Most reliable cars?

[Lowtimer]

Very true. Just asked my guy when I should look to change the cam chain and do a head rebuild on my M54B30 and he reckons not for another 100K. I'm on about 160K at the moment.

[E65Ross]

My late 2005 Corolla is chain, does this ever need changing? It's only on 85500 miles, though! I read on Honest John that early cars until mid-2005 suffered from high oil consumption, but this was rectified around July on new-build cars....mine was registered in November, so I think I'm alright.....checked it today after approx 1k miles and it hasn't gone down on the dipstick

[Lowtimer]

It will not need changing during your ownership, and probably not before it goes to the scrapper

[Carfield]

Weirdly, you're all wrong :-)

According to the TUV, the most reliable car is...... a Porsche 996

http://www.anusedcar.com/index.php/tuv-report-year...

[Fastdruid]

Carfield said:

Weirdly, you're all wrong :-)

According to the TUV, the most reliable car is...... a Porsche 996

http://www.anusedcar.com/index.php/tuv-report-year...

8.7% failure rate sounds good until you realise that 6% have thrown a 15k bill.

[iSore]

As much as I like BMW's, I would be very wary of anything made in the last 10 years. Yes, there are thousands on the road but the potential for eye watering repair costs is high. Just avoid anything and everything four cyl petrol. The N43 is absolute garbage. Direct injection on the sixes from 2006/7 can be a never ending misfire chasing nightmare (N43 fours also), N47 diesel timing chains etc.

I would seek out a very nice, lower mileage 120d or 320d with the M47, pre '07 basically. Six cyl diesels are alright.

Mercs are much the same - lovely and tempting but.........

Avoid the post 2003 M271 four cyl in the C and E Class 180, 200 etc. Another work of genius that will st itself very, very expensively and has the potential for a never ending EML light/misfire drama. They just aren't worth the risk. Ask me how I know.

VAG - like Ford or GM, only more expensive due to an image whose foundations lay in something made 30 years ago.

Everyday smoker recommendation - petrol Accord or Avensis. Honda or Toyota, not Nissan, basically. They're hardly expensive to buy. The Mark 4 Mondeo seems to have carved itself a good reputation and they do drive very well indeed.

[Fastdruid]

iSore said:

The Mark 4 Mondeo seems to have carved itself a good reputation and they do drive very well indeed.

I'm not sure it's quite as good as the mk2 but at 100k after 40k of ownership the worst that has gone wrong with mine is a cracked air-con pipe.

That's not to say it's totally problem free, the exhaust heat shield died under the boot (worn through the large "nuts") and had to be fixed with some repair washers and two of the brackets on the exhaust rusted off. Wasn't expensive to fix though and if I cared less I could have left it. Then again at 100k it's still the original exhaust.