*Merged* Country Of Origin Vs Quality

[Jrfish007]

Originally Posted by RedSIinPA

my apologies for being an agitator.

lol, not really a problem, I wasn't the one who edited your posts so ti didn't bother me much lol

[Janizary]

Originally Posted by RedSIinPA

one of mine?

I was a bit partial to one of 06CivEXJon's comments. I didn't have the opportunity to see any juicy 'pre-editted' ones you might have made, Red. You can share though

[RedSIinPA]

Originally Posted by Janizary

I was a bit partial to one of 06CivEXJon's comments. I didn't have the opportunity to see any juicy 'pre-editted' ones you might have made, Red. You can share though

I deleted it for a reason. you need flame retardant glasses just to read i t.

[Mateen]

How can you tell which plant your car was built in?

[si_civic]

To answer the thread above, usually the VIN number decoded can determine where your car was built.

My Gran Torino, for example, was built in Cleveland, Ohio, hence the 351 Cleveland (351 Cobra Jet 4V). It has a VIN with the "Q" in it, meaning Cobra Jet (from Cleveland).

Maybe online there is a VIN decoder for modern cars.

:)

[SonicK20Z]

Didn't read the entire thread, but I'll say it... and I don't really care who is bothered by it... I am on my 6th Honda, and I have never had a single issue with any of them until I purchased my Canadian built Si.

Just for a backstory, I've owned a 95 Integra LS, 99 Integra GSR, 00 and 01 Honda Preludes, a 05 RSX Type S. The Integras and Preludes I purchased were each 2-4 years old when I purchased each one, and had 1-2 previous owners. Each one had full records and dealership maintenanced, along with Carfax. None of them ever had any history of errors, and I owned each of them anywhere from 8-16 months without a SINGLE issue on any scale.

I purchased my 05 RSX-S brand new in December 2004. For the 12 months I owned that car, I never brought it to the dealer for a single issue, except when I cracked my fog light lens from a rock on the highway, and it was a warranty claim.

5 different Japanese built/assembled Hondas in a little more than 5 years. Never one complaint. Now, let's take a look at all the issues I've had with my Canadian made Civic Si:

Where to start, I'll address them in chronological order that they've come to me. For starters, the hood and trunk both did not align properly with the front and rear quarter panels... thus the hood had a sunken look and the trunk had more gap on the right then on the left. A noticable enough amount that before I even described what I was there for, the techs looked at my trunk and asked if I was in a wreck. It still doesn't look 100% to me, but I'm anal like that. Next was the issue of my water leak in my trunk. The drain tube came out one day, and flooded my trunk (which in turn spilled over into the rear seats once the spare well had filled). My entire interior, carpeting, seats, and all that was replaced. Then, my car has been aligned by Honda, by other local shops, etc. No one can seem to figure out why the car continues to pull to the left. But everyone does acknowledge it... they each get the car within specs on the machine, and then they drive it and say they don't know why, but it does still pull to the left... worse when at highway speeds. My sunroof sits below the roofline and the rubber seal is not flush with the roof of the car. and then last month my car was at Honda for 2 weeks while they fixed ANOTHER leak in the trunk. This time I thought it was the drain tubes again... it wasn't. After dusting the naked trunk in trace powder, turns out there was a pinhole near one of the welds of the trunk that was allowing the trunk to fill with several inches of water while driving in heavy rain. Took them several trips to the dealer until the problem was finally resolved once and for all, and that was just a month ago. At least I got my interior replaced (again!). The only other gripe that comes to mind is the extremely thin paint that seems to plague the Civic. I have more noticable/larger chips in my paint in this car than any of my previous cars combined.

Should I continue? Now whether I just got screwed because I had one of the first production runs of the Si (mine was made in Dec 05), or maybe the guy operating the machines that day was hung over or something.... but I can honestly say my first Honda product of several to have ANY problem, much less several problems has come out of Canada and not Japan.

Take it for what you will.

[si_civic]

SonicK20, wow. Any first run of a new model will have it's growing pains. I myself own a 2007 Si (built Nov 06) and the only issues I have now is the creaks and rattles (I guess I can include the cheap paint) but I have became used to it (cold weather may be the culprit). I feel sorry for all of those people having leaks, alignment problems, transaxle issues (I fixed mine using AMSOIL MTF), wind noises, DBW issues, etc etc. Plastic scratches easily? Coat the whole interior in Aerospace 303, it won't scratch anymore (I'm a professional detailer and tested HUNDREDS of dressings - 303 is by far the best) I am not here to say my 07 is better because it has less issues, but I am just saying I feel bad for others having problems.

Now, onto the Canadian-built accusations, it is true non-JDM assembly plants suffer from quality issues and workmanship.

However...Don't go blaming Canada for our build quality. I won't even go there. Ok I will. The worst cars (perhaps on this planet) are American-made (USA-built) Mercury Marquis (worst depreciation) Pontiac Grand Prix (same), Ford E-Series Van (least environment-friendly), Dodge Durango, Dodge Ram, Buick Terraza (least reliable), Saturn Ion (least SAFE), Ford Ranger (least satisfying).

Any Hondas there? nope.

Be glad you own a Honda and not another make.

[AbsoluteGG]

I have a Canadian built 07 Civic coupe and have 2,500 miles and still have no problems whats so ever. When I first found out I got a canadian civic i was kind of disappointed since i've heard about all the issues with cars built out of japan. Anyway so far i'm doing good and theres nothing wrong with my car and i want it to stay that way but i think its too early to tell.

[si_civic]

^ I think it's safe to assume that 07 & 08 civics are going to have less problems than when they first come out. It's like software. Patches & upgrades. Get used to it.

[bLaCkAnGeL07]

I have to side with qwikz on this one.

My grandpa and two of my uncles work at the Marysville, Ohio plant and I have seen and heard of the extensive process that they put EVERY car through at their plants, and they take extensive care to root out the one's with rattles, problems, etc. I would imagine that not all of those problems can be addressed at that moment, as they may not occur at some point on the one or two days spent at the factory, but more likely between the 2 to 3 weeks that it may be sitting on a truck or lot during delivery.

As for the correlation between points of assembly and reliability, I have no clear evidence that suggests there is one, however, I do have clear, truthful evidence as to what companies consistently prove to be more reliable than the others.

This leads me to the question of Honda's overall reliability, something they have proved countless times a legend. Do yourself a favor and go out and buy a Consumer Reports New Car or 2007 Car Guide. This book alone has every new, available car here in the US. It gives reliability ratings and even percentages based on reliability from consumers from the PAST year alone. That means that each year, a vehicle's reliability is assessed from it's production beginning to end and given a rating for a large number of reliability issues down to tranny, engine, cooling, brakes, AC, etc. the list goes on and on.

Acura/Honda consistently has all of it's vehicles, if not at the top ( the most common), within the top three.

I'm not saying they're perfect, and not every car will be as stellar as the next, however, Honda has proven itself for it's reliability as well as it's amazing engineering and consumer satisfaction (the s2000 alone is the second most satisfying "car I would buy again" according to the 07 CR, second only to the corvette z06, which I might point out, has a reliability rating of almost -80%, while the s2000, the top of reliability for roadster class, has 45%).

Honda has amazing value for the price, and they will continue to do so.

[kero]

I don't recall if I posted in this thread yet but (not intended to start arguements)

My 06 LX sedan (assembled in Canada) is pretty much chock full of problems. Two of which will be fixed hopefully when my belt kit and motor mount come in.

Other problems are constant pulling to the right despite a few alignments, front steering clunks when car is cold, rattles both front and back, inside center pillar covers that were popping out (fixed thanks to a quick fix post on this board), 1 door slightly misaligned (not bad as others I have seen posted), major scratches all over each piece of glass (I posted a thread on this).

I have to be honest in saying despite these small things (nothing major in my view) I love the car, the way it drives, the way it feels on the road etc.

If I knew for sure 100% that the 07's did not have some of these problems I would trade for the same LX sedan, just in silver, not GG (no silver were available at time of purchase).

They are still great cars!

[SonicK20Z]

Originally Posted by kero

I have to be honest in saying despite these small things (nothing major in my view) I love the car, the way it drives, the way it feels on the road etc.

If I knew for sure 100% that the 07's did not have some of these problems I would trade for the same LX sedan, just in silver, not GG (no silver were available at time of purchase).

They are still great cars!

I love my Si too... I haven't had major mechanical problems... all my problems outside of the alignment issue have been body issues. I haven't had any engine/transaxle/etc. problems... (then again the engine I believe is made in Japan, and shipped to Canada to drop in for final assembly. )

As you said, if I knew 100% I'd be better off with 07, I actually considered trading my 06 in on an 07 w/ Nav. But I don't really have the spare cash laying around to "upgrade" as well as repurchase certain non-removable mods (such as tint, Hondata, HFP lip kit, etc.)

[Mateen]

I believe the discussion should not be about where the car was built. It should be about when the car was built. I bet you most of the civics with many issues are the ones that were built earlier.
Any body that has many issues with their civics ( specially the ones built in Canada), would you please indicate when you bought your car?

[kero]

My car was purchased 6-7 months ago so I believe mine was produced kinda mid way for the 06 model year.

I do truely believe the Canadian assembly point for my car is part of the problems with my car. I do believe some of the problems have to do with the redesign and not only how the car was assembled.

We have to be fair.

[evolution921]

I'm quite satisfy with the quality of my US-built 06 Civic so far. Same can't be said for my Canadian-built 01 Civic though.

[K20Z3Si]

In Japan its all Unionized and no hondas are made by the UAW here in the US or in canada. This might have somthing to do with it...

[Cr8tive_leo]

Quality vs. country of origin. Simplest way I see on how to figureout this is to look at the Technical Service Bulletins, check the vin numbers affected by these, some say all models, some give you specific vin ranges. *like the 'bump' when hitting uneven roads at low speeds" the vin in the bulletins tell you when they were made, where, everythign you ever wanted to know.

We all spend good coin a new vehicle, and expect it to be perfect, that's why car manufacturers give us warranties, they realize that not every car that is produced in their many different facilities are going to be identical twins, there will be flaws, issues, and they give us a padding to which we can bring back the vehicle and they will correct the flaws without charge.

The Alliston plant is just up the road from me, 45km(ish) and have been tempted to drive there and demand a repaint of the imperfections on my Civic, (didn't) Just took it to the dealer, and they repainted the door, the rear side panel and the trunk, no problems, no quibbling. I'm happy.
The seats were made in Newmarket, by TS Tech, good high quality plant (depends on the shift though *grins*) Honda does change the specs on how things are made from time to time. Like going from stitching seats to using plastic clips, etc. etc.

Overall, I am very happy with my Canadian assembled Honda Civic. And it is as qwikz said, don't purchase the first run, (if you can wait) there are undoubtly flaws in initial production and assembly, case in point XBox 360, over heating problem, and there are others.

My two cents, Cr8tive.

[Salerio]

For all those who own 2006/2007 civics made in Japan; Are you experiencing the same quality control issues plagued by civics made in Canada and U.S.? (i.e. rattles, squeaks, automatic transmission issues, etc....)

[ABM JDM]

None for me, though mine's a newer one from 1/07. The early Japan ones from '06 seemingly had a bunch of issues. I kinda like the idea that mine was put together there.

[PokeyD16Z]

Originally Posted by ABM JDM

None for me, though mine's a newer one from 1/07. The early Japan ones from '06 seemingly had a bunch of issues. I kinda like the idea that mine was put together there.

yea, mine is 2091, built in Japan. All the same issues as the US/Canada ones.