ON September 2nd I officially took possession of the new 2025 Rubicon 520 DCT Deluxe and all was fine until I got it home...

Well.... The day has come for me to have to accept the new 2025 Honda Rubicon 520 DCT Deluxe that Honda is trading for the problem ridden 2024 machine that I had. This machine has the possibility of having more of the same issues that my 2024 machine had, but the financial burden is about to get even worse if I take the new machine!!!!

Honda really needs to do better with their products. They need to inform Honda dealers about the ongoing issues that their equipment is experiencing. From the research I have done, as well as from my own personal experience with more than 1 faulty Honda product, tells me that Honda is not telling service departments what to look for when something comes in for repairs. When I brought in my 2024 Honda Rubicon for repairs, the dealer was completely puzzled as to what could be wrong, but when they contacted Honda Service they knew where to look immediately but at the same time told the Honda Dealer that they have never heard of this before, but yet they knew exactly where to look. then after some time it became very clear that they DID know about it because for some strange reason the parts were back ordered, which leads me to believe that this was happening so often that the parts are no longer available. Then a few months down the roads I find out that not only are the parts back ordered, the original parts were pulled off the shelf due to faulty machining by the manufacturer of the part, yet for some reason Honda still shipped out some of the parts to try to make repairs, which on my machine failed 4 times!!! When Honda Canada sent out a 5th part the dealership refused to install it because it was exactly the same as the previous parts that were sent out. It is also my understanding that one of the reasons that the dealership did not want to install the part is because Honda Canada was not willing to pay for a lot of the hours that the dealership had spent on the multiple failed repairs of my machine, to be honest why would anyone want to continue to do work for free when it is not their problem that the parts supplied to them by Honda and the part manufacturer are faulty....

I have reluctantly accepted an offer from Honda Canada to allow them to replace my 2024 Rubicon TRX Deluxe with a 2025 Rubicon TRX Deluxe..... Here are the reasons I say that "I reluctantly accepted".....

Today August 19, 2025. I was called back by the Honda Rep to see if I was willing to accept the offer of a new 2025 Rubicon 520? I told him that I still did not want the new machine because there was a possibility that the same issues were present with the new machines as well. He told me that those issues were not present in the 2025 models, if they were present that the new warranty would cover any further issues. I told the Rep that I would accept the new machine ONLY if the new machine comes with the free 3 year warranty that the Rep had previously offered as compensation for being without my machine for so long. After about an hour the Rep called me back to inform me that Honda Canada would offer the free 3 year extended warranty, if I wanted the 3 year extended warranty I would have to buy it on my own. The only options Honda was giving me was to accept the offer of a new 2025 Rubicon 520 and they would pay for the transfer of all my accessories from my old machine and that putting into a new machine is what Honda considered sufficient compensation for the troubles I have had to go through considering that the new machine comes with a brand new 1 year warranty. I asked about my expenses of insurance? The Rep said Honda feels that putting my into the new machine is adequate compensation for everything I have had to go through and would NOT consider any other form of compensation.

On August, 13, two days before my warranty expires on my 2024 Honda Rubicon TRX Deluxe I was informed by the new Honda Rep that on that day my machine was still not able to be repaired. Honda Canada was now going to offer me 2 options, they will put me into a new 2025 Rubicon 520, OR.... I can wait for my machine to be repaired... I told the rep that at this point I do not want either option, I would prefer the buy out option because I no longer want to deal with any more stress and let downs from Honda's machines that are no longer reliable as they used to be. The Rep told me that there are only the two options that have been presented to me. I then asked "what about the free 3 year extended warranty that Honda Canada offered me as compensation for being without my machine for such a long period of time?" the Rep said that offer will only apply to the machine that is being repaired. when I told him that when he offered the free 3 year extended warranty he did not specify that it only applied to the old machine and that he offered it as compensation. He did not budge and once again said it would only apply to the old machine. Then I asked " what about the expenses I am out for the $1,000 a year in 3 insurance policies that I only got 6 months of use out of due to Honda not being able to fix my machine that he said Honda would consider compensation for" He said that Honda is not going to compensate me for anything other than putting me into a new machine and paying for putting my accessories from the old machine to the new machine.

In this conversation in the 4th week of July 2025, the Rep told me that they had found a part to repair my machine. I told the rep that at this point if my machine was not able to be repaired after this many attempts (completely disassembled and reassembled 4 times already) I do not even want my old machine back, I have spoken to a couple of other Honda dealerships and they all agreed that they would not feel comfortable that other parts associated with all of the times that my machine has been disassembled and reassembled, that something else would eventually fail. The new Rep told me that if my machine is not able to be repaired this time that Honda Canada would "entertain" either putting me into a new 2025 Rubicon OR offering a buy out option. I told the Rep that if my machine is not able to be repaired that I will have lost faith in Honda's ability to make repairs and that my trust in Honda reliability is gone.

In July 2025 I was assigned a new Honda Customer Care Rep after making several complaints about the one I was previously assigned and escalating my case with someone higher up in the chain of command. I was finally able to talk to someone who was more understanding and actually made an attempt to call me back instead of me constantly having to call them with no call back. The Rep was very pleasant to talk with a genuinely seemed to feel bad about my experience that I was having.

In mid May the dealership informed me that yet another attempt to repair my Rubicon 520 failed to yet another issue. Now when the ATV comes to a stop it will stall, it will start again just fine but once it starts moving again and comes to a stop it will stall. The dealership told me that this issue comes from too much oil pressure created by more faulty machining on the parts required to repair my machine. 

After a second failed attempt to repair my machine due to a shifting issue with my machine, I have learned that the part that is required to repair my machine is not made by Honda, and that Honda outsources many part manufacturing to other companies. The part that is required to repair my machine had machining issues that prevented to proper function of the machines. To my surprise it was actually a known issue to Honda and they discontinued that parts for this reason, but yet the faulty parts were still available and that Honda will still sending out the same faulty parts for to be installed for repairs.

towards the end of April 2025, after several calls with Honda Customer Care pushing them to repair my machine, I got a call from the dealership saying that my machine was finally repaired and I could come and pick it up. I was so relieved to finally get that call that I rushed over to get my machine... As I was getting ready to load it onto the trailer I decided to check things out first. I checked the oil, checked for oil leaks, then I tried shifting and that's when more problems started....

In April I had yet another Call with the same Honda Customer Care Rep, I asked what can Honda Canada do for me in terms of compensation if the parts are not going to be available for up to a year? the Rep said Honda is not willing to offer any form of compensation. I told them that I spoke to the local territory Rep for Honda, and the territory rep told me that in these situations where Honda can not repair a machine in a timely manner that they usually offer a free extended warranty or a "loaner Machine" while mine is waiting for back ordered parts". The Honda Rep said that Honda is not willing to offer me any compensation, they will not offer me a loaner machine and they will not offer any free extended warranty, if I want extended warranty I will have to purchase it on my own". What really infuriated me is that the Rep told me that if my factory warranty expires while waiting for parts, Honda will cover only the cost for parts but I might be liable for paying for any labour after my warranty expires.

With my second conversation with the Honda Customer Care Rep I asked what is taking so long to repair my ATV, I was told that the investigation into my oil pump failure was complete and that Honda was only going to replace the affected parts and not replace the entire engine. I questioned this decision because I spoke to the dealership and they told me that metal filings were found throughout the entire engine and the engine had ran for 10-15 mins after the oil pump failure. The Honda Rep once again said that only the affected parts will be replaced and that the required parts are on back order and there was no ETA on when the parts could be available. I asked if he knew how long it could take to get the parts and the Rep said it was not uncommon for the parts to take up to a year to get.... This is when I had great concerns about Honda's reliability!!!! If a Honda is so reliable, why are parts out of stock? is it because there are so many other similar engine part failures that they are out of stock and can not keep up with the demand?

In mid March 2025, I had my first communication the Honda Customer Care representative that was assigned to my case who will remain un-named... I told them that I was aware that the dealership had suggested that my engine be replaced due to metal filings being found throughout most of the engine from the oil pump failure, the Honda Rep told me that Honda is still investigating into which parts may be affected and that Honda is only willing to repair or replace the affected parts only.