Except for the transmissions, Honda's autos are not the best. The new 5spd's fail a lot. The 2000 and newer minivans eat them. My friends mom put 200k miles on her 2001 and it was on its third trans when they sold it at 225k.:D Each time they fried it cost them about $2,500 for a rebuild. Good van though.

Yes the 603 is a fine engine, great effort by MB indeed. Thats why the kept the block to the previous gen CDI. A 20+ year production run isn't so bad.

Don't know what kind of crack you're smoking.. My Del Sol has not been the most reliable of vehicles.

I bet this engine will slide right into that minivan...

I don't see MB auto trannys last more than 100,00 miles. The manual 5 speed is solid though but I haven't had issues with my Accord's manual tranny as well after 500,000+ miles.

I have discovered that MB Auto Trannies have a lifespan of about 225,000 miles....


All of our cars have needed a rebuild around then, as well as many others owned by friends and family.

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/diesel-discussion/230305-bent-rods-story.html?highlight=bent+rods

This goes to show that not only did MB sell a lemon but then they flat out denied any responsibility for it. Luckily this was the only lemon engine they created.

Um well its about twice that, some die young though.

So whats the newest Honda you have owned? I'm talking about the 5sp auto's in their new cars. My old boss has a 2006 V6 EX that had to get the trans done at 70k miles.

The Honda Odyssey trans problems are well documented:

http://www.edmunds.com/honda/odyssey/2000/consumerreview.html

The Accord diesel gets launched in India by December, that would be the newest Honda for me with six speed, pity no AWD like their Acura TL though. I would have loved that. The old one is in NY and its still running strong. The Odyssey tranny is a known issue even among Honda techs. The tranny is under rated for the Odyssey's application.

Ahh so with Honda its under rated, with MB its a lemon.

Honda recalled all those hundreds of thousands of Odyssey trans and updated them right? My friend who only got one covered and had to pay for the last two out of pocket to the tune of about $6k would love to get that recall number.

A lot of people with the last gen Accord would also love for Honda to help them out.

Thats right.........Honda acknowledged and extended the warranty, MB denied and never admitted to the fault.........its a lemon allright.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honda_Odyssey

Transmission issues

Many owners reported transmission problems with their second generation Odyssey, and Honda ended up replacing many transmissions under warranty for free. The 4-speed automatic transmission in 1999 to 2001 models had very serious problems with transmission durability. Honda responded to the problems by extending the warranty on the transmission to 7 years or 100,000 miles (160,900 km). A class action settlement further extended coverage to 109,000 miles (175,400 km) or 93 months for some '99-01 Odysseys in the U.S.A.[1]. Canada is not included. The five-speed automatic introduced in 2002 was supposed to fix this, but general reliability of the transmission did not improve until 2004. The five-speed introduced in 2002 suffered early wear out and failure of the transmission's third clutch pack. This causes large amounts of clutch debris to migrate through the transmission and block flow of transmission fluid, caused slipping, poor or no shifts, or sudden down-shifts from 5th gear to 2nd gear. Under some conditions, the second gear could overheat and break, causing the transmission to lock. An oil jet was added to lubricate this gear but this did not solve the third clutch problem[2]. The addition of a transmission cooler with the towing package does not help with transmission reliability but it was required for any towing, or the warranty would be voided. The optional towing package included coolers for power steering and transmission.

2003 models are also affected by this problem.

And the MB is still a better car.:D Or at least I'd buy one before a Honda...

Thats your choice........general consensus and trend differs. I would buy a Honda and an MB and enjoy them for different reasons. Said and done in US or Europe, Honda rules the reliability quotient. The NSX they made was in every way a sports car with pleasure factor that was undeniable even by its severest biased critics.

yep, the good ole 5 Bolt 4G63T... I know a guy that did a swap into a dodge colt and also bolted in(well crammed in) a Talon TSI AWD drive train.. Can you say 4 wheel burn outs at 90 mph!!! That car is stupid fast

ok ok, I surrender. Can I have my thread back? :D

NO!

Actually, you should contact 'ImBroke' to see if he can get that Dodge 3.3 litre for you...