I have enjoyed my honda as a daily driver for almost 9 years now. It has a distinctive personality which has been much written about.

My experience is that every day it seems to drive a tad differently, sure mostly depends on temperature but as example: today it was about 75-80 degrees, I let it warm up while I changed the CD(1 min tops), when shifting there was no clunk, the gearbox was butter smooth. Yesterday it clunked into 2nd several times (till it warmed up).

Today the idle was rock solid, I can tell when the valves need adjusting just by the idle and the pull from 2-4K rmp. Some tanks the mileage is 2-3 mpg better than others. Some days the top goes down without help with the bar(I have the modfry straps but they must have stretched). Some days it has more exaust noise than others. Some days the pull at vetc is greater than others. Other days it seems to limp up and down 200 rpms, then smooths out eventually. It alwasy runs better after I am on it...smoother.

Sometimes after a long trip of 30 min or more it clunks when going into 1st. Sometimes not. I put all this down to car moods. Every car I have every owned for a period of time has these subtle but noticeable characteristics, the Honda due to it's raw nature seems to exhibit them as well, only more noticeable.

 

I couldn't agree more. I have felt this way for the past four years with my S. Not even half the amount of time as you, but I feel everything you explained on a daily basis. Today was pretty warm and humid and yes, the shifts were incredible, however, the idle was a bit rough for my liking. Meh, ill try it tonight or maybe tomorrow. But yea, sometimes it feels rock solid without a creek, and other days its rattling all over the place. I know a lot of it (if all) is weather related, but this car seems more sensitive than others I have owned. Hell, even my Mazdaspeed Protege was more consistent than this car.

 

Ditto on literally almost everything you said, I thought it was just me.

 

Never really thought about it, but after reading you first post, I'd have to agree on some level. There will be times when I will drive an entire day and think that the shifter and gear changes are just butter. Then I will drive another day and it will seems like I am fighting it more, not that it is bad or anything.

At least I would describe the "moods" as ranging from a decent mood (bad day) to an excellent mood (most days), so the overall reliability is definitely still there. I've owned other cars in the past where I could almost feel the car telling me "I will abandon you on the side of the road and I do not care what you think about it".

 

Yep same here

 

Doesn't this have something to do with the ecu and driving habits? It was explained to me that our ECU's at least in AP1's are self acclimating making the ecu actually read what we do to them ie: intakes etc... However the ecu will self "tune" in a sense depending on how we drive the car and achieve the best mpg for these driving habits.. Meaning if we're driving the car hard at the track one day, but we drive the rest of the week normally for work the car will be adjusting itself for our commuting habits.

How wrong am I? lol A buddy read an article and told me this, I might have what he said a bit twisted or wrong in general but I can see this contributing to rougher idles etc. I feel it, especially in the morning drives when my dash vibrates.

 

mine gets really moody about once a month.. i try to be really nice to her or avoid her when that happens.

 

agreed...tempermental car...this car acts just like a female

 

Same here. Kinda funny how that is....

 

Can't say this happens to me at all. The car is the same every day.