Ultra reliable cars

[MGJohn]

p1esk said:

It's interesting to read about the experiences that other people have had with their cars, but I've found all our cars, dating back to 1960, have been pretty reliable.

Of course there have been cases where certain parts have suffered more rapid wear and general deterioration than I thought they should, and needed repair or replacement; but actual breakdowns have been exceedingly rare.

Even the much maligned products of British Leyland gave me good reliability. I suppose I've either been extremely lucky, or maybe I treated them decently.

How about that! Your observations almost exactly parallel mine. I bought my first car in 1959... a Morris. Many many cars later, both new and used, private purchases or company cars, mainly the products of Cowley, Abingdon and Longbridge. I have never had an unreliable car. Not now, but back in the 60s-70s and 80s, I travelled much in my job and was never left by the roadside ... ever.

said:

Or maybe I treated them decently...

Quite .... Rocket Science it aint. AA/RAC call out stats indicate there are far more unreliable car users than unreliable cars.

[Stickyfinger]

shalmaneser said:

Surely a non-turbo 90's peugeot is in with a shout?

I suggest a 205 or 106 1.4D would probably still be working come the apocalypse.



EDIT: oops that's a turbo. Still a good call.

To be fair, anything with the PSA 1.9 or 2.0HDI oiler in it will run forever.
The 1.9 with the Bosch pump will do that with 85% Veg as well.

[Stickyfinger]

Stickyfinger said:

shalmaneser said:

Surely a non-turbo 90's peugeot is in with a shout?

I suggest a 205 or 106 1.4D would probably still be working come the apocalypse.



EDIT: oops that's a turbo. Still a good call.

To be fair, anything with the PSA 1.9 or 2.0HDI oiler in it will run forever.
The 1.9 with the Bosch pump will do that with 85% Veg as well.

My old Xantia estate hit 210k still running well, rear suspension bearing killed it due to the cost of replacement.

Edited by Stickyfinger on Saturday 29th August 05:11

[glasgowrob]

My reliable old taxi barge


260k now and still on original clutch turbo injectors etc etc

Only let me down for the first time last month thanks to a flat battery other than that rock solid and Bill free apart from wear and tear

[sjabrown]

K11 Micras are very solid. We use a lot of them with the junior rally scheme and they survive all sorts of abuse being rallied by 14-17 year olds.

[MGJohn]

glasgowrob said:

My reliable old taxi barge


260k now and still on original clutch turbo injectors etc etc

Only let me down for the first time last month thanks to a flat battery other than that rock solid and Bill free apart from wear and tear

High levels of Taxi use often means the engines never really cool down and that helps both longevity and reliability.

Twenty five years ago, waiting for a train arrival at Gloucester Railway Station got talking to Taxi drivers waiting for fares. A line of white Montego. 2.0 litres... all white which I believe was a council rules Taxi requirement. Those Montegos covered high mileages very reliably as did one I owned at the time which approached starship mileage when I drove it to the scrapyard on its final journey. Still running strong even then but getting a bit tatty ~ my sons and their schoolboy friends learned how to handle a reasonably powerful car on my own track...



It aint Rocket Science, simple regular checks and keeping the basic maintenance up to scratch.

I have never had an unreliable car.

[TheFinners]

Rammy76 said:

I beg to differ.

I owned a 1.8 Zetec and an ST 170 and covered over 100000 miles between them without a single fault.
The engines and gearboxes on these things felt like they'd go on forever, the interior felt solid too.

After owning these I bought a 1.9 PD engined VW Passat, that was a bad decision. It rusted, blew its turbo and had numerous annoying faults with the central locking, electric windows and bits of trim falling off. Utter crap in comparison.

Surely the ST170 must've gotten through a few lambda/o2 sensors in that time!?

[djneils98]

i've had my 2002 impreza wrx for 8 years as a daily.
It has never broken down, always starts first turn of the key in any weather and has passed every single mot first time with no advisories ever.

[RobinBanks]

I have to say that we had quite a few Montegos (mostly diesel estates) in the family and no problems. One was on over 200k when it was stolen and written off.

That was replaced by a Mercedes 220E that wasn't brilliant. There was usually something wrong, plus it was gutless and thirsty.

It did make it over 150k before total engine failure though.

[skyrover]

Unbreakable

[dbdb]

I have owned my Jaguar XJ40 for many years and have found it to be very reliable. It has never broken down and has suffered very few problems - other than basic maintenance it has only needed one new relay and a new air conditioning condenser since the mid 1990s. I don't understand why they have a reputation for fragility on PH. They like to rust though and mine was no exception.

[Davie]

Pre-electronic garbage Volvo T5 engines... I've had 7 since 98 and I've yet to have anything fail to the point I was stranded. The worst I've had is a split coolant pipe and a temperature sensor that told lies. Fabulous engines, I will mourn the day there are none left!

[daveofedinburgh]

+1000 for the tediously predictable answer that is mk1 MX5.

Wanted something ultra-cheap, reliable and entertaining to drive that would serve as a London commuter and offer fun blasts when conditions allowed.

2 mk1s over 4 years proved nothing less than perfectly reliable, steadfastly refusing to break or fail an MOT no matter how I treated them. One was an 1989 and the other a 1990, one a Jap import and the other a UK car, one was manual and the other auto, both were on ~150K miles. Only mechanical part ever required was a new brake pipe and afew little consumables.

I've owned plenty of ultra-reliable cars, mainly for shed money, but the MX5 was in a league of its own.

Don't forget that you can take the roof off, it can genuinely entertain, and you don't look like a nob (subjective, I know) in them.

We can discuss stuff like the LS until the cows come home, but I'm not sure there's anything that can be described as a sports car that'll be as reliable...

[MGJohn]

Always keep in mind unreliable car users outnumber unreliable cars.

Over fifty years of enthusiastic car ownership as compared to car consumers, time and again I have seen folks who invariably always have a series of unreliable cars. Includes a few relatives as well as work colleagues etc. Sometimes all it takes is a few minutes as a passenger with one of them to understand some of the reasons for this.

Such users are always ready to blame the car when the real blame lies elsewhere.

[rohrl]

I've always supposed that the Peugeot 504 must be pretty reliable or else it would never have been so ubiquitous in Africa.



Same goes for the Mercedes W123



and the Toyota Hi-Ace, which I guess shares a lot mechanically with the Hi-Lux and Landcruiser

[MGJohn]

How many of these have been made and are still going strong? The Hindustani Ambassador:~



When I were a lad, these were a common sight for me .... on UK roads known then as a Morris Oxford or was it Cowley?

[bearman68]

J4CKO said:

Argo,c1,107 seems indestructible, apart from the clutch on the earlier ones, otherwise not much to go wrong, never heard of one with engine woes, a quick google confirms that they don't really have any engine issues, or much of anything else.

Door locks are terrible

[fivepointnine]

to address a couple posts here:

E46- you need to have your head examined! CCV's, cooling systems, VCG, OFHG, VANOS seals, suspension bushings that cant last past 70k miles, etc....they will keep going, yes, but you spend a bunch to keep them there.

Audi of any kind.....no. I work with a guy that has an 06 A4, he brags to everyone about how it has 170k miles and keeps going. What he does not say is that he has many times over his purchase price in repairs/expensive maintenance/reliability mods.

EP3 civic- I'm sure there are a few lemons out there, but seriously all these require to be reliable is 6k oil changes. Most all problems with these come from running them low on oil. Mine has 159k miles on it and would not hesitate to drive it anywhere in Europe tomorrow.

I think ultimately the most reliable car (with cheap/easy maintenance requirements) goes to a MKIV NA Supra or pretty much any Lexus.

[klunkT5]

DukeDickson said:

Not always - mine certainly wasn't (Civic). However, I guess the boggo ones can be.

Bubble Micra is the cockroach of the car world, or anything with the Volvo (nee Audi) 5cyl engine can pretty hardy if not mucked about with & some bits of preventative maintenance done.

Volvos own I5 engines are pretty good aswell

[exgtt]

shakotan said:

whytheory said:

Mk1 Toyota Yaris

This - even to this day you hardly ever see a scruffy one, unless it's really been abused.

My boss did almost 250,000 on his with the original clutch before he sold it and bought a Skoda Yeti. Recently checked the DVLA database and it's still out there, taxed and MOT'd.

Agreed, I've had my Yaris 01 1.3 for 6 or 7 years, prior to that mum had it for 3. Never needed a brake bulb, air con works and has never had a recharge, it's great in the snow and is used purely as a supermarket run/dog/bike/family pool car. I could sell it and use the Clio for the above, but I cannot bring myself to do it. If someone bought it and stuffed it into a wall I'd be heartbroken.

Toyota nailed it with this little car, the d4d i hear is a gem too and is much quicker and still reliable after a map. I can't justify the luxury of a turbo with all the stop start my current Yaris gets, it barely gets up to operating temperature 60% of the time.