We own a 2018 Pacifica minivan, when we bought it the manager told us the electronics were the most added parts on the vehicle. I purchased the upgraded warranty, which I never do. Thank God I did! The Uconnect system is wanky, we had battery problems almost from the start. The last recall for the ESS seems to have fixed the problem. Many people online have given up and said they dumped the van. The van itself is really an awesome vehicle, the electronics side still needs some sorting out. I can't help but feel that Chrysler made us owners guinea pigs.
Car Quality Is Slipping
51–60 of 97 posts
Re: Car Quality Is Slipping
#52Earlier quoted context omitted.
Subaru and the WRX is just notoriously unreliable, and that's always sort of been the case unfortunately.
Yep, my alternative which I don't even know if its a good idea or not is to get a used E350 off BringATrailer or if I really want reliability I should probably get a 1980s Mercedes 300D. The W123s are insanely reliable.
Or basically any pre-2004 diesel from VW, Ford, Mercedes, or Dodge :)
Edit/addendum: I personally strongly encourage the use of biodiesel or appropriate diesel alternatives where applicable, pre 2004 are often more compatible with biodiesel. Would still take any diesel vehicle over gas
Re: Car Quality Is Slipping
#53Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yep, my alternative which I don't even know if its a good idea or not is to get a used E350 off BringATrailer or if I really want reliability I should probably get a 1980s Mercedes 300D. The W123s are insanely reliable.
Or basically any pre-2004 diesel from VW, Ford, Mercedes, or Dodge :) Edit/addendum: I personally strongly encourage the use of biodiesel or appropriate diesel alternatives where applicable, pre 2004 are often more compatible with biodiesel. Would still take any diesel vehicle over gas
Yeah, but man, the WRX sure is a fun car :)
Re: Car Quality Is Slipping
#54Mo' tech mo' problems. Just give me a car that goes forward, backwards, left and right with a roof, windows, seats with few luxuries: air conditioning, power locks/windows, remote start (winter savior). For safety I will take ABS, maybe ESP. Leave me an industry standard DIN or double DIN opening for a radio and speaker locations; factory options always suck. Transmission can be manual or automatic. The rest is fluff…
I am looking for a new car big enough for a family and capable of pulling a loaded utility trailer, but without the extras. Basically exactly what's on your list, but I don't need power windows and locks or remote start. Does it exist?
Re: Car Quality Is Slipping
#55These type of articles that do not breakdown the type of complaints are worthless. The trend of increased complaints has been present for a few years now, but when broken down the increase comes vastly from infotainment and SW related issues. And it is expected, SW complexity in the infotainment part has skyrocketed and automotive companies are in their core HW companies, not SW companies and are slow to adapt. I wou…
Infotainment complaints are not necessarily an issue with the car, either. They could just as easily be someone who has an issue with their phone, or someone who doesn't know what they're doing.
Re: Car Quality Is Slipping
#56J.D. Power isn’t an unbiased review. There is zero chance that Dodge and Chevy have real world reliability greater than makes like Toyota, Honda and Mazda. They also play games like counting “problems” without a weight. Infotainment problem fixed in firmware and transmission problem both increment the count by 1?
The J.D. Power article notes that the "initial quality" of cars is slipping, meaning problems reported in the first 90 days.
It's very possible for Dodge and Chevy to have greater initial quality (meaning fewer reported problems) but worse real-world reliability than their Japanese counterparts. Dodge, for example, is notorious for using parts that wear down quickly. Also, Dodge and Chevy have more vehicles that target the low end of the market, where people are more likely to just accept small problems with the car as part of the cheap car experience.
Re: Car Quality Is Slipping
#57Electric vehicles (EVs) performed worse than gas-powered models in the study. EVs had 240 complaints per 100 vehicles on average, plug-in hybrid vehicles had 239, and gas-powered cars averaged 175. This never fails to baffle me. An ICE vehicle has a hundred times as many moving parts as a BeV. Just how much lower is the BeV production quality to give them more problems?
We human beings have a universe of complexity in us and we last up to a century. Gradual evolutionary improvements can accomplish miracles.
Re: Car Quality Is Slipping
#58These type of articles that do not breakdown the type of complaints are worthless. The trend of increased complaints has been present for a few years now, but when broken down the increase comes vastly from infotainment and SW related issues. And it is expected, SW complexity in the infotainment part has skyrocketed and automotive companies are in their core HW companies, not SW companies and are slow to adapt. I wou…
Yeah; the infotainment system in our Ram has only had one major issue. So did the transmission, tailgate, exhaust manifold, and cruise control. Two of those five issues were life threatening, and one could strand the car.
The infotainment problem is comparatively minor: Sometimes it corrupts the GPS azimuth(?) data.
Re: Car Quality Is Slipping
#59J.D. Power isn’t an unbiased review. There is zero chance that Dodge and Chevy have real world reliability greater than makes like Toyota, Honda and Mazda. They also play games like counting “problems” without a weight. Infotainment problem fixed in firmware and transmission problem both increment the count by 1?
There's a whole YouTube channel dedicated to satirizing Chevy commercials and their reliance on "real people" and J.D. Power marketing: https://www.youtube.com/c/ZebraCorner
Thank you, that was fantastic, here's the JD Power video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSBsq6HBBzw
Re: Car Quality Is Slipping
#60J.D. Power isn’t an unbiased review. There is zero chance that Dodge and Chevy have real world reliability greater than makes like Toyota, Honda and Mazda. They also play games like counting “problems” without a weight. Infotainment problem fixed in firmware and transmission problem both increment the count by 1?
The J.D. Power article notes that the "initial quality" of cars is slipping, meaning problems reported in the first 90 days. It's very possible for Dodge and Chevy to have greater initial quality (meaning fewer reported problems) but worse real-world reliability than their Japanese counterparts. Dodge, for example, is notorious for using parts that wear down quickly. Also, Dodge and Chevy have more vehicles that targ…
It's easy to improve when you are the worst.