2004 Honda CR-V, Very Disappointed

Had to replace the driver's side front caliper last night. Already an unexpected repair after only 12 years and 165k miles!

Yeah, my mother is on the beat it, ignore it, abuse it and drive it forever CR-V plan too.

I'd complain to corporate My wife's 08' Ford Escape began to rust and she wanted something new. I didn't want to be out more money, but saw an opening on converting my wife to Honda. We got a 2013 Crv Awd a few months ago. It's now in the garage getting fixed because a woman couldn't eat and drive at the same time FWIW, that Ford was a great car. However, it was approaching 50K...lol.

i know this is tongue in cheek, but there was a guy on the camaro forum bitching that there was oil in the intake of his 280k mile ls1 z28 and how gm was horrible at quality control and there should be no oil there.

stupid carmakers not having stuff be like new for life.

In reply to patgizz:

Well I can't say the same about my 8 year old 142k mile silverado, soooooo...

I swear that I never went more than 18,000 miles between oil changes on my Civic Si.

We sold my wife's '03 CRV to her brother last year...it's had all of one AC compressor and two sets of tires...that's it from new...the POS.

A bit of a thread jack here but as a frugal(aka cheap) person this kind is stuff leads me to an economic dilemma. Beyond safety issues at what point do you replace an aging appliance car when if/when it's paid off and essentially only cost regular maintenance?

Accident or ins co totaled?

It's worth more as scrap metal?

A major repair I which costs more than the car is required?

Will no longer pass inspection?

My wife has an 2008 Acura RDX (Similar to CRV) with 170k miles, bought new. I had to add 16oz of coolant last weekend, it almost made it to the min line.

Honda sucks at making cars.

We replaced ours only because my brother in law had fallen on hard times and needed a car. I say we sold it to him, but in truth we gave it away. If it weren't for that, I probably would have started driving it to work. My wife wanted a new car anyway, and since she's only had 4 cars her entire life, she deserved to be able to pick out what she wanted I thought.

My wife's '03 Accord is surprisingly rust free and only burns some oil at 200K+. Time to shop for her. I would gladly drive it for another 1-200K, but she doesn't want to keep an extra car on the road.

My wife fought and fought and fought the CR-V. Our move to Virginia, due to taxes and getting something inspected and the like would have been a $1500 swing that we couldn't bare.

Now she loves the thing. Said it is one of the best cars she has ever had.

our 05 odyssey is about 170k and is soon going to need motor mounts and a new cat. Oh, and when it gets really cold (like 0 outside) the drivers window will go down but not up without help. I'm waiting for the spring to fix.

We did buy it from a the original owner who was the "pull forward in the parking space until you hit something" type though.

DanyloS wrote: A bit of a thread jack here but as a frugal(aka cheap) person this kind is stuff leads me to an economic dilemma. Beyond safety issues at what point do you replace an aging appliance car when if/when it's paid off and essentially only cost regular maintenance? Accident or ins co totaled? It's worth more as scrap metal? A major repair I which costs more than the car is required? Will no longer pass inspection?

None of those.

When the cost to repair + remaining value and reliability are both outperformed by something else you can buy.

I.E. a $1000 car requires a $2500 transmission repair and has an estimated 50k of service left in it, but you can buy something similar for $3000 that has 100k+ of service in it.

Here's hoping that our TSX turns out like that.

mtn wrote: Here's hoping that our TSX turns out like that.

Our 2004 TSX has. Almost zero spent on repairs.

DanyloS wrote: Beyond safety issues at what point do you replace an aging appliance car when if/when it's paid off and essentially only cost regular maintenance?

The above-mentioned TSX was bought new in 2004 and paid off by 2007. It has cost insurance and consumables since then. It's got easily another 8-10 years left in it under its typical duty cycle. However, it will probably get replaced in 3-4 years because we will both want new cars that can be paid off before we retire.

At that time I'll probably unload my 2003 E46 and just drive the TSX until DW's future new car is paid off, then get a new car myself.

My main reasons for wanting to replace older cars are because of newer technology getting cheaper, or moving into something in a totally different price bracket. Im still hoping used 60kwh Tesla Model S's are going to tank to 30k once the $30k Tesla hits, so that's an example.

Seems to me like most of the cars i've ever owned were cars i wanted when i couldnt afford them, and then bought when the combination of drop in price and/or growth of my income met at a place that made me happy. All of the 'superfluous' car i've ever bought (that just replicated the abilities of stuff i already had) were all very very cheap.

Also, i guided a friend into an 05 CRV about a year back. It's great. I actually used to think i wanted one for myself before i got a Prius.

Honda does make a good motor no matter what it's in. My ex had a 2004 Saturn Vue awd, that came with a honda V6. Honda motor + plastic fenders = sex

surprised your A/C compressor has held together that long.

I just replaced the original on my friend's 05 at around 170k miles, now that you mention it. And to add to the fact that that's not many more miles than OP... it was fairly difficult!!

In reply to Vigo:

One trick to increase the life of the a/c compressor is to run it often, even in the winter, which we do. So far no problems.