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Typical age group of Honda Owners - Steveieb

We all remember Victor Meldrew s exasperation when he played the cassette recorded by the Honda mechanics .

https://youtu.be/W4icMkZkAeQ?feature=shared

But is this stereotype still apparent and is the Honda Jazz considered to be the parting shot before handing back the car keys for the final time ?

Typical age group of Honda Owners - Falkirk Bairn

My immediate neighbours & I (20 houses)

1) 3 year old Honda Civic - young couple + baby <30

2) 18 month old Hybrid Civic - recently retired couple

3) 12 month old CRV - ME - 77 years young

Few neighbours actually work - mostly retired, most now down to 1 car, 10 years ago most had 2 cars.

I had my car serviced just over a week ago at a Honda Dealer.

8 in the queue to book the car in - all grey haired (60- 80 ish ) apart from a man in his mid 30s on a recall.

In the 2 hours I waited only 1 car taken out in test drive - HRV - couple were 70s.

Typical age group of Honda Owners - madf

Locally

Old..

Very old.

Look 105

I am 76 and in the "Young" category........

Typical age group of Honda Owners - Adampr

Certainly in my area, a Honda Jazz (driven at a constant 40mph absolutely everywhere) is the pensioner's car of choice. I rarely see other Hondas.

Typical age group of Honda Owners - mcb100
I’ve just been seeing if I could find any data on this, but inconclusive results.
I did find, however, a 2011 post on a different website talking about Honda sales being down 50% by a ‘Falkirk Bairn’.
Typical age group of Honda Owners - Mike H

I confess to owning a CR-V hybrid, and I'm 70 years young. We got our previous CR-V 9 years ago after many years of Saab ownership. I'm on a Facebook CR-V group and there are certainly a good number of younger owners there. Lots of younger people driving Civics here in Austria. But the Jazz owners all seem to be of a certain age!

Typical age group of Honda Owners - Steveieb

Maybe the owners were inspired by Honest John himself who owned one in Thailand and always recommended them.

And the latest Which report rated the latest Jazz the second most reliable car after the 2018 Suzuki Ignis and joint second with the Toyota Aygo .

Typical age group of Honda Owners - Metropolis.
Honda do have a reputation for ac problems in a few Asian countries, I wonder if that is still the case
Typical age group of Honda Owners - Metropolis.
I am not sure what Honda are up to at the moment, seem to have given up!
Typical age group of Honda Owners - badbusdriver

Honda's being considered an older persons car does seem to be geographic. Certainly in the UK they are, maybe other countries too. But there are countries where they are very much a young persons car. Just need to look at the amount of sporty versions of the Jazz (Fit) in Japan with body kits, big wheels, sporty seats etc. I remember watching a YT clip from Japan of a sporty Fit (possibly Mugen) being compared on track against the Suzuki Swift Sport (which was considered a direct rival). If memory serves, the Fit was actually faster round the track, though the testers reckoned the Swift Sport handled better.

Off the top of my head I can think of five of my customers who have Honda's. Two have a Jazz (both 3rd gen), ages would be early 30's and early-mid 70's. One has an HR-V (current shape), she'd be mid-late 70's. One has a CR-V (4th gen), he'd be late 30's-early 40's. Last one has a Civic (10th gen), he'd be around 50.

Typical age group of Honda Owners - madf

Mark 1 Honda Jazz (2002-8) is a very popular first car selling at c under £1500 and very reliable if well looked after. But susceptible to rear underbody rust incl rear subframes.

But very prone to catalyst theft and insurance premiums are starting to make them unaffordable.

Typical age group of Honda Owners - alan1302
I am not sure what Honda are up to at the moment, seem to have given up!

Turnover and profits are all up so they must be doing something right.

Typical age group of Honda Owners - edlithgow

5th and 6th Gen Civics (only 3-door hatch I can think of here in Taiwan) were very popular with boy ricers, to the extent that they were mostly pretty knackered. Dunno if that applies to later generations.

Typical age group of Honda Owners - Falkirk Bairn

All 5th/6th gen Civics went the same way here - either big exhausts and through hedges and/or a neglected banger.

That said a few weeks back I saw an immaculate looking 3 door hatchback - either really really well looked after or a top to toe refurbish. The latter I suspect.

The car was passing my house. I would have loved to look over the car - everything, from what I could see, looked "as new"

Typical age group of Honda Owners - Sulphur Man

I'm 53 and have been driving Honda's for over 20 years.

If you want an exciting Honda, they make cars that genuinely exciting. If you want a family one that will hold it's value, or a small one that will run forever, etc etc.

The aftersales has been consistently good too, with one exception in the early noughties.

The 'senior's demographic of Honda owners is very real, I'm not going to argue otherwise. I have a theory though - these seniors have owned many cars through their adult lives, some good, some less good, some bad aftersales, some bad depreciation - they've seen it all.

So experience has brought them to a Honda. A mid-range Jazz auto in the right colour with the right spec. They will see their servicing dealer once a year, the car will do everything without complaint, including swallowing grand children and trips to the tip, and it will cost little to run whilst holding it's value. With experience comes wisdom.

In a certain way, that's how I measure luxury travel. No aggravation, painless, high quality at all times. Hence owning Honda's for 20 years. A VW friend will say that Honda's are too 'scratchy' inside and not that comfortable. That same friend experienced all the injectors fail on the family Sharan on the motorway, at 70mph.

Edited by Sulphur Man on 26/02/2024 at 09:26

Typical age group of Honda Owners - Falkirk Bairn

Much the same story from me -

Brand New Civic coupe 1995 sold 2003 zero repairs

Brand new Civic Aerodeck for commuting 2001 £11,000 - run out model bought at clearance price - sold 2007 90K on clock

Brand new 2012 - run out model CRV £20,000 - sold August last year for £9,000T/I

Excluding servicing, tyres, exhaust, pad, rubber bushes (& other age related bits & pieces)

Honda repairs in 28 years maybe £500 including labour - just the odd bit here & there heater valve stuck, thermostat that governs fan speed, wing mirror spring mechanism.

The CRV had no repairs in 11 years.

Other Japanese cars

Mazda Xedos 1998 - 2014 about £1,000 for 3 x callipers, bushes, battery but no repairs as such

Nissan Xtrail 2007-2012 - no repairs, just servicing tyres, pads etc