Maintenance costs and reliability

[R13]

When I was going through my Lemon Law process there were four other people at the same time going though the process. We all communicated with each other, and all of us ended up with Acura taking the car back. We no longer stay in contact. Furthermore, there was another doctor in my same town whose car was also bought back. Add to that that an owner of a dealership where I live whose engine needed to be replaced.

The other people weren't registered here, and they weren't as vocal as me. And it became very obvious that anyone taking sh!t about the car was exiled from the group. I really don't care anymore about the NC1. But seeing how Acura is handling the Type-S sales, well that says more than I can say. Acura doesn't really care about the end user. I'm glad to be rid of my NC1, and I'm quite happy with my decision.

So I gather all the cars were eventually taken back before they got to the bottom of what was actually going wrong with whichever systems were failing? I wish that was more of a known quantity akin to Gen 1 snap ring issue. "If you're looking at an NC1 make sure the samoflange is outside of this serial range" or 996 911 2nd gear pop-out: "Before you buy one do this particular sequence of stuff and watch out for this behavior".

 

[Honcho]

So I gather all the cars were eventually taken back before they got to the bottom of what was actually going wrong with whichever systems were failing? I wish that was more of a known quantity akin to Gen 1 snap ring issue. "If you're looking at an NC1 make sure the samoflange is outside of this serial range" or 996 911 2nd gear pop-out: "Before you buy one do this particular sequence of stuff and watch out for this behavior".

Rob can probably elaborate more, but my sense is that there were major software errors in the cars that were nearly impossible to trace. In Rob's case, his NC1 was royally messed up by an incompetent dealer tech, who appeared to have inadvertently done something to break the car so badly that even the Acura engineers couldn't figure it out. IIRC, Rob's car was having some annoying issues that are common in first-year production models prior to his dealer service, but the car was bricked only after the dealer service.

 

[docjohn]

Thinking that all those cars were 17"s?

 

[drmanny3]

So I gather all the cars were eventually taken back before they got to the bottom of what was actually going wrong with whichever systems were failing? I wish that was more of a known quantity akin to Gen 1 snap ring issue. "If you're looking at an NC1 make sure the samoflange is outside of this serial range" or 996 911 2nd gear pop-out: "Before you buy one do this particular sequence of stuff and watch out for this behavior".

First off don’t assume that DocL shared the same problem with the other people he mentioned that were pursuing the Lemon Law for their 2017s. I have heard some crazy stories as to what drives people to pursue the Lemon law. Obviously it exists (Lemon Law) to protect people from cars that are problematic. When Volvo XC90 came out in 2016/2017 there were folks who hated the Sensus System that controlled the car. It was slow at times, could be buggy as well as complex. Many people initially complained. Most were used to simpler Volvos and were not computer literate. A lot of BEV (electric cars) suffered in the same way.

I do not believe we have a NC1 that is a problem. Acura was pretty good with identifying a couple of issues that resulted in recalls. They have taken care of those issues to the satisfaction of most everyone I know. DocL was dissatisfied as he did not have a very good dealer interface. Acura got caught up after a lot of water under the bridge. Once DocL made up his mind the die was cast. It would be very interesting to follow up on his car to see what was done to make it right. He DocL could provide us with his Vin and we can then see what Acura did. I really doubt the car was crushed or something.

DocL what was your Vin?

 

[DocL]

First off don’t assume that DocL shared the same problem with the other people he mentioned that were pursuing the Lemon Law for their 2017s. I have heard some crazy stories as to what drives people to pursue the Lemon law. Obviously it exists (Lemon Law) to protect people from cars that are problematic. When Volvo XC90 came out in 2016/2017 there were folks who hated the Sensus System that controlled the car. It was slow at times, could be buggy as well as complex. Many people initially complained. Most were used to simpler Volvos and were not computer literate. A lot of BEV (electric cars) suffered in the same way.

I do not believe we have a NC1 that is a problem. Acura was pretty good with identifying a couple of issues that resulted in recalls. They have taken care of those issues to the satisfaction of most everyone I know. DocL was dissatisfied as he did not have a very good dealer interface. Acura got caught up after a lot of water under the bridge. Once DocL made up his mind the die was cast. It would be very interesting to follow up on his car to see what was done to make it right. He DocL could provide us with his Vin and we can then see what Acura did. I really doubt the car was crushed or something.

DocL what was your Vin?

You always want to get the last word.

Wanna know about the car now. It was bought at auction and still had an alignment issue. It was ultimately involved in a crash, hit by a drunk driver, and had $75k in damage. How do I know? The person who bought it found me here and PM’d me. I told them about all of the problems. Now the car has a Lemon title, and a serious accident report.

You want the VIN? Search and you’ll find it.

Good day! -Willy Wonka.

 

[drmanny3]

You have a quote as part of your signature, least I remind you it says “Education will never be as expensive as ignorance”. I agree which is why I am asking/ want to know what finally was the issue that made your car un-driveable. If you think it is because I need to get the last word then that is your issue not mine. I happen to really like my car, and want to know as much as possible about it. Your an educated person so hopefully you can appreciate that. Why not educate us.

 

[docjohn]

Foe those not edumicated on the NC1 some early cars had an error in the gas tank/bag..so that had to be replaced. There was a faulty module with the 3rd brakelight..but I think one of the other problems into 18 's was that many used ones sat undriven in dealers lots...once the battery goes dead on these cars it frazzles a bunch of crap..and if the tech at your friendly neighborhood dealer did not absorb the myriad of details at the training camp...you can get some wonky repairs..

 

[DocL]

You have a quote as part of your signature, least I remind you it says “Education will never be as expensive as ignorance”. I agree which is why I am asking/ want to know what finally was the issue that made your car un-driveable. If you think it is because I need to get the last word then that is your issue not mine. I happen to really like my car, and want to know as much as possible about it. Your an educated person so hopefully you can appreciate that. Why not educate us.

Ok, I guess a little can be lost in translation.

I really don't feel the need to rehash the unpleasant experience I had with the NC1. And I'm sure most people here don't want to hear about it again. But I was almost in a serious crash on the highway when the car veered off under normal acceleration. It was bad enough that I didn't drive it for ten months while still making the payments. Other NC1 owners who drove my car were also concerned and shocked at how dangerous it was to drive. Even a semi-professional race driver said to keep it parked.

My concern for everyone who currently owns one is how well will the car be maintained 10 to 15 years from now. It's not like you can bring it to an indie shop if the hybrid system has a failure which my car had. Something was seriously screwed between the front electric motors and the ICE. Unless you experienced it, I can't really explain it. Even the factory engineer was intrigued by the instability of the car, and he suggested I don't drive it. So there it sat for an additional eight months in my garage not being moved even an inch.

 

[drmanny3]

Ok, I guess a little can be lost in translation.

I really don't feel the need to rehash the unpleasant experience I had with the NC1. And I'm sure most people here don't want to hear about it again. But I was almost in a serious crash on the highway when the car veered off under normal acceleration. It was bad enough that I didn't drive it for ten months while still making the payments. Other NC1 owners who drove my car were also concerned and shocked at how dangerous it was to drive. Even a semi-professional race driver said to keep it parked.

My concern for everyone who currently owns one is how well will the car be maintained 10 to 15 years from now. It's not like you can bring it to an indie shop if the hybrid system has a failure which my car had. Something was seriously screwed between the front electric motors and the ICE. Unless you experienced it, I can't really explain it. Even the factory engineer was intrigued by the instability of the car, and he suggested I don't drive it. So there it sat for an additional eight months in my garage not being moved even an inch.

I agree that would have been unbearable as well as down right scary. We have truly entered an era of computer controlled driving. I turned off my Volvo’s lane keep as it would steer the car while I was driving. I had a fear that it would do something to prevent me from taking a particular course of action. So I don’t like the idea of autonomous driving. I am not looking forward to that day in the near future.

So I better understand why you would have just parked the car. And some dealers are not worthy when it comes to analysis. I am sorry that Acura did not come to your rescue in a way that demonstrated that they care. I do believe they care, unfortunately companies are run by humans who sometimes have their own way of doing thing or interpreting what is actually happening and how they should react.

One of the courses I taught Boeing via Cal State Fullerton was Customer Service. In general most everyone I talk to has a horror story as it relates to customer satisfaction. Whether between B2B, or consumer products there is a lot of opportunity for improvement.

 

[DocL]

... It would be very interesting to follow up on his car to see what was done to make it right. He DocL could provide us with his Vin and we can then see what Acura did. I really doubt the car was crushed or something...

I was contacted by the person who bought the car at auction last year. IIRC, they live in Oregon. The person was unaware of the issues as they were not disclosed, but they did find my post here and contacted me via PM. We spoke a few times and they did say the car did pull to right, so I assume it wasn't corrected.

Ready for the real kicker. The car was hit by a drunk driver and sustained $75k in damage lol. So now not only does it have a Lemon Buyback branded title, but also a serious crash on top of that. I really think this car was cursed and never meant to be on the road. I blame it on Napelton's Craptascular crApCURA.

 

[DocL]

... It would be very interesting to follow up on his car to see what was done to make it right. He DocL could provide us with his Vin and we can then see what Acura did. I really doubt the car was crushed or something...

I was contacted by the person who bought the car at auction. IIRC, they live in Oregon. The person was unaware of the issues as they were not disclosed, but they did find my post here and contacted me via PM. We spoke a few times and they did say the car did pull to right, so I assume it wasn't corrected.

Ready for the real kicker. The car was hit by a drunk driver and sustained $75k in damage lol. So now not only does it have a Lemon Buyback branded title, but also a serious crash on top of that. I really think this car was cursed and never meant to be on the road. I blame it on Napelton's Craptascular crApCURA.

 

[drmanny3]

I was contacted by the person who bought the car at auction. IIRC, they live in Oregon. The person was unaware of the issues as they were not disclosed, but they did find my post here and contacted me via PM. We spoke a few times and they did say the car did pull to right, so I assume it wasn't corrected.

Ready for the real kicker. The car was hit by a drunk driver and sustained $75k in damage lol. So now not only does it have a Lemon Buyback branded title, but also a serious crash on top of that. I really think this car was cursed and never meant to be on the road. I blame it on Napelton's Craptascular crApCURA.

to say the least, that car won’t do well in the used car market. It has bad karma. Though way back in the 70s there was this guy who had a body shop in Southern Calif. He specialized in Porsche. He would buy wrecked cars and transfer the vin number from a totaled car to what he could put together from other crashed Porsches. He would end up with a car that had no branded title but came from two or more cars. He was really good at repairs. I had a 240Z that had been rolled by the previous owner. The bondo on the roof was cracking. I remember he gave me a sharpe and said circle anything you don’t like and he repaired it and repainted the car for $500. It came out better than new. Probably can’t do that (make a good car out of several bad ones?).

 

[R13]

I was contacted by the person who bought the car at auction. IIRC, they live in Oregon. The person was unaware of the issues as they were not disclosed, but they did find my post here and contacted me via PM. We spoke a few times and they did say the car did pull to right, so I assume it wasn't corrected.

Ready for the real kicker. The car was hit by a drunk driver and sustained $75k in damage lol. So now not only does it have a Lemon Buyback branded title, but also a serious crash on top of that. I really think this car was cursed and never meant to be on the road. I blame it on Napelton's Craptascular crApCURA.

Sorry to pick at the scab any. I was purely curious if they ever actually resolved the problem post buyback and it sounds like the answer is "no". To save anyone else the search VIN 19UNC1B01HY000667 doesn't have much info out on the internet at large other than what's documented elsewhere on these forums. If it survives long enough maybe it'll work it's way into the hands of someone with enough time/patience/expertise to figure it out and save others some headache or pitfall.

 

[drmanny3]

A good 4 wheel alignment should/would catch a situation where the car pulls to one side or the other. What makes these cars so good are the motors up front. They can vector steer the car which means they can vector steer the car when you don’t want it. So the controller has to work flawlessly. Things happen and I wonder if that is where the car went bad. Microchips can be impacted by moisture and if you have some bad circuits problems could arise. I would think that a scenario such as that would have been thought through and failsafes would have been employed. Without the car it is water under the bridge.

 

[DocL]

Sorry to pick at the scab any...

The scabs are long gone. The car left my possession over two years ago. Not even a scar is visible.

A good 4 wheel alignment should/would catch a situation where the car pulls to one side or the other. What makes these cars so good are the motors up front. They can vector steer the car which means they can vector steer the car when you don’t want it. So the controller has to work flawlessly. Things happen and I wonder if that is where the car went bad. Microchips can be impacted by moisture and if you have some bad circuits problems could arise. I would think that a scenario such as that would have been thought through and failsafes would have been employed. Without the car it is water under the bridge.

After multiple alignments which showed the car was in alignment, what other suggestions would you have? You are no more educated than I am in this arena. It's no use trying to hypothesize what the problem was, nor should it matter any more.

I think the electric motors and hybrid system are going to be the Achilles' heel with the NC1. Which other model does Acura have with the system in production currently? The RLX was the only other one to my knowledge and it's gone out to pasture also.

 

[Z06nsxcts]

The scabs are long gone. The car left my possession over two years ago. Not even a scar is visible.



After multiple alignments which showed the car was in alignment, what other suggestions would you have? You are no more educated than I am in this arena. It's no use trying to hypothesize what the problem was, nor should it matter any more.

I think the electric motors and hybrid system are going to be the Achilles' heel with the NC1. Which other model does Acura have with the system in production currently? The RLX was the only other one to my knowledge and it's gone out to pasture also.

My fuel door would not open after I got my car back from its yearly oil change. Since I was almost out of gas I had to have my hundred thousand dollar car towed away on a flatbed to the nearest dealer. It’s supposedly fixed now but man these stories scare me …

 

[DocL]

My fuel door would not open after I got my car back from its yearly oil change. Since I was almost out of gas I had to have my hundred thousand dollar car towed away on a flatbed to the nearest dealer. It’s supposedly fixed now but man these stories scare me …

Isn’t there a cable hidden in the trunk to open it? Probably the spring to release it just needs a little lubrication. It’s too bad the hybrid portion of the drivetrain won’t work if you don’t have gas either. Kind of makes it a joke that you can’t even get the car home if need be.

I’m sure the sight of your car being loaded onto the flatbed gathered a little attention at the gas station. When people asked you what was wrong I can only imagine the embarrassment. I wouldn’t drive the NC1 anywhere far if there wasn’t a dealer within 50 miles of me. Too many electrical issues that can leave you stranded that the Main Street garage wouldn’t know where to start looking.

 

[Honcho]

[MENTION=3821]DocL[/MENTION] I'm glad you're past it and happy to see you still contributing. I keep a candle lit that eventually you will come to your senses and get a nice NA2 for the weekends.
[MENTION=6718]drmanny3[/MENTION] I think the issue was much worse than a bad alignment. As you alluded, the problem was deep within the SH-AWD system and the car was literally steering itself into traffic or into a ditch via the torque-vector system. If the factory engineer says don't drive it, you know it's a really big problem.

 

[DocL]

[MENTION=3821]DocL[/MENTION] I'm glad you're past it and happy to see you still contributing. I keep a candle lit that eventually you will come to your senses and get a nice NA2 for the weekends. ...

I don't think I'll be venturing back into the NSX world again. I had 14 years of joyful ownership with my 1994 NSX. There are a few cars I'd like to get my fat ass into in the coming years. One of them being a F355 Spider. I also love my M3 Comp/6spd that is my current daily which I plan on keeping for a long time. I'm getting the itch to get back into a Z, and the new one looks great. So who knows, maybe after this weird car market settles down I'll get one, but I really need a four seater with the Uber driving I do for my kids. So I'm pretty content where I am at the moment.

 

[SCS2k]

For those interested, my car remains broken. A field service technician flew out and they had the car for another week and a half and could not find or fix the problem. The service rep at the dealer called me and said to come get the car and to bring it back if/when the problem recurs. I drove the 30+ miles to the dealer got the car and after driving it for 3 days, the problem happened again. While all of the warning light were still on, I drove the car again to the dealer, left it running and showed them. That was last Friday, 10-1-21. I still have not heard anything. Collectively they have had this car in their care for nearly 2 months and still have no idea what the problem is and have not proposed a solution. Not what I would expect from a Honda product. Far and away the worse ownership experience I have had with any car. A title previously held by my Aston Martin.

 

[Bram]

One wonder what service/repairs would be like, when these NC1's are out of warranty!

Bram

 

[DocL]

For those interested, my car remains broken...Collectively they have had this car in their care for nearly 2 months and still have no idea what the problem is and have not proposed a solution. Not what I would expect from a Honda product. Far and away the worse ownership experience I have had with any car. A title previously held by my Aston Martin.

I'm not surprised at all. I feel for you though. You can't even file a Lemon Law because you bought yours used and don't live in California.

Time to sell it and make sure no one finds this thread. Or just remember that cars don't float.

 

[DocL]

One wonder what service/repairs would be like, when these NC1's are out of warranty!

Bram

Easy. Don't own one out of warranty and you won't have to worry.

 

[Bram]

That is true Doc, however the car that SCS2K is referring too is new with low mileage.....so what is it going to be like after 4 years?

Bram

 

[DocL]

That is true Doc, however the car that SCS2K is referring too is new with low mileage.....so what is it going to be like after 4 years?

Bram

If he is the first titled owner then it is time to make some fresh Lemonade.

I can't predict the future but this car is way over engineered. Unless you live near Science Of Speed, I don't know who will have the knowledge to keep them running in 15-20 years from now because there surely won't be many NSX techs at Acura.