Honda Car Forum

Had the Accord EX sedan 4-banger for six months and have so far
thought the automatic the best I've ever driven. Power train keeps
the revs low when cruising, downshifts quickly and smoothly when I
need some acceleration.

This was especially good because the 1999 Acura CL 3.0 I had, had a
tranny that never worked right off the lot, only worked well for about
two weeks after it got a flush at 30k miles. Whenever I wanted
acceleration, there would be about a two second pause, then too often
a double-downshift when one was more appropriate, engine racing,
quickly upshifted, ... sucked.

For the first time yesterday, I saw this bad behavior in my new
Accord. I was lugging the engine downhill at about 15mph, waiting for
some slow congestion in the intersection to clear. Finally it
cleared, just as the light turned yellow. I tried to accelerate
towards 30mph to clear the intersection, and ... pause ...
double-downshift, etc. Blech.

All the time I had the Acura I thought it was just the design and
programming of the power train, then it turned out to be a chronic
malfunction (how widespread it might be, I have no idea - many
discussions of it with the dealer, before and after, turned up nothing
like facts or enlightenment). So, if I get this again in the Accord,
I guess I can try to chat up the dealer, with whatever prospects.

So far this has not repeated.

With all the trouble and recalls on the tranny with the bigger engine,
one has to be a bit paranoid. Anyone know if it's the same
transmission, between the 4cyl and 6cyl models in 2004?

Thanks.

J.