I agree with the "loss of coolness" idea.......I have drawn a conclusive opinion from my recent observations of Honda ( as well as the other japanese brands): in recent years, the shapes, lines and styling of Hondas have evolved from that cool distinctive , somewhat angular/sharp,Japanese "JDM" type look to a much uglier, rounder, curvy (in all the wrong places), tacky american car style. i can tell that this negative evolution of design is not popular among us Honda enthusiasts, but it is welcomed by most people who have become used to that distinctively round, bulky, ugly american design style. This makes me sad Wha'ts the next step? Will honda team up with GM and start making cavaliers and "new civics" on the same platform so sad....................

hit me back with some more opinions / comments on my theories...........

 

lol, funny you say that, honda is supplying the v6's for the vue starting this year, and i believe toyota is in the works with another car manucaturer

ford already bought out mazda back in 98 so they are set and daimler-chysler has the dying mitsubishi on it's hands.. heh

 

honda seems like they're abandoning their sporty models in favor of family cars, and they've been doing it for a while. the mid 90s was honda's heyday, IMO. the 2nd gen legend was a beautiful car, especially with the 230 hp GS trim. the 5th gen accord was the best looking accord ever (IMO) with the exception of the current JDM accord (TSX). the prelude was still around, and the NSX was relatively new.....

the problem now is that honda is just not responding to the market fast enough. the perfect example is honda's delayed entry into the SUV market. it took them SO long to release their own SUV while the rest of the world jumped into it at light speed. now, a growing number of car companies are pushing performance oriented models. not just sports cars, but regular sedans or compact econo-boxes with a huge amount of power, turbochargers, etc... companies are making their engines bigger and even the non luxury brands are starting to ditch FWD. and what does honda do? they stick to their guns, even though the market demands otherwise. they may one day wake up and respond to these market demands, but they're going to be sitting on their asses for a long while before they do (just like with SUVs). this will be honda's doom, if it ever comes to that.

concentrating more on family cars isn't a bad philosophy, cuz it makes them tons of money. every month both honda and acura continue break their sales records.. the enthusiast market is still relatively small and insignificant, so they see no reason to respond to it. but as a result of this market philosophy, their cars have become really dull and boring. i read an article talking about how VW basically took over the role honda had held from the early 80s until the mid 90s. they made a lot of good points, but the major theme about honda was that they're just uninteresting now. they make great cars - we all know that. when the 7th gen accord was about to come out, honda was talking about chasing VW instead of toyota. for a while i thought they'd finally gotten their heads on straight. well, i was wrong

honda has also lost a huge amount of market share in asia, including japan. when i visited japan last year, and taiwan this year, i noticed that there were hardly any hondas on the road. what a sad sight to see.. the roads covered with toyotas and nissans, and a honda every once in a loooong while.

 

AWD makes everyone happy. AWD accord anyone?

 

yea.. im not feelin the 01+ civics and the 03+ accords.. i think they are just ugly front and back. the 92-00 civics and 94-02 accords were the best.

 

I would have to say that the late 90's were the golden age of Honda. The NSX was relatively new, the Integras and Civics were capable cars that were top of the line for their time and still looked great, the S2K came into being at the time, and the Prelude was still around. I think Honda has been as of late trying to shift from the performance oriented image to one of environmental friendliness and cutting edge technology (ie Accord and Civic hybrids, FCX) Unfortunately, they kind of lost the edgier spirit of the late 90's as a result.

I think honestly that this period belongs to Subaru and Nissan. I see WRX's, 350Z's, and G35's everywhere, and they are distinctive cars, each with their own distinctive looks and features. It would be great if Honda could find a way to make their cars distinctive without going over the top like Pontiac did with the Aztek.

 

forever civic. honda luv.

 

all i can say is everytime i see a nice 7th gen sedan drop with rims and color silver or white etc.. or have u seen the coupe on any color especially black or red or white drop in some nice wheels like 17"-18" with nice tints fully loaded tail etc... now just think if honda were to sell this car like i just describe stock, they will always be number one and u will see a accord all over but then again i do see an accord all over but just the 94-02 and always looking sharp, and that just remind me why thieves keep looking at my accord. honda should advertise the accord just like i describe or just get the damn real accord to the us for once. imagine the tsx with the accord logo on it, here n us mmmmm.

 

i feel ya

 

i think honda has been trying to compete with a mid-class luxury kinda thing. Their cars have been looking more luxurious lately rather more than sporty. I want the next generation of Accords to have tail lights similar to the 5th gen and a new headlight assembly with projectors/HID rather than typical halogen bulbs.