Your transmission failed, which is bad for you and not unheard of among others, but indicative of epidemic transmission problems on V6+Automatic Hondas in 2008.

Have a look at Consumer Reports. Pull up the reliability stats for the V6 Accord, Odyssey, Acura TL or CL. Have a look at the row of four black dots in the “Transmission” category at the early part of this decade. Note that, on either side of those four years, it’s otherwise a sea of red.

I’d say that’s indicative of a serious problem in V6/Automatic for those years. It’s also indicative of the problem’s being fixed.

I think what psarhjinian means is that era of mass transaxle failures in the 2000-2003 Accords, CLs, TLs, and Odysseys is over.

Every automaker builds some duds, and I’m sure we could round up hundreds of vehicles made by each and every automaker in 2008 that had their transmissions crap out.

But the point is that a few years ago, something like 1 in 5 Honda automatic transmissions were crapping out in a spectacular and dangerous fashion, and that issue has now been rectified to the best of my knowledge.

As far as I know, aside from CVT-equipped vehicles, you can now buy a Honda and be pretty confident that the transmission is at least industry average in durability.

So this is good for their transaxle warranty claims, right.

My Honda V6 auto transmission puked in 2008. I had to pay so I might have helped Honda profits. Helped convince me not to be a Honda buyer in 2008 when I was in the market. So maybe I did not help Honda Profits but added to the sales decline. Transmission issue was not dead in 2008.

I think we are on the same page: they NEED to limit the number of platform derivations and focus on their core models.

My other point was that Acura has gone too far up (RL: AWD from FWD, outclassed V6) and out (the CUVs) and the inherent Honda goodness of their engineering gets lost at those price points.

Drive the Fit before you condemn it. Ride is more of an issue than rpms, for many drivers. I have the 5spd, and it’s nice to be able to schlep 4 people without a loss of power. Alternatively, you could select the auto. Again, Fit not perfect for everyone, but give it a shot, its a fun ride.

The Fit? The Fit revs over 4,000 rpms at interstate speeds in fifth gear: This is GM-type stupidity.

That leaves me with very few choices. A Mazda 3 perhaps? Isn’t Mazda (select number of your choosing here)% owned by Ford??

I know a mathematician who had one and rebadged it as such for fun.

Anyways, they deep-sixed the Integra/RSX thinking buyers would move to the TSX, RDX or Civic Si, all of which were higher-margin. What actually ended up happening is they killed the affordable path into the Acura brand that it offered, and drove urban hipsters into Volkswagen and Mini’s waiting arms.

They wanted to be BMW or Audi. They’re not. They should stop pretending to be and concentrate on being a better Acura. The same applies to Volvo and Saab.

Someone wrote an editorial a while ago which talked about how Acura had lost its way. At the time, I didn’t give it much thought, but it’s true.

As for the ad, gag me with a spoon.

Sajeev,
I’m not convinced Honda is limited by its small set of platforms. There is plenty of room to grow its core: the Accord, Civic and CR-V. Just think of all the competing Chrysler and Pontiac models — ripe for the picking, I would think.

To be fair, the V6 Honda transmission failure issue was over and done with four years ago.

Maybe the market’s saying that there’s a limit to the number of models you can squeeze out from a FWD platform and a V6 engine…and maybe Honda/Acura is seeing the light.

I’m all for a tighter auto credit market just like in housing. People with good credit can get loans just fine, as I did for a new Honda I bought last October.