My Si was 1990 and my wagon was 1993. They were great cars and really pampered... no hard driving. I think it had something to do with the design of the transmission 5th gear. I never checked on it, but a friend told me that Honda took the basic design of their 4 speed MT and altered it to make the 5 speed MT and really never did a complete evaluation of this change. Both MTs had 5th gear bearing problems... the travel gear.

 

Following up further on this post...I got an email from the dealer urging me to get their extended warranty. It had enough details that I was able to Google the info and turn up a lawsuit against the underlying insurance company (that underwrites the warranty) for not living up to the promises and terms: specifically, the money-back guarantee which is offered as an inducement to buy the warranty. A warranty is in essence an insurance policy, and will only be as good as the company providing it.

Although I couldn't articulate it at the time, it was this kind of thing I was afraid of when being put on the spot while signing papers to buy the car. I am always suspicious of a lengthy legal document I am expected to glance at and then sign, and there is no way to check things out when making what after all is a pretty expensive purchase (the warranty). That, and it seemed a little too good to be true.

Not only that, but on a 7- or 10-year warranty, who knows if the warranty company will even be around at the end of that time to refund anything? Meanwhile they have been earning interest on that money that I could have been getting.

I'm sure warranties have worked out well for some, but as always, buyer beware. If they didn't make money on them they sure wouldn't be selling them.

 

Exactly. If they make money it's a bad bet, and if they consistently lose money, they're out of business so the thing's worthless.