Are there any manufacturers WITHOUT a reliability nightmare?
Discussion
Just wondering, based on the recent thread about reliability scores for manufacturers.
Are there any that DON'T have a crappy reputation, or nightmare story with fundamental catastrophic failures being order of the day.
Just from cars I've owned or looked at I'm thinking along the lines of...
Pork IMS bearings, bore scoring, flaky v8's in cayenne (cant remember specifics but they're supposed to be a 'mare)
BMW, VANOS, VANOS, VANOS, everywhere you look
Ford, Ecoboost failures
There must be loads more...
Is it just a case of "pick the manufacturer or model and then find the corresponding nightmare story" ?
Are overplayed and not that common though?
FWIW I believe modern cars are generally far more reliable than their predecessors, no rose tinted glasses here, corrosion protection has been pretty much sorted for decades and mechanical and electrical issues are not often complete show stoppers.
Just seems every time I start looking at a new model or make it takes about two clicks to find all the nightmare stories about that car that'll ruin me within five minutes of buying it!
ETA, should clarify that with a car a PHer might like to own! I'm sure a toyota Aygo is bullet proof.... but I dont want one of those!
(having said that, a friend has one and has had nothing but trouble with prematurely failed clutches and wheel bearings)
Are there any that DON'T have a crappy reputation, or nightmare story with fundamental catastrophic failures being order of the day.
Just from cars I've owned or looked at I'm thinking along the lines of...
Pork IMS bearings, bore scoring, flaky v8's in cayenne (cant remember specifics but they're supposed to be a 'mare)
BMW, VANOS, VANOS, VANOS, everywhere you look
Ford, Ecoboost failures
There must be loads more...
Is it just a case of "pick the manufacturer or model and then find the corresponding nightmare story" ?
Are overplayed and not that common though?
FWIW I believe modern cars are generally far more reliable than their predecessors, no rose tinted glasses here, corrosion protection has been pretty much sorted for decades and mechanical and electrical issues are not often complete show stoppers.
Just seems every time I start looking at a new model or make it takes about two clicks to find all the nightmare stories about that car that'll ruin me within five minutes of buying it!
ETA, should clarify that with a car a PHer might like to own! I'm sure a toyota Aygo is bullet proof.... but I dont want one of those!
(having said that, a friend has one and has had nothing but trouble with prematurely failed clutches and wheel bearings)The basic problem is that emissions regs have been tightened so much in recent years that manufacturers are having to really push the technology boat out to get the same levels of performance (or, rather, more each generation - because you can't have a car that's slower than the predecessor...) despite more weight - because secondary safety sells...
I think part of the problem is that issues are better publicised these days. Cars are probably getting more and more reliable (although I get the feeling that when they do break repairs tend to be more expensive than in yesteryear), it's just easy for people to complain to a larger audience when they do break.
With a few very exceptions, mechanical reliability wouldn't really worry me in a modern car. I own a K-series and it's never broken down in ten years of daily use.
With a few very exceptions, mechanical reliability wouldn't really worry me in a modern car. I own a K-series and it's never broken down in ten years of daily use.
Edited by kambites on Monday 27th March 08:34
OP, you have an apt user name.
I bought a 10 mth old 2.0 d mondeo- 7 years ago now.
7 years later, its been faultless. I have much love for it- its looking a little worn now, but its still rammed with toys and gadgets I need- but it owes me nothing, is cavernous to suit all my various pursuits/trades and so on.
why replace it ? car wise I'd actually rather be cycling to work- but work alas means I need a car a few days a week.
I bought a 10 mth old 2.0 d mondeo- 7 years ago now.
7 years later, its been faultless. I have much love for it- its looking a little worn now, but its still rammed with toys and gadgets I need- but it owes me nothing, is cavernous to suit all my various pursuits/trades and so on.
why replace it ? car wise I'd actually rather be cycling to work- but work alas means I need a car a few days a week.
austinsmirk said:
OP, you have an apt user name.
I bought a 10 mth old 2.0 d mondeo- 7 years ago now.
7 years later, its been faultless. I have much love for it- its looking a little worn now, but its still rammed with toys and gadgets I need- but it owes me nothing, is cavernous to suit all my various pursuits/trades and so on.
why replace it ? car wise I'd actually rather be cycling to work- but work alas means I need a car a few days a week.
And yet according to the interwebs, they are plagued by DMF failures and common rail faults.. I bought a 10 mth old 2.0 d mondeo- 7 years ago now.
7 years later, its been faultless. I have much love for it- its looking a little worn now, but its still rammed with toys and gadgets I need- but it owes me nothing, is cavernous to suit all my various pursuits/trades and so on.
why replace it ? car wise I'd actually rather be cycling to work- but work alas means I need a car a few days a week.
That one's from experience, DMF disintegrated, took the starter motor with it. An expensive repair in the context of a cheap Mondeo ~£800-1000 IIRC (cheap on the grand scheme of things though). I sold it on at 130,000 miles, allegedly the new owner had a catastrophic engine failure not long after, no more details though.
My name is that, because I DID love my mondeo, many trouble free and inexpensive miles. Seriously considering one of those vignale (spelling?) things later this year in estate format.
You would genuinely struggle to buy a 'bad' car. Even the low budget Ssangyongs etc won't be 'bad', just a bit noisier, bit slower, less frugal etc then rivals (but cheaper...) but they will still accelerate up to license loosing speeds, tow a good trailer, carry your family cross country through monsoon rains and survive an impact a reasonable speeds without everyone dieing.
The issue is how complicated cars are, gone are the days of quick fixes on the driveway, so if something does go badly wrong you tell the whole world across every forum & twitbookface account you have.
That is made much worse by (as said above) ever increasingly stringent safety, emissions, technological, performance demands that are placed on them.
The likes of Lexues/Honda etc manage to make it all work very well (as per reliability tables) and the likes of Kia's 'all inclusive' 7 year warranty show how some manufacturers are more confident then others at balancing it all out!
The issue is how complicated cars are, gone are the days of quick fixes on the driveway, so if something does go badly wrong you tell the whole world across every forum & twitbookface account you have.
That is made much worse by (as said above) ever increasingly stringent safety, emissions, technological, performance demands that are placed on them.
The likes of Lexues/Honda etc manage to make it all work very well (as per reliability tables) and the likes of Kia's 'all inclusive' 7 year warranty show how some manufacturers are more confident then others at balancing it all out!
Many cars have issues
I wouldn't say any particular manufacturer is better than another.
Most parts are made by the same external company (EG clutches and flywheels all come from LUK/Sachs, headlights from Valeo or Hella) so the only thing the car companies do is bolt the pieces together.
I wouldn't say any particular manufacturer is better than another.
Most parts are made by the same external company (EG clutches and flywheels all come from LUK/Sachs, headlights from Valeo or Hella) so the only thing the car companies do is bolt the pieces together.
The thing is not everyone posts on the internet how reliable their car has been but everyone is very keen to post their horror stories. Take BMW and Vanos issues they must sell hundreds of thousands every year what percentage have this failure? And how big a deal is it? Couple hundred quid IF your unlucky.
I've just sold a 320d that as far as I can gather from the service paperwork from the past owned and me has had nothing more than regular servicing tyres and brakes 122,000 when I sold it.
I've just sold a 320d that as far as I can gather from the service paperwork from the past owned and me has had nothing more than regular servicing tyres and brakes 122,000 when I sold it.
Andehh said:
You would genuinely struggle to buy a 'bad' car. Even the low budget Ssangyongs etc won't be 'bad', just a bit noisier, bit slower, less frugal etc then rivals (but cheaper...) but they will still accelerate up to license loosing speeds, tow a good trailer, carry your family cross country through monsoon rains and survive an impact a reasonable speeds without everyone dieing.
The issue is how complicated cars are, gone are the days of quick fixes on the driveway, so if something does go badly wrong you tell the whole world across every forum & twitbookface account you have.
That is made much worse by (as said above) ever increasingly stringent safety, emissions, technological, performance demands that are placed on them.
The likes of Lexues/Honda etc manage to make it all work very well (as per reliability tables) and the likes of Kia's 'all inclusive' 7 year warranty show how some manufacturers are more confident then others at balancing it all out!
Inkeeping with the theme of this thread.... my dad has recently purchased a ssangyong tivoli and its been the worst new car he's ever bought! its been back to the garage around 5 or 6 times mainly due to gearbox troubles. its now had a new gearbox and associated parts and still continues to drive like sThe issue is how complicated cars are, gone are the days of quick fixes on the driveway, so if something does go badly wrong you tell the whole world across every forum & twitbookface account you have.
That is made much worse by (as said above) ever increasingly stringent safety, emissions, technological, performance demands that are placed on them.
The likes of Lexues/Honda etc manage to make it all work very well (as per reliability tables) and the likes of Kia's 'all inclusive' 7 year warranty show how some manufacturers are more confident then others at balancing it all out!
te, doesn't change gear nicely and this is a pretty uncomplicated 1.6 n/a petrol.i agree about honda's and toyota/lexus, although they have had their fair share of recalls in recent history.
my own view on modern cars is that they got more complicated in mid/late 2000's
Edited by MrAverage on Monday 27th March 09:31
When you consider the complexity of cars in general, I can't imagine there's many if any manufacturers that haven't had some known issues with at least a couple of models.
It is luck of the draw really as you'll hear horror stories from one owner of a car and another will praise their car. I've owned nine Renaults, still own two of them and they've all be great. The odd tiny niggle but really nothing to worry about. Owned one VW and it was unreliable with issues known to that model (Lupo Sport).
It is luck of the draw really as you'll hear horror stories from one owner of a car and another will praise their car. I've owned nine Renaults, still own two of them and they've all be great. The odd tiny niggle but really nothing to worry about. Owned one VW and it was unreliable with issues known to that model (Lupo Sport).
Mx5? Seriously.
From what I've read the NC generation onwards doesn't have the rust issues of the older one and that really was the only 'major' fault in them. The engines are pretty lazy, I know the old 1.8s are bulletproof, I can imagine the new 2.0s are just as good.
Gt86 might be the same but I wouldn't trust the Subaru engine, same principle though, lazy n/a engine with low specific output (comparative to other modern turbos)
From what I've read the NC generation onwards doesn't have the rust issues of the older one and that really was the only 'major' fault in them. The engines are pretty lazy, I know the old 1.8s are bulletproof, I can imagine the new 2.0s are just as good.
Gt86 might be the same but I wouldn't trust the Subaru engine, same principle though, lazy n/a engine with low specific output (comparative to other modern turbos)
I don't think there are any that haven't had issues.
When researching a certain sporty continental make a couple of years ago (with a view to buying secondhand) I came across a horror show of engine problems, and tales of woe from owners trying to get help from the manufacturer.
Not news though because they are a relatively low volume make and a mainstay of the motoring media.
If it had been Ford or, heaven forbid, French they would have got a right kicking and everyone would add it to their list of Well Known Reputations for Pub Discussion.
When researching a certain sporty continental make a couple of years ago (with a view to buying secondhand) I came across a horror show of engine problems, and tales of woe from owners trying to get help from the manufacturer.
Not news though because they are a relatively low volume make and a mainstay of the motoring media.
If it had been Ford or, heaven forbid, French they would have got a right kicking and everyone would add it to their list of Well Known Reputations for Pub Discussion.
My experiences with 10 year old Audis and Renaults have not been good. All of them ended up on eBay after suffering some major failure after months of fixing smaller issues.
My dad has a 05 plate Honda Civic that seems surprisingly tight considering the 118k on the clock and general lack of TLC it has received. It is however, starting to go crusty around the rear arches which is a big no-no for me.
Here in Australia most taxi drivers drive Toyota Hybrids and one told me how every other brand is rubbish.
However, I have hired several Hyundais and they always seem well built, solid and rattle free so I am seriously considering either a Hyundai or Kia for my next car.
My dad has a 05 plate Honda Civic that seems surprisingly tight considering the 118k on the clock and general lack of TLC it has received. It is however, starting to go crusty around the rear arches which is a big no-no for me.
Here in Australia most taxi drivers drive Toyota Hybrids and one told me how every other brand is rubbish.
However, I have hired several Hyundais and they always seem well built, solid and rattle free so I am seriously considering either a Hyundai or Kia for my next car.
Online reliability accounts are almost totally biased towards the negative aspects, and dosed with an insane amount of hyperbole.
Stories are passed off as gospel under the guise of "my mate had x go wrong" or "I reckon blah de blah" when really they are simply read online, exaggerated and passed on, containing very little to base any rational analysis on.
Stories are passed off as gospel under the guise of "my mate had x go wrong" or "I reckon blah de blah" when really they are simply read online, exaggerated and passed on, containing very little to base any rational analysis on.
Catatafish said:
Online reliability accounts are almost totally biased towards the negative aspects, and dosed with an insane amount of hyperbole.
Stories are passed off as gospel under the guise of "my mate had x go wrong" or "I reckon blah de blah" when really they are simply read online, exaggerated and passed on, containing very little to base any rational analysis on.
Exactly. The bloke who runs his motor up to 150k never feels the need to crow about it in the same way as the guy whose gearbox falls out one day after the warranty expires & ends up with a 5k bill. Misery loves company.Stories are passed off as gospel under the guise of "my mate had x go wrong" or "I reckon blah de blah" when really they are simply read online, exaggerated and passed on, containing very little to base any rational analysis on.
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