Overview & Reviews

Why are Honda vehicles so highly regarded by American drivers? Certainly, their excellent reputation for reliability and quality is a major factor. But it also has to do with the overall driving and owning experience. Read any Honda review and you'll likely notice common themes such as thoughtful design, a friendly nature, better-than-average fuel economy and attention to safety.

Japan-based Honda Motor Company was founded in 1948 by Soichiro Honda. The company got its start making motorbikes. Japan had been rendered cash poor and fuel-starved after World War II, and its citizens were hurting for an inexpensive, fuel-efficient mode of transportation. Honda's first motorcycles mated engines with bicycles to create a motorbike that was cheap to make and operate.

Honda's bikes quickly evolved into vehicles far more sophisticated than small engines stuck into bicycle frames. The manufacturer's 1949 D-Type could reach speeds of up to 50 mph, and offered front and rear suspension. The 1950s saw the launch of the successful Juno scooter, built to steal market share from the Vespa knockoffs that were popular in Japan at that time. In the latter part of that decade, Honda introduced the ultra-successful C100 Super Cub. The motorbike was remarkably easy to operate and featured a crossbar-free frame that made it popular with women. It went on to become the first Honda motorbike sold in the U.S. via then-new American Honda Co. in 1959.

By the early 1960s, Honda had built its first automobiles for the Japanese home market and entered Formula One racing. But it wasn't until 1970 that it exported its first car, the diminutive N600, to the U.S. The automaker initially had a hard time sparking interest among American buyers, but that all changed in 1973 with the introduction of the Civic. The car was larger than Honda's previous models even though it was still very petite compared to compact American cars. The Civic's high fuel efficiency (an important selling point given that decade's energy crisis) and affordability made it Honda's first American success story. By 1976, the Civic had been joined by the Accord, which quickly became a favorite with U.S. consumers as well.

By the 1980s, Honda's success and its reputation as a maker of well-built reliable cars and motorcycles continued to grow. It began building Accords in the U.S. in 1982 and by 1989 had earned the distinction of making America's most popular car. This was also the decade in which Honda created the Acura brand as a way to sell more upscale and luxurious vehicles. Throughout this decade and into the 1990s, the Civic and Accord were huge sellers and considered class benchmarks. Also during this time, Honda continued to innovate through such technologies as variable valve timing, aluminum body construction and improved safety features.

Today, Honda's lineup runs the gamut. Included are fuel-sipping hybrids, a spacious minivan, reliable family sedans, practical SUVs and even a pickup. Although the latest Civic and Accord aren't quite the benchmarks they once were for their respective classes, Honda's brand as a whole continues to be one of the most well respected in the industry, with millions of loyal and satisfied customers.

User Reviews:

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  crv - 1999 Honda CR-V
  By mack - September 20 - 1:40 pm

  It was a great SUV. Enjoying going fishing,hunting,camping, and road trips with it. But any crv from year 1996 to 2000 has recall on ignition/electrical problem. My 99 crv die on me a few times when i was driving, everything shut down, hard to steer the wheel, brake padel was hard to press on. Any automatic AWD transmission has problem . AWD transmission cost from $750 to $1200. FWS transmission is about half the price. Most older model 4WD crv being sold on craigslist had transmission problem.

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  My brand new 2014 Honda Civic EX keeps leaking! - 2014 Honda Civic
  By Jorge Molina - September 20 - 10:19 am

  I bought this car in Nov of 2014 to replace my old 1989 BMW because this last one had some terrible leaks. I was tired of dealing with this so I decide to finally purchase a brand new vehicle and say "good bye" to problems. Well, in August of 2015 (not even a whole year after the purchase) I took my new civic to get its first oil change after about 8000 miles. When I was picking up my car, the service guys at Honda recommended me to take care of an "important" leak (leak!) that the car has, What??? yes, my brand new Honda civic, which I bought to get rid of the leaks and issues that I was having with my old BMW, was leaking transmission fluid. At this point I have taken the car to repair the same issue two times. The people at Honda told me that the issue has to do with the o-ring and the rear main seal. They even applied a dye and kept the car overnight to "make sure" that the problem was fixed. At this exact moment (when I wrote this review) I had the suspicious that the car is still leaking. I am very frustrated with this car. At this point I feel like Honda sold me a brand new lemon car and that really irritates me. My only hope is that if I confirmed that the car is a lemon car, Honda refund me or replace my car for another one. Otherwise, I would never buy or recommend Honda again in my life. By the way, and just to be fair, despite of the very annoying leak that the car has, the car works great.

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  Great interior but missed the mark on engineering - 2014 Honda Odyssey
  By MrD - September 17 - 11:37 am

  I have a 2014 Oddy EX-l. Loved it when we bought it. Interior is much roomier and more refined compared to sienna. Fuel economy is great too. However, this is the first new Honda I had that had problems this soon. Rattle in the tailgate on rough roads. Warped rotors at under 20k miles (warranty is only for 12k), I do not drive it hard and never had this problem before. Strange Chubaka-like noise when turning in parking lots some time. Windshield wipers skipping instead smoothly swishing over the windshield (dealership replaced them but that didnt fix it). Tailgate turned out to be a little misaligned when we took it on to repair the rattle for the second time (we never did anything to it). Of course there is also the infamous kick when decelerating to about 10-15mph and stepping on gas again. No codes for that Honda reset the computer and said operation seems normal. Tires will likely need to be replaced before our 2 year safety check (at about 30k miles), because Honda put on cheap tires. I expected much higher quality from Honda. Our Accord and CRV had 0 problems.

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  Rough Rider - 2015 Honda Accord
  By George Guarini - September 16 - 2:51 pm

  This is an addition to an earlier review. Bought this 2015 LX in August. I had a 1994,1998 and a 2003 LX and they all rode better then the 2015. You feel every bump in the rode and you feel like a cork bobbing in the ocean. I later found out that Honda replaced their famous wishbone suspension with McPherson Struts(Cheaper) which maybe contributed to the very firm and rough ride. Also the front driver and passenger seats are very uncomfortable, we are using seat pads to give us some comfort but seat backs are hard ( will have to find something to put there to help my back) Rode or tire noise excessive(Thought windows were opened) overall very disappointed in this car, Loved my 94 98 and 03 and based my purchase on the 2015 on those 3 cars. I have no idea how Consumer reports rates this car so high. I will be looking at a Ford Fusion or Toyota Camry soon. Oh by the way mileage is good.

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  Forget the 4 CYL - 2014 Honda Crosstour
  By Robert Vanderheiden - September 15 - 4:52 pm

  The Honda Crosstour is quite different from the Accord and still based on the previous Accord model. That means the dash, seats, etc are from the older model. Not a big issue but one thing is just plain ridiculous for a car of this statue and price and that is the fact that there is no outside temp on the EX. Really? Even my daughters PT cruiser has that. Perhaps not a big deal for some, but if I had known when test driving the car... I would probably not have purchased it. Most frustrating thing about this car is the power or better lack of power. It accelerates like a turtle. It only starts increasing speed at higher revs. It is at times actually dangerous when changing lanes for example when quick acceleration is demanded. It simply does not happen. It does not change gears fast enough depending on speed of the car... for example, when driving 20-30 miles an hour and you want to quickly accelerate to overtake someone or change lanes, the car just responds very slowly which can be dangerous. Of course the car drives easily at higher speeds, no problem there, except getting there takes longer than you would expect. The car does provide a comfortable interior with ample space and it is nice that you have a 5th door... i.e. a hatchback. It is easy to drop the rear seats and the extra space is nice if you have dogs for example. The seats are firm and perhaps not to everyones liking. My wife simply hates the seats and wants to go back to a Nissan which seats are much more comfortable for her. I am OK. I actually drove the car cross country up to 800 miles a day without any problem or fatigue. So this may be a personal preference. Do try the car out on a longer test drive.

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  Extremely Disappointed in the Interior - 2015 Honda CR-V
  By Carolyn Martin - September 14 - 2:37 pm

  Interior is ALWAY BLACK and therefore highlights any dust or dirt. That would be OK, EXCEPT do NOT us a cleaner to wash the doors etc. I have faded interior. It looks AWFUL. I was washing the windows and used the same rag to wash the inside of the door. It took the color completely off! After having this car for only 3 months, it looks older than my 12 year old other car! Cheap interior materials. The seats show everything from a drop of water can create a stain! And Ive never seen a paint job that chips so easily. Its so sad, because I love this car and it rides well, but looks like a piece of crap. The dealership response was to say it was not their responsibility.

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  transmition issues - 2002 Honda Odyssey
  By Julie - September 11 - 10:19 pm

  You may want to consider buying a new tranny the same day you buy this van. Alternator/battery as well. I have 228000 on this van. It has been good overall but is now on the 3rd transmission and 2nd alternator. Gas gauge and temp gauges are all messed up. They bounce around and are never correct. Certainly, I have 228000 miles and you cant expect perfection but it seems that when things go wrong, they are always expensive things...4K per tranny and over 500 for alternator. I do love the comfort and cargo space. Hoping that I get another 100K on the van and than I will sell.

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  Vibration when acceleration - 2015 Honda CR-V
  By Devendra Sanghavi - September 8 - 12:43 pm

  I just bought the car on 09/06/2015 and got the delivery yesterday. Noticed that the car vibrates when gently accelerating. I am soo disappointed. Have always liked Honda and Accura. This was the third entrant for me after a 2002 Civic (purchased/used) and 2013 Accura ILX (Leased/New). I dont know what to do now.

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  I like my wifes crv 2010 Better - 2015 Honda CR-V
  By Carlos - September 7 - 4:51 pm

  I have to say thanks God I have a lease, cant wait to get rid of this vehicle, My wife has a 2010 and it has better handling, better driving position, captain chairs with a real armrest and the best part no vibrations, I dont understand why they took a perfect suv and screw it up, when I went for a road test no vibration it was a hot day and of course the ac was on, Probably that was the reason I miss the vibration, after a couple of days whenever I got to a stop light with no ac running the shakes are there, believe me the vibrations are real and a real pain in the neck, I will advise everybody in the market for an suv look elsewhere at least until they take care of this problem because is real and thats the only way they might fix it, almost forget poor location for parking brake that thing is there hitting your foot all the time, specially if you wear boots it is almost impossible to find a perfect placement for your foot, I am surprised no one else commented about this.

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  "Cry wolf" tire light and redundant warning screen - 2014 Honda CR-V
  By Jyoti Naik - September 7 - 10:33 am

  I bought the 2014 model because I needed an AWD in central NY snow. I like to wait a year to post reviews because I want to really get to know my car. PROs - Reliable, comfortable, functional, gas mileage CONS - After starting the car, it takes several screens of warnings before I get to my GPS and punch in my destination. Why? FIrst a screen about the satellite for 60 seconds. What is stupid warnings like "Driver is responsible for operation of vehicle" warning? Really? The DMV thinks so. When will you Honda? Duh! WHy dont you have me sign a release when I buy the car so I dont have to look at this every single time I start my car. Takes 30 seconds AFTER you hit OK for the next screen.T hen comes a screen saying your phone is connected for another 30 seconds. Malfunctioning tire pressure light since the day I bought it. Dealership cannot fix it. This is so stressful when you are driving in bad weather because I cant tell if this time the light is for real or just faking it. Poor radio reception. I get 2 stations while all my neighbors get 6 or 8 stations GPS navigation is not intuitive like other cars. Needs too many clicks to get your destination or to find your address book. Screen is invisible when sun shines on it. Need anti glare screen. it takes several screens of warnings before I get to my GPS and punch in my destination. Why? Salem dealership is not knowledgeable. Did not fix my shuddering brakes. Just told me to keep driving and it would go away which it has not. Cruise control has 5 - 10 miles/hr variance on hills after I have set it. This could result in a speeding ticket! Motor is very loud while driving