Accords the timing belts weren't lasting the 90K they were supposed to. Honda was replacing & rebuilding engines free of charge for the owners. The '86 Accords were having an internal part go out in the AT, not one to strand you, just shift weird. It would happen at about 60K & they were fixing them. The '94-'95 Accords had a little clip that held things in place by the timing belt area. If you lost it, all your oil was gone. They were fixing those & reimbursed the people that had it happen already. That's just a few that I can rememeber off hand! How many people are now getting their repairs on trannies done for free?

The machines aren't perfect. There's no such thing. The company does seem to stand behind their product MOST of the time. When they see a pattern, they do try. Most companies seem to wait until enough law suits come in, or people get hurt or killed....then they end up having the government tell them to fix it.

Have you noticed that many of the "recalls" you hear on the news for other cars envolve years past? Most of the Honda ones are within the first 2 years of production. Then sometimes a pattern develops later & they'll have another one, rarely are any actually a safety issue.

Sorry.... I guess that was several cents!

:D

[BenjiBoy650]

I've searched around for parts. There is a local store around here that has a good record, he can get me parts for $192 plus $6.40 for tranny oil. hparts.com has the clutch for $200 or so. I'm not sure if either included flywheel, I remember that the shop said if I needed to resurface the flywheel it would be another $30. I think I'll need a new flywheel though, I've tried starting it twice when the car was already running :(

The trannies actually aren't getting replaced for free but considering that they extended the warranty it's not such a bad deal. It's something like...they help to pay 7/8 of the tab if it's over 36k miles (differs), I've never seen anyone pay a cent for a new tranny below the original warranty period. That's not bad if you think about it, there was one case where Honda picked up 2/3 of the tab for a new tranny at 112K, which is over the limit already. Overall I'd say Honda is doing great.

Still I think other manufacturers deserve credit. The Geo Prism supposedly had a bad reliability record but it was built right next to the vaunted Toyota Corolla?? I see the public's prejudice here (not specifically anyone on this board).

[princess]

Yes they are replacing some trannies & torque converters! They extended to 7 years, 100K & it's a full warranty on it.... according to 02-062. 99-01 Ody, 00 & 01 Accord & Prelude. The owners of the ones that qualify were notified. They were paying people back if they'd had repairs or replacements done for the problem.


We all have our opinions from our own life experiences. Having owned 2 Toyotas, 3 Chevys, 2 Olds, 1 Ford, 1 Plymouth & numerous Hondas.... our opinion has developed. We all have such different critiera as to what we want & different taste. It's wonderful! I love that were all different!!

Am I trying to convince anyone else that Honda is a good company? Not really, just explaining why I have the opinion I do.

My dad owned a '69 Ford truck & the brake master cyl went out about every 3 months. He'd have it fixed & it do it again. He loved the truck, but when that goes out on a mountain road it gets scary! Finally, in '74 they did a recall. I wondered how many accidents happened during those years. Ford knew there was a problem, but waited until the gov. told them they HAD to before they had a recall. I personally ran a few stop signs driving that truck because it suddenly had no brakes!!

How many people were burned before Chevy recalled the trucks with the unprotected gas tanks? We owned one & got paper work for the class action suit against GM.

People have had nasty experiences with Honda too. Usually they are over money/cost of repair or finding a problem that's nerve wracking. (like the warped rotors) If I had gone through much of that I'd probably own something else!

I'm brand loyal, all my applances are GE. It all started with a used washer a VERY long time ago......

Speaking of "other" brands, I need to go out & haul my daughter to Sears for a new battery for her Suburban.....:D

[BenjiBoy650]

I hope Honda covers their bases better because I'd love to own Honda my whole life. I just got the ML320 back from the Mercedes dealer, there's glue above the drivers window, scratches on the hood as if someone placed something on it then dragged it, the power steering pumping is working even worse now, the brakes feel mushy, and the coolant looks like it's only water. Since when does coolant bubble at 80 degrees Celsius?!?!?! :censored: :censored: :censored: :censored: :censored: :bawling: