98-02 was onlee an american production accord basically, with it being sold in other countries sparinglly as commercial and taxi. The platform was sharedmainlly with the Acura CL(which where Acura's are strictlly and onlee assembled in Japan at Honda for shipment elsewhere) It shared the platform with the Honda Inspire and Acura CL and not the TL( JDM Accord) like everyone thinks.Anyway platform wise engine and braking and cooling and most egronomics were the bugs were kinked out during the run of the platform a year and half earlier as it went to the USA as an Acura CL, except with the damn transmission issue.The body however was designed in a Honda Corp America design workshop, they told HOnda Motor of JP that they wanted to design the body to appeal more to american buyers, i guess they though the older Japanese designed ones were to ricey.Even tho they still took, and had to , take design ques from the previous model.Accords usually run just a 4 year period, thelast 2 years of its 4 years freshioned up, mainlly headlight /grille and tail light tweaks, if yuve seen 94-97 how the first 2 headlights arent full composite like the 96-97 and the larger tail lights.Anyway Japan was not all happy about the 98-01 run of the american honda accord, and saw how the NEW TL released in 98 as a 99 to which was spawn of the asian market (JDM) Honda Accord, was doing so well in sells. Without knowing wut to do this is how the Accord ran another year to 02 when it was spossed to be redone for 02. Honda's antidote was to take the home market Honda Inspire , make it a left hand driver and rebadge it as the Honda Accord for the American market!So there is why yu may have a few flaws in the beggining, they had to convert a car that its sole powertrain was the J30A V6 and adapt it to also be fitted with a 4cyl engine and transmission., on top make it left hand drive with other things to make it ready for the market.So as someone said yeah they have to get the bugs out.

 

i didnt have any problem till like 35k before the warranty run out

 

Hi,

I disagree. Honda should be doing better. In contrast I had 2002 Camry (also first year of redesign) and NEVER a problem. Toyota seems to be better at their pre-production testing.

 

I know this is kind of off topic on this thread... but I've been thinking about picking up an 06 civic SI in the begining of next year... but now after reading this thread it's kinda making me wonder if it would probably end up having all kind of strange little problems also. Anyone in the accord forum know about civic problem history on first year new generation releases? Maybe as a comparison to problems of accords. I know it all comes down to chances of getting lucky and ending up with one that has no problems at all, or having bad luck and getting one that turns out to be nothing but problems, but wanting it to be my first brand new out the dealer car, it's got me wondering.

 

my 04 hasnt bugged out on me once. it has almost 25k miles and everything runs fine. i havent had a single problem w/ anything. yet.

in any case, what exactly is going wrong w/ the things you mentioned? you sure its not just normal wear-and-tear?

toyotas are too bland. people who really want to drive (my guess) would rather drive a honda over a conservative toyota.

 

25,000 new civics have already been recalled for a pedal issue, but there were not many sold yet.

wait until 07 to buy one or buy a type-s

 

I agree. The 2003 redesign was one of the most significant in Accord history. Even when the 1990s were introduced w/ all new powertrains, etc. I remember them having a few issues (and still do today almost 16 years later that later models don't) But one must take into consideration that cars today are much more technologically complex than their predecessors.

The myth of Japanese vs. American assembly is a fallacy. The Marysville assembly plant is a top notch facility. My 96 was built there (as well as my 06) and I have found no reason to believe that their assembly quality is inferior to those built in Japan.

With that said, my brother's 2003 Accord EX has been golden for the 41,000 miles he's driven it so far. I remember him having a small issue with the brake rotors warping early on, but that was resolved by the dealer and has not caused any problems since. However, I do understand that some early-production 03s had some more serious quirks/bugs/gremlins (whatever it is you may call them) which is an unfortunate result of human design and mass production.

 

Most of the newer Honda's are made from domestic OE parts

By most I mean 97% of the car. :noes:

 

The Marysville plant in Ohio has been building Hondas (more specifically the majority of Accords) since 1982. Domestic content is not something new. I don't remember the American/Japanese parts content percentages to have been any different on my 96, than they are on my 06. The engine was sourced from here, and the transmission from Japan on both cars.

As for as engine components, The V6s do use Delphi (supplier of General Motors) for items such as alternators, etc. 4-cylinder Honda engines still use Denso.

 

Tell that to the MB owners whose MB's were built here in the states :noes: