My Wife drives the car as a comuter and its all freeway miles. I'm a mechanic and own my own shop So I know I take better care of the vehicle than most. Trans fluid has been changed 3 times with a fluid exchange system - not just a drain and fill as most shops do. I used Honda's ATF-Z1 fluid and not ATF with friction modifier added.

Although I can replace the transmission at no labor cost to myself - I'm still looking at $2,000 for the trans and fluids.

Hears the complaint - 130,000 miles on a well maintained vehicle ( Honda no less ) and I'm replacing a trans already - We bought the car under the impression or delusion of reliablility and that just isn't so anymore.

Honda better take notice - as I will never by another one and I'm sure there are more that feel the same. I will also state my opinion to every customer that comes into my shop looking at buying a Civic.

Its great that the motors run forever - but when major drivetrain failures occur at this low of milage - I have to take notice and change my thinking.

Good luck Honda - Stick to motorcycles/Lawnmowers and Generators - its what you do best.

Sincerely

Disappointed

I bought my Honda Civic new in 2001 to replace my 86' trans am. Anything of course, is more reliable than an 86' trans am with 180,000 miles on it except the 2001 Honda Civic. I am a full time college student, I work one full time job and one part time job also. I mistakenly went for Honda for reliability. Although I drive excessively, my tranny crapped out within 3 years of having the car. I was no where near done even paying it off, but because I had 68,000 miles, the dealership wouldn't help. I feel truly ass-invaded. I neither had the time nor money to fix this. Thank god for student loans.

I've owned this car for 5.5 years and never had a major problem until now. With 61,000 miles on it, my transmission just died. No warning at all. My "check light" went on and I couldn't get my car to budge. I'm not sure what kind of warranty Honda has for my type of car (since it is over 3 years old), but this is outrageous for this to happen! I bought my car and have had it serviced at the same dealership. I bought a Honda because it was considered a reliable car. Now I've read all sorts of upsetting stories from other Civic owners and the many problems with the transmission system.

I just had my 2001 Honda Civic LX in for service at Ohio Valley Honda in Steubenville, Ohio. It was making noise when I shifted gears, and I was concerned. I left my car, and was called back to be told that I needed a whole new transmission, and clutch. The transmission, (which was supposed to be new), was covered under warranty, but the clutch wasn't. I decided to go ahead and have the clutch done anyways. After being told that it would take like 2-4 days for my car to be fixed, I had to get a loaner car because the dealer was waiting on parts because the warranty company decided that instead of replacing the transmission, they would just rebuild it with new parts. Well, it turned out that I had to use the loaner car for at least 2 weeks, and when I finally went to pick up my car, I had to pay $100 dollars more than my quoted price to pick up my car. Now, it's only two weeks later, and the transmission has just dropped out completely. I was just driving along, and it popped out of 4th gear, and now it won't go into any gears, and I can't put it into reverse. It makes a terrible noise, and I can't even drive it to the shop. Now I have to pay to have it towed to the shop, which is 28 miles from my home, so that they can fix something that should have been fixed to start with. Talk about being ticked off. This is the first time that we have bought a Honda and this will definetly be the last. Everything that I heard about Honda is not true, we are very dissapointed, and will continue to tell everybody that I know is thinking about buying one, to STAY AWAY!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, I thought Honda is supposed to be "reliable". My 2001 Civic has only 56K miles on it, but a few weeks ago the check engine light was on. I brought my car to the Honda dealer and they told me it is the transmission. I couldn't believe what I heard. I have less than 60K miles on it! They said it might be a computer glitch and reset the computer. I drove the car home for a month and thought, well, probably it was just a computer glitch. Today on my way home, the check engine light was on again. And very quick, I started to feel that the car was losing power. I still managed to drive it home, but I know the transmission is dying. The quote to fix the car was about $2000. I searched the web and found Honda recalls lots of their models for transmission failure, but very unfortunately, they didn't include Civic. I didn't have much luck with this Civic, as I've changed struts two times in the past 6 years, just changed the break pads a few months ago, and some other smaller problems. Sigh. I thought Honda is supposed to be reliable.

Well, let me get started by saying that I loved my Honda until the transmission decided to just simply fail out of no where. I drove this car off the lot, so I can testify that I've taken very good car of the car. I've seen similar comments with other Honda owners stating that their transmission has quit with only 86,000 miles. I think it's a bunch of bullshit that Honda will not cover anything if the car has over 60,000 miles on it. I was thinking about trading my Honda in for a newer model, but now since this happened, let's just say I'll be going for something like a Volvo. Oh!, and get this... so they quoted me a price of $1860 to get a new transmission at the dealership, and being a college student and all I have no way of affording to get this fixed, especially with the holidays a week or two away. Anyhow, so some Honda rep. was at the dealership and heard about how my transmission went out with so few miles on my car and he offered to pay for half of the costs if I had the work done at the dealership. It sounds that someone knows something that I don't... maybe the higher ups in Honda know what is going on and they don't want the general public to know about it, considering it would tarnish the known motto that "Hondas last forever," well... they DON'T!!!

Way to start off the first day of the year! My transmission goes out! I bought my 2001 Civic LX back in March of 2005 (used) and it only has 70,000 miles on it now. This is my first car and never thought I would have this problem so soon. Like everyone else, it's well maintained. I was half way home and all of a sudden, my car starts to act up. It would rev up, but didn't want to move forward. And as I got closer to home, it wouldn't go no more than 30 mph, then 15mph, and suddenly stopped. So, I had to tow it home and paid $70. At this point, I'm just frustrated having to rely on other people to take me to work and coming up with $2,000 or more to fix it. Happy New Year Everyone!

Well where do I start. I am the original owner, purchased the car in March 2001 and the radio started scanning on it's own. The car would cut off while driving brought the car to the dealer and they said oh it is the gas your using long story RECALL comes up fuel pump.

The rear makes a squeaky noise they changed the suspension 3 times under warranty turns out after wasting days at the dealer and them spraying lubricant to cover up the squeak it was the bushings. The computer was changed at 30k for the airbag sensors that would not shut off. BUT WAIT there's MORE !!! At 72,000 miles I came back from helping with the Hurricane Katrina relief the car was not paid off yet, 60 month loan. The car was parked here in N.Y. On my way home from work my first day back the transmission goes. At first I said your kidding it's got to be a sensor I turned the car off/on. I was pushed off the BQE at 2:30am by a passer by. The tow truck driver stated NOT A HONDA can't be the tranny must be a sensor but, of course approx $1,800 to fix the TRANSMISSION... I reported it to Honda their statement was like well out of warranty not even a keychain.. I gave the Customer Service Dept. a piece of my mind and they said well I am sorry you feel that way, I said look my freaking name up. I bought Honda's all my life, and SWORE by them and now it will be my LAST with the under the rap recalls. My transmission guy states when you go to the Dealer to pick up the Motor Mounts ask about it. He was there earlier this week they have crates of tranny's. The Service Dept. goes nothing for the Civic that's for the Accords, Pilots, Odesseys. I could of bought a Toyota or Nissan even better an American car which I know the tranny would of not went at 72k so much being a Guy who works for the city and has to drive everyday to work and needs a reliable car that I thought for sure would last. I feel bad to even trade or dump on someone paying the cash to fix I am pushing it now a over a yr later with a rebuilt tranny car has 90K

My wife and I own 2 - 2001 Civic EXs. Hers has 89k miles (mostly highway). Her transmission just went out after slipping when changing gears for the past 7-10 days. Dealer gave us a quote of $2023 for parts/labor/tax. I pick up the car this afternoon. The car was in a minor front end collision about 6 weeks prior to the transmission going out. A railroad tie in a parking lot went under the license plate and through the radiator/ac condenser. It was a 5mph accident. I want to believe that since the transmission started going out less than a month after getting the car back from that repair, it was related. Unfortuntely Honda cannot say it was so the Insurance company will not cover it as related to that accident.

I GOT THIS CAR FROM A PRIVATE DEALER, I ALWAYS WANTED A HONDA FOR THE DEPENDABALITY. I HAVE MADE 4 PAYMENTS ON THIS CAR, AND HAVE HAD TO REPLACE STRUTS, CV BOOT AND THEN THE OTHER DAY, IT JUST WOULD NOT GO, I WAS ON MY WAY TO SCHOOL ON A MAJOR ROAD AND IT JUST ACTED AS IF IT WAS IN NEUTRAL, NO WARNING OR ANYTHING. MY MOTHER CALLED THE HONDA CUSTOMER SERVICE AND YOU CAN REQUEST TO GET HELP IN HAVING YOUR CAR REPAIRED, BASED ON THE PROBLEMS, BUT A HONDA DEALER HAS TO TELL YOU THE PROBLEM, AND GIVE YOU AN ESTIMATE OF THE REPAIRS. WE HAD TO TOW IT THAT EVENING TO A TRANSMISSION SHOP, WHICH IS NOT A HONDA PLACE , THE NEAREST HONDA DEALER IS 50 MILES FROM OUR HOME, AND WE COULD NOT AFFORD THAT BIG OF A TOW BILL, AND EVEN IF WE GOT IT TO THE HONDA DEALER AND IT WOULD NOT BE A GUARANTEE THEY WILL HELP PAY. WE ARE VERY UPSET , I HAVE SEARCHED ABOUT THIS PROBLEM AND THERE ARE ALOT OF TRANSMISSION PROBLEMS IN THE CIVICS

I owned a 1994 Honda Civic DX which was amazing and I never had a problem in all its 150,000 miles until a hit and run driver totalled it this year. I got the 2001 Civic EX (new) because like everyone else I still heard glowing reports about Honda and also because I loved my older Civic.

But right away I felt it wasn't up to the same standards as my older model. It seemed less sturdy. But the kicker came when the transmission went without warning. Like the other people here I take good care of my Civics. I keep UTD on oil changes and use good gas etc. We are older drivers (40's) so no unusual driving habits. I think its insane that when they towed my car into the dealership, they came back with a $4000 estimate!

A car 5 years old and under 100,000 miles should not need a whole new transmission! The transmission was completely gone. What happened to whinning? Slipping gears? We had no clues and we're not mechanically challenged. So we had it towed out of there and brought to an honest transmission place but still have to pay $2100 for a rebuilt. Monday Im calling to give the go on the repair and I'm fuming.

I think all these car critics ought to give a closer look at Honda instead of just whipping out the 5 star reviews they've done in the past. Honda (and Toyota) don't help the consumer if their vehicles are defective. I also have an issue with Toyota for a defective head gasket on my non commercial use truck which blew the engine at 90,000 miles (40,000 after they installed the recalled head gasket which was defective). Again the manufacturer turned a blind eye.

Consumer beware! Honda and Toyota are not what they used to be.

And the Auto Critics have become lazy.