Quote:
Originally Posted by jacksan1
This is an excellent point about Honda. In Japan, it is well-accepted that whoever buys an all-new model from Honda in the first year is beta-testing for the company.
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It isn't just Japan, and it isn't just Honda. All car makers have the same issues. My wife bought a first-year Neon (hey, we were giving the US makers a chance for a change) and it was buggy as all get out.
It's not because the manufacturers aren't doing their best. It's because cars are sufficiently complex devices that no matter how much you test, once hudreds of thousands of them actually get out in the real world unexpected issues are bound to crop up.
+1 on the advice to avoid a first-year platform, no matter who makes it.
By the same token, it's a safe bet that a car that's reaching the end of its lifecycle will have all the issues worked out and be pretty darned good, even if it got a bad rep because of early quality problems. I understand the Fiero (remember that?) actually was decent by the time they killed it.
Me, I'm on track to buy a 2010 Fit. By that time my Focus will have 200k on it and be ready for the scrapyard. My wife just took delivery of an 07 and it's a Goldilocks car...just right.
I'm liking the new one. Don't forget that we're looking at a Japanese-spec car. The US car will have a different nose because of our different collision requirements, just as the current North American Fit is different from the Jazz.