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

731–740 of 1001 posts

Re: Who makes the most reliable new cars?

#731

Post by PeterStuer »

digdugdirk wrote: post #555
orwin wrote: post #546

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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)

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.

It's a result of cultural imperialism and basic psychology.

Many Europeans are bathed in US media. They see the huge cars constantly on US footage, and some are inclined to purchase these even if they are impractical in EU towns and cities. As these behemoths are introduced in the traffic mix, others in classic smaller cars feel threathened, and their next purchase will be a big tanky SUV to feel less vulnerable.

It self-reinforces from there.

Re: Who makes the most reliable new cars?

#732

Post by lb1lf »

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.

This wanker (Been driving a Land Cruiser 95 since 2001) feels positively out-wanked when driving in the US; my 4x4 is considered large-ish at home, but is dwarfed by what appears to be common fare in at least parts of the US; I was in Port Fourchon, LA last week, driving a Corolla - the Silverados, RAMs, F350s and whatnot surrounding me could almost fit my Land Cruiser in the glove box!

The Corolla? I don't think half of them would even have noticed if they ran it over.

Anyway - point being, I don't think we are anywhere near getting caught up in the giant car fad. Not yet, anyway.

Re: Who makes the most reliable new cars?

#733

Post by kjkjadksj »

SkyPuncher wrote: post #346
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…

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.

Sounds like someone has never had to replace a wiring harness or deal with electrical “gremlins.” Also a lot of parts are just really terribly made these days. I had a 2000 car that was already succombing to modern plastic everything crap philosophy. Basically all the motors controlling the windows or power door locks were shot or close to shot. The internal gearing was all plastic and had gone brittle. The fix? Take apart the internal panelling and replace the whole motor assembly with a new unit that has the same fundamental issue with it, even though a five cent gear or clutch is what broke, until you can source no more new oem units, at which point the part is broken until the end of time since all the junkyard stock will also be rotting apart. This is the world we are building for ourselves.

Re: Who makes the most reliable new cars?

#734

Post by imp0cat »

tayo42 wrote: post #708
ajmurmann wrote: post #681

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is this something that's happening because of something Japanese people are doing or because of the perception of Japanese culture where foreigners like Japanese words and thus don't translate it?

To me names of things are like pronouns, why would you change it? Feels weird to me. Though I guess it's weird we didn't do that a lot of Chinese dishes. Soup dumplings instead of Xiao long bao. Idk how to even properly pronounce that.

    > Idk how to even properly pronounce that.
And there's your reason why we say dumplings and not xiao long bao! :)

Re: Who makes the most reliable new cars?

#735

Post by winrid »

Dah00n wrote: post #688
winrid wrote: post #658

The fact that BMW and Mini are at the top of this list should make you ignore this data. First off, the Mini is just a smaller BMW, second the BMWs are complicated and designed to be maintained a certain way because that is how german cars are designed. You don't accidentally go 10k over an oil change on a higher mileage BMW and expect nothing bad to happen, but that would probably be okay on a Honda/Toyota/some Amer…

Of couse you shouldn't just ignore it. What you should do is think a bit deeper than "X > Y so X = better". Included in the data is the fact that a BMW needs the maintenance it does, to rank where it ranks here, as its average owner maintain it as they do. The maintenance schedule and how the BMWs included in the statistics were maintained is likely different than on a Toyota, but following the maintenance schedule o…

I the 2nd point maybe I didn't get across well is more that the initial three years does not tell as much or are very useful. In 2023 people are not buying new cars with the high interest rates we have now, taking that depreciation hit, only to sell three years later.

Also:

> If you are not average, expect results that are not average. That goes both ways.

I still have trouble believing BMW has 3x the reliability in the first three years than practically all the American manufacturers.

> think a bit deeper than "X > Y so X = better"

that's pretty much what the list is for.

Re: Who makes the most reliable new cars?

#736

Post by kjkjadksj »

_yb2s wrote: post #394
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.

As a car nerd, a popular opinion is to avoid cars with computers because they could fail anytime, and can't be macgyvered into a repair roadside.... but after ~50 years of computerized cars, it seems that simple solid state computers, ruggedized and often potted in epoxy essentially never fail. And moreover, they can both give early warnings before you're stranded, and diagnostic data that can be used to pinpoint and…

VWs and Audis of that era were notorious for the electrical system getting haunted by ghosts. Forums are littered with threads of perplexing symptoms, engine codes, voltage readings, often no solutions either for most of these threads from userbases that are competent enough to swap engines or transmissions themselves.

Re: Who makes the most reliable new cars?

#737

Post by euroderf »

jimbob45 wrote: post #702
koliber wrote: post #695

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Cell phones were a huge mistake. I was walking my dog and saw someone eyes fully down doing 20 in the street. It was late and empty but if anyone had been in the street, they’d have been dead. That distraction didn’t exist 25 years ago on the scale it does today. I wish cell phone use penalties would be promoted closer to those of alcohol use while driving.

Turning the passenger compartment into a Faraday cage might be a start, altho people would hack around it.

Re: Who makes the most reliable new cars?

#738

Post by everly »

winrid wrote: post #658

The fact that BMW and Mini are at the top of this list should make you ignore this data. First off, the Mini is just a smaller BMW, second the BMWs are complicated and designed to be maintained a certain way because that is how german cars are designed. You don't accidentally go 10k over an oil change on a higher mileage BMW and expect nothing bad to happen, but that would probably be okay on a Honda/Toyota/some Amer…

I wouldnt exactly call 3rd and 9th "top of the list"

The fact that Lexus/Toyota are actually at the top makes me trust it

Re: Who makes the most reliable new cars?

#739

Post by kjkjadksj »

BeetleB wrote: post #618
zeusk wrote: post #497

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My 2001 BMW with electronic throttle and fuel injection is doing just fine, the weakest point is plastic in the engine bay gets brittle and starts rotting (especially around coolant system).

Ah, but probably a single repair on that BMW will be more expensive than 5 years of repairs on my Corolla.

Only if you do your repairs at the dealership

Re: Who makes the most reliable new cars?

#740

Post by imp0cat »

nickpeterson wrote: post #471
mplewis wrote: post #253

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Indeed! I recently learned about an aspect of this which is named and tied to national brand strategy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cool_Japan

I feel like China could really gain by taking a page or two from this playbook.

Definitely. Unfortunaly, the people who are currently enjoying the benefits of being China's leaders would only lose. So they have decided to take a different path, esp. in the recent years.
Post reply on HN