5 Honda Motorists Say You Should Just Get Rid Of Them

Honda makes great cars. The brand regularly ranks in the top half of all car manufacturers in reliability rankings, with its most reliable models consistently outperforming most of the competition. The brand’s long-running engine lines played a major role in building that reputation. Mainstays like the four-cylinder K and J35 V6 have been around for 20 years or more, with only minor changes made due to emissions targets and modernization.

My last two cars have been Hondas – a 2019 Honda Accord, which came with a very nice K20C4 engine, and a 2026 Honda Ridgeline powered by the J35Y6 – meaning I’ve driven two of Honda’s best and most reliable engines. However, like all companies in the world in any category, Honda is not flawless, and from time to time, the company is known to make one bomb of an engine for one reason or another. Sometimes it’s because of reliability concerns, and sometimes the engine is the least inspiring thing you can think of.

Honda does better than most in this category, so the list below is very short. In fact, only two of the listed engines exist due to reliability issues, while the other three are often avoided due to poor fit or just plain boring character. So, without burying the lede too far, here are the engines that people might recommend you avoid when buying a new or used Honda.

Built for several years in the 2000s and 2010s, the R20 engine line is known as one of Honda and Acura’s most reliable engines and has powered several vehicles over the years. They include the fifth-generation CR-V, early 2010 versions of the Acura ILX, and several model years of the Honda Accord and Honda Civic. With such a wide range of popular models and a reputation for reliability, you’d think there would be few complaints about this engine, and you’d be right. Many people like this engine just fine. However, some Honda and Acura owners aren’t entirely happy about it, for a completely different reason.

The reason is that the engine is slower, and it is sometimes known to be more fuel efficient as its age and mileage increases. Its lack of performance made it great for part-time daily driving, but Honda are known for making cars that are fun to drive, and the R20’s engines weren’t there unless you found it in Honda’s smaller models like the Civic, where it could pass.

If you ask Honda fans if the R20 engine is good, they will tell you that it is indestructible but also has the power of a go-kart. In other words, it will last forever, but you won’t be happy to drive it, and Honda has other reliable options that are more fun.

Honda started making their D-series engines in 1984, and continued until the R-series in the early 2000s. These engines were prominent in Honda Civic models in the 1980s and 1990s, which has led to their continued popularity among automakers. However, not all engine types were popular.

The biggest reason has less to do with reliability and more to do with performance. These old engines were built for fuel economy, not fun, so they go slow. This is not a big deal, as most engines back in the 1990s were. However, you may get good horsepower with some modifications. Not so with the D17 engine – even with modifications, you couldn’t get it to do more than what came stock. Some modders even recommend letting the engine crash and replace it with something else.

For such an old engine, the only real problem is its inability to be converted into a street racer and it’s pretty good overall. It’s just that the other D series engines don’t seem to be as difficult to fix as the D17, though, and that makes the D17 arguably the most popular engine in the family.

Of all the engines on the list, the Earth Dreams 1.5-liter turbo-four may be the most problematic. It is used in many popular Honda vehicles, including the CR-V and Accord, as well as the less popular Civic Si. The engine also has the misfortune of being around for a long time, so you can find 1.5-liter turbos in CR-Vs from many years. In everyday driving, it has pep in its step and offers good fuel economy. The problem is trust.

1.5-liter turbos are known to have issues, and Honda owners are well aware of it. The engine blows head gaskets and does so with enough frequency that Honda has been sued for it in the past. Usually, the problem lies in the dilution of the oil. If you don’t allow a turbo charged engine to warm up properly, unburned fuel can get into the oil, causing the two to mix. Long trips allow the engine to come up to temperature and burn the fuel in the oil. Frequent short trips where the engine doesn’t warm up all the way make the problem worse.

This is a common problem with most turbo engines, but Honda’s 1.5 liter turbo seems worse than other engines, and as a result, is probably the engine you will see the most complaints about from Honda owners. Take your CR-V or Accord for long drives sometimes to let it burn off the fuel in the oil, and make sure you get regular oil changes, and you should be fine.

The Honda J35 engine has been around for over twenty years in many variations, so it is to be expected that the occasional problem will appear from time to time. Honda uses this V6 in cars like the Ridgeline, Pilot, Passport, and Odyssey. It also appeared on the Saturn Vue. My Ridgeline has this engine, and it’s a smooth operator overall. Older versions of this engine are virtually problem-free, and there are stories of J35-powered Honda Accords hitting 300,000 miles. The problems seem to have started appearing with the latest versions of the engine.

The first thing you’ll see Honda fans complain about is cylinder deactivation. This seems to have been mostly fixed in newer models, but it caused enough concern in the first few generations that owners used a cylinder deactivation deactivator to properly activate all six cylinders. And it wasn’t just a concern about reliability. Owners of the J35 engine reported that the engine sputtered, causing the engine to jerk throughout the car when a few cylinders were off. So, while the engine is still generally reliable, these things can be annoying to deal with.

Honda also had a problem with the J35 from 2016 to 2020 model year that affected 1.4 million vehicles, including the Ridgeline, Pilot, Odyssey, Acura TLX, and Acura MDX. The defect could cause premature rod failure, but the recall took care of that.

The Honda 2.0-liter DOHC VTEC is the spiritual successor to the D-series and R-series engines, and is the engine that Honda still uses today in the Honda Civic and the latest Honda HR-V. Like its naturally aspirated predecessors, the 2.0-litre DOHC is a reliable monster, and shows that Honda still has the chops to make an engine that can stand the test of time. Of course, most of the problems that the owners of these cars have are not related to the engine. Once again, the problem is not in reliability, it is in performance.

The Honda HR-V has a worse stance than the Civic, probably because it is a crossover and weighs more. Professional reviewers have noted the speed with which the HR-V does basically anything, and the Civic, while light, relies more on its handling than its speed on its driver’s involvement. Those looking for more peppy performance are often recommended by the Civic hybrid model, and perhaps the HR-V too if it had one.

There are plenty of owners who love HR-Vs, but there are others who will make sure they put the brakes on before recommending a car that isn’t one of Honda’s most fun cars to drive. However, of all the engines on this list, the 2.0-litre DOHC easily gets the least amount of hate on social media. It’s one of those things where you have to try before you buy.