Well I have a 96 civic with 130k on it. I have been very please with
the car and the only thing I have replaced on it is the timing belt,
alternator and battery. Excluding wear and tear items.

For the last year though my engine has been making a clunking noise
randomly,,,I usually hear it once or twice every time I drive. It is a
deep noise maybe spaced 1-2 seconds apart and last about 10 seconds.
Seems to mainly happen in 2nd gear---more often when going up a hill.
But I have been up hills when it does not happen. It never happens at
highway speeds.

So my history of this over the year with the Honda dealer(who I am
seriously disappointed in) has been:

A) put better gas in(even I knew that was not the problem)

B) I need new CV Joints and Front Axle. Supposely something was wrong
and the torque on them was causing the noise. I made an appt to get
them replaced and then:

C) was called when the car was at the dealer to find it I need an
entire new engine. It was not my axel but rather a connector rod was
making noise in the engine. Service guy said my engine could blowup
today or 10 years from now. I was quite pissed because as I told the
guy the dealer has been servicing my car for 10 years. The guy was a
serious dick when I started questioning him, I guess he assumed if a
customer comes in for $400 worth of work and then you
tell them they need a new engine he should just accept it.

D) Months later I went to another Honda dealer who said the problem is
not my engine, but rather some clutch noise. I have the original
clutch. I was advised to just wait until it fails. I have since found
out--from someone on the board perhaps--that if my clutch was bad my
gears would be slipping---they have never ever slipped, and I have
never heard grinding noise either.

E) Finally several weeks ago I took it to an Acura dealer,,,the tech
rode in my car for 20min and of course the noise did not happen!!!!
They looked over the car but could not find anything wrong. This was
just a casual inspection I imagine.

So here I am. Is my engine going to explode when I am driving
somewhere? Do I drive until my clutch fails. It is very frustrating.

I drove a TSX last year when the '04 MDX was in the Acura shop.  I do
*Not* see why anyone would buy this car.  It has zero acceleration and
the handling is not good, contrary to reputation.  Clunky interior too.
It was a loaner.

Was very glad to get into my '04 Accord EX V6 again.  Between these two
cars, it's an easy choice for me.

The new Civic is a high-demand item, so you'll pay more for what has
traditionally been known as a "secretary's" car.  The Accord has more
room, better car in general.  But the Civic may be all you need, now
that it's bigger.

You only lost an alternator in 130,000 miles and still think Acura is
"better"?  How much better do you want??  Spend a couple of years with
a high-mileage GM and you'll find out just how spoiled you are.  There
is no meaningful difference in reliability between Honda and Acura, or
Toyota and Lexus.  (Unlike, say, Nissan and Infiniti, where there is a
real difference.)