Honda/Nissan/(Mitsubishi) merger

[Nessism]

I change the engine oil at 5K miles in everything I own, even though Honda recommends 7,500 miles. As for Honda's CVT transmission service, the official recommendation is now 50K miles; an adjustment from the original "lifetime fluid" claim. When Honda first introduced CVTs in Civics around 2011, transmission failures became an issue, largely due to neglected fluid changes.

Over the past 14 years, a general consensus has emerged among Honda owners and techs: changing the CVT fluid every 30K miles leads to better longevity. This recommendation comes from real-world experience rather than Honda’s official guidelines. Those who drive in hot weather or demanding conditions may also benefit from upgrading the transmission cooling system. Dirty fluid and excessive heat are the main contributors to premature wear, though many stock Honda CVTs still reach 150K miles without major issues, even when following the longer factory-recommended intervals.

We’ll find out with my wife’s1.5T CVT Civic; it’s coming up on 30K miles, and I’ll be doing its first CVT fluid change as part of the 30K-mile service. We plan to keep this car for a long time, so we’ll see how these transmissions hold up in the long run.

One of the reasons Honda CVTs tend to hold up well is that Honda manufactures them in-house. In contrast, Nissan relied on Jatco CVTs, which were often paired with engines that were too powerful for their design, leading to frequent failures.

Honda oil change intervals for all their new vehicles is 10k miles. This is based on the maintenance minder. And the maintenance minder will typically throw the code for CVT fluid change at 60k miles.

Regarding "general consensus", there is no such thing when it comes to fluid changes in a vehicle. Come on over to Bob Is The Oil guy and join in. There is a heavy contingent that says to follow the manual, and others that have different thoughts. 5k oil changes and 30k trans fluid changes are typically for people running their vehicles hard. Interestingly, Honda makes no reference to "severe" duty cycle, other than when "driving in the mountains". And I've known several people that have been turned away from early oil changes at Honda dealerships, because the MM code didn't show yet.

I have a 2017 Civic w/CVT and 1.5T engine. Almost all my driving is in the city, and after one year of driving, about 6000 miles, the oil stinks really bad of gasoline. The Honda turbo cars have an earned reputation for diluting their oil with fuel, and although not scientific, my smell test confirms. For that reason, I've decided to move to more frequent oil changes than the MM states. This is my opinion, with some fact, based skew. Nothing wrong with doing more maintenance than scheduled, but again, there is no evidence that it accomplishes anything either.

[salty_monk]

I had a stick Mazda 3 with the 2.3 Engine in it (the one that shares the bottom end with the Ford Duratec engine). It was a 2008. Good car. In hindsight with what happened right after I got rid of it with Covid maybe I'd have hung onto it a lot longer!
That was a Sedan but the hatch can sometimes be found around here as a stick & is on my list.....

A Ford Focus or Fiesta is also something I'd consider... probably not too much else that would be available.

I have a 2010 Odyssey that is also due an update but its's still going strong and everything works at 170k miles. The worst thing about it is the peeling clearcoat! I follow the maintenance minder but don't rush to change it when it comes around because the oil I put in it is better than what they spec and the maintenance minder is geared for. It usually works out the changes come at about 7k that way. I do change the transmission oil out more often than Honda says & installed a filter into the return line, that's something well recommended for that generation.

We also have a 20 year old Mini Cooper S with a stick in it.... Fun car but not as stone reliable as a Miata!