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Who makes the most reliable new cars?

consumerreports.org

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Re: Who makes the most reliable new cars?

#841

Post by allengeorge »

FlyingBears wrote: post #22

Mini is hot garbage on wheels comparable to VW. I am really surprised to see this.

My understanding is that the initial Mini models were made with Peugeot engines, which were underpowered and pretty unreliable. At some point BMW switched Minis over to use a Beemer engine, at which point quality improved dramatically. Mini has been on an upward trend since (as has BMW).

Anecdotally, someone in my family has a Mini with the BMW engine, and it’s been ticking along just fine. Maintenance is expensive though.

Re: Who makes the most reliable new cars?

#842

Post by cheschire »

numlock86 wrote: post #822
piperswe wrote: post #745

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But if you do maintain them in that certain way, they can be brilliantly reliable. Problem is, many people (especially in America) don't. And getting the proper fluids for them can be a pain in the ass in America, since BMW LL oil is basically impossible to get anywhere except dealerships and specialty websites. I'm surprised Mercedes is so low in the list. They've traditionally been one of the more reliable German b…

> I'm surprised Mercedes is so low in the list. They've traditionally been one of the more reliable German brands, that's why they're used as taxis in many countries. Oh, my sweet summer child. I can tell you still have fond memories of the pre-2010 Mercedes era ... Who's gonna tell him?

This is an insulting and patronizing reply as you are implying something you know (or think you know) is common knowledge that only GP would not know.

Please share what you believe happened in 2010 to Mercedes to cause the flip from an ideal choice for taxis to this consumer reports ranking.

Re: Who makes the most reliable new cars?

#843

Post by tim333 »

CraigJPerry wrote: post #798
jimbob45 wrote: post #702

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Mobile phone use is just a symptom. Everyone fiddling with their fancy in-car radio with distracting bright flashing display in the 90s was just a symptom. People fixing their hair in the mirror in the 70s while driving was just a symptom. It doesn’t matter what distractions you remove - ban eating and drinking (even water) while driving, impose ruinous fines for those caught… none of it will work. You need to addres…

I was driving in the 90s and mucking around with the radio was quite different to using a smartphone these days. You'd maybe flip stations every 20 mins when one got annoying and it didn't even need taking your eyes off the road generally.

Re: Who makes the most reliable new cars?

#844

Post by rightbyte »

Sebb767 wrote: post #811
mortify wrote: post #673

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

> If you want people to drive better, don't put airbags in their steering wheel, put a 6" metal spike pointed at their chest. Cars without breakable steering column were pretty much this, so everyone had this before ~1990. Yet, deaths in traffic have steadily decreased since then.

The steering wheel hid the spike though. You need to see it.

Re: Who makes the most reliable new cars?

#845

Post by willis936 »

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.

The extra complexity spreads out the load. All of the things that often fail in an engine are less likely to when the engine only operates for a limited duty cycle, for extended durations, and for a fixed optimal load. You have the more robust motor system smooth over all of the transients. So while there are more single point failures the system might be overall more reliable.

If simplicity was the only way to make something reliable we would have rickshaws rather than cars.

Re: Who makes the most reliable new cars?

#846

Post by [deleted] »

aldebran wrote: post #540
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.

CR poll asks about any problems faced. Phone didn’t connect to the multimedia unit? That’s a problem. Not saying MB quality hasn’t changed but given the large feature set the problem surface area is also very large. More opportunities for owners to find issues. By comparison, Lexus uses tried and tested old technology to the point it’s boring to own. But it’s super reliable. 2nd thing not captured here: not all car m…

[deleted]

Re: Who makes the most reliable new cars?

#847

Post by Aerbil313 »

close04 wrote: post #760
jimbob45 wrote: post #702

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

> Cell phones were a huge mistake This kind of exaggeration undermines any point. An invention as useful as the cell phone was a mistake because people (ab)use it while driving? Any invention is used and abused but the benefits of this invention far outweigh the drawbacks. I'm sure more lives were saved by the mobile phone, and even more were made better, than were taken.

Cell phones were a mistake in the sense that all organization-dependent technology was a mistake. People of the past lived more happy and in-peace years of life despite child mortality, diseases, manual labor, wars, violence, inequality etc. Reason is that no matter how you look at it, either from a evolutionary or a creationist standpoint, human mind-body is literally not designed to live in this world of convenience and ease. There is friction, a lot, which we try to adapt to and fail, and will continue to fail. Nor do we evolve in timescales of 300 years.

No unga-bunga is speaking here. NixOS-loving Rust-writing software dev. Read some Ted Kaczynski folks.

Re: Who makes the most reliable new cars?

#848

Post by civilitty »

euroderf wrote: post #737
jimbob45 wrote: post #702

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

> altho people would hack around it.

By opening a window?

Re: Who makes the most reliable new cars?

#849

Post by tim333 »

Psychoshy_bc1q wrote: post #785
eru wrote: post #510

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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. That's true to a point. In the US there are regulatory loopholes for SUVs, so that's impacting what vehicles people choose. I agree that fuel efficiency standards are pretty silly. Especially CAFE standards. They should just tax CO2 emission…

paywall

https://archive.ph/EsAIg

Re: Who makes the most reliable new cars?

#850

Post by Lolaccount »

Still running a 2005 Toyota right here ... I wanted to get rid of it a few years ago, but it's turning into a classic before my very eyes (in my heart anyway).

Has never let me down ... even once ... * knock on wood *

Also enjoying maintaining a 69 Beetle... no Wifi, no tracking, hardly any electronics at all ... LOVE IT.

And though I love driving, I don't drive that often, so my emissions are low.

Sorry, you can keep your new cars.

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