Is there a car that 'just works'?
Discussion
Any time there's a SOTW or someone says 'I'm interested in X, Y or Z' there's a stream of 'These are weak, it will eat that, expect this to have been replaced by now otherwise walk away' etc. so I ask, is there a car that, when bought, absolutely no one could say 'oooh, check this hasn't exploded yet because if it hasn't yet, it will soon!'? In short, a car that, other than consumables and routine maintenance, it quite literally, just works!?
Lexus LS400? Older Mercedes before than accountants took over the company?
Lexus LS400? Older Mercedes before than accountants took over the company?
Nope, but there's a big difference in people who will just replace the old parts and carry on, and those that will make a big song and dance about it.
Different people have different ideas of what "just works" means, ranging from people who don't want to service it and moan about changing brakes, to those that fix the little bits and pieces, and as far as they are concerned, it's faultless as it never had a problem that needed it to be taken to a garage.
Different people have different ideas of what "just works" means, ranging from people who don't want to service it and moan about changing brakes, to those that fix the little bits and pieces, and as far as they are concerned, it's faultless as it never had a problem that needed it to be taken to a garage.
Every part on a car is consumable. It's just a case of how long it takes to become knackered.
You also need to define, 'just works'. If you mean starts, stops and steers. Then 99% of models on the road just work.
If you mwan mechanically and electrically flawless, then none.
You also need to define, 'just works'. If you mean starts, stops and steers. Then 99% of models on the road just work.
If you mwan mechanically and electrically flawless, then none.
Edited by xxChrisxx on Thursday 19th June 05:29
xxChrisxx said:
Every part on a car is consumable. It's just a case of how long it takes to become knackered.
You also need to define, 'just works'. If you mean starts, stops and steers. Then 99% of models on the road just work.
As he says. Most do just work. There are a few duffers out there of all makes & models. But compared to 25yrs ago most just work.You also need to define, 'just works'. If you mean starts, stops and steers. Then 99% of models on the road just work.
Had three company MINIs, 200,000 miles between the first two. Apart from servicing, tyres and brake discs/pads the total tally was 1 balljoint and a few headlight bulbs. None of them required a dealer visit between services apart from having said headlamp bulbs changed on the second one (it was an easy DIY on the first - progress eh?). In my book, that counts as 'just works'.
OTOH, go to the MINI forums on here and you'll be faced with a catalogue of disasters. Go figure.
OTOH, go to the MINI forums on here and you'll be faced with a catalogue of disasters. Go figure.
HenryJM said:
It depends on how old you buy. Buy new and it is a reasonable expectation that nothing of note will go wrong for some years, buy an older car and your time to it breaking down is much less.
You'd think this would make sense but the dealers are full of troublesome cars under warranty. With some makes/models you are a more likely to have problems with a newish car than with an older version of other cars.Bibbs said:
a petrol Toyota Hilux.
Still suffer with horrendous rust, plenty of older ones can be found with huge gaping rotten holes in the rear load bed and side panels!Shame really, if they'd galvanised them from new they really might have been the ultimate in reliability that people believe, as it is a few years of sheep peeing in the back and there's not a lot left of them.
Landcruiser seems to fare a lot better though, perhaps due to less agricultural usage? Still see 15-20 year old ones looking in good condition and fetching thousands.
K11 Micra has got to be up there too, the cockroach of the car world
TheEnd said:
Nope, but there's a big difference in people who will just replace the old parts and carry on, and those that will make a big song and dance about it.
Different people have different ideas of what "just works" means, ranging from people who don't want to service it and moan about changing brakes, to those that fix the little bits and pieces, and as far as they are concerned, it's faultless as it never had a problem that needed it to be taken to a garage.
^ This.Different people have different ideas of what "just works" means, ranging from people who don't want to service it and moan about changing brakes, to those that fix the little bits and pieces, and as far as they are concerned, it's faultless as it never had a problem that needed it to be taken to a garage.
Mundeos would probably fit that category. I've always had one as a family car for the past 20 odd years, and don't remember anying serious going wrong. My current one has just gone over the 100k mark in 10 years and its still rinning just fine.
A mate of mone got an old one as a stop gap when returning from abroad, while he looked for a decent car. Each "decent car" hes bought has been terrible so he's hung onto the mondeo as his back up car. It hasn't let him down in 5 years.
A mate of mone got an old one as a stop gap when returning from abroad, while he looked for a decent car. Each "decent car" hes bought has been terrible so he's hung onto the mondeo as his back up car. It hasn't let him down in 5 years.
The biggest problem is that people use anecdotal evidence for the 'bork factor' of almost all cars mentioned on here.
The only way you can actually tell if there's a real reliability problem is statistical conformance. And of course we don't have that data - we only hear the horror stories of 5 people when there's 100,000 vehicles on the roads over the world.
The only way you can actually tell if there's a real reliability problem is statistical conformance. And of course we don't have that data - we only hear the horror stories of 5 people when there's 100,000 vehicles on the roads over the world.
Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff