I was told by an employee of my local Honda dealer that it seemed to be a problem of shift-driveability with the American Honda V6 trannies. It seemed that they are manufactured with thinner discs in the tranny that seem to wear out faster... all of this to make a smoother shift and maybe sacrificing durability?!

 

Nearly 11,000 miles on my AT Fit and going strong. My car pool buddy says his daughter's Civic is losing oil and it's not that old, but that is the ONLY Honda I've heard of that has problems. Every time I mention "Honda" I get glowing accounts from happy owners. My mechanic is a certified Honda mechanic, but is in business for himself and works on virtually every make of car -- and he rarely sees Hondas for anything other than routine maintenance. Ditto Toyotas. (My daughter had transmission work done on her '91 Camry and the mechanic, who specializes in trannies, says he doesn't see many of those, or Hondas, at all.) I think somebody is BS'ing.

 

... ask the Honda mechanic about Honda V6 trannys... and their reliability

 

Found this on the V-TEC forum. The subject was Odyssey tranny trouble, but apparently certain model years for the V6 were known to have problems. At least it looks like Honda acknowledged the issue and tried to make good:

(1) The V6 AT Hondas made from 99 through 03 had some problems with the transmissions... not all, mind you, but just enough that AHM instituted a 7 year / 100K mile warranty on them. And they have a pretty liberal policy of replacing them. Supposedly the problem only got resolved in 03, so anyone who got a transmission replacement before then may be unlucky enough to have to go through it again.

(2) Our 00 Odyssey EX AT4 had no issues in the 30K miles we had it.

(3) Our 02 Odyssey EX AT5 started to slip slightly at wide open throttle on the 3rd to 4th upshift. At around 20K miles. I described the problem to the dealer, they ordered a replacement and installed it in one day. That was in early 04.

(4) AHM has also recently issued a no cost optional "upgrade" to the AT5 control module. We haven't done ours yet, but we plan to do so.

(5) The dealer is really doing you a favor by replacing the transmission. He might be doing that as preventive maintenance. Indeed, incipient transmission failure is more noticeable when you drive the car harder... then you can feel the slip. Most folks that drive it gently may never notice it until the very end when you get a catastrophic failure.

(6) The issue that Bollocks brought up is a different one. In some Odysseys that were used for towing but had not had the OEM towing package installed (with AT and oil coolers) had experienced failures of second gear due to inadequate oil. Dealers are supposed to examine the transmission and replace it as needed. It is my understanding that if you have the OEM towing kit, or never tow, then you shouldn't run into the problem. Nevertheless dealers are supposed to check all Odysseys.

(7) We've also owned a 99 TL and 01 CL (base cars) with the same transmissions and had no problems at all.

 

fondafit: I have had no probs at all because: I change the tranny fluid at every 3rd oil change! One of the Honda mechanics I talked to drives his '00 Accord V6 Coupe at least as hard as I do and has been through 3 trannys! It is great your dealer replaced the tranny and it worked out for you. And yes they are still having problems occasionally with the tranny for the Accords, Odysseys (?sp), and I think the SUV. They are replaced with Honda re-mans.

 

docjim2: I didn't need to have the tranny replaced by the dealer. I cut and pasted in something from another forum (V-TEC) about problems people had in those years with a V-6. My cars (Accord & Civic) were not a problem -- they were nearly invincible. We did have the tranny rebuilt on my daughter's Camry ('91) and the mechanic said they rarely saw Toyotas in the transmission shop.

 

I was specifically talking about V6 transmissions. According to Honda there was and is a problem with the tranny's in the V6 not in the inline 4's. Good to hear that you have no prob though. I have owned Toyotas in the past and other than being a little overpriced they are good cars.

 

As for quality... well at my Honda dealer a Fit was brought in after running into the rear of a car that pulled out in front from an on-ramp:hit at 60mph!
Other than a "feeling of clostrofobia" the driver was un-injured and the engine/drivetrain was up under the car!
Yea Honda! Now that is really safe!

 

as far as quality: my black paint is awful. i had the roof and hood repainted curtisy of honda. the rest of the car looks ok but when you get up close you can see scratches that according to honda are from acid rain. yeah right. the car scratches very easily. the inside is very delecate too.

but we are talking about a very inexpensive car and i think the inside is a lot better then the toyota yaris. but i am not happy with it, it will not stand up to a bunch of kids.

my car is only 5 months old, i dont know what it will look like in 5 years, honda has always had an issue with paint.