Never owned a Honda, possibly never will. But the people on here who love them claim that Honda will repair them FOC even after the warranty has ended. If that is the case whey would anyone want to by an extended warranty. If it is the case why do Honda dealers sell extended warranties when they would be repaired FOC anyway.

so I would ask that you direct us to the pronouncements made by these people to whom you refer.

Loads of claims on here that Honda (and Toyota) are simply brilliant at fixing cars out of warranty FOC, do a search. There was a thread started earlier today by a chap offering to repair Honda Insight batteries, people pointed out that if Honda are as good as other claim he would get no work.

Personally I have owned mainly European cars with the odd smattering of Asian and over the years I have had very few problems. Even German cars that other claim are poor have given excellent service. But being a normal sort of person once the warranty runs out I accept I am on my own. If you live on Cloud Cookoo Land there are many Honda and Toyota dealers who are very helpful.

But as has been said, if they are so brilliant why do they offer extended warranties.

I see if you join the A.A, You can take out breakdown warranty cover for a small premium, and they will cover each problem for up to £500, up to 5 times i believe.

On balance- on a Jazz which has been known to suffer gearbox input bearing problems-depending on the sort of mileage you do- I would be inclined to take them up on the offer.

The question relates to a Jazz however I'm still not sure what thunderbird is actually saying - apart, perhaps, that he doesn't choose to pay for an extended warranty himself and, I think, that he doesn't rate Japanese cars. But I could be wrong. Tricky to work out when he's so vague.

Thought it was obvious myself, i simply don't buy into this nonsense that is posted on here on a regular basis that Honda and Toyota repair cars FOC even when they are out of warranty.

Had 2 Nissans in the past, both totally reliable.Dads had 3 Nissans,totally reliable. He has also had a Hoda which was totally reliable so actually have no personal experience about out of warranty claims but as I said above I just don't buy into the posts on here. If Honda and Toyota are so keen to repair cars FOC up to 7 years old why don't they simply bring out a 7 year warranty. It would be much better publicity for their products than posts by "owners" on an obsure forum.

We have also had 4 VW's and a BMW. Dad has had 1 VW. Again like the Japanese cars all have been reliable. and in truth we have done more miles in the German cars.

Personally I have considered buying a Honda a couple of times. The first time it was a pleasant experience, the salesman lent us a car for the afternoon but the car did not meet our needs. The second time the dealer had changed hands and the salesman was very arrogant. We asked for a test drive in a Civic with sensible wheels to which he ageed but when we arrived we were presented with a car on rubber bands. It was an acompanied test drive (if that is company policy fair enough) but it was 3 miles at the most over speed bumps at 20 mph. He appeared quite put out when I commented it was not the car I asked to drive and tht there was no way I could buy any car after such a poor drive. Never heard from him since, bought a BMW.

Looked at Toyotas a couple of times. First time there was a 24 hour test drive on offer on the Auris. Local dealer said they were not participating so contacted Toyota who apologised and put me in contact with another dealer. They said it would be 6 weeks before they had an Auris demonstrator on fleet since they had just sold theirs. The 24 hour offer ended in 3 weeks so no chance of the 24 hour test. Gave up. Second time tried another slightly more distant dealer. Great on the phone, had the car we wanted on fleet and haapy to take us on an extended test drive over one of their 4 preset routes. Turned up at the arranged time and was told by reception the salesman was busy and a colleague would attend to us. When he eventually tuned up he quickly said that the car we wanted to drive (diesel) had been taken for the weekend by another salesman and we would have to try a petrol, not a good start. Before we set off I looked at the map on the showroom wall to sort the route but he simply said that he would decide where we went. This turned out to be 3 miles each way on a dual carriageway and he claimed it was illegal for either of us to ride as front seat passenger. A few days later the original salesman contacted us and claimed to be horrified at the treatment we were given. He said he would arrange another dri ve in a diesel and even collect us from home. Never heard form him to this day. Bought a Kia.

Not saying I won't buy a Toyota, in truth the Auris Hybrid may be on our shopping list next time but we will need to find a dealer as good as VW, Nissan, BMW etc before I had over any money.

I won't be expecting free repairs for ever either.