Quote:
Originally Posted by DarkSunrise
The problem I see is two-fold. First, Honda discountinued the S2000, Prelude, RSX/Integra, and NSX without filling the respective voids left by those cars. And it's not like those cars were SUVs or minivans or passenger cars. They constituted nearly all of the sporty offerings Honda sold over the past 1-2 decades. Now, if you want a sporty Honda, your only option is the Civic SI. That's it, just 1 car. There's a big gaping hole in the enthusiast side of Honda's lineup, especially as compared to the 90's and early 00's when they maintained at least 4-5 enthusiast cars at all times in their lineup (and that's not even counting the Type-R's).
The second problem is that even with its passenger cars, Honda moved away from being the light/sporty option and over the past decade, that's shown. The current gen Accord is huge compared with 1-2 decades ago. The last comparison I saw featuring the Accord, it was the heaviest car in the comparison, even heavier than the Camry. Consumer Reports noted the Accord bloat in their review of the 2011-2012 Accord:
http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthrea...cord-goes-soft
Even chief engineer of the new NSX, Ted Klaus, acknowledges that Honda moved away from sporty offerings in recent years and is now trying to head back towards that direction:
And here's what someone who works/contracts for Honda says about the current mindset at the company:
Honda seems to be learning from its mistakes and is reversing course by introducing some sporty offerings to the market again. It's bringing back the NSX in a few years and mulling over whether to resurrect the S2000. After watching the Civic SI/Type-R get killed in comparisons, they promise re-introduce a new Civic Type-R that will have class-leading performance. They re-designed the current Civic mid-cycle and publicly apologized that the last-gen Civic was sub-par. The current gen Accord has gotten some of its mojo back. So about the best I can say right now is there's reason to be hopeful that Honda is reversing course. |
I don't see it that way given the market conditions & landscape of competitor offerings - or more specifically, against Toyota. What did Toyota have 10 years ago and what do they have today that is sporty and Honda could/couldn't compete with?
2003
Matrix XRS - Civic SI
Celica GT-S - RSX type S
Solara? - Accord Coupe
MR2 Spyder - S2000
IS300 - TL
- NSX (although I grudgingly put this in
)
2008
- Civic SI
- TSX
Solara? - Accord Coupe
- S2000
IS350 - TL
2013
FRS - Civic SI
- ILX
IS350 - TL
- TSX
As for the current 'overweight' Accord, it was considered most fun to drive in this recent comparison;
http://www.edmunds.com/hyundai/sonat...ison-test.html
And here it got 2nd, also praised for fun to drive
http://www.caranddriver.com/comparis...rd-ex-l-page-6
The current Type R to take on the Ring time, while very cool and interesting, isn't something we'll see. In fact, wasn't that going to be limited to a few hundred production cars? Anyways, point being, whether the product is good or not, the fact that they've offered/still offer to sell a product that can be considered sporty - that's my point. Honda has been doing it in accord (ha.. ha... ha) with the market/competitors [and I'd argue better] and so there's no need to be nostalgic for a brand that's "lost it's way". It isn't like they've turned into Lotus.