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Who makes the most reliable new cars?

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Re: Who makes the most reliable new cars?

#991

Post by tacocataco »

emodendroket wrote: post #596
laurencerowe wrote: post #554

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 2 to end: you're not really serious about running it into the ground. :) It’s more that the ground is much closer for other makes! I think Toyotas may make more sense as new buys though since they hold their value so well.

In the current market buying a late-model, used economy car makes zero sense. The savings are still pretty juicy for luxury models though.

You can get some deals if you buy used cars with some problems to to fix. I see a bunch of cars on facebook marketplace (i miss old school Craigslist) that are about 1k that need repairs of various sorts.

Now is a really good time as winter is here and people need their driveway space back.

Cash for clunkers and covid, what a one two punch for the used car market. Might be a decade before things stabilize.

Re: Who makes the most reliable new cars?

#992

Post by tacocataco »

balderdash wrote: post #375
laurencerowe wrote: post #199

Note that these stats only account for reliability in the first three years: > Then the brand reliability score was calculated by averaging results from 2021 to 2023. As someone who usually buys ~10 year old cars and drives them into the ground I'm much more interested in long term reliability. It may correlate but these stats are not that!

Totally agree, I want to know what or of warranty cost of ownership is. Especially since most auto manufacturers only design for say ~10 year reliability. Sure we could make a a part that would last forever, but it’d be heavy (bad for fuel economy) and expensive, so let’s make the lightest and cheapest part that will last about x years (we still want all that spare part revenue too!)

That's fine making it light, but you have to engineer the car so you can get at it reasonably.

There is zero reason to put a battery in a wheel well for instance. What did it make the car $1 cheaper to make? Forget the battery till the end of the design?

Re: Who makes the most reliable new cars?

#993

Post by buyngd1 »

throwaway914 wrote: post #777
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.

My counterpoint to this is there have always been a ton of bad drivers. The most important skill to have is to be a predictable driver. Bad drivers will always exist. You cannot change them, and the great number of them is not likely to drop to 0 overnight. The best thing you can do is drive in a way that even bad drivers expect. Be a speed-limited, blinker-indicating, cautious log in the river. They will parkour aro…

[flagged]

Re: Who makes the most reliable new cars?

#994

Post by pictureofabear »

pezezin wrote: post #707
pictureofabear wrote: post #374

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes... a lot of people (Americans I guess since I'm American and that's where my anecdotal evidence comes from) think the Japanese are very efficient. They might be in somethings, but their true love is perfection. They love doing things right. Big things, little things... it's a country-wide obsession.

I live in Japan and let me tell you that the Japanese being perfectionists is also a myth. What Japanese people are really good at is following instructions and procedures, to the point that you see their minds crashing when something goes out of script. Now, whether the procedure makes sense and will result in a good outcome or not is a completely different matter...

hmmm.. I think we're both right here. I lived in a Japan for several years and saw a similar thing that you're pointing out, but I don't think the obsession with perfectionism is a myth.

Re: Who makes the most reliable new cars?

#995

Post by stjohnswarts »

soneca wrote: post #342
mkii wrote: post #225

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it truly mysterious though? I find it interesting whenever HN has a strong fascination with all things related to "Japanese-ness". For example, there have been links to wikipedia pages of some Japanese term, and it will make front page with comments. I can't think of any other nation that has this kind of cultural representation on here. And yet, the myth of Japanese "uniqueness" is largely the product of Japanese…

I never met a Brazilian who went to Japan and didn’t spontaneously say that things there are so different. I don’t think it’s solely propaganda (if any at all).

I mean I would figure it would be extremely different, much more so than say visiting the USA or Europe since our heritage all comes from the same parts of the world (minus indigenous which USA and Brazil also share to an extent)

Re: Who makes the most reliable new cars?

#996

Post by stjohnswarts »

NikkiA wrote: post #575
hintymad wrote: post #181

Toyota is amazing for making reliable cars but writing truly shitty code. IIRC, a lawsuit a few years ago about Toyota's faulty brake system revealed that Toyota engineers cramped tens of thousands of lines in a single file and the lines freely update hundreds of global variables. It's also interesting that Japanese companies follow ISO this and CMM that yet they develop slowly and produce shitty software services ev…

90% of embedded code is horrible global variable messes like that, it's truly horrifying if you value CS and SE sensibilities and get into embedded. Invariably you'll also be expected to interface to and utilitise someone else's code of that style, so you can't even try to make much of a positive impact from within.

Meh, I've worked on several embedded systems, majority of developers did not use globals and bad coding practices. They weren't massive class hierarchies like I'm sure a lot of HN people would desire. Mostly (if c++) single inheritance, basic usage of RAII, basic usage of smart pointers (if allowed to use STL, some roll your own). The C projects I worked on were a little more ramshackle but almost no one used global variables or data. Lots of good use of translation uses to separate areas of interest. Most people avoided pointers until needed. It's not as bad as HN likes to portray.

Re: Who makes the most reliable new cars?

#997

Post by stjohnswarts »

giarc wrote: post #888
hintymad wrote: post #181

Toyota is amazing for making reliable cars but writing truly shitty code. IIRC, a lawsuit a few years ago about Toyota's faulty brake system revealed that Toyota engineers cramped tens of thousands of lines in a single file and the lines freely update hundreds of global variables. It's also interesting that Japanese companies follow ISO this and CMM that yet they develop slowly and produce shitty software services ev…

I've been considering newer Toyota Tacoma's recently and their interiors are still stuck in 2010. I believe they are releasing a new redesign, but I still can't believe how outdated even 2022's are.

that would be a plus for me. I find the huge center consoles annoying. Give me knobs and buttons any day for that tactile feedback.

Re: Who makes the most reliable new cars?

#998

Post by stjohnswarts »

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…

I could say similar for my mustang gt, it keeps ticking after 12 years and 250k miles, with nothing but maintenance. I do still enjoy driving it though. I am not a harsh driver though, tend to be a "speed-limit, stop for yellow" driver.

Re: Who makes the most reliable new cars?

#999

Post by smoyer »

Infernal wrote: post #515
smoyer wrote: post #431

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a 2006 Toyota Sienna that's approaching 300k miles and a 2001 Mercedes that's got about 220k miles. That's almost the top and bottom of the list and IMHO it's all about regular maintenance. I have a 2008 Honda FIT with under 100k and it constantly needs something.

I’ve got an 08 Fit as well, in 15 years and 150k miles I haven’t had to do anything outside of brakes/ignition coils/spark plugs. What sorts of things have gone wrong with yours?

Broken front sway bar linkage, leaky caulk art the rear roof seams well-known), spots where the paint wasn't right, early death of DI coils (they should get more than 60k), rodents eating the wiring harness (twice) as Honda uses what they claim is environmentally friendly insulation.

But yeah ... I forgive plugs, oil changes, brakes, filters, etc as it's PM that has given my other cars their longevity.

Re: Who makes the most reliable new cars?

#1000

Post by Valakas_ »

purpleblue wrote: post #411
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 have a 2012 Honda Fit that they will need to pry off my cold dead hands. It's my favorite car of all time, it's everything that I want from a car. Except possibly a larger gas tank.

2003 Honda fit owner here @ 180Mm. Outside regular maintenance, not once have I had to take it to the mechanics. Zero issues. This car was the pinnacle.
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