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

761–770 of 1001 posts

Re: Who makes the most reliable new cars?

#761

Post by tirant »

diogenescynic wrote: post #573
emodendroket wrote: post #344

I’ll bet a lot of people are surprised to learn BMW is one of the most reliable manufacturers in the business.

Only for the first 3 years... and I wonder if these stats are being padded by BMW's warranty/maintenance program for the first few years. How many 30 year old BMWs with 300,000 miles do you see? Not as many as you do Toyota or Honda.

You're not taking into account the type of usage that BMW have to Toyotas. Toyotas are usually driven by non-car-enthusiasts, and people that do care about reliability.

BMWs on the other hand are enthusiast cars, driven quicker, modified more, raced in tracks, etc. Obviously the reliability is going to suffer. I'm pretty sure that under normal usage, they will endure as much if not more than a Toyota.

Re: Who makes the most reliable new cars?

#762

Post by [deleted] »

Dah00n wrote: post #720
_yb2s wrote: post #404

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just don't like any model of Japanese cars... they don't drive, look, or feel as good as a high end European car. But man do I wish European cars were half as reliable as Japanese cars. Driving European cars is a hobby for me, but spending every weekend to keep them working gets old sometimes. What's especially annoying is that the high end European cars are ostensibly better made... much more expensive materials,…

Looking at how big a problem with rust Mercedes have I'm not sure the "better rust proofing" is based in reality. Definitely doubt it when compared to a Toyota.

[deleted]

Re: Who makes the most reliable new cars?

#763

Post by dgunay »

hintymad wrote: post #698
yongjik wrote: post #687

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Mainland China is behind on cultural exports in the last few decades, but Hong Kong is not.

Re: Who makes the most reliable new cars?

#764

Post by taurath »

iammiles wrote: post #588
calamari4065 wrote: post #416

I've had a regrettably excellent experience with my 2015 Mazda. Easily the most reliable machine I've owned. Which is unfortunate because it's a soulless, joyless shitbox and I hate it. It just starts every single time, but it's not fun to drive. I see dozens of the exact same model on the road every day and they're all boring. The interior is fine, the handling is pretty good, the power is fine, fuel economy is fine…

Sounds a lot like my 2013 Subaru Forester. I often fantasize about getting a newer car but then I remember my car is paid off and has never let me down. It doesn't deserve me.

I slapped a sound system well tuned for the music im into into my 2013 civic which I have had since new, and that has given me at least 3 more years out of it after briefly toying with getting something else.

Re: Who makes the most reliable new cars?

#765

Post by iforgotpassword »

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.

This has also become a problem as a cyclist. I live in a bicycles-first city, commute that way almost every day, and over the past decade when LED lights became the norm, almost every day during this time of the year there's at least one person that just mindlessly snapped their headlight onto the handlebar. It might just fully shine into your face. Back in the days of those dim incandescent bulbs powered by whimsy generators, it basically didn't matter which direction the light pointed, but with super efficient battery-powered lights, this is annoying. And if both of you are traveling at even just moderate speeds, you don't even have time to communicate the issue in a proper way, except for maybe shouting "it's blinding" and hoping the other person can put two and two together.

Re: Who makes the most reliable new cars?

#766

Post by skrebbel »

Years ago http://reliabilityindex.com/ had a fantastic list of the repair costs of used cars, collected by a UK car warranty insurer. They took it down for reasons I’m not aware of but it was basically this but for used cars (and Europe-focused). It let you see repair costs per brand, model and generation. There’d sometimes be mad regressions in quality between the old and newer generations of the exact same car - newer isn’t always better!

It was also mildly surprising to me how badly cool cars did. Eg Porsches and Audis had insane repair costs, compared to eg similarly sized Volkswagens. I assume this had more to do with the average driving style of Porsche owners than the hardware though - but that’s equally part of the risk math you gotta do when buying a used car!

We ended up buying a 12yo used Ford Focus for 3000 euros, from a generation that had miraculously low repair costs according to the site. We had nearly no repairs on it for the 6 years after (and then it suddenly pretty much fell apart, but still). I know nothing about cars and I fully credit the site for making me not screw up.

I really miss that site so if anyone knows something similar for used car, please do share!

Re: Who makes the most reliable new cars?

#767

Post by t0bia_s »

yaomtc wrote: post #231
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…

> 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...

Also with increasing size of vehicles, fuel consumption raise as well.

We just pretend, that we care about environment untill we start speaking about our safety.

Re: Who makes the most reliable new cars?

#768

Post by t0bia_s »

lotsofpulp wrote: post #502
kyrra wrote: post #473

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a reminder, the increase of vehicle size has little to do with consumer choice but rather fuel efficiency standards. https://www.resources.org/common-resources/how-much-do-regul... Increasing fuel efficiency standards has outsized impact on the price of small cars, so fewer of them are made.

If consumers wanted smaller cars, they would buy more of them. A car is still much less expensive than a larger vehicle. The data clearly indicates people want bigger vehicles. Anecdotally, I have personally heard many people say they want to sit up higher, or have a bigger vehicle because it is safer for them.

Hypocrisy of care about environment and our safety, isn't it?

Re: Who makes the most reliable new cars?

#769

Post by Fice »

mortify wrote: post #673
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 always drive, not to within certain parameters of the law, but to within their risk tolerance. As cars become more safe, the risk factor reduces which allow people to increase risky behavior. If you want people to drive better, don't put airbags in their steering wheel, put a 6" metal spike pointed at their chest.

Of course, no one will be making cars intentionally unsafe, but the law is also a risk factor, the risks of getting fined, jail time or licence revocation count too, and these risks can be made higher.

Re: Who makes the most reliable new cars?

#770

Post by amatecha »

nathanfig wrote: post #483
calamari4065 wrote: post #416

I've had a regrettably excellent experience with my 2015 Mazda. Easily the most reliable machine I've owned. Which is unfortunate because it's a soulless, joyless shitbox and I hate it. It just starts every single time, but it's not fun to drive. I see dozens of the exact same model on the road every day and they're all boring. The interior is fine, the handling is pretty good, the power is fine, fuel economy is fine…

Mazda also makes the Miata, arguably one of the most fun cars to drive.

Yeah, and the RX-8! Seriously so fun to drive.
Post reply on HN