someone probably already said this, but when someone has a good experience in retail, he'll tell 3 friends about it. when it's a bad experience, he'll tell 10. what we're seeing here is people talking about their problems, and everyone jumping on Honda about it. i've never seen such a pack mentality as i do here when someone has a problem. "man, that rick guy gives terrible service," when it's known he's not taking PM's. "so and so ripped me off! who's with me?" or the infamous "i want a class action suit for <your pointless reason here>! who's with me?" enough. you want, you demand. go find it. if your dealer doesn't cut it, get another one. mine is great. first run cars have problems. this is nothing new. this car has improved year by year. think you got problems? check out the audi owners who thought that audi would get the TT right, but still suffer the same problems as two or three years ago. why do they have that 5 year "we'll do everything" thing? cause they NEED it. i hear talk of being a 'high end customer." for honda, sure we are. my dealer will fit me in anytime i need something, perhaps cause i have an s2000, but i like to think it's cause i'm a good CUSTOMER of theirs. but compared to BMW, Porsche, Audi, and others like them, we are mere civics. we spend in the low 30's. we're bottomfeeders. TO THEM. if you demand something better, i assure you someone out there can provide it for you. the VAST majority of us have found it. don't let a few bad experiences permanently brand Honda as a company that doesn't care about it's customers, or that can't help those same customers.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Lightning
[B]

 

I think the service people may get at some Honda dealers does NOT necessarily reflect the ideas and service of Honda as a company. The dealers for the most part decide what they service and what is warrantied. A dealer will not make money off of warranty service, but they will off of something not warrantied. In a perfect world this would not matter, but this is not a perfect world. And unfortunately there are some bad dealerships out there. I have not had a problem with either of the 2 honda dealers I have dealt with. I had a clutch problem shortly after I got the car, and it was replaced, no questions asked. Since then I haven't had a single problem.

I think the blame should lie with dealer service... not honda's service. Unfortunately Honda can't be there to "police" the dealers to do the right thing. They shouldn't have to.

I also think that we hear more about the bad than the good. You can do something 1000 times right at work, and the one time you don't, you'll hear about it. I think we will hear more about the bad things on this site than the good.

One other good Honda story. My friend had a Civic Si and at just around 40,000 miles, the crank snapped and basically destroyed his entire engine. He needed a new engine, but the warranty only went to 36,000 miles. His dealer contacted Honda and Honda replaced the engine no charge, under warranty. He even had intake and exhaust on his car. Now that's service. (it was a freak accident apparently that the crank broke in the first place)

 

I look at it this way: how many people on this forum? this is a small number of Honda owners. Sure any brand car is going to have problems. If you grab second
gear at 9000 RPM I would think you would have clutch problems eventually.
It sounds like some of the S2000 owners drive the Sh.. out of their cars. Have
they screwed up the geometry by lowering their S2000, CV problems???
My two cents...

 

The problems you mention must be dealer or driver specific. I am on my second S2k. I traded in my 2000 on a Blue 2002. My first one had 28000 plus miles of fun on it. I had no problems with car or the Eagle and Clear Lake Honda dealerships in the Houston area. There are now 5 S2k

 

I have to reply to this thread. Most of you already know my position on AHM and their "customer service" Those of you who don't and are having problems, do a search under my user name and you wont feel so bad any more!

 

hecash,

So its Hondas fault if a customers car fails because of absolute abuse
to one of their products. Honda has a good idea that a certain percent
of their cars will be modified, that was not my point. Just cry to someone
else other then your dealer when you break your car from having fun. I do feel
for people that get the run around for a lagitimate complaint.

 

Many of u have said imho some significant things that I agree with especially after being on the oldest internet motorcycle gang going back to darpa days, a several year old bmw k12 bike list, a 8-9 year old bmw r100gs list, we bimmer riders have been extremely internet enabled since the dawn of things,
so promised things 2 agree with,
internet sites with people with problems and those loudest with notproblemo's do make every vehicle look like shit
bmw has had real sucky service and problems with their best bikes/cars so do the other brands
modified sports cars do break more often
porsches break alot all the time and are extremely expensive to repair
Buying new my's is asking for trouble big time, so stop yer whining (ready for da flame!)
there are always good dealers/bad dealers good dealers/bad mechanics bad dealers/good wrenches
our s2k's at least cost 10-30k less (smart buyers)(unless you got taken to da cleaners by dealer)
finally i love my 02 already at 675 miles, what a f'ing rocket sticky handler! and it'll never be as bad as my 78 928!(stupidly bnought 1st model year piece of crap porsche!!)
Btw my pedigree - i was a factory bmw wrench from 1975-81 specioalized in tii's ti's and 1600's. taught auto shop at San Rafael H.s. ROP program, what a gas!
The Rossmon

 

OK, My 2 cents. I have owned my 2000 S2000 for 2 years and 20,000 miles. Not my first sports car by a long shot......
My dealer is excellent....the service department cares about my car as much as I do. No complaints at all.
But I am in total agreement with Henry (HECASH). The DSM has decided that the transmission problems will not be fixed....I don't want to restart the whole 1-2 grind debate about driver error ect. The tranny has a problem, fact. Honda has decided it is cheaper to stonewall. This is a low production car and eventually, with diligence, the problem will age out of existence. I have a problem with this approach.

 

While both my car and my service to date have both been great, I'd like to add my opinion to the discussion.

First, I think Japanese car's are slipping in overall quality. Yes, I know they lead the pack as the 'best' out there but last year they (all Japanese manufacturers) had 3 million recalls! Higher production demands combined with lower cost demands plays out even in Japan.

Second, I agree with hecash that Honda is too secretive (hiding TSBs, model production, etc.). Toyota is much more open (for example).

Next, in response to Dorian Gray's experience, which involved getting fed up with Honda's poor service and switching to BMW. One needs only to look at the latest J.D. Power's stats for 2001 Initial Quality Survey for sports car rankings and problems per 100 vehicles: Honda S2000 ranked 20 and BMW ranked 80. . . so good luck Dorian, odds are not in your favor.

This ranking puts our overall problems in a more balanced view:
Rank Car Problems
20 Corvette cpe/conv 115
38 Honda S2000 119
38 Porsche Boxster 119
59 Mazda Miata 138
64 Merc Benz SLK 140
72 Toyota MR2 Spyder 142
80 BMW Z3 (total) 145
92 Audi TT cpe/rdster 149

Honda does know how to provide good customer service. Having dealt with both Acura and Honda dealers, at least in this state, the treatment is "much" better higher up Honda's food chain. Clearly some Honda dealerships and/or DMS are 'hard asses' and this will eventually back-fire big time on Honda. Honda needs the North American market big time to survive, so if they are listening -- they better wake up and fix these problems which do not appear to be isolated.

As others have said, this car is the flagship for the Honda dealerships and its owners deserve the best treatment they have to offer. To those who have had problems, not of their own making, and can not or did not get them resolved properly. . . I feel your pain and frustration. No car is perfect but good service can make up for it.