6 Underrated Honda Models That Deserve A Spot In Your Garage

Many of the vehicles produced by the Japanese automaker Honda over the years have become staples of the greater automotive landscape, whether that be in the United States, Japan, or other parts of the world. Honda makes incredibly reliable vehicles at a moderate price, and although the company also produces everything from power tools to boat engines, the first thing you are going to think of when you see the Honda name is its many successful vehicles. Of course, not everything the automotive division of Honda has made has been a runaway success, and some have been outright failures.

However, there are a good number of vehicles that the company has made that are just as high quality as its most successful models, but for one reason or another, they did not catch on with the public at large. There are also plenty of automobiles that had a brief surge of success, usually when they were first introduced, but they quickly got swallowed up in the greater auto landscape, despite not deserving that cultural diminishment. Some of these vehicles Honda ceased production on, but there are several that the company still produces that should get more of a spotlight. 

Here, we are going to give that spotlight to six different Honda models from throughout the years. These are vehicles that have received good reviews from various publications and have earned good reliability ratings, which may tempt you to get one for yourself. They also have to be vehicles that have either ended production entirely or are showing signs of declining sales if they are still being made.

This first entry on the list may be a bit surprising to you. After all, the Honda Accord is one of the 25 best-selling vehicles in the United States. How could something that sells that many units per year be considered underrated in any way? While there's no denying that its sales are certainly strong, there is a bit more to the story if you look at the actual numbers on a year-by-year basis.

Examining annual sales figures going back to 2005, Honda would sell over 350,000 units nearly every single year for a decade. There was a slight dip after the height of the Great Recession, but the Accord still sold at least 250,000 units each year during that time. Those 10 years of figures show a dominant automobile on the market.

It is the most recent 10 years that tell a different story, especially as the 2020s have begun. Only one year in this current decade has Accord sales surpassed 200,000 units, and it only squeaked over that threshold by a little over 2,500. The year 2024 doesn't look to break that streak either, as it's on pace to sell even less than it did in 2023.

Despite its declining sales, the Honda Accord is as reliable and well-reviewed as ever. The most recent 2024 model earned a 10 out of 10 overall rating from Car and Driver and an 81 out of 100 from J.D. Power. MotorTrend rates it well too but admits that it lacks a "sparkle." However, that doesn't mean the Honda Accord is worth passing over.

In recent years, the automotive landscape has been packed to the gills with SUVs. They are heavily represented when it comes to what vehicles sell the best in the United States, and their appeal seems to only be growing. They have become the perfect Venn diagram for style, size, power, and luxury. Honda has made a good dent in this market too, with things like the Honda CR-V selling about as well as the aforementioned Accord was a decade or so ago. It also makes the larger Pilot, which has remained remarkably steady in its sales its entire lifespan. Sandwiched in the middle of those two vehicles is the Honda Passport, which has not had the sterling success as its sister SUVs.

Since the Passport was revived for the 2019 model year after 17 years of being out of commission, this midsize SUV tends to hover around the 40,000 units sold-per-year mark, with 2021 being its best year at around 53,000. That same year, the larger Pilot nearly tripled that number. The reason for the Passport's struggles can be attributed to it being that midpoint. The Pilot has size enough for three rows, whereas the CR-V can be that comfortable crossover.

Just because the audience for the Passport isn't as defined doesn't mean it's not a great vehicle. J.D. Power ranks it incredibly high among midsize SUVs every single year, and SlashGear gave the most recent model a very positive review. In terms of quality, it sits right alongside the other Honda SUVs even if the public hasn't caught on yet.

If SUVs are the dominant form of vehicle in the United States, then the pickup truck is not far behind. With the likes of the Ford F-150 and Chevrolet Silverado regularly topping annual American sales of any vehicle — not to mention strong showings from the Ram 1500, GMC Sierra, Toyota Tacoma, and more — one might assume that a major company's pickup truck would be an automatic winner in popular culture. That is not the case, however, when it comes to the Honda Ridgeline, which is the only pickup truck that the company manufactures.

Because Honda earned its reputation on smaller vehicles, you might not think about the Japanese automaker making a pickup truck, but it is a rather impressive vehicle if you give it the chance. This is a midsize pickup, along the lines of the popular Toyota Tacoma, and ever since its debut for the 2006 model year, it has received very good marks for its quality and reliability. Its owner satisfaction ratings from Consumer Reports consistently receive a score of 4 or 5 out 5 for every model year, as well as getting really good marks from J.D. Power. The 2024 model year Ridgeline TrailSport received an 8 out of 10 score here at SlashGear, and Car and Driver went even a little higher with a 9 out of 10.

While it's safe to call the Honda Ridgeline underrated at the moment, there may be a time limit on that, as there has been a steady rise in sales over the last several years, with 2023 being its best year yet. If this rise continues, the Ridgeline may finally get the recognition it deserves after 20 years of production.

There are a number of vehicles that Honda no longer makes that time should not forget. First, we need to go back to the 1984 model year when Honda introduced the CRX. Honda no longer makes any vehicles like this, which is a two-door sport compact car. In fact, Honda currently has zero two-door cars, and if you are someone looking for that small performance vehicle, Honda is not going to cross your mind. That shouldn't be the case because the CRX — and specifically the CRX Si — would be right up your alley.

The Si in the name indicated a "Sports injected" trim for the compact car, and it came with a 1.5L I4 engine that was outfitted with an electronic fuel injection system that was beginning to become more commonplace at the time. Although it could produce just 91 horsepower, that could still pack quite a punch in a vehicle of this size.

The CRX Si had a starting price of $7,999 (about $24,300 adjusted for inflation), making it a rather affordable option for someone who wanted something sporty in their garage. Sales for the CRX overall were okay, peaking in 1986 with nearly 67,000 units sold, but just a few years later, sales had fallen over 30% from that peak. The CRX met its end in 1991, but for those looking for that Honda reliability with a car you wouldn't expect it to make, the CRX Si is a great option that can be purchased rather cheaply nowadays.

[Featured image by Mr.choppers via Wikimedia Commons | Cropped and scaled | CC BY-SA 3.0]

Speaking of compact cars, space needs to be made on this list for the subcompact Honda Fit. The Honda Fit is still in production, but you wouldn't know that if you lived in the States, as it's been out of commission since 2020. As mentioned previously, the list of the best-selling vehicles is packed with SUVs and pickup trucks, and the cars that make that list tend to be sedans. A lot of people aren't taken with compact and subcompact vehicles because of their smaller size, but that does not mean that something like the Honda Fit should be dismissed.

Once it hit stateside for the 2007 model year, J.D. Power immediately put the Fit among the best small cars being produced, due in large part to its great reliability ratings. Those strong reliability scores would be mirrored by Consumer Reports, which would also often point out the car being much less of an environmental burden than other vehicles. Initially, people were excited about the Honda Fit, and sales were quite strong those first few years. It was when we get to the mid-2010s that we see a sharp decline.

Honda introduced a hybrid model of the Fit in 2010 but never brought it over to America, which might have improved its appeal. The Honda HR-V crossover SUV was initially based on the Fit, but in North America, that design was updated to be based on the Civic instead. The company seems like it wants to distance the Honda Fit from the market, despite it being a perfectly good vehicle.

[Featured image by Tokumeigakarinoaoshima via Wikimedia Commons | Cropped and scaled | CC0 1.0]

Last but not least, we have the Honda Element. This is the compact crossover SUV that predates the aforementioned HR-V, though the two do not share much in common. This boxy automobile first appeared in the 2003 model year and only managed to last through 2011, but it very well could have been a staple of the company if people had just decided to purchase it. While all the other vehicles on this list have average to mediocre sales, the Honda Element is the only one to truly tank.

Much of why this vehicle didn't connect can directly be attributed to its look, which Car and Driver describes as having "cartoon styling" and a cross between a Hummer H2 and a Mini Cooper. While its look is unusual, the Element now has personality that you can't really find in any other vehicle on the market today. If you accept the look, then what you are getting is a highly reliable vehicle that feels good to drive. The owner satisfaction scores on Consumer Reports for the Element are stellar, and even in its final year, it was rated by J.D. Power as the number-one small SUV of the year in a three-way tie.

People just didn't buy them. Back in 2005, when it was still incredibly new, it sold over 56,000 units. Four years later, it couldn't even crack 15,000 units. With numbers like that, it makes sense why it was put out to pasture, but the Element didn't deserve that fate.

[Featured image by IFCAR via Wikimedia Commons | Cropped and scaled | Public Domain]

Determining what constitutes something as being overrated or underrated is an incredibly subjective process, and because this should not be an article created solely upon the opinion of one person, there needed to be certain parameters to determine something being "objectively" underrated. In the case of this list, the best way to do that was to examine the actual sales of various Honda vehicles to see which ones were underperforming compared to others. After those numbers were taken into account, it was then time to look at reviews of these vehicles from publications like Car and Driver, MotorTrend, and our own SlashGear archive to see if the ratings for these vehicles justified their lower sales figures.

In conjunction with that, reliability and satisfaction ratings from institutions like Consumer Reports and J.D. Power were also considered to get a greater sense of these Honda models over time. If these reviews and ratings were high across the board but the vehicle struggled to sell units, then that Honda was eligible to make this list. To cut it down to six, half of the list was designated to vehicles that Honda currently produces, and the other half was ones that the company has stopped making, in order to give a good spread of Honda's history. Lastly, there is an obvious bias to these models' reputations in the United States.