Bought my last Honda.

I am on my sixth Honda. In a row.   Bought it new in 2006.

Today the alternator went and I'm out nearly 400 bills.

Ok the car is six years old and maybe that's reasonable life for an alternator.

But I've come to expect more.  Hondas just aren't the best cars made anymore.

Hyundai? Or something, here I come.

Actually who am I kidding. The sucker is paid off, and I don't have the cash for another car payment.  

But the next car will be somethin' else.

Harv, how many miles does it have on it?

Yea, like snowballs asked, how many miles? An alternator blowing at least once during a vehicle's life is to be expected no matter what make or model you buy.

As for Hyundai, they are getting a lot of good marks lately. But having test driven an Elantra this past summer, I was surprised to find it completely unappealing on the inside and overall. It went from a high probability to bottom of the list very quickly. Your mileage may vary.

You want AWD for the Cabin driveway, right? Might as well go with an Outback or Forester when you decided to upgrade. I don't think you're going to find much better regarding long term maintenance costs, though. All cars break and Honda has always had a good rep in that department.

6 years ..400 dollar repair isn't bad at all.. Honda is still a great engineered car, they are just cutting too many corners (quality plastics, noise insulation ) to increase their profits.

Hyundai is good vehicle, I just found their SUV's lacking in space. The design is geared more towards style rather than function..

I'm very happy with my Subie so far...

JasonWx wrote

The design is geared more towards style rather than function..

That's my issue with the newest CRV design.  That rear quarter panel window is a joke.   The new model had a marginal (maybe 1 mpg?) improvement in EPA ratings, and while it's listed at the same cargo space it's less usable.

I must say the design/shape of the older design (ending in 2006) is brilliant.  We had a 1998 CRV - it had lower EPA ratings, less power and significantly less cargo space. It's actually easier to load ski gear for THREE in the 2006 than it was to load gear for two in the 1998.

Also in the I must say category ... our 98 was eight years old when we sold it and we got $10k for it FROM THE DEALER.  That took a significant bite out of the payment for the new one.

Our current vehicle has 60 something thousand miles on it. (I'll look later for an exact number).  I guess that's reasonable for an alternator.  

My big issue really isn't the manufactures fault - I think.  My cars rust like crazy. Because I don't drive them.  We sold the 1998 with 80k on it because our mechanic told us the underside wasn't looking good. It looked cherry from the top and I'm sure that's why the dealer gave us a good price. It's the only real downside of walking to work.  Current vehicle design assumes you are going to drive a car every day. If you only drive it once a week, or less in the summer the brakes, exhaust, underbody - they rust like crazy.  Zelda drives a Honda too, and drives it every day. No rust issues at all.

I had to get my rear rotors replaced on my 2008 Scion recently after 62,000 miles: $500. The front ones could probably use replacement too, so there's another $500.  And, over the past winter (when I only had about 48,000 miles), I had this problem, which they wanted $1000 to fix.  Somehow, that seems to have fixed itself, but it seems as though some sensors in the hub get affected by the road salt, so it may pop up again this winter (when the problem occurs, the traction control, anti lock brakes and vehicle stability control stop working - nice time of year for all that to happen).

Add in the $400 charge for the 30,000 mile maintenance (where I don't think they really did anything), and that's about $2500 in maintenance costs over 3 years for a $15,000 car.  I thought that since Scion was made by Toyota, then it would be reliable.  Turns out it's not.

Definitely need AWD to get up the driveway. I'm a disappointed that there haven't been more MPG improvements in AWD vehicles. Even if Honda made a SUV hybrid, all my miles are highway so it doesn't help much.

MC2 - the scheduled maintenance intervals are a total rip off.  I have a great (cheap too) mechanic who does those services for me now. The 30/60k Honda services are $525 from the dealer, and include almost no parts (oil and filter). My guy all did the 30k service for $65.

Just looked at the mileage for the CRV - just short of 70k - 69,900.

Bill for the alternator - $350.  Al gave me the invoice from the supplier. $310 for the part, no markup, $40 to install.

Pretty sweet.

Does it always seem like found money just disappears?  Last weekend Zelda noticed that I had a buildup of "points" on my credit card. We redeemed for $350 and the check came today. Easy come easy go.

JasonWx wrote

Hyundai is good vehicle, I just found their SUV's lacking in space.

The only thing keeping me from selling my Santa Fe right now is I love how much stuff I can put in there. Currently I have a bike (with both wheels on), Rafting gear, climbing gear, cameras and lenses, and some camping gear in there. Last weekend was all that, plus some tools and another bike. And a ton of clothes.

I've had a kayak and corresponding gear in there before.

In winter mode, expect at least 3 pairs of skis and my outerwear.

Driving a couple hundred miles a week and only getting 19 MPG highway is getting to be pretty cumbersome though.

FWIW, my Mother-In-Law owned a series of Subarus, as she spends her winters in snow country.  When it was time to replace her last Subaru, she decided to switch it up and purchased a CR-V.  She said there is no comparison between the AWD on the two cars:the Subaru system is dramatically better in the snow. She cannot wait to go back to a Subaru.

Goreskimom wrote

FWIW, my Mother-In-Law owned a series of Subarus, as she spends her winters in snow country.  When it was time to replace her last Subaru, she decided to switch it up and purchased a CR-V.  She said there is no comparison between the AWD on the two cars:the Subaru system is dramatically better in the snow. She cannot wait to go back to a Subaru.

IMO this is the crux of the trade-off between the Sube and the CRV. Or at least I thought it was until I saw reports here of 32 and 35 mpg for the Sube.

The Subie is true full-time AWD.  All four wheels are being driven constantly and symmetrically.  This gives much better traction, at (theoretically) an MPG cost.  All the Subes I've ever "known"  got about the same MPG as a CRV 27-30 highway. But they were also a smaller car, with less cargo space.

The CRV is basically a front wheel drive car, that only sends power to the rear wheels, when the front slips. And when the power goes to the rear, is not as good for traction. It's really more like 3 wheel drive as the rear differential is a traditional one.

If Subies are getting 32 or 35, and a Forrester has the cargo space of a CRV then that would definitely be my choice.  Can't fit the family and ski gear into an Outback.