Dang, you just expect stuff to last forever? It almost made it out of warranty, as opposed to stuff that waits 1 week after the warranty and then self-destructs.

Once again, I can relate. Freaky.

About a year after I bought my Civic, the CVT transmission started making noise, and Honda replaced it under warranty.

That's a nice warranty you have.

Automatic transmissions seem to go bad more often for me than other parts of the car. Too many moving parts, too much chance for something to go wrong.

Ten years isn't a bad run for a car. It's not just the mileage. At ten years what starts to worry me are the seals and gaskets. They age regardless of how much you drive the car (though they deteriorate faster if you don't drive much) and they are very expensive to replace.

Did you buy a supplemental warranty, or is that (somehow) original issue? That's nice.

CS

CS

There is no supplemental warranty. I've had several things repaired 'under warranty' after the factory warranty expired (I think that was 36K miles). Honda extends the warranty apparently for parts that are bad on all of their cars or they have been sued (something like that).

When I test drive the civic in 1997, I drove a CVT and thought it was neat, but because it was kind of a new thing, I was worried about the reliability of the transmission long term.

I think '97 was the first year for the CVT. I had the same concerns, but at the same time, faith in Honda. I'm glad I bought it because it drives totally different than a traditionally equipped Civic. I compare it to driving a very fast golf cart :)

I bet the Impala was nice because the seats were super comfortable. That's been my experience with American cars; they're like driving lazy boys. But, the engines suck, and they generally suck on gas.