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Who makes the most reliable new cars?

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Re: Who makes the most reliable new cars?

#541

Post by jacquesm »

ct0 wrote: post #514
jacquesm wrote: post #255

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a VW bus that doesn't see a lot of use and with a bit of fiddling it was easy enough to run a (fused) connector to just behind the grill with a little rubber lid to make it waterproof. That allows me to plug in a trickle charger without having to open the hood. That little trick has saved me multiple batteries already.

I can use the cigerette lighter on my tt roadster's trickle charger. Does the bus have one?

I could have gone that route but it would require the cable to go into the interior from the outside so that's why I hardwired it to the front. It also helps that I park it with its nose to the garage so the wire is very short and I just let it dangle down when it isn't in use.

Re: Who makes the most reliable new cars?

#542

Post by marcus_holmes »

Aren't Lexus and Toyota basically the same thing? Lexus is Toyota's luxury brand, and Lexus cars are built in Toyota factories [0]. Why are they considered two different brands for this? (and, more interesting, why do they have different reliability scores, apparently swapped from last year?)

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lexus

Re: Who makes the most reliable new cars?

#543

Post by colechristensen »

marcus_holmes wrote: post #542

Aren't Lexus and Toyota basically the same thing? Lexus is Toyota's luxury brand, and Lexus cars are built in Toyota factories [0]. Why are they considered two different brands for this? (and, more interesting, why do they have different reliability scores, apparently swapped from last year?) [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lexus

"Same factory" is used with a lot of things as an argument that things are the same. Industrial processes have a lot more to do with decisions made for the specific product. A luxury product could involve a longer more in depth QA cycle, tighter tolerance for rejection, etc. A commodity product could have more reliable parts because they simply made more of them and had more experience with problems and fixes. The building a thing is made in or using the same machines does not result equivalent products.

Re: Who makes the most reliable new cars?

#544

Post by shric »

marcus_holmes wrote: post #542

Aren't Lexus and Toyota basically the same thing? Lexus is Toyota's luxury brand, and Lexus cars are built in Toyota factories [0]. Why are they considered two different brands for this? (and, more interesting, why do they have different reliability scores, apparently swapped from last year?) [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lexus

Because they're different brands. Volkswagen own Porsche and Audi, but they're listed separately and presumably they have different reliability levels. There are also different reliability levels across different models, but they drew the line at brands.

Re: Who makes the most reliable new cars?

#545

Post by gizajob »

Mountain_Skies wrote: post #490
vondur wrote: post #453

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People drive horrible now. Running lights, crazy lane changes, excessive speeding etc. Here in the US is started during the pandemic and hasn’t improved.

Replacing old style headlight bulbs with LEDs in housings not designed for them is an increasing problem too, making driving at night often something that is best done with a pair of sunglasses.

I often think that the need for superbright headlights could be avoided if the owners just realised they could drive with “full beam” on all the time.

Re: Who makes the most reliable new cars?

#546

Post by orwin »

eru wrote: post #506
yaomtc wrote: post #231

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> car safety has drastically improved Safety between cars, and within cars, has improved. However, due to the increasing size of the average vehicle on the road, among other factors, car safety for pedestrians/cyclists has decreased. https://www.npr.org/2023/06/26/1184034017/us-pedestrian-deat...

I wonder if that's just an American thing, or more global?

It's a US thing, pedestrian safety continued to improve in France (mainly caused by infrastructure improvements), but we are starting to have the same sized cars, with the same issues)

Re: Who makes the most reliable new cars?

#547

Post by katbyte »

Mountain_Skies wrote: post #490
vondur wrote: post #453

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People drive horrible now. Running lights, crazy lane changes, excessive speeding etc. Here in the US is started during the pandemic and hasn’t improved.

Replacing old style headlight bulbs with LEDs in housings not designed for them is an increasing problem too, making driving at night often something that is best done with a pair of sunglasses.

Some new vehicles come way to bright too, the absolute worst for this seem to be teslas and I wouldn’t be surprised if it was poor qa on bulb alignment

Re: Who makes the most reliable new cars?

#548

Post by bastawhiz »

riku_iki wrote: post #475
jancsika wrote: post #256

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> As someone who usually buys ~10 year old cars and drives them into the ground I'm much more interested in long term reliability. That's a much simpler list: 1: Toyota Corolla 2 to end: you're not really serious about running it into the ground. :)

I thought hybrid powertrains are simpler and more reliable in long run, so prius should be #1.

I'm genuinely curious how that would be true. Doesn't a hybrid have ~all of the parts of an ICE vehicle and ~all of the parts of an EV? Wouldn't that mean it can fail in far more ways?

Re: Who makes the most reliable new cars?

#549

Post by jankyxenon »

michalf6 wrote: post #54

BMW got much better since the switch to B series engines, N series era was horrible. Timing chains between the engine and gearbox are a pain point though, they need to be replaced with mileage.

The B58 is such a great all around engine. Performance, reliability, efficiency, upgradeability. Heck, even Toyota used it in their sports car (Supra)

Re: Who makes the most reliable new cars?

#550

Post by hedgehog »

zik wrote: post #538
hedgehog wrote: post #461

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is not true, at least for the most popular Toyota hybrid drive train. It's probably got fewer moving parts than the ICE counterpart by virtue of dispensing with the automatic transmission. See sibling comment: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38466406

Check this diagram and tell me it's simpler than an engine and transmission. https://automotorpad.com/toyota/83449-funcionamiento-sistema... It's essentially an engine, a transmission, another transmission (power split device), a drive motor and a generator.

Most of the images there are broken, all I see are some conceptual block diagram type things. Find a teardown of the hybrid unit and compare to a teardown of any automatic, look at the actual internal complexity and moving parts. I was surprised. Here's a video of the P710: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=O61WihMRdjM
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