Why do people hate Hondas? The Honda car modification community has a huge following with huge amounts of dedicated enthusiasts. However, with that comes many Honda haters. Today well dig deeper and see what this is all about.
I think we can all agree one of the main reasons for Honda hate comes down to one thing: The fart can. A lot of people tend to have a Honda of some sort as their first car and want to modify it in an adorable way. This drive to modify a first car can often lead to the purchase of an ebay 4” inch fart can exhaust for less than $100. On an otherwise stock Honda this results in the sound of an angry bees nest. Being so obviously loud it tends to annoy everyone around the car and give Honda owners a bad name.
Another reason for Honda hate is the drivetrain being mainly Front Wheel Drive. Of course, yes we know Honda has made the s2000 and NSX but that is not where the hate is stemming from. As a whole, FWD can be extremely limiting to a cars potential. Typically it’s associated with economic cars as they are lighter in weight and leave more room for passengers inside the car. A common point made in Facebook comments toward Honda’s is that they are FWD and not made to be performance cars. FWD can be used in performance applications of course, but for the masses RWD or AWD is the preferred way to put down power.
No torque. Another common critique (especially from V8 fans) of Honda’s is that they have such low torque numbers. Simply put, being a smaller piston with a higher rev redline Honda motors do not produce as much torque as other cars may. Now, a car can still be fast with low torque figures there is no doubt about that. But certain crowds prefer really torque heavy motors as it provides a completely different driving experience. So the point is valid, Honda’s do have a lower torque level than what some people want.
Honda owners also get flack for the general community and actions of that community. As stated before, many Honda owners have one as their first car and are younger in age. This brings a lot of people to make bad choices and do stupid things while driving. Including burnouts, high revving in parking lots, and trying to race everything on the streets. These actions make the true Honda enthusiasts look bad and give an easy target for those Honda haters.
So Honda hate is not completely unjustified, but behind the bad in the community there is some insane passion in Honda community. It is a joke that all hondas are slow but the SpeedFactory Civic has done a 7.585 second quarter mile and hit speeds over 200mph in that quarter mile. Pretty fast for just a FWD econobox I would say. Then on the track car side of things look at Spoon Sports, they have been shredding race tracks everywhere in FWD cars. There is some amazing people in the Honda community with a serious passion for the brand. A great showcase of this is Eibach’s Southern California meets where passion and community come together.
I feel like it must be said, I have owned a Honda Civic before. It was a 1995 Honda Civic Hatchback and it was my first car. Luckily for me I never picked up a fart can but I did install an intake to make it sound better lol. It was red and extremely faded with a ricer ebay wing I installed. So I do understand the passion people have for these cars and why people love them so much. My car was so reliable and great on gas I have zero complaints overall. I think a Honda Civic is one of the best first car choices you can make. You can learn to drive and tinker on a car for a really low budget then move on to faster cars as you get more experience behind the wheel. I will do a full write up on my Civic experience in the future.
What are your thoughts on hate in the Honda community? Is it justified or are people blowing it way out of proportion? Let me know in the comments! Thank you for reading this article! Check out more on our site.
