Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Who makes the most reliable new cars?

consumerreports.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

631–640 of 1001 posts

Re: Who makes the most reliable new cars?

#631

Post by stjohnswarts »

HPsquared wrote: post #512
Mountain_Skies wrote: post #490

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Also headlights are simply higher on average than they used to be (larger vehicles). Very noticeable if you drive a low car. Yet another "arms race" dynamic.

99% of it is people not adjusting the pitch of their headlights or turning on their brights and leaving them on. I had a truck and it was fine, because I cared enough to watch a 5 minute video on how to adjust the angle after a new install of bulbs

Re: Who makes the most reliable new cars?

#632

Post by masklinn »

crazyjncsu wrote: post #602
bastawhiz wrote: post #548

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

That’s what I thought too, but it’s not the case. The transmission of a traditional ICE vehicle is a component commonly prone to failure due to reliance on clutches, friction couplings, gear engagements, etc. Hybrids replace this transmission with one composed of two electric motors and planetary gear sets. One or both of the motors also act as generators. It’s complex, but the highly variable speed of the output sha…

It reads like you’re describing a series hybrid where the ICE feeds into an electric generator which feeds into a battery or electric motors.

That is not how most hybrids work. That’s how almost none of them works in fact, although it is how diesel electric works on large vehicles (an electric transmission essentially).

Re: Who makes the most reliable new cars?

#633

Post by VectorLock »

dekhn wrote: post #362
saulrh wrote: post #285

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To expand... - Improved FEM makes modern crumple zones deeper and smoother - Heavy use of composites dramatically improve the raw amount of energy absorbed by the car instead of the passengers - Better manufacturing methods mean parts can be shaped/placed to be less likely to enter the cabin - Better placement of more airbags means you're more likely to hit something soft - Better seats and better placements of bette…

I've disabled ESC and it's pretty amazing how much of a difference it makes in my car. But I can still make it go crazy by driving over a small bump while turning and accelerating (like, out of a driveway onto a busy street)

You're slipping your wheels, that 'going crazy' is the ESC trying to regain traction.

Re: Who makes the most reliable new cars?

#634

Post by aceazzameen »

sharkweek wrote: post #213

My 3rd Gen Toyota 4Runner is old enough to drink and outside of routine maintenance requires almost no thought. "It's time to get a new car" given that car safety has drastically improved and I have two younger kids in that thing a few times a week but I'm honestly having a really hard time giving it up, something so reliable and plainly functional. New cars with all their computers and smart technology only look lik…

I hear ya. We have a Toyota that's over a decade old at this point. It only ever needs routine maintenance. We'd like to purchase something newer for the same reasons as yours. But also everything is now "smart" and always online. Just like I want my TVs, I want a dumb vehicle with buttons and knobs. But dumb with premium features like how vehicles used to be, not the cheapest barebones models.

Re: Who makes the most reliable new cars?

#635

Post by VectorLock »

zik wrote: post #534
jancsika wrote: post #524

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From what I've heard the hybrid powertrains are way more complex and prone to extra problems on top of ICE problems. But it's a testament to Toyota's engineering that the Prius makes it seem that this isn't the case. In any case, on the much higher bar of running a car into the ground I think the Prius would get priced out on repairs for the last 20% of the run time. You've got both the regular battery and the hybrid…

The Prius powertrain is the most complex one I've seen in any vehicle. It's amazing that they can make that thing reliable.

Can a Prius keep going if one of its ICE or EV motors dies? Then its not complexity, its redundancy!

Re: Who makes the most reliable new cars?

#636

Post by Jensson »

tessierashpool wrote: post #380
bmitc wrote: post #333

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is a lot of propaganda about Japan's culture, but there is no mistaking that it is indeed different and quite unique, not always in good ways. It is quite common for island or peninsula countries to have strong, unique cultures, and Japan certainly sits at the exceptional end of that in terms of how strong the culture is. What specifically are you balking at?

not the person you're replying to, but seemed pretty obvious they were rejecting the idea that Japanese programmers are somehow unique in being good in some cases and bad in other cases

Japanese organizations are different, and that makes the skills and behavior of their programmers different.

Re: Who makes the most reliable new cars?

#637

Post by VectorLock »

jancsika wrote: post #529
BenjiWiebe wrote: post #423

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I worked in a tire shop, the highest mileage vehicle I saw was a 500k mile Corolla, driven by the original owners. It was a mid 90s model IIRC. This was in 2018 or so.

Ha! I just posted this above: > With the Corolla you just might just have to decide when you've had enough of driving the damned thing. I've got a 95 Honda Civic with a bit over 200k. And the prospect of having to finally change out the belts is making me decide it's probably time to call it quits. But honestly, I don't think I'd go for Corolla because it has too much longevity at this point. It'd be like buying a ga…

Timing belt change isn't _that_ bad on 90s Hondas, and pretty affordable to pay someone to do.

Re: Who makes the most reliable new cars?

#638

Post by hot_gril »

rapind wrote: post #410
SkyPuncher wrote: post #346

Earlier quoted context omitted.

FWIW, the computers don’t tend to break. The things that do break are essentially the same as they were 20 years ago. The bells and whistles are mostly for creatures comfort. The mechanical components haven’t changed much. The only thing that I couldn’t fix on my own in my 2020 vs my 2006 was re-alignment of lane keep system after replacing the windshield.

The thing most likely to cause an accident with my car is the horrible Apple Car Play system via USB. I don't know if it's a VW problem, Apple problem, or just a bad combination of the two. It can be so frustrating and fiddly that I'll just pull over to deal with it. I've been considering going old school with a mount and just use the car speakers via bluetooth instead.

CarPlay is hit-or-miss. It's been totally unusable in every Chevy I've driven and moderately bad in some other cars, but it worked flawlessly in my last Chrysler rental car of all things.

You know what's even better than a working CarPlay, the cupholder in my own car that can hold my phone in a nicely visible spot.

Re: Who makes the most reliable new cars?

#639

Post by VectorLock »

resolutebat wrote: post #316
alasdair_ wrote: post #245

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Japanese obsession with handwritten resumes and faxes come to mind.

For handwritten resumes, the pain is kind of the point: handwriting hundreds of copies, which must be perfect down to the last stroke, is how new grads demonstrate their diligence and commitment to future employers. (It's still an idiotic relic though.)

Having posted open job reqs online in the past couple years and seen the absolute deluge of fraudulent resumes you get, I'd welcome this culture.

Re: Who makes the most reliable new cars?

#640

Post by hot_gril »

webel0 wrote: post #232
sharkweek wrote: post #213

My 3rd Gen Toyota 4Runner is old enough to drink and outside of routine maintenance requires almost no thought. "It's time to get a new car" given that car safety has drastically improved and I have two younger kids in that thing a few times a week but I'm honestly having a really hard time giving it up, something so reliable and plainly functional. New cars with all their computers and smart technology only look lik…

Yes, I keep on thinking that a premium market will develop for Toyota and Honda cars from roughly ~2006-2010. Those cars were the height of internal combustion technology without all of the electronics.

This is the era of my 3 cars, but really they weren't the height of ICE tech. There was a breakthrough in power/efficiency around 2018. I just like how non-fussy the older cars are and how they look.
Post reply on HN