Most reliable cars ever!....

[Jw Vw]

Guys, just wondered what are recognized as some of the most reliable cars ever built!?

I've read about all the old 1970s and 1980s Mercs being like tanks but just wondered what else was a super reliable motor?

BMW E30, VW Golf GTI MK2, Volvo 850, Honda Accord, BMW E34 and Audi A4 all seem to be super reliable aswell. Any thoughts or experiences in regards to this?

Cheers

Jw Vw

[ClaphamGT3]

Mazda MX5 MkII
Porsche 993
Saab 9000

[anonymous-user]

I can confirm that the Toyota Carina E is extremely tough. I had an absolute shed of one for a while and a radiator hose went, loosing all the coolant. I drove it home anyway (with no water) for about 15 minutes or so. By the time I got there the engine was incredibly hot and misfiring all over the place. Next day I patched up the hose and filled it up with (tap) water and it worked fine. Worked for years after that with no servicing and maximum abuse.

Dave

Edited by dme123 on Tuesday 21st December 14:26

[pugwash4x4]

80 series Toyota Landcruisers

happily do 500k with nothing more than servicing and replacement of consumables

[angusc43]

Any mid 80's to mid 90's Japanese minicab.

They can do hundreds of thousands of miles with the "check engine" warning light on.

[stackmonkey]

Skoda Fabia diesel.

[theironduke]

Bar rust and HG issues i've found E30's (6 pot and 4) pretty tough.
My old 318 E36 was a tough old bird too for that matter.

[Cooper500]

Not sure if this still holds the record but this guy has a Volvo P1800 that has done 2.6 million miles.

http://tinyurl.com/2og9e8

[RobM77]

Most Japanese stuff I've known has been stonkingly reliable. My Celica Carlos Sainz was driven extremely hard all the way to 145k miles when I sold it, and it genuinely felt like new - I just replaced brake pads and tyres every 10 months. My ex's Micra is impressive too. It's 11 years old now with average miles and as far as I know the only thing to ever break or wear out was a radiator hose about two years ago. It has a full Nissan service history and they've literally just down all the prescribed jobs and found nothing at fault. I looked at a 200SX with the same sort of history a while ago too.

[Leicesterdave]

My dad's 1999 Toyota Corolla- nearly 200000 miles. Original exhaust, clutch everything. Bar tyres and brakes that's amazing.

[anonymous-user]

Pretty much anything American.

[RedWhiteMonkey]

5 USA said:

Pretty much anything American.

That's a bit of a sweeping statement and largely untrue I think.

[philoldsmobile]

5 USA said:

Pretty much anything American.

My 96 mustang was hands down the most unreliable car I ever owned (bought with just 23,000 miles on the clock). anything with the ford 3.8 V6 is very poor too.
My mate also had a GMC safari that had almost everything go wrong with it.

while we're being controversial, I had a Lexus GS300 that had quite a few faults in its time, and my current Alfa 166 has been absolutely excellent.

Its got more to do with how its looked after (the mustang being the exception - that was just utter junk)

Edited by philoldsmobile on Tuesday 21st December 14:49

[Jw Vw]

Leicesterdave said:

My dad's 1999 Toyota Corolla- nearly 200000 miles. Original exhaust, clutch everything. Bar tyres and brakes that's amazing.

that is amazing!

[k-ink]

Lexus

[Mr Gearchange]

Subaru Legacy.

[philoldsmobile]

k-ink said:

Lexus

mine wasn't, (Gs300) and the electrics went berserk on a colleagues 07 reg IS250 on friday night...

[philoldsmobile]

my old Volvo 3 series was pretty good, and nothing ever went wrong with my old Vauxhall chevette. no issues with my 93 escort 1.4 either.

Edited by philoldsmobile on Tuesday 21st December 14:53

[Jw Vw]

i see no mention of any French stuff yet

[cptsideways]

Just have a look on autotrader or ebay, cars with over 250k are quite infrequent, however the ones that are, are always the same bunch.

Volvo V70, 940, 960, 740

Saab 9000, 900, not the 96 or 93 though

Mercs 80's early 90's ones are the good ones 190's & 300's

Toyota almost anything late 80-90's Quite often see Landcruisers for sale with 300k on them still going strong. MK3 Supra is the exception!

Lexus GS Models & LS Models

Skoda's Octavia But these are ALL minicab'd often run on shoestring & they are ready for the crusher with everything else worn out

VW Early TDI's engines ares great, but the rest of it wont be working & the dash will be lit up like a christmas tree or the dash bulbs have been pulled out


The best way to find such examples is search for "Cruise Control" from the period, as pretty much only these cars came with cruise & they were the car of choice for all high mileage drivers. This search brings up the moon & back machines