I had a 7th gen Civic myself from 2002-2015. Not a terribly pretty car, but absolutely rock solid until about 2014. The cost of ownership was pennies per mile and was absolutely trouble free for the first 12 years I owned it. Other than normal oil changes and similar maintenance, I never had a single reason to take it to a mechanic.
The first time I did, the car stalled out in the middle of the road, the tow fee was a couple hundred dollars -- the cost to fix it and get it going? $150 with labor (some kind of sensor just got old and needed replacing).
As it hit 12 years, little things kept needing attention, but nothing was expensive. Yearly property taxes were in the dozens of dollars and the mechanics I took it to all kept wanting to buy the car off of me for a premium over the Blue Book value.
I finally replaced it, not because it was becoming expensive, but because, having 12 trouble free years with it, I found it annoying to deal with mechanics at all.
My wife had a 2004 Accord until 2015, and had a similar reliability story, just with a few more issues (and each issue was a little more expensive).
We replaced both cars with new Hondas.
Humans have been building cars for over 100 years, there's really not much excuse in my thinking for them not to basically be transportation appliances. I get people want to have different stylings and performance characteristics, but unreliability is an absolute non-starter to us.
It's not like information on car reliability isn't available from several sources, so I'm always mystified at my frustrated friends with the Dodge Caravans and such who are wondering why their cars are always getting worked on.
I've heard people complain about the Dodge Caravans before, but myself and my family had Mopar vans, something like 7 or 8 total across everyone for the last 20 years and have had the least issues of any vehicle I've ever owned. My '99 plymouth has had zero major issues. Bought it new, it has ~250k miles plus - we drive it every day. I'm genuinely curious if the people who have trouble don't do normal maintenance or something.
I'd also like to see a breakdown by engine, because I almost feel like the 4 cyl which the majority of them have been is vastly more reliable.
The first time I did, the car stalled out in the middle of the road, the tow fee was a couple hundred dollars -- the cost to fix it and get it going? $150 with labor (some kind of sensor just got old and needed replacing).
As it hit 12 years, little things kept needing attention, but nothing was expensive. Yearly property taxes were in the dozens of dollars and the mechanics I took it to all kept wanting to buy the car off of me for a premium over the Blue Book value.
I finally replaced it, not because it was becoming expensive, but because, having 12 trouble free years with it, I found it annoying to deal with mechanics at all.
My wife had a 2004 Accord until 2015, and had a similar reliability story, just with a few more issues (and each issue was a little more expensive).
We replaced both cars with new Hondas.
Humans have been building cars for over 100 years, there's really not much excuse in my thinking for them not to basically be transportation appliances. I get people want to have different stylings and performance characteristics, but unreliability is an absolute non-starter to us.
It's not like information on car reliability isn't available from several sources, so I'm always mystified at my frustrated friends with the Dodge Caravans and such who are wondering why their cars are always getting worked on.