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Who makes the most reliable new cars?

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Re: Who makes the most reliable new cars?

#691

Post by fomine3 »

tomatotomato37 wrote: post #159
eweise wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Subaru and Mazda are fairly small so I wouldn't expect a lot of R&D from them. Toyota has been really successful with hybrid which to me, seem like the best solution until EV range cost, and infrastructure improve.

Those two are weird; they use to have a lot of out-there designs (boxers & rotaries respectively) but seem to have slowed down on the innovation since then.

Not much similar. Mazda is known for new engine architecture since 2010s. Subaru is known for stucked at boxer architecture.

Re: Who makes the most reliable new cars?

#692

Post by Racing0461 »

itake wrote: post #320
grzm wrote: post #312

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lexus is Toyota. > Lexus is the luxury vehicle division of the Japanese automaker Toyota Motor Corporation. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lexus

yes, but the article is about brands, not companies.

Lexus is just a toyota frame. I bet they are even built in the same factory.

Re: Who makes the most reliable new cars?

#693

Post by eru »

masklinn wrote: post #626
digdugdirk wrote: post #555

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've always understood the US's giant car problem was an unintended consequence of the CAFE fuel efficiency legislation, why is Europe getting caught up in the giant car fad? I'd imagine that'd be much more obvious of a terrible idea when the streets are half the size.

> why is Europe getting caught up in the giant car fad? Because wankers gonna wank.

But why didn't they do that earlier?

Re: Who makes the most reliable new cars?

#694

Post by lloeki »

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.

I don't know of any car from that period that don't have electronics, they all have a bunch of sensors (lambda probe and whatnot), an ECU, ABS and ESP. Or maybe by electronics you mean the various fancy assists like lane keeping and whatnot?

That said this electronics is rock solid, my '08 Civic Type-R is basically pristine mechanically and after 15 years only required maintenance of wear parts. The paint job though has time taking its toll, as varnish is peeling off in various places. Still with proper care I expect the car to last another 15 years without breaking a sweat.

Re: Who makes the most reliable new cars?

#695

Post by koliber »

vondur wrote: post #453
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...

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.

I noticed that too, but I am questioning myself. I’m wondering how much other people’s driving has gotten worse, vs me getting older, more defensive and risk averse, and noticing such driving. If I look back to my 20s, I was not an exemplary driver.

Re: Who makes the most reliable new cars?

#696

Post by seanmcdirmid »

Racing0461 wrote: post #692
itake wrote: post #320

Earlier quoted context omitted.

yes, but the article is about brands, not companies.

Lexus is just a toyota frame. I bet they are even built in the same factory.

Lexus is Toyota’s up brand, like Acura is for Honda and Audi is for VW. They share parts, designs, often factories, but just better interiors, higher end engines, exterior trims, etc…

Re: Who makes the most reliable new cars?

#698

Post by hintymad »

yongjik wrote: post #687
hintymad wrote: post #672

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One thing that Japanese did really well is keeping their language identity. In particular, they don’t translate their words. They give us gyoza instead of dumplings. They give us ramen instead of some lame-ass noodle. They give us Sudoku instead of number puzzles. So much so that Japanese words have some kind of zen-like connotation to many people. In contrast, mainland Chinese always translate words to English. Iron…

Sounds like you're describing how English speakers treat Japanese loanwords, which sounds more relevant to the identity of English rather than Japanese. From what I've heard, the Japanese has no qualms about importing English words or just making up "nonsensical" new English words to suit their needs.

Yes, but I thought it was Japanese culture that drives such adoption. Otherwise, it’s hard to explain why English vocabulary does not include many modern Chinese words in similar fashion, but does include a number of Cantonese words.

Re: Who makes the most reliable new cars?

#699

Post by wizee »

paxys wrote: post #304
blinding-streak wrote: post #286

What the hell happened to Mercedes? 29th out of 30 on the list. Truly awful. I've never driven one (let alone owned one) but by the marketing (and price) you'd think it was the greatest vehicle on earth.

Nothing happened. They have always had a terrible reputation for quality, and the results show it. People buy it for the brand name, and that's about it.

My old W126 was an amazingly well built car. Very durable and reliable, extremely long lasting, very comfy, interesting to drive, and amazingly safe compared to other cars of that era. Mine was previously owned by a couple who just did bare-minimum maintenance and drove it 120k km over their 6 years of ownership. The car was 24 years old when they got it, and 30 years old when I bought it. I drove it many more years, and the only repairs I needed to do were fixing age related leaks, and replacing one relay.

The W126 was a fairly simple car though, compared to their modern offerings, and it was built under a philosophy of building the best car regardless of cost.

My W140 was a also a well made car, great quality in materials and mechanical fundamentals, but it was too complicated and quite a bit more problematic for me.

Modern Mercedes-Benz cars don't seem as distinguished or well built as their offerings from the 1980s. With that said, my C216 CL-class is a very well built car in terms of materials and general attention to detail; it's just too complicated with hurts its overall reliability (though the powertrain is decently solid).

Re: Who makes the most reliable new cars?

#700

Post by Dah00n »

jandrese wrote: post #390

Edit: While I'm still dubious about these metrics I was ranting about an entirely different company here. Sorry. A very similar report has been making the rounds recently from JD Power, probably part of a marketing campaign of some sort. The JD Power list is even more hilarious because it is book-ended by two brands: Dodge and Chrysler. Also it suggests Alfa Romeo for reliability. https://www.cars.com/articles/2023-j…

> Also it suggests Alfa Romeo for reliability.

So? Are you saying that's wrong? Alfas are as reliable as the parts they are made of. One of the biggest weaknesses in many years in Alfas were the manual gearbox in the 159. It was from GM, not Alfa.

Is Alfa reliable? Depends. Compared to a Ford? Maybe, it depends. Compared to a Tesla? Yes, much much better.

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