The Griffin Family Website

Tag: Accord

  • Dude, Where’s My Car?

    You know, it’s really easy to get into trouble just by browsing lists of cars for sale. Early in September, the transmission in my 2003 Honda Accord V6 died and not only was I left begging for transportation (thank you Nathan, for helping me out) but Honda wanted me to pay to have the transmisison replaced – that’s a whole ‘nuther story though. Because of this recent car trouble, I have been browsing cars for sale and, while searching for a BMW 540i to test drive, I decided to see if there were any M5’s out there. Well **** me; there is one. CarMax in Birmingham has a Black 2000 M5 with a black leather interior and a six-speed manual transmission. I must have it.

     As far as dream cars go, for me, a black-on-black M5 is second only to a black-on-black 850CSi. We’re talking a 5 liter V8 with 400hp and 395ft-lbs of torque; a 0-60 in 4.7 seconds (or 5.2, depending on who’s specs you go by…) and 60-0 in just 138 feet. This is a four door sedan that will compete with the likes of a Ferrari. How could I possibly pass this up? The only three things holding me back are: the fuel economy of 14mpg city/18mpg highway, the car I have now is paid off but I would have to finance part of the purchase of the M5, and lastly my wife gets car sick so the manual transmission could be a problem.

    After several weeks of pining over the car but not doing anything about it, I finally paid to have it transported from Birmingham to Memphis. I was told by CarMax that it would take up to 14 days, this was Saturday. I figured on it taking about a week and was blown away when they called on Wednesday to tell me it was here. Must test drive now!

    The wife and I headed up there to test drive it and, since it’s been something like seven years since I drove a manual, I made her good and car sick. Crap. The next evening I met my dad and his boss, Rob, up there for another test drive; Rob races cars and is something of a BMW fanatic so I figure his opinion will weigh in pretty heavily on whether or not to buy this beast. Of course, it’s been raining all week so it’s a bit difficult to really peg it to see what this car will do but Rob really ran it through its paces. The poor sales girl was probably a nervous wreck by the end of it all – what, with slamming on the brakes on well travelled roads, flooring the accellerator with and without the DSC on, careening around corners, and other fun maneuvers that most people don’t usually try when test driving. Rob told me to let him know if I didn’t buy the car ’cause he would.

    Since we did find a few things wrong with it like water in the headlights, a broken air vent, and a bad display on the instrument cluster, I didn’t buy the car that night. CarMax told me they would fix these problems for me and I needed a little more time to make my decision. Craig, one of the salesmen I’ve been working with, called me on Friday to see if I was going to come in to buy the car. I told him it might be Saturday or more likely Sunday.

    The wife and I show up today afternoon to buy the car; I’ve got everything they told me to bring and I’m ready to seal the deal. Just one problem – I don’t see the car anywhere. The first salesman I ever talked to, Steve, is on the management track and can’t help me with the car so he goes off to find the fourth salesman I’ve talked to, Chris. After 15 or 20 minutes Steve and Chris show up and Steve hands us off to Chris. Chris can’t find the car either so he heads off to see where it is. The wife and I are tired of sitting inside so we go outside and start browsing through the lot. When she finds an X5, I try to open the door so we can see the interior which sets off the rather obnoxious alarm. Chris shows up some time later and, after resetting the alarm on the X5, tells me that the M5 is in their shop and that there is no one there who is authorized to get it for us – that they are replacing the headlights and fixing the other problems we found. Chris tells us he will call to let us know if they will be able to get the car out for us tomorrow.

    I guess I have to finish this later once they can get the car out for us. Damn, I really wanted to show up at work in it on Monday.

  • Honda

    To Whom It May Concern:

    On September 6th, I brought my 2003 Honda Accord V6 to the Service Department at Wolfchase Honda in Memphis, TN. The previous evening, I had trouble getting the car to start and assumed that the battery was getting weak. On my way to the service department that morning the car dropped out of gear suddenly while I was driving, the engine revved to between 5,000 and 6,000 rpm, returned to an idle rpm, the transmission engaged again and repeated this behavior four or five times. Since I was within a quarter to perhaps a half mile of the service department I left the car in drive and allowed the car to coast down the overpass I had just crested and made it to the service department; the car exhibited the behavior described above several more times before I finally arrived.

    I informed the service department of the problem with the car being hard to start and of the new problem with the transmission that had just happened, then left the car with the service technician. Later in the day I received a call from Danny at Wolfchase Honda who informed me that the battery did need to be replaced, the car needed brake pads and that the rotors needed to be turned, all of which I was expecting and quite prepared for; then Danny told me that the transmission had to be replaced, something I was most certainly not expecting and not at all prepared for.

    My Accord was affected by the transmission recall released in the summer of 2004. Because of the disinterested and unconcerned service I had experienced from the service department at Dobbs Honda on Mendenhall, where I originally purchased the car, I reluctantly took the car there in order to have the recall service performed. The recall service was completed that day and I picked my car up that afternoon. When I picked up my car, I was told that they had determined that the transmission did not need to be replaced so they had installed the oil piping kit as required by the recall. I asked a number of questions about the transmission and any precautions I should take or any warning signs I should look for; all of my questions were answered with either a flippant “don’t worry about it” or a shrug. I gave up on getting any of my concerns addressed and left.

    I immediately noticed a difference in the transmission’s shifting; when the transmission shifted from one gear to another it felt like it was shifting hard and the car would frequently buck or lurch as well; occasionally, it would even cause the tires to squeal or chirp when the transmission shifted from second to third gear. That evening, as my wife and I were driving home, we both heard a metal-on-metal rubbing or scraping sound – something like sheet metal rubbing against an axle or rotor; I immediately pulled over to the side of the road and checked under the car, in the front wheel-wells, and under the hood where I could find no loose parts or any parts that appeared to be rubbing or missing. I got back in the car and drove it home as cautiously as I could, meaning that I accelerated very slowly, did not brake hard, and did not exceed 35 MPH.

    Before driving the car the next morning, I called the service department at Dobbs Honda on Mendenhall and described both the hard shifting and the metal-on-metal rubbing sound we had heard. I was told that the hard shifting wasn’t unusual and would go away after “it settled in” and that someone had probably just left a tool under the hood and that’s what caused the noise we heard; again demonstrating a complete lack of concern on the part of the service technician. After about a month of driving the car without the hard shifting problem resolving itself, I called back again and, this time, was told that this was normal behavior. Frustrated, I gave up on getting Dobbs Honda to do anything about what I considered to be a problem.

    Which brings me to the problem I have now, a bad transmission. First, I refuse to take my car back to Dobbs Honda for service; I don’t trust them, I don’t think they care about their customers, and I think they provide poor service at best. Based on the service we have received from Wolfchase Honda for my wife’s 2005 Pilot, I now have my car there and want them to repair my car. Second, I do not think it is unreasonable for me to believe that the problem with the transmission is related to the recall from the summer of 2004. The car exhibits the hard shifting behavior primarily when shifting in to or out of second gear – the gear specifically mentioned in the recall; when the car dropped out of gear yesterday, it was when the transmission was down-shifting from third to second; after that, I lost track of what gear the transmission was in due to the erratic shifting it was doing. Again I would suspect second gear since I was traveling at or below 30 MPH.

    Quite honestly, I would like for Honda to replace the transmission at no charge to me because, from my perspective, I was sold a car that had a transmission that was predestined to fail prematurely due to a defect and, when Dobbs Honda had the opportunity to correct this, they chose the quick, easy, and least expensive fix then ignored my complaints about the transmission. For me, this is a huge blow to my confidence in the reliability and dependability of Honda vehicles and my trust that Honda will stand behind their cars and their service.

    To add to my disappointment and frustration with this situation, I have been a spokesman for Honda since purchasing my 2003 Accord. The first car I owned was a 1982 Honda Accord Hatchback; I did all of my own service and as much of the maintenance as I was capable of, put 247,000 miles on it, then had to sell it in 1991because I was moving overseas. When I returned, I tried Audi, Chevy, Toyota, then, after a particularly bad experience with a BMW, I came back to Honda due to my past experience. I have raved about the Accord I purchased and have influenced a number of co-workers, friends, and family members into purchasing a Honda. I know that, due to my opinion of Honda, there are five Honda Accords, two Honda Civics, and a Honda Odyssey van that have been purchased by my co-workers within a four year period. My sister now owns a Honda CRV due to our experience and we recently upgraded my wife’s Honda CRV to a Honda Pilot.

    To not waste your time, I have left out other details that may or may not have bearing in this matter; I will elaborate further if you want me too. I appreciate your taking your time to read this rather lengthy letter and appeal to you for help in getting my Accord repaired by replacing the transmission. Anything you can do to expedite this would also be appreciated since I am currently without a car.