We’ve written numerous blog posts about both Honda and Volkswagen vehicles in the past. Today, we aim to combine all this knowledge into an article that will help you decide if Honda or Volkswagens makes better cars for the North American market. Let’s start with a quick answer:
When we compare Honda and Volkswagen, we see that Honda has a larger lineup of vehicles and that their vehicles are much more reliable. This is because Hondas typically last 250.000 miles and cost $428 per year to maintain, whereas Volkswagens last an average of 175.000 miles and cost $676 per year to maintain.
However, that certainly doesn’t tell the whole story. In this blog post, we’ve tried to cover everything you want to know about these two brands. We’ll compare them based on the target audience and lineup, and we’ll take a deep dive into the reliability of each brand and their specific models. We’ll also discuss their price, maintenance costs, and overall popularity in the market. You’ll know everything you need to know after you’re done reading!
Model Lineup And Target Audience
First, we feel it’s important to talk about the model lineup and each brand’s target audience. The reason for this is that this will immediately give us a clear idea of where each brand is trying to sell its cars and what we should look for in our comparison.
Honda Target Audience
When we look at Honda, we see the company offers a selection of sedans (Accord, Civic, Insight) and a variety of different SUVs (CR-V, HR-V, Pilot, Passport) with large dealership across all 50 states.
At the same time, Honda has found time to put a truck (Ridgeline) and a minivan (Odyssey) in its lineup.
We also know that Hondas typically aren’t all too expensive and have the image of being very reliable cars. All of this combined already gives us a clear understanding of what Honda is aiming for in the market, which is best described by this quote we found in research about the target market of Honda:
Customers of Honda are the middle-income group people who are looking for vehicles whether they be driven with two wheels or four wheels. They target the group of consumers that want reliable and somewhat affordable cars. They also want cars that aren’t going to cost to much to maintain.
(…) They offer larger SUVs and vans that target more of a family type household that needs more room in their vehicles. Honda also offers more sporty type cars that target they younger consumers and older aged consumers.
coursehero.com
On the other hand, there’s Volkswagen. Certainly a conglomerate, but a company that mainly has a strong foothold in Europe and not so much in the United States. For this reason, the company has a smaller selection of vehicles that consists of sedans (Jetta, Passat, Arteon), SUVs (Atlas, Taos, Tiguan), and a hatchback (Golf and variations), and an EV SUV (ID.4).
Volkswagen Target Audience
Furthermore, Volkswagen doesn’t have the image of being an extremely reliable brand. Instead, it has the image of being a foreign car that’s maybe a little more upper-class than the average Honda. Volkswagen is looking to change this image in the future by pushing EVs into the US market, but we’ll have to see how this works out. At this point, the target audience of Volkswagen is best described as follows:
a typical Volkswagen car owner is a young male (ages 25-34 predominantly) with a college education who earns a moderate income and lives in the suburban areas of the Western and Southern U.S. As noted earlier, the advertising campaigns are aimed at young, outgoing and ambitious persons who enjoy a sporty yet practical mode of transportation.
washington.edu
Differences Between Honda and Volkswagen In Target Audience And Lineup
In conclusion, we can therefore say the following when we look at Honda and Volkswagen in this regard:
Compared to Volkswagen, Honda is a larger brand in the United States with a lineup of cars that fit both families looking for space and reliability and younger people looking for affordable, sporty cars. On the other hand, Volkswagen focuses more on people in the age bracket of 25 – 34 that are middle or upper-class. Volkswagen doesn’t focus on families as much as Honda.
Reliability
Another essential factor that we have to discuss when comparing these brands is the reliability of both Honda and Volkswagen. In our opinion, reliability is best measured by taking into account three different statistics. These are: how many miles can the cars go, how often do you need to go to the garage for unexpected maintenance, and how serious are the problems.
We’ve written several articles about the number of miles both Hondas and Volkswagens can go on this blog. Furthermore, we’ve also gathered data from Repairpal about the garage visits and the severity of the problems.
How Many Miles Can Their Cars Go?
Let’s first see how many miles several cars of both Honda and Volkswagen can go. The cars we’ve mentioned below were already thoroughly analyzed in different articles, and they give us a good idea of the overall expected mileage of the brand. Click on the model’s name in the table to be redirected to the specific article.
For Honda, we can see that the numbers look very good. All of the Honda models we analyzed have an expected mileage of 225,000 miles or higher. This is not a complete surprise given that Hondas are known for being very reliable and lasting a long time. It seems their image lives up to the real-world standard.
On the other hand, we also analyzed four of the most sold Volkswagen models in the United States. We found that Volkswagens certainly don’t have the lifespan that Hondas seem to have. Most of them aren’t capable of reaching more than 190,000 miles.
This doesn’t mean exceptions aren’t possible. It just means that, when analyzing thousands of models that were for sale, almost none of them seemed to be able to reach a higher mileage.
Unexpected Visits To Garage
Let’s move on to the number of unexpected visits to a garage. This data is taken from Repairpal. It illustrates the number of times per year you’ll end up at the garage with a specific model of Honda or Volkswagen.
As seen in the image below, Hondas seem to be quite reliable overall. Many Hondas don’t end up unexpectedly all that often. In fact, the majority of these models don’t have to visit the garage more than 0.3 times per year (which means once every three years). The HR-V is the absolute winner since you’ll need to take this car into the garage once every ten years.
Two cars that perform a little bit poorer are the Odyssey and the Pilot. Since both these cars are considered to be the largest vehicles within the Honda lineup, this is not that stranger. Furthermore, visiting the garage once every two years with vehicles of this size isn’t that terrible.
When we look at Volkswagen, we see that their lineup is kind of a mixed bag. The bad thing is that both the GTI and the Tiguan perform horribly. You’ll need to visit the garage for unexpected repairs almost every year. So, it’s best to avoid these vehicles.
The Passat performs reasonably, as well as the Beetle. It seems that the Jetta and the Golf are the most reliable cars in the Volkswagen lineup.
Chance Of Severe Problems
When your Honda or Volkswagen does eventually end up at the garage, it’s also essential to know how bad the problems will be. The bigger the chance of having a severe problem (transmission and/or engine problems, for example), the more you’ll end up paying.
Hondas seem to be a little bit mixed in this regard. The Insight, Odyssey, CR-Z, Pilot, and Ridgeline are the worst-performing vehicles, with a 12 – 16% chance of severe problems. On the other hand, the Accord, Civic, CR-V, and Fit score within the 8 – 10% range which is very reasonable. Finally, the HR-V does fantastic again, with only a 5% chance of severe problems.
Overall, Hondas end up with a 10% chance of severe problems.
Quickly, it becomes clear that Volkswagen performs slightly worse than Honda, with an 11% chance of severe problems. However, the brand is pretty consistent regarding the severity of its problems. All analyzed models have a 9 – 12% chance of having severe problems. Not great, but also not bad.
Differences Between Honda And Volkswagen In Reliability
In conclusion, we can state the following:
Hondas are more reliable than Volkswagens because they only need to visit the garage 0.3 times per year with a 10% chance of severe problems, whereas Volkswagens need to do this 0.4 times per year and have an 11% chance of severe problems. Hondas also have an expected mileage of 225,000 or more, whereas Volkswagen, on average, doesn’t last longer than 190,000 miles.
Maintenance Cost
So, how does reliability translate to actual maintenance costs? Again, we compared several models of which this data was available for both Honda and Volkswagen. This is where the difference between the brands becomes evident.
Hondas have average annual maintenance of $428. However, there are significant differences between the models. For example, we see that most sedans and, surprisingly enough, most SUVs have maintenance costs of around $400 per month. Again, the HR-V is an incredible car with an average maintenance cost of $300.
Larger vehicles like the Pilot, Odyssey, and Ridgeline have maintenance costs between $500 – $550. However, this is still surprisingly affordable given that other brands have large SUVs, minivans, or trucks that end up in the $700 – $900 bracket.
Then there’s Volkswagen, with average annual maintenance costs of $676. This is a surprisingly high number given the fact that Volkswagen doesn’t manufacture overly large vehicles or vehicles that are used in harsh conditions. The worst example of this is the Atlas. Yes, it’s an SUV, but average maintenance costs near the $800 mark usually are only applicable to brands like Lincoln, Mercedes-Benz, and BMW.
What’s also interesting is that even the sedans and hatchbacks don’t have low maintenance costs. All of them end up in the $550 – $650 range.
Differences Between Honda And Volkswagen In Maintenance Costs
With average maintenance costs of $428 per year, Honda is much more affordable than the average Volkswagen, which have costs of $676 per year. The most significant difference can be found with the sedans. The Accord ($400) and Civic ($368) are much more affordable than the Jetta ($609) and Passat ($639).
Price
Besides maintenance costs and reliability, it’s also essential to know what price you can expect to buy a particular car. Let’s first start with the MSRPs of the current Honda lineup and then move on to the prices of the Volkswagens.
We can see in the image below that Honda is very consistent in its pricing. At the same time, it also becomes clear that Hondas certainly aren’t the most expensive cars out there. The smaller SUVs and sedans all cost between $23,000 – $27,500. Combine this with their outstanding reliability and low maintenance costs, and you can understand why Honda has such a good market share in the United States.
When we look at the larger vehicles, we see that these are also all very reasonably priced. Buying a mid-large-sized SUV for just shy of $40,000 is a regular price. The same can be said of the Odyssey. Whether the Ridgeline is a reasonable price depends on what you’re looking for in a truck since there are definitely cheaper trucks out there (such as the Maverick and Tacoma).
When we compare Volkswagen to Honda, we see that Volkswagens are largely priced the same way as the Hondas. The sedans typically end up in the $21,000 – $28,000 range whereas the SUVs costs $24,000 – $35,000 depending on their size.
However, we do also see differences. Here, it becomes clear that Volkswagen does lean more to an upper-end segment from time to time. For example, there’s the GTI (a performance-based Golf) with a price tag of just over $30,000. Let’s also not forget the Arteon, which is a sedan with a minimum price tag of $38,000 (not a premium price tag, but definitely not an affordable one either).
Finally, there’s, of course, the ID.4. Volkswagens first push for electrification in the United States. This is something that Honda hasn’t been able to push onto the US market yet (except for the Insight, which is a hybrid). If you have around $41,000, you can buy an ID.4.
Differences Between Honda And Volkswagen In Price
What becomes clear here is the following:
Compared to Volkswagen, Honda focuses much more on selling cars with an affordable price tag. Honda sedans and compact SUVs are priced in the $23,000 – $27,500 range whereas their larger vehicles cost $34,000 – $39,000. Volkswagen typically sells vehicles in the same range but also has more premium vehicles, such as the Arteon, a sedan with a price tag of $38,000, and the ID.4, an EV SUV that costs $41,000.
Resale Value
For many people, the resale value of their vehicle is also an essential factor to consider. Via Caredge.com, we gathered data about the depreciation rate of both Honda and Volkswagen. Of course, this is a generalization, and there will be differences between models of each brand.
We plotted the deprecation in the image below. What becomes clear here is that both Honda and Volkswagen follow the same depreciation rate in their first four years. This is typical for new cars since they haven’t had time to develop many defects, and many still fall under their warranties.
After four years, Volkswagens start to depreciate more quickly than Hondas. The most significant difference we were able to spot occurs at the 7-year mark. At this point, Hondas have depreciated 50%, whereas Volkswagens have depreciated 43%.
From the 7-year mark, things start to move towards each other again until they reach the 10-year mark, where both Honda and Volkswagens have roughly the same value left. Finally, a 13-year-old Volkswagen ends with 17% of its value, whereas the Honda ends at 21% of its value.
Also, we feel it’s necessary to look at the popularity of both brands in the United States. We do this by comparing the annual sales volumes of both brands over the past years. When we do this, we see that Honda severely outsells Volkswagen and that this has been the case for a long time.
Honda has consistently sold between 1 million and 1.4 million models per year over the last decade and a half, whereas Volkswagen has been at the 400.000 mark for the past decade or so.
We guess that this is because Hondas are more reliable, have fewer maintenance costs, and last longer than Volkswagens. Furthermore, Honda has a more extensive lineup in the United States than Volkswagen, which means they can appeal to more consumers and therefore sell more vehicles.
Is Honda Or Volkswagen A Better Choice For You?
Finally, we need to discuss whether Honda or Volkswagen is a better choice if you’re in the market for a new or second-hand car.
For most people, we believe that Honda is the best option. Its vast selection of cars means they’ll fit the need of many. Furthermore, their reliability is second to none, which means you’ll spend less time at the garage and spend less money when you’re there than a Volkswagen. Let’s also not forget that Hondas typically last 80,000 miles more than Volkswagens.
The only reason why we would pick a Volkswagen over a Honda is when we’re looking for a more premium feel or a full EV. The Arteon and the ID.4 are the only cars that offer something different than what Honda offers.
However, even going for an Arteon wouldn’t be our preferred pick in the market as a whole. For example, you can get an Acura or a Lexus sedan for roughly the same price. At the same time, these brands typically also have much lower maintenance costs and higher reliability than Volkswagen.
So, in conclusion, if you’re looking for an everyday vehicle that gets the job done: pick a Honda. If you’re looking for a premium feel: don’t pick Volkswagen and look for other, more reliable options. If you’re looking for an EV SUV, the ID.4 may be a good option.
Sources
- https://www.truecar.com/prices-new/volkswagen/
- https://www.truecar.com/prices-new/honda/
- https://caredge.com/volkswagen/depreciation
- https://caredge.com/honda/depreciation
- https://repairpal.com/honda
- https://repairpal.com/volkswagen
- https://www.goodcarbadcar.net/volkswagen-us-sales-figures/
- https://www.goodcarbadcar.net/honda-us-sales-figures/
Hi! My name is Stefan; I’m the owner and lead writer at TheDriverAdviser.com.
I’m an active writer on this blog myself, as well as a novice car mechanic. For the really technical stuff, I find writers with experience as a mechanic or who have studied mechanical engineering.
Read more about our fantastic team on our about page!