My wife's 2007 Civic needed a new key. The poorly designed key came apart. Apparently, a new key has to be "programmed".

I swear, the Honda company of today is a lot different from the Honda of yesteryear.

I think I read somewhere that a lot of the really good Japanese engineers are working for the Koreans now. I don't know if that is true or not but I think the wife's next car is will be Korean.

This is our last Honda.

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Ben
1987 190d 2.5Turbo

Don't feel so bad. MY 124C ignition broke this summer. Wouldn't turn and wheel was locked. $921 to replace. Replacement required instrument cluster and trim removal to grind off the linkage to the ignition, then repair and replacement.
When my service mgr told me it was a 5 hr job, I figured it would be about a grand. He didn't disappoint.
What was disappoionting was that after getting a new ignition made -twice- from the VIN, they came to the conclusion that the entire locking system had been rekeyed somewhere over it's 23 year life. Had to send my spare key out the third time to have the ingition keyed to the match the rest of the locks to avoid needing two keys in the future. (no extra charge)

Try pricing a Mercedes electronic key.

key for my 12 yo Ford truck is 100 bucks AND you have to have the dealer do the programming at their rates.

If you're leaving Honda over the cost of a smart key you're in for a big surprise. They all do it.

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You're a daisy if you do.
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84 Euro 240D 4spd. 220.5k sold
04 Honda Element AWD
1985 F150 XLT 4x4, 351W with 270k miles, hay hauler
1997 Suzuki Sidekick 4x4
1993 Toyota 4wd Pickup 226K and counting

Yeah, we gotta have that high tech key vs one you can get in Wally World for $1. I love my cars....

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80 300SD (129k mi) 82 240D stick (193k mi)77 240D auto - stick to be (153k mi) 85 380SL (145k mi) 89 BMW 535i 82 Diesel Rabbit Pickup (374k mi) 91 Jetta IDI Diesel (155k mi) 81 VW Rabbit Convertible Diesel 70 Triumph Spitfire Mk III (63kmi)66 Triumph TR4a IRS (90k mi)67 Ford F-100 (??)

Yeah all those new keys cost about that. I think the key for my moms Rav4 is $125.

New Mercedes keys run right around $200.

Don't lose them!

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1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

welcome to the new normal I guess.

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Ben
1987 190d 2.5Turbo

There may be alternatives. Chipped keys offered on ebay. You can program them yourself for many cars. Honda chipped keys I just do not know about. Also on replacement keys dealer shop on the phone if there is more than one dealer in your area.

Not really enough reason to remove a newer honda from your list of prospects when the time comes.

The koreans are coming on strong. Yet until decent resale value and low breakage over the long haul are better established still to me they are questionable. I personally would take one over a big three product hands down though.

My son in laws 2009 hyundia elantra has more issues than I would expect from a honda or toyota and still much poorer resale value at 125 K. Some of his issues would not show up on the average toyota or honda for another 100k at least.

Crap...

Misplaced the set from the 09 ML in the luggage a few months ago...

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2009 ML350 (106K) - Family vehicle
2001 CLK430 Cabriolet (80K) - Wife's car
2005 BMW 645CI (138K) - My daily driver
2016 Mustang (32K) - Daughter's car

If you're lucky.

MB dealers charge whatever they like. Cheapest I've heard of for a "Smart" key in the US is about $200, and I've heard as high as $400 (which included a dealer's "synchronization" fee, which is completely bogus; Smart keys come pre-programmed for the car, the only "synch" the dealer does is synching the extra fee with your bank account).

A couple of folks in Australia have been nicked US$600 for a replacement.

Treat your MB keys like GOLD.

Treat all your modern car keys like Gold! We recently purchased a 2011 Caravan and asked for another key and the dealer quoted me $140.00 MB Keys from my indi run $200 as well. Honda, Dodge or MB. All the keys can be alot if lost.

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2015 ML350 4Matic. Wifes DD
2015 GLK350 4Matic. My winter DD
2012 E350 4Matic. Road Trip car
2009 CLK350 Coupe Designo.Kleemann Tune For nice days/DD
2006 CL600. V12.Eurocharged Tune. Enough said
2005 CLK55 AMG Coupe.Kleemann Tune. For the sound and style
2004 CLK320 Cabriolet. 2005+ Interior swap. For the sunny Florida days & beach days

Are you sure about this? I know with VW keys you have to sync them to the computer (you actually have to clear the computer out and re-sync all the keys at one time).

The real crock is that VW won't give you the key code you have to input to the computer to match the keys. You can rent their shop computer and software license for $2,000

Or you can do what I did and buy a $30 cable off of ebay that cracks the cluster software and gives you the code. Great security...

-J

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1991 350SDL. 230,000 miles (new motor @ 150,000). Blown head gasket

Tesla Model 3. 205,000 miles. Been to 48 states!
Past: A fleet of VW TDIs.... including a V10,a Dieselgate Passat, and 2 ECOdiesels.
2014 Cadillac ELR
2013 Fiat 500E.

Cut the part of the key which contains the transponder off. Epoxy it under the dash. Copy the metal part and use it to start and stop the car. It's less secure, but no great loss if a Civic is stolen anyway

For a Prius the cost is $350 for the first lost or damaged key, the second is over a $1000.

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1979 Black on Black, 300CD (sold), 1990 Black 300SE, Silver 1989 Volvo 780, 1988 300CE (vanished by the hands of a girlfriend), 1992 300CE (Rescue).