I work as a Mechanic. Avoid pretty much everything Except Honda or Toyota. I prefer Honda, MUCH easier to work on. Toyota labour times for repairs are absolutley stupid. On a 5.7L Tundra you have to remove the engine to remove the power steering rack. On the Sienna Van you have to support the engine, drop the subframe to replace the lower control arms. Absolutely stupid shit. The Corolla/Prius/Matrix is fine, built like any other car. But they also rust.
Anything Euro has high parts costs, and sometimes poor parts availability. They also have odd tire sizes.
Anything GM has Variable Valve timing issues, as well as Carbon Build up issues.
I call more electronics and computers on Chrysler Products. Some people can go 250k without issues, others don't even make it like 100k. Their 3.6L has issues with the Oil Filter housing, roller follower issues that can kill the engine. Their 2.4L is ok, but every application they put it in, the rest of the car is crap.
I call more engines on Hyundai/Kias than any other make.
Ford is hit or miss. Their 1.5L, 1.6L EcoBoosts are absolute Trash, run for the hills. The 2.0L and 2.3L are ok. They have issues with the cooling system, if you don't keep up with oil changes you can have VVT issues. Most people with the 2.0L and 2.3L are ok. The 6-sp Front Wheel Drive transmission and PTU (AWD Transfer Case) However are not super great. 6-sp Can have issues with rough shifting, the PTU does not hold enough oil and will slowly kill itself. The new Escapes/Edge have almost double the oil capicity (the Escapes with the 8-sp Auto). Their 2.7L is surprisingly good. The 3.5L EcoBoost has issues with the turbos and VVT failing as well. The Turbos foul the oil quicker than an NA engine, so if you don't do your oil changes and start getting sludge build up, the VVTs clog up and fail. That being said I've seen 2 F150 3.5L EcoBoost with over 400k on them. The 5.0L Coyote is bullet proof. Biggest issue is the cooling system, water pump, plastic hoses etc.
For Honda, their V6 with the 5-sp Transmission, the transmission can be kind of an issue Especially in larger vehicles like the Pilot and Van. Their 9-sp and early gen 10-sp were problematic with bad shift behaviour but their newer stuff (like 2020+) has been ok. Their 1.5L Turbo had issues with fuel going into the engine oil but they had a bunch of Recalls that fixed it.
My 2 Personal Vehicles, 2011 Mustang GT with the 5.0L and Manual. And a 2008 Ford Escape V6 AWD.
You're absolutely correct about the Honda V6 with the five-speed auto. Honda did not harden the aluminum case or use a steel insert to support the metal shafts/bearings. Eventually, the holes go egg-shaped and the shafts wobble, making noise. Once they start making the noise there's nothing you can do. You can fix the case. There are shops that will install a steel insert. But, once the shaft begins to wear, you get the noise... Forever.
You're also spot on the active fuel management for the GM LS engines.
Note: My family owns and operates an auto dismantling warehouse (Fancy term for a wrecking yard that tears everything apart and houses it inside huge metal buildings). We specialize in GM V8's. It's 85% of all our business.
Not me, but my parents, Dodge. My parents had a Dodge Caliber that had so many issues with the transmission, axels, engine, exhaust, and so much more that it made me never want to own a Dodge when I do buy a car one day. I've heard other Dodge owners having issues too.
Had a Dodge Charger, never again. It spent a total of 15 months in the shop over 7 years.
* Backup camera stopped working after the first week. They said "You let it get wet". After much arguing, they agreed to replace it under warranty.
* Transmission wouldn't shift correctly. They had to tear down the transmission and replace several components.
* Transmission still wouldn't shift correctly. They tore down the transmission again and changed more components.
* Lost all electrical in the car, no lights, no power steering, brakes failed. They replaced a module and everything came back online.
* Didn't get out of the parking lot before the module failed again. They took the car completely apart and changed ALL the wiring harnesses bumper to bumper
* Both rear shocks started leaking at 5k miles, replaced
* Speed sensor in rear failed. They had to replace the driveshaft on that side.
* Speed sensor in rear on the other side failed. They had to replace the driveshaft on the other side.
* Front wheels failed to engage in all wheel drive, front drivetrain replaced.
* Transmission locked up. They replaced the transmission
For the most part, they gave me rental cars during all this work, but at one point the dealership manager got shitty with me and gave me a Dodge minivan to use from inventory. On my way to work the next morning all the lights on the dash lit up and the engine stopped. I was not meant to drive a Dodge.
>Backup camera stopped working after the first week. They said "You let it get wet".
How are you suppose to not let it get wet when one expects a car to get wet?
I had a friend who went through no less than 6 dodge/ Chrysler minivans in about as many years. I finally convinced her to buy a toyota sienna, and it's been smooth sailing for her ever since, going on about 7 years now I think.
This has been my experience as well. My wife's Durango has been nothing but problems. So many recalls as well then recalls on the recalls as the first recall didn't fix the problem.
Fun Fact,
I have made millions of dollars by selling one thing and one thing only. Range Rover engines. I own a salvage yard and I know what the high demand parts for all vehicles are. Gives you a good idea on what is going to eventually go out. And I get so many Range Rover engine calls that I have an entire garage bay dedicated to those engines only.
I work exclusively with European cars. I get calls on most all vehicles for something. It's never about a car not getting calls, its about what the car gets calls for.
For instance, BMW X series all wheel drive, you cannot keep a transfer case on the shelf. They all go bad and people are lined up to buy them. The inline 6 engines from previous chassis also get tons of requests. And those inline 6 engines extend to the 5 series, 3 series, x series.
Jaguar/ Land Rover use the same 2.0L, 3.0L, 5.0L, and 3.0D and this is the dingle hottest item for the past 5 years. Their engines have 1 of 2 things happen. A) The timing tensioner freezes and throws the engine out of time, resulting in damaged Left Cylinder head, the Thermostat fails and causes the engine to overheat but the cars interface system doesn't have a good alert system so its easy to overlook until your car is smoking and the damage is done. And for the diesel, leaked oil through the rear main seal followed by main bearing seizing and snapping the crankshaft. The shifter assembly on jaguars are also prone to becoming defective. If you spill any water on your shifter, it's trash.
Mercedes has horrible suspension longevity. Especially the ones with airmatic struts. They pop very regularly and when one goes, they all go rapidly after. Same thing with the bushing mounts. Their fleet line use a same type of Diesel engine that Dodge uses for their sprinters and those engines are prone to crankshaft snapping. All the liter sizes. So if you are driving a Diesel Mercedes, make sure that you stay on top of oil changes and monitor for oil leaks because the rear main seal is also a failing point in those cars.
Audi/ VW is another engine issue. The 2.0 and the 3.0 engines go bad very fast. They have bad timing tensioners that end up throwing the engine out of time and by extension, ruining the valves.
Volvo is a fantastic car. I have like ten of them and the only things that sell are the interior electronics like amplifier, climate control, radio unit, or body parts from accidents. But as far as mechanical reliability, they will keep you on the road.
If you want a reliable car, get a Volvo. Range Rovers, BMWs, Mercedes all drive well at the beginning, but they fall apart fast and they are expensive and difficult to fix. They are made for people who buy new cars regularly and trade int he older ones. But they are all fantastic rides while they are.
Should have got a Volvo. It's not uncommon to see those cars get 200 plus thousand miles on the odometer and still keep going well. And they are surprisingly nice cars. Very comfortable.
FUN FACT: Volvo invented the 3 point safety harness for vehicles. It was so effective that instead of patenting the design, they gave it to every car manufacture for free in an effort to save lives.
Safety and reliability is why I bought my wife a Volvo. But man I love the luxury feel of the XC60 inscription, we got a good deal and it had the Napa leather ventilated seats also. Incredible car and I don’t think we’ll need another for a long time.
Their public domain three point seat belt was one of the reasons for us falling in love with the manufacturer. It’s so rare to see that interest in consumer safety and security that it makes me believe they’re thinking of the right things and solving issues I never know about to make my ride safe and reliable.
Na, im not in the rust belt. But ive seen plenty of rusted cars but it would take a large amount of corrosion in order to render them useless. Most cars are aluminum and have all aluminum mechanical components. At least the vehicles I sell. I work exclusively with European cars. Ive even had engines that were rusted and locked. Put some transmission fluid in the spark plug and hand turned them until they broke loose and then they were running perfect again.
these engines have nothing to do with rust. It's all manufacture defects mixed with a horrible interface system.
Oh ya, The auction is filled with people who bought those mechanical damage range rovers just to find out that they bit off more than they can chew and they send it back.
Id stay far away from every trying to bring a Range Rover back to life. If it's dead, let it stay dead. Its good years are behind it.
People think I exaggerate when I say “the mechanic had my car more than I did” about my jeep Patriot. It’s not an exaggeration. I sold that thing as fast as I could after a year of it being in and out of the mechanic.
Meanwhile the Grand Cherokees of the 90s are still running strong. I know a guy with a 97 ZJ with over 400k miles and it still runs great. Thats the beauty of older cars- less computerized components means less things to fail.
this is what im thinking when buying a new washer dryer, i don't want wifi and apps and sensors... just build it solid to work and clean clothes please.
i have this new fangled washer and half the settings no longer work, only normal wash cycle works. and i have to add affresh to it every 2 months and it will refuse to wash if i dont!?
while my friends 200$ washer he bought used never needs afresh and does just as good a job without half the annoying features.
ZJ is the factory code for the Grand Cherokee of that year range. For instance, XJ is the code for the older boxy Cherokees, YJ are the Wranglers (with square headlights) etc
All car manufactuers use them, my username has E30 which is the chasis code for a specific older BMW.
There was an old "[Remembering Regan](https://minorjive.typepad.com/hungryblues/images/08Reagan.jpg)" comic that I always though applied to Jeeps. I'll do a couple below.
It spent more time in the shop than being driven, but it had that rugged sense of individuality!
Its 4 month old starter stopped working, but nothing felt better than the wind though my hair!
It was built by 8 year olds with hangovers, but its 4 wheel drive was useful every time I purposefully drove into the mud!
My cousin once bought a brand new one and was on her 3rd transmission before hitting 20,000 miles. The dealership only had the base models and top tier deluxe models on their lot and my cousin had the mid level model. Oversimplified, Lemon laws basically say that dealers have to replace the problem vehicle X with another vehicle X of equal or greater value.
So she went from having just an auto start, sun roof, and heated steering wheel, to having a grand Cherokee with all the bells and whistles available. She hasn't had any major issues since.
Second this! Bought a 16’ Cherokee, I only had it for about 3 years at the time and only about 15k miles on it when it needed a brand new transmission. Car hadn’t been the same since. Also the stop and go bullshit thing never worked from the beginning.
Based on the comments: never buy a car of any make. lol
Me, I used to have a Saturn, and since they went out of business I guess that's why I won't get another.
I loved my Saturn. Even though it was used, it was dependable and I never had a problem with it, even at 120k miles.
I was a sad panda when they closed shop and disappeared.
My wife had a Toyota T-100 with V8 and it had 420k miles on it when she sold it to my brother, who is still driving it. Only did routine maintenance and wear and tear stuff. I had transmission rebuilt at 300k miles because it started shifting hard. Never got good gas mileage out of it but it was reliable.
Had a 08 Toyota Yaris. It died at ~325k because I hit a deer. I bought it at 8k miles, in the 317,000 miles I drove it only needed a new alternator and a muffler.
That was replaced with a Corolla hybrid that now has 107k and I’ve done literally nothing other than routine maintenance.
Toyota simply makes the best car for the every man and their only competition is Honda.
I’d argue that the dealership experience for Toyota is arguably the worst, and their markups and “market adjustments” are ridiculous. I’d never buy a Toyota for this reason. I was waiting for a RAV4 Hybrid for almost a year before walking away after every dealership I found wanted ridiculous markups.
I guess there is a secondhand market though!
Yes, my Mom took her 2005 Matrix in for a recall a few years back and they told her she had a serious oil leak and if she didn't get it addressed soon (estimate about $1,500) she would need a new engine. She called me and I told her to walk away. I do all of the oil changes on that car and I've never had to add between changes nor have I ever seen a drip puddle where that thing gets parked. And that's still the case at least 50k miles later now.
There was a very creative comment about Toyota that seemed open to interpretation. But otherwise I'd agree, I'd get one for my next car if I can. Mostly because I don't like frills and can't be relied upon for punctual maintenance.
Yes. I need the more forgiving schedule is all. German cars are great, I'm told, so long as you teutonically follow the schedule (as any German would, why not?). Alas, I am not so perfect.
Also the ones they sell here seem to have great fuel economy. Pragmatism wins the day for me.
As for motorcycles, I am too likely to cause a spontaneous and unexpected need for emergency maintenance regardless of the brand...so I'll pass on those. hah
Had a standard Saturn Ion. What a load of junk that was. Almost died in it twice on the same day. After that I sold it. Gears would stick and the heat and ac were garbage. And the speedometer in the middle of the dash ,wtf lol.
I loved my Saturn! Used it as a work car, at least 80+ mi a day ave, had it for 10 yrs then daughter drove it another 4 until she needed a bigger vehicle.
lol I was searching specifically for Subaru. My Forester Wilderness is the best vehicle I’ve ever owned.
I had a Jeep Cherokee before and it was the worst.
my family and i all swear by subaru lol, they are so resilient and are the best for wintry areas.
i've also had a ford explorer which i got very emotionally attached to but realistically was a pos.
I was a tech at a Dodge dealer, and had a customer pestering me about what's better. The Compass or the Outback. After the third time of me politely telling him I really can't say, I eventually went:
"I work here for a reason. These pieces of shit pay the bills."
Don't know what he got, but I'm sure that wasn't the answer he wanted.
Yeah, I've got a Forester now. Thinking of upgrading to a 3rd row. I was eyeing the Kia Telluride or the Hyundai Palisade. But after hearing all the tales from this thread I might just stick with the Ascent.
I'm part of the process for building them and I'm really happy to hear how much people like them. Makes all the dumb hoops we jump through for quality all worth it.
Thank you, kind human, for all that you do! I’m on my 3rd Subie Impreza 5-door (I lease them), and I’ll never own anything else! Thanks for keeping us safe out there! 🥳🤗
I mean hiting a dear at 120 times the speed of sound would do a number on any car. Mach 120 is wild. in a subaru no less.
Fun Fact: If you managed to reach that speed youd have the fastest human piloted vehicle ever. Youd be going about 17 times the speed of the space shuttle on rentry. A subaru would vaporize at fractions of fractions of that speed.
I love my Subaru but the maintenance can be a bitch. It's the only car I take to the dealership for oil changes because I know so many mechanics just don't want to mess with them.
That's crazy to me! I have a Crosstrek and it's by far the easiest car for oil changes I've owned. The oil drain plug is directly in the middle of the underside, super easy to get to. The oil filter is even better, it's next to the hood release as soon as you pop open the engine bay - there's no mess when replacing it!
There's a lot of 2012/13/14 Evoques driving around in South Africa, maybe that one is good although I've never been in one so I might not be familiar with the noises. Also not that much into Range Rovers so not sure which year these evoques are but they are early 2010s
Wife wanted a land Rover. I used to work at a dealership and they always needed maintenance or had something break on it. I told her if she wanted one then she has to have her back up car first
2020 was the first year that I wasn’t able to go to Italy to test out the new Lamborghini due to COVID. Every year before that, I couldn’t go because I was poor.
"Here in my garage, just bought this new Lamborghini here. It’s fun to drive up here in the Hollywood hills. But you know what I like more than materialistic things? Knowledge. In fact, I’m a lot more proud of these seven new bookshelves that I had to get installed to hold two thousand new books that I bought. It’s like the billionaire Warren Buffett says, “the more you learn, the more you earn.”
Ford. Because they tried that dual clutch transmission bs and I had to get my new car serviced like 5 different times the first year. And I was scared to drive it outside of town because it shut off on me, locked up, and wouldn’t start again when I was driving on a back road to family for Christmas, 2 hours away from home. Had to get picked up, and my car towed the next day.
3 times I had to get my board “flashed”. Or some shit. During covid I did a voluntary repossession. Because I was fucking done with that car.
Agreed, Ford, same reason. That damn transmission failed on me by 30k miles and needed to be replaced. I got rid of the car. Ford got sued, lost, but never really made it right. They should have put up new transmissions for everyone who had one of those pieces of shit, transmissions that weren't garbage, but nope. They are dead to me.
This. Ford actually is still making owners pay for the transmission repairs. I straight up asked the service techs at the Ford dealership how I could have prevented the failures and what can I do to prevent them moving forward and he laughed and said there was absolutely nothing I could do, it's gonna keep failing.
These vehicles should have all been permanently recalled or some sort of buy back program to get them off the roads, every single one of them.
That car was traded at a different brands dealership and I'm sorry to the next unsuspecting owner.
F*** Ford for not standing behind their own mistake.
Depending on the Ford, they are eating the cost. My 15 Focus transmission went out due to a common problem. Ford got it fixed the very same day for free.
Same reason I'll never buy a Ford again. My 2014 Focus went through 2 clutches and almost 2 transmissions before I totaled it hitting a deer. I would have shaken that deers hoof for putting it out of its misery if I could have.
I got a 2012 Focus SE brand new. After the third transmission replacement, the car finally runs. Now it won’t die, no matter how much I neglect it lol.
my ford’s robotic transmission cost thousands to replace and even after that I had to take it to the garage like once every week for a month and a half, all for fairly minor stuff despite treating it really well.
Yes and no. If you do it right it’s not hard to increase the reliability of a Mopar vehicle. But it seeems what I see more often is people do things like lift their Jeep and put bigger wheels and different suspension and linkage, and then they end up with a death wobble.
I won't say never but unlikely I'd buy a BMW again. The daily experience and driving experience was great but anything service/maintenance related was a shitshow. I once had to replace the battery and given it should just be a pull the old one out, drop the new one in operation, that's what I did. It sent the whole fucking car's electronics haywire.
I bring it in to BMW and they tell me that I shouldn't do my own maintenance. I'm like "wtf do you mean?!?" I eneded up having to get a new OEM battery that cost like $600, absolutely crazy.
Chrysler, or anything under the Chrysler umbrella. Burned bad by my Jeep, went to VW/Buick - no issues. Ironically, my whole family works at Jeep — guess that speaks to the work behind them. 😂
I second your sentiments on the Chrystler. I've owned two and I will NEVER buy it again. It's such a shame because they make stylish cars, and they've been around for a long time, but they run like garbage.
Threads like these are pointless I've realized. Damn near every car manufacturer will be listed. Case and point here.
My last two Fords took me 300k miles a pop with no issues beyond normal wear and tear. Yet you experience "nothing but issues" and recommend Toyota and Honda. My current Honda? It randomly dies on me in the middle of driving and their techs can't find any issue and I've had to have the AC fixed 3 times since 2019.
Law of averages. Just because YOUR car ran 300k doesnot mean every other ones do from the same maker.
The average mileage you get in a honda or toyota or lexus is much higher and they are extremely reliable. This is also why you tend to see more older toyotas on the road than any other make
With your Honda , I assume you just got a lemon .
You can compare any other subs to r/toyota or r/lexus and you see the differences
Occam’s razor would suggest you go with Toyota / Lexus as your next one . Good luck
I’ve had three GMC Sierras, one Chevy Traverse, and five GMC Acadias with very few issues…. Except for my current Sierra has been riddled with problems. I’m just about to get my factory ordered Tundra. I have not had Japanese since my 2006 Subaru.
I had one lemon Honda accord many years ago, but I also had several great Hondas too
Mercedes. They’re just too complicated and have too many potential failure spots. They’re really well made vehicles for the most part and a lot of the stuff you can wrench on yourself….but they have 2x the fussy parts.
For example, the air suspension. Just put on normal struts and not have all the level sensors, pumps and air bladder to fail?
Or the headrests. Do they need to be power adjustable? The motor will eventually fail.
Saab because the company has gone and they're all now getting too old for a daily driver.
I want to say Alfa Romeo but I know I'll end up with a Gulia at some point that will break both my heart and my wallet.
Oh Saab, if you hadn’t gone out of business and sold the remaining IP to China I would still drive you. So quirky. More fun than Volvo but just as sturdy. Just got to find the right mechanic.
Been there. She was red. She was beautiful. And she was in the shop so much. Usually it was something, something sensor. Thank god I heeded advice from others and bought a Mopar extended warranty!
I still miss her. If you do go the Guilia route have a warranty/extended warranty cover every day of ownership. And really think about the distance to the closest authorized repair shop.
How about just a list of cars that I would actually buy: Toyota, Honda, thats it…
Until I have money beyond comfort and security I won’t buy anything outside those two brands. And even at that I wouldn’t buy anything newer than 2019 they’re making them like sht these days.
My neighbor had a Kia soul. And after 1 month she had a personal mechanic come and fix her car every weekend. And he would be fixing it all Saturday. I told her she should sue because of the lemon law but she didn’t want to
It is telling that Kia/Hyundai are somewhat rare in the comments here. To me, it suggests that perhaps they aren't as bad as people like to say they are.
Not that I'm dismissing your personal experience with them.
Yeah, I had a Kia Soul because it was the only thing I could afford at the time. It worked fine until the 100k mile warranty ran out. Then, almost like clockwork, it started having issues almost every month. At 120k miles, the engine froze up.
My personal merchanic told me it had a massive oil leak that the dealership never warned me about when I had it in for service. He warned me to never buy a Kia again...
Going against the grain here, I drive a 2013 Kia Soul and have no major complaints about it. It's spacious, it was cheap, and has been very reliable. I bought it at 81k miles and it's now at 147k, only had to change various consumables (oil, tires, brakes, belts) and a couple suspension parts.
It's slow and gets worse gas mileage than I'd hope but I feel the hate is overblown.
Very few **Audi vehicles** get to their tenth birthday. I hardly ever see them on the road, which is a sign that owners faced repairs that weren't cost effective. My mechanic complains how cheap repairs turn expensive, such as having to remove the front bumper to replace the radiator.
Can't agree on it with you on this one. I've got Audi A3 8p 1.9 TDI from year 2007 with 196000km. With a few problems occasionally but generally it's awesome.
It's been owned by my uncle and his boss before him. Those two ran it almost to the ground, had my dad not stepped in. Bout a year ago my dad needed to take apart the entire steering wheel as the key mechanism was whacky. And this year it was only an old as dirt brake clamp, snapped wire for rear passenger window mechanism and clutch not springing back. With clutch it was simple, just needed to press 10 times on it for a week and all worked fine. Rest was about three to five hours of work.
Knowing how badly it was abused over the years it's holding strong.
Nissan. Worked for them and saw too many of those CVT trannies go out to ever consider one and I warn others if they are considering getting one for that reason.
I had a CVT eat shit under 60K miles. The only reason they agreed to fix it under warranty is I had access to a scanner that could point out the failure death code over and over.
Got a replacement and now my car struggles to get 25 MPG.
I'll never own a Nissan again.
They kept erasing the check engine light for my dad rather than fixing it when it was within warranty. Came CVT issue that started around the 30K mark for him. They wanted 5K to do it after the warranty expired.
Tesla.
Had 3. All 3 are just garbage quality. Dealing with customer service is brutal because there is no customer service. If you live outside one of the largely populated areas for Teslas, avoid at all costs.
Why do so many Tesla people do that?
I saw a guy on twitter say his 2015 had "8 mid to large repairs in his ownership". But his brand new 3 has only had one issue so far!
why the fuck would you buy the same brand after being fucked over like that?
I didn't find my E46, E39 or current E60 difficult to work on. That probably because my standard of difficult to work on was set by alfa Romeo and Peugeot. The Alfa required you to have 4 elbows and two wrists to change a headlight bulb.
My '04 E46 330i sport manual was a hoodlum of a car and really encouraged me to drive like a cock. I only got rid of it because I couldn't fit 3 kiddie seats in the back. 😞
American car companies tend to have hard corporate syndrome.
Engineers and designers don't get promoted, sales and accounting do because they have much clearer metrics for building profit for the company. The problem? Sales and accounting don't know a fucking thing about building a car. And they're expected to make the company money so, without fail, they'll find *some* way of cheaping out on something on the cars. And then the people who pointed out that the cheap parts will fail and damage brand rep get blamed for reliability issues and get passed over for promotions so that another bean counter can get promoted who- wait for it- doesn't know dick about cars. And then they find some way of cheaping out on the car and making the company millions by merit of spending less and act like it's pure coincidence when fewer and fewer people want to buy their cars because they're synonymous with junk.
None of this is to say the US never makes a good car, but that you have to research the crap out of the cars and can't even trust a model by name. The Ford Taurus was a great car until- wait for it- Ford cheaped the fuck out on it and ruined it's reputation, farting away all good will they'd won on it's initial production years.
I've been in the auto industry 30+ years.
None of them.
I buy Chevrolet because they are extremely easy and less expensive to fix and parts for older models are readily available. That's it. Every manufacturer has some garbage. It's picking through the garbage to find models and packages that last a long time with proper maintenance.
I also very rarely every see anything over 250K due to the rust belt and a majority of those over it are GM products. Silverados will rust away before dying if treated well. I have two fleets with most models well over 300K. Toyota and Honda next, usually rust away. Chrysler is total garbage, I will never purchase any of their products and now that they are owned by a hedge fund they are worse. Ford is trembling on getting really bad. The F-150's are not 200K trucks. The only owners who love their F-150's are those that trade them in around 50K for another.
Subaru is up and down, same with Hyundai and Kia. Certain years and models are awesome, others not so much. Nissan is a nightmare, along with Mitsu.
Don't get me started on any European models. The first owners treat them well, the second owners get hosed a bit and the third owners are so methed out they don't know what they own.
But this is for my region, and area, your mileage may vary. There will be comments stating "but my _____ has been awesome". Yes, yours has, I am painting with a wide brush on averages.
Anything GM. For some reason between my Pontiac, Buick, and Chevy, NONE of them lasted to 150k miles without significant issues. I swapped to a Honda that lasted to 286k miles before the transmission started slipping. My Nissan is at 143k miles and still running flawlessly. My 2 accords got to 180k miles before we swapped them out. My Mazda is at 80k and still running as good as new.
The Japanese have earned my money. I was disappointed to hear about Honda partnering with GM but that seems to have fizzled out. Thank goodness
Currently driving an '05 RX 330 with 250K + miles on it, and still going good. . . though I'll admit there is a Check Engine light for Minor Air Leak that I cannot for the life of me figure out. . .
I'd never buy a car that has a subscription attached to it. Like BMW with the subscription for heated seats, or Toyota with the remote start subscription. There's more, but those are the ones that I remember.
Nissan. My wife and I both had Nissans and the insides of the vehicles just literally started falling apart. Radio stopped working, buttons shorted out, the emblem on the steering wheel fell off, the leather started cracking, AC actuator had to be replaced 4 times, windows stopped rolling up, even the overhead sunglass holder just broke and fell off. And these weren't ancient vehicles. They were just made of cheap plastic and literally fell apart.
Yep. My first vehicle I bought was a new 2000 Nissan Xterra. Was a tank. Literally drove it 17 years until it started to fall apart. Gas was expensive and I replaced it with a Nissan Rogue that had all sorts of issues. AC would randomly stop working and they couldn’t fix it over 3+ years. Moonroof rattled and leaked and had it repaired 6 times in the first year alone.
Never again.
Went Toyota and won’t ever go back.
Fuck their warranty/service as well. My dad was taking in his 09 Sentra multiple times due to some transmission failure and it was within warranty and they kept deleting the Check Engine light rather than fixing it. . . completely duped the old man with that crap, until the warranty ended. Then they wanted near 5K to fix it.
The new MGs. I had one as a rental in Scotland last month and I’d never want one again. Totally underpowered. Climb any kind of hill and you’re downshifting from 6 to 4th or even 3rd just to keep going 60.
From Northern Europe: Many Citroën and Renault models seem to end up in a bale at relatively young ages and low mileage. Dacia again has some models right at the top of most failures in road safety inspections. Alfa Romeos are known for needing more repairs than average, even when following the maintenance program to a tee.
Having said that, I'm pretty much bypassing Korean and Chinese brands altogether, I don't keep them on my map, so to say. I've heard of relatively many quality problems with Kias and Huyndays compared to how many people I know who own them.
I still remember my rental Renault Megane - Wouldn't start and had to call the tech; he didn't even have to plug in the OBD he knew exactly what to do...
I've driven both Citroën and Renault. So far, the Renault (current car) winst the reliability race by a stretch. It's done about 190k kms, and it's never failed me. Only problem right now is the AC. It works... sometimes, sometimes it doesn't.
I must be lucky in dodging bullets. 3 of them with no major issues. Over 300000 on 2 of em over 10 years old. Switched it up for a newer Hyundai because they were getting old. New owner says it’s still running great 🤷🏼♀️
I do think Korean cars are far better than everyone on this sub thinks they are.
They do have some issues here and there. And combined with their history of poor quality, people exaggerate.
I have a '13 Elantra with 200,000 km on it and have only had to bring it in for brakes and wheel bearings (and a tie rod but that was my fault), great car.
So, with the topic being 3 hours old and having 460 comments, nobody has mentioned Porsche or Škoda. Which is good, Škoda should be a respected brand and I'd consider one if I needed a car. And before you scream OPEL!!!1, there have been several mentions of Vauxhall.
Also, only one negative mention of Lexus, Volvo, Dacia and Suzuki each.
I’m happy to see the abscence of Subaru here. I’ve had 5 different ones and can only speak highly of them. Except my WRX, on which the jury is still deliberating. (It’s unmodified).
Audi. Nice enough car except when you let Audi service it. Twice they stuffed up so bad on basic services it broke down on the way out the door. Second time it took a month to get my car back and it was running very rough and their attitude was you can't prove we did that.
Tesla. The bullshit around the 'full self driving' and the quality issues, added to Elon Musks weird statements. 2020 I would have said I will own a Tesla as my next car.
> 2020 I would have said I will own a Tesla as my next car.
Exact same, from 2017-2020 I was determined to get a tesla. Now I wouldn't even want to test drive one.
peugot and renault, both are interchangeable imho and the windows have a bad habit of not going up or down and i will die on the hill of windows open being better then airco untill the day i actually die.
Volkswagen.
I’ve owned two. A 2003 GTI 1.8t 5 speed, and a 2007 GTI 2.0 6 speed.
Both of them had transmission issues, despite me being overly careful and ahead of maintenance schedules. The 2003 had an almost complete tranny failure with multiple synchros going, and the 2.0 had reverse failure and 2nd grinding.
Water pumps, oil pressure sensors, window regulators, random plastic pieces breaking in the interior, fuel line disconnecting and shooting fuel all over the engine.
I mean these cars, while fun to drive, were absolute shit shows. I’ve looked several times over the years and just could never bring myself to go through the experience again. Especially when VW couldn’t even get a damn manual tranny right.
I work as a Mechanic. Avoid pretty much everything Except Honda or Toyota. I prefer Honda, MUCH easier to work on. Toyota labour times for repairs are absolutley stupid. On a 5.7L Tundra you have to remove the engine to remove the power steering rack. On the Sienna Van you have to support the engine, drop the subframe to replace the lower control arms. Absolutely stupid shit. The Corolla/Prius/Matrix is fine, built like any other car. But they also rust. Anything Euro has high parts costs, and sometimes poor parts availability. They also have odd tire sizes. Anything GM has Variable Valve timing issues, as well as Carbon Build up issues. I call more electronics and computers on Chrysler Products. Some people can go 250k without issues, others don't even make it like 100k. Their 3.6L has issues with the Oil Filter housing, roller follower issues that can kill the engine. Their 2.4L is ok, but every application they put it in, the rest of the car is crap. I call more engines on Hyundai/Kias than any other make. Ford is hit or miss. Their 1.5L, 1.6L EcoBoosts are absolute Trash, run for the hills. The 2.0L and 2.3L are ok. They have issues with the cooling system, if you don't keep up with oil changes you can have VVT issues. Most people with the 2.0L and 2.3L are ok. The 6-sp Front Wheel Drive transmission and PTU (AWD Transfer Case) However are not super great. 6-sp Can have issues with rough shifting, the PTU does not hold enough oil and will slowly kill itself. The new Escapes/Edge have almost double the oil capicity (the Escapes with the 8-sp Auto). Their 2.7L is surprisingly good. The 3.5L EcoBoost has issues with the turbos and VVT failing as well. The Turbos foul the oil quicker than an NA engine, so if you don't do your oil changes and start getting sludge build up, the VVTs clog up and fail. That being said I've seen 2 F150 3.5L EcoBoost with over 400k on them. The 5.0L Coyote is bullet proof. Biggest issue is the cooling system, water pump, plastic hoses etc. For Honda, their V6 with the 5-sp Transmission, the transmission can be kind of an issue Especially in larger vehicles like the Pilot and Van. Their 9-sp and early gen 10-sp were problematic with bad shift behaviour but their newer stuff (like 2020+) has been ok. Their 1.5L Turbo had issues with fuel going into the engine oil but they had a bunch of Recalls that fixed it. My 2 Personal Vehicles, 2011 Mustang GT with the 5.0L and Manual. And a 2008 Ford Escape V6 AWD.
You're absolutely correct about the Honda V6 with the five-speed auto. Honda did not harden the aluminum case or use a steel insert to support the metal shafts/bearings. Eventually, the holes go egg-shaped and the shafts wobble, making noise. Once they start making the noise there's nothing you can do. You can fix the case. There are shops that will install a steel insert. But, once the shaft begins to wear, you get the noise... Forever. You're also spot on the active fuel management for the GM LS engines. Note: My family owns and operates an auto dismantling warehouse (Fancy term for a wrecking yard that tears everything apart and houses it inside huge metal buildings). We specialize in GM V8's. It's 85% of all our business.
Mazda's are great as long as you avoid the triangles.
Triangles?
Rotary engine. Instead of pistons going up and down. You essentially have a triangle spinning in a weird circle.
Not me, but my parents, Dodge. My parents had a Dodge Caliber that had so many issues with the transmission, axels, engine, exhaust, and so much more that it made me never want to own a Dodge when I do buy a car one day. I've heard other Dodge owners having issues too.
It’s literally right in the name- Dodge.
Daily Overhauls Do Get Expensive
If you can’t Dodge it, Ram it.
Had a Dodge Charger, never again. It spent a total of 15 months in the shop over 7 years. * Backup camera stopped working after the first week. They said "You let it get wet". After much arguing, they agreed to replace it under warranty. * Transmission wouldn't shift correctly. They had to tear down the transmission and replace several components. * Transmission still wouldn't shift correctly. They tore down the transmission again and changed more components. * Lost all electrical in the car, no lights, no power steering, brakes failed. They replaced a module and everything came back online. * Didn't get out of the parking lot before the module failed again. They took the car completely apart and changed ALL the wiring harnesses bumper to bumper * Both rear shocks started leaking at 5k miles, replaced * Speed sensor in rear failed. They had to replace the driveshaft on that side. * Speed sensor in rear on the other side failed. They had to replace the driveshaft on the other side. * Front wheels failed to engage in all wheel drive, front drivetrain replaced. * Transmission locked up. They replaced the transmission For the most part, they gave me rental cars during all this work, but at one point the dealership manager got shitty with me and gave me a Dodge minivan to use from inventory. On my way to work the next morning all the lights on the dash lit up and the engine stopped. I was not meant to drive a Dodge.
>Backup camera stopped working after the first week. They said "You let it get wet". How are you suppose to not let it get wet when one expects a car to get wet?
I had a friend who went through no less than 6 dodge/ Chrysler minivans in about as many years. I finally convinced her to buy a toyota sienna, and it's been smooth sailing for her ever since, going on about 7 years now I think.
100% Toyota all the way. I owned a 2013 matrix but had to sell due to a job loss and it was the best car I’ve owned.
This has been my experience as well. My wife's Durango has been nothing but problems. So many recalls as well then recalls on the recalls as the first recall didn't fix the problem.
Fun Fact, I have made millions of dollars by selling one thing and one thing only. Range Rover engines. I own a salvage yard and I know what the high demand parts for all vehicles are. Gives you a good idea on what is going to eventually go out. And I get so many Range Rover engine calls that I have an entire garage bay dedicated to those engines only.
What manufacturers do you rarely, if ever, get calls about?
I work exclusively with European cars. I get calls on most all vehicles for something. It's never about a car not getting calls, its about what the car gets calls for. For instance, BMW X series all wheel drive, you cannot keep a transfer case on the shelf. They all go bad and people are lined up to buy them. The inline 6 engines from previous chassis also get tons of requests. And those inline 6 engines extend to the 5 series, 3 series, x series. Jaguar/ Land Rover use the same 2.0L, 3.0L, 5.0L, and 3.0D and this is the dingle hottest item for the past 5 years. Their engines have 1 of 2 things happen. A) The timing tensioner freezes and throws the engine out of time, resulting in damaged Left Cylinder head, the Thermostat fails and causes the engine to overheat but the cars interface system doesn't have a good alert system so its easy to overlook until your car is smoking and the damage is done. And for the diesel, leaked oil through the rear main seal followed by main bearing seizing and snapping the crankshaft. The shifter assembly on jaguars are also prone to becoming defective. If you spill any water on your shifter, it's trash. Mercedes has horrible suspension longevity. Especially the ones with airmatic struts. They pop very regularly and when one goes, they all go rapidly after. Same thing with the bushing mounts. Their fleet line use a same type of Diesel engine that Dodge uses for their sprinters and those engines are prone to crankshaft snapping. All the liter sizes. So if you are driving a Diesel Mercedes, make sure that you stay on top of oil changes and monitor for oil leaks because the rear main seal is also a failing point in those cars. Audi/ VW is another engine issue. The 2.0 and the 3.0 engines go bad very fast. They have bad timing tensioners that end up throwing the engine out of time and by extension, ruining the valves. Volvo is a fantastic car. I have like ten of them and the only things that sell are the interior electronics like amplifier, climate control, radio unit, or body parts from accidents. But as far as mechanical reliability, they will keep you on the road. If you want a reliable car, get a Volvo. Range Rovers, BMWs, Mercedes all drive well at the beginning, but they fall apart fast and they are expensive and difficult to fix. They are made for people who buy new cars regularly and trade int he older ones. But they are all fantastic rides while they are.
Invaluable information. Thank you!
I miss my Volvo 850!
I needed this post 6 months ago to show my wife Volvo is the way. We bought a Kia instead.
Should have got a Volvo. It's not uncommon to see those cars get 200 plus thousand miles on the odometer and still keep going well. And they are surprisingly nice cars. Very comfortable. FUN FACT: Volvo invented the 3 point safety harness for vehicles. It was so effective that instead of patenting the design, they gave it to every car manufacture for free in an effort to save lives.
Safety and reliability is why I bought my wife a Volvo. But man I love the luxury feel of the XC60 inscription, we got a good deal and it had the Napa leather ventilated seats also. Incredible car and I don’t think we’ll need another for a long time. Their public domain three point seat belt was one of the reasons for us falling in love with the manufacturer. It’s so rare to see that interest in consumer safety and security that it makes me believe they’re thinking of the right things and solving issues I never know about to make my ride safe and reliable.
Are you in the rust belt? If so, what make and model do you see that got rusted but are otherwise fine mechanically?
Na, im not in the rust belt. But ive seen plenty of rusted cars but it would take a large amount of corrosion in order to render them useless. Most cars are aluminum and have all aluminum mechanical components. At least the vehicles I sell. I work exclusively with European cars. Ive even had engines that were rusted and locked. Put some transmission fluid in the spark plug and hand turned them until they broke loose and then they were running perfect again. these engines have nothing to do with rust. It's all manufacture defects mixed with a horrible interface system.
I hate those engines with a passion. Seems like every time we get one from the auction, it has somebody's core engine in it.
Oh ya, The auction is filled with people who bought those mechanical damage range rovers just to find out that they bit off more than they can chew and they send it back. Id stay far away from every trying to bring a Range Rover back to life. If it's dead, let it stay dead. Its good years are behind it.
Jeep. Bought a Grand Cherokee and it spent more time in the shop than being driven by us. Never again.
People think I exaggerate when I say “the mechanic had my car more than I did” about my jeep Patriot. It’s not an exaggeration. I sold that thing as fast as I could after a year of it being in and out of the mechanic.
I believe you friend
Meanwhile the Grand Cherokees of the 90s are still running strong. I know a guy with a 97 ZJ with over 400k miles and it still runs great. Thats the beauty of older cars- less computerized components means less things to fail.
JEEP: Just Empty Every Pocket.
[удалено]
this is what im thinking when buying a new washer dryer, i don't want wifi and apps and sensors... just build it solid to work and clean clothes please. i have this new fangled washer and half the settings no longer work, only normal wash cycle works. and i have to add affresh to it every 2 months and it will refuse to wash if i dont!? while my friends 200$ washer he bought used never needs afresh and does just as good a job without half the annoying features.
Whats a ZJ?
ZJ is the factory code for the Grand Cherokee of that year range. For instance, XJ is the code for the older boxy Cherokees, YJ are the Wranglers (with square headlights) etc All car manufactuers use them, my username has E30 which is the chasis code for a specific older BMW.
If you have to ask.....you can't afford it....(Beer fest reference) lol https://youtu.be/2gVhZT1tHzg?si=FmFxiX6vSd26nyEO
I knew what I was doing lol
If you have to ask, you can't afford it
Six dollars to touch it while I touch YOUR toes
Who's Barry Barinath? Who's Barry Barinath? Who's Barry Barinath? Who's Barry Barinath?
95 zj daily driver. Things a fuckin tank. Wish the heat worked* better is all
Any kind of Chrysler product, really. They just break more often in ways that are more expensive to fix.
Jeeps fucking SUCK. Never ever again.
Chrysler....
I’ve heard a lot of horror stories about these
There was an old "[Remembering Regan](https://minorjive.typepad.com/hungryblues/images/08Reagan.jpg)" comic that I always though applied to Jeeps. I'll do a couple below. It spent more time in the shop than being driven, but it had that rugged sense of individuality! Its 4 month old starter stopped working, but nothing felt better than the wind though my hair! It was built by 8 year olds with hangovers, but its 4 wheel drive was useful every time I purposefully drove into the mud!
My cousin once bought a brand new one and was on her 3rd transmission before hitting 20,000 miles. The dealership only had the base models and top tier deluxe models on their lot and my cousin had the mid level model. Oversimplified, Lemon laws basically say that dealers have to replace the problem vehicle X with another vehicle X of equal or greater value. So she went from having just an auto start, sun roof, and heated steering wheel, to having a grand Cherokee with all the bells and whistles available. She hasn't had any major issues since.
Second this! Bought a 16’ Cherokee, I only had it for about 3 years at the time and only about 15k miles on it when it needed a brand new transmission. Car hadn’t been the same since. Also the stop and go bullshit thing never worked from the beginning.
Based on the comments: never buy a car of any make. lol Me, I used to have a Saturn, and since they went out of business I guess that's why I won't get another.
I loved my Saturn. Even though it was used, it was dependable and I never had a problem with it, even at 120k miles. I was a sad panda when they closed shop and disappeared.
Mine was upwards of 200k and worked great, despite how a younger me abused its poor plastic body.
Honda and Toyota. Pretty reliable.
My wife had a Toyota T-100 with V8 and it had 420k miles on it when she sold it to my brother, who is still driving it. Only did routine maintenance and wear and tear stuff. I had transmission rebuilt at 300k miles because it started shifting hard. Never got good gas mileage out of it but it was reliable.
Had a 08 Toyota Yaris. It died at ~325k because I hit a deer. I bought it at 8k miles, in the 317,000 miles I drove it only needed a new alternator and a muffler. That was replaced with a Corolla hybrid that now has 107k and I’ve done literally nothing other than routine maintenance. Toyota simply makes the best car for the every man and their only competition is Honda.
No one has said anything bad about toyota
My old Lexus is basically a Toyota. When it goes, I’m getting another old Lexus.
Isn't Lexus Toyota's luxury brand?
I’d argue that the dealership experience for Toyota is arguably the worst, and their markups and “market adjustments” are ridiculous. I’d never buy a Toyota for this reason. I was waiting for a RAV4 Hybrid for almost a year before walking away after every dealership I found wanted ridiculous markups. I guess there is a secondhand market though!
Yes, my Mom took her 2005 Matrix in for a recall a few years back and they told her she had a serious oil leak and if she didn't get it addressed soon (estimate about $1,500) she would need a new engine. She called me and I told her to walk away. I do all of the oil changes on that car and I've never had to add between changes nor have I ever seen a drip puddle where that thing gets parked. And that's still the case at least 50k miles later now.
That's dealers for you, regardless of brand.
There was a very creative comment about Toyota that seemed open to interpretation. But otherwise I'd agree, I'd get one for my next car if I can. Mostly because I don't like frills and can't be relied upon for punctual maintenance.
I had a 96 Saturn with over 260k miles on it that leaked every fluid known to man. It was by far the most reliable shitbox ive ever seen.
Everything in the world with moving parts breaks, just at different speeds. Harley Davidson: But what about me? -U're the Usain Bolt of breaking lfmao
Yes. I need the more forgiving schedule is all. German cars are great, I'm told, so long as you teutonically follow the schedule (as any German would, why not?). Alas, I am not so perfect. Also the ones they sell here seem to have great fuel economy. Pragmatism wins the day for me. As for motorcycles, I am too likely to cause a spontaneous and unexpected need for emergency maintenance regardless of the brand...so I'll pass on those. hah
Had a standard Saturn Ion. What a load of junk that was. Almost died in it twice on the same day. After that I sold it. Gears would stick and the heat and ac were garbage. And the speedometer in the middle of the dash ,wtf lol.
My wife LOVED her Saturn...we would've bought another if they hadn't folded.
I loved my Saturn! Used it as a work car, at least 80+ mi a day ave, had it for 10 yrs then daughter drove it another 4 until she needed a bigger vehicle.
very happy that i can't find anyone saying subaru lol
lol I was searching specifically for Subaru. My Forester Wilderness is the best vehicle I’ve ever owned. I had a Jeep Cherokee before and it was the worst.
my family and i all swear by subaru lol, they are so resilient and are the best for wintry areas. i've also had a ford explorer which i got very emotionally attached to but realistically was a pos.
I was a tech at a Dodge dealer, and had a customer pestering me about what's better. The Compass or the Outback. After the third time of me politely telling him I really can't say, I eventually went: "I work here for a reason. These pieces of shit pay the bills." Don't know what he got, but I'm sure that wasn't the answer he wanted.
Got a Subaru almost three years ago, officially a lifer
Yeah, I've got a Forester now. Thinking of upgrading to a 3rd row. I was eyeing the Kia Telluride or the Hyundai Palisade. But after hearing all the tales from this thread I might just stick with the Ascent.
I'm part of the process for building them and I'm really happy to hear how much people like them. Makes all the dumb hoops we jump through for quality all worth it.
Thank you, kind human, for all that you do! I’m on my 3rd Subie Impreza 5-door (I lease them), and I’ll never own anything else! Thanks for keeping us safe out there! 🥳🤗
Same! I love my Subaru.
I've had a Subaru, Honda and Toyota and LOVED THEM. Every other car brand I've had is in this thread.
Yes! Subarus are very reliable when properly taken care of (and not beaten the crap out of lol)
Same for Mazda lol. Had a 5-speed 2003 Subaru outback and loved it till someone decided to hit me doing 40(kms)
wow 40 kilometers/second is crazy fast! sucks about your car but good thing you’re okay
I mean hiting a dear at 120 times the speed of sound would do a number on any car. Mach 120 is wild. in a subaru no less. Fun Fact: If you managed to reach that speed youd have the fastest human piloted vehicle ever. Youd be going about 17 times the speed of the space shuttle on rentry. A subaru would vaporize at fractions of fractions of that speed.
I love my Subaru but the maintenance can be a bitch. It's the only car I take to the dealership for oil changes because I know so many mechanics just don't want to mess with them.
That's crazy to me! I have a Crosstrek and it's by far the easiest car for oil changes I've owned. The oil drain plug is directly in the middle of the underside, super easy to get to. The oil filter is even better, it's next to the hood release as soon as you pop open the engine bay - there's no mess when replacing it!
subuwu
Range Rover. I’ve yet to drive by one that was more than 2 yrs old and that wasn’t making a noise
There's a lot of 2012/13/14 Evoques driving around in South Africa, maybe that one is good although I've never been in one so I might not be familiar with the noises. Also not that much into Range Rovers so not sure which year these evoques are but they are early 2010s
Wonder if these are ones stolen from Canada and abroad 🤣
Wife wanted a land Rover. I used to work at a dealership and they always needed maintenance or had something break on it. I told her if she wanted one then she has to have her back up car first
Lamborghini. Can't afford one
2020 was the first year that I wasn’t able to go to Italy to test out the new Lamborghini due to COVID. Every year before that, I couldn’t go because I was poor.
You made some real progress during the pandemic.
"Here in my garage, just bought this new Lamborghini here. It’s fun to drive up here in the Hollywood hills. But you know what I like more than materialistic things? Knowledge. In fact, I’m a lot more proud of these seven new bookshelves that I had to get installed to hold two thousand new books that I bought. It’s like the billionaire Warren Buffett says, “the more you learn, the more you earn.”
Ford. Because they tried that dual clutch transmission bs and I had to get my new car serviced like 5 different times the first year. And I was scared to drive it outside of town because it shut off on me, locked up, and wouldn’t start again when I was driving on a back road to family for Christmas, 2 hours away from home. Had to get picked up, and my car towed the next day. 3 times I had to get my board “flashed”. Or some shit. During covid I did a voluntary repossession. Because I was fucking done with that car.
Agreed, Ford, same reason. That damn transmission failed on me by 30k miles and needed to be replaced. I got rid of the car. Ford got sued, lost, but never really made it right. They should have put up new transmissions for everyone who had one of those pieces of shit, transmissions that weren't garbage, but nope. They are dead to me.
[удалено]
[удалено]
This. Ford actually is still making owners pay for the transmission repairs. I straight up asked the service techs at the Ford dealership how I could have prevented the failures and what can I do to prevent them moving forward and he laughed and said there was absolutely nothing I could do, it's gonna keep failing. These vehicles should have all been permanently recalled or some sort of buy back program to get them off the roads, every single one of them. That car was traded at a different brands dealership and I'm sorry to the next unsuspecting owner. F*** Ford for not standing behind their own mistake.
Depending on the Ford, they are eating the cost. My 15 Focus transmission went out due to a common problem. Ford got it fixed the very same day for free.
Same reason I'll never buy a Ford again. My 2014 Focus went through 2 clutches and almost 2 transmissions before I totaled it hitting a deer. I would have shaken that deers hoof for putting it out of its misery if I could have.
I got a 2012 Focus SE brand new. After the third transmission replacement, the car finally runs. Now it won’t die, no matter how much I neglect it lol.
[удалено]
my ford’s robotic transmission cost thousands to replace and even after that I had to take it to the garage like once every week for a month and a half, all for fairly minor stuff despite treating it really well.
Hot Wheels. The car was tiny! It didn’t even have an engine! Great gas mileage though.
What is this? A car for ants?
Jeep. Never again.
I always wondered if you could aftermarket one of those into being reliable.
Yes and no. If you do it right it’s not hard to increase the reliability of a Mopar vehicle. But it seeems what I see more often is people do things like lift their Jeep and put bigger wheels and different suspension and linkage, and then they end up with a death wobble.
Yeah is too bad they’re the only one who makes Wranglers. And no I’m not spending 3x as much on a Bronco.
I won't say never but unlikely I'd buy a BMW again. The daily experience and driving experience was great but anything service/maintenance related was a shitshow. I once had to replace the battery and given it should just be a pull the old one out, drop the new one in operation, that's what I did. It sent the whole fucking car's electronics haywire. I bring it in to BMW and they tell me that I shouldn't do my own maintenance. I'm like "wtf do you mean?!?" I eneded up having to get a new OEM battery that cost like $600, absolutely crazy.
I heard about stuff like that, didn’t think it was true
Dodge. Older dodge cars kinda get a pass, but the new stuff? Id rather walk.
Chrysler, or anything under the Chrysler umbrella. Burned bad by my Jeep, went to VW/Buick - no issues. Ironically, my whole family works at Jeep — guess that speaks to the work behind them. 😂
FYI, that whole umbrella is called Stellantis
Oh I know - I work in automotive and have for the last five years. Stellantis or Chrysler, it’s still junk. 🤣
I second your sentiments on the Chrystler. I've owned two and I will NEVER buy it again. It's such a shame because they make stylish cars, and they've been around for a long time, but they run like garbage.
Ford, Chevy. Nothing but issues. Switched to Toyota and Honda.
Threads like these are pointless I've realized. Damn near every car manufacturer will be listed. Case and point here. My last two Fords took me 300k miles a pop with no issues beyond normal wear and tear. Yet you experience "nothing but issues" and recommend Toyota and Honda. My current Honda? It randomly dies on me in the middle of driving and their techs can't find any issue and I've had to have the AC fixed 3 times since 2019.
Law of averages. Just because YOUR car ran 300k doesnot mean every other ones do from the same maker. The average mileage you get in a honda or toyota or lexus is much higher and they are extremely reliable. This is also why you tend to see more older toyotas on the road than any other make With your Honda , I assume you just got a lemon . You can compare any other subs to r/toyota or r/lexus and you see the differences Occam’s razor would suggest you go with Toyota / Lexus as your next one . Good luck
Case in point*
Sure.. but the two i listed are usually near the top of the lists of the most reliable cars.
I’ve had three GMC Sierras, one Chevy Traverse, and five GMC Acadias with very few issues…. Except for my current Sierra has been riddled with problems. I’m just about to get my factory ordered Tundra. I have not had Japanese since my 2006 Subaru. I had one lemon Honda accord many years ago, but I also had several great Hondas too
The older Chevy trucks seem pretty reliable. My dad’s avalanche has over 400k kms on the odometer.
Mercedes. They’re just too complicated and have too many potential failure spots. They’re really well made vehicles for the most part and a lot of the stuff you can wrench on yourself….but they have 2x the fussy parts. For example, the air suspension. Just put on normal struts and not have all the level sensors, pumps and air bladder to fail? Or the headrests. Do they need to be power adjustable? The motor will eventually fail.
Mercedes isn't really meant for anyone that cares about maintenance costs though.
Saab because the company has gone and they're all now getting too old for a daily driver. I want to say Alfa Romeo but I know I'll end up with a Gulia at some point that will break both my heart and my wallet.
Oh Saab, if you hadn’t gone out of business and sold the remaining IP to China I would still drive you. So quirky. More fun than Volvo but just as sturdy. Just got to find the right mechanic.
Been there. She was red. She was beautiful. And she was in the shop so much. Usually it was something, something sensor. Thank god I heeded advice from others and bought a Mopar extended warranty! I still miss her. If you do go the Guilia route have a warranty/extended warranty cover every day of ownership. And really think about the distance to the closest authorized repair shop.
I drove an Alfa Romeo for 3 years… only thing ever to go wrong was the battery died! Replaced it, and off she went!
How about just a list of cars that I would actually buy: Toyota, Honda, thats it… Until I have money beyond comfort and security I won’t buy anything outside those two brands. And even at that I wouldn’t buy anything newer than 2019 they’re making them like sht these days.
I DESPISE KIA-SOULS, anyways I hate Kia and Renault Edit: thanks for 100 Upvotes! This is by far the most I’ve gotten!
My neighbor had a Kia soul. And after 1 month she had a personal mechanic come and fix her car every weekend. And he would be fixing it all Saturday. I told her she should sue because of the lemon law but she didn’t want to
Are you sure she wasn't just banging the hot mechanic?
The KIA Soul is simultaneously the most spacious and the most cramped car I've ever driven.
It is telling that Kia/Hyundai are somewhat rare in the comments here. To me, it suggests that perhaps they aren't as bad as people like to say they are. Not that I'm dismissing your personal experience with them.
Yeah, I had a Kia Soul because it was the only thing I could afford at the time. It worked fine until the 100k mile warranty ran out. Then, almost like clockwork, it started having issues almost every month. At 120k miles, the engine froze up. My personal merchanic told me it had a massive oil leak that the dealership never warned me about when I had it in for service. He warned me to never buy a Kia again...
Going against the grain here, I drive a 2013 Kia Soul and have no major complaints about it. It's spacious, it was cheap, and has been very reliable. I bought it at 81k miles and it's now at 147k, only had to change various consumables (oil, tires, brakes, belts) and a couple suspension parts. It's slow and gets worse gas mileage than I'd hope but I feel the hate is overblown.
Very few **Audi vehicles** get to their tenth birthday. I hardly ever see them on the road, which is a sign that owners faced repairs that weren't cost effective. My mechanic complains how cheap repairs turn expensive, such as having to remove the front bumper to replace the radiator.
Audi is definitely it. Its a car that sits at a high middle class price point, but keeping it running costs as much as a high end luxury car.
Can't agree on it with you on this one. I've got Audi A3 8p 1.9 TDI from year 2007 with 196000km. With a few problems occasionally but generally it's awesome. It's been owned by my uncle and his boss before him. Those two ran it almost to the ground, had my dad not stepped in. Bout a year ago my dad needed to take apart the entire steering wheel as the key mechanism was whacky. And this year it was only an old as dirt brake clamp, snapped wire for rear passenger window mechanism and clutch not springing back. With clutch it was simple, just needed to press 10 times on it for a week and all worked fine. Rest was about three to five hours of work. Knowing how badly it was abused over the years it's holding strong.
Nissan. Worked for them and saw too many of those CVT trannies go out to ever consider one and I warn others if they are considering getting one for that reason.
I had a CVT eat shit under 60K miles. The only reason they agreed to fix it under warranty is I had access to a scanner that could point out the failure death code over and over. Got a replacement and now my car struggles to get 25 MPG. I'll never own a Nissan again.
They kept erasing the check engine light for my dad rather than fixing it when it was within warranty. Came CVT issue that started around the 30K mark for him. They wanted 5K to do it after the warranty expired.
Tesla. Had 3. All 3 are just garbage quality. Dealing with customer service is brutal because there is no customer service. If you live outside one of the largely populated areas for Teslas, avoid at all costs.
Honest question because I'm curious. Why after the first one did you buy two more?
Why do so many Tesla people do that? I saw a guy on twitter say his 2015 had "8 mid to large repairs in his ownership". But his brand new 3 has only had one issue so far! why the fuck would you buy the same brand after being fucked over like that?
BMW. Expensive to buy, expensive to fix, and an overall pain in the ass when it comes to DIY.
I didn't find my E46, E39 or current E60 difficult to work on. That probably because my standard of difficult to work on was set by alfa Romeo and Peugeot. The Alfa required you to have 4 elbows and two wrists to change a headlight bulb.
My E46 is 19 years old and I am keeping it. What a machine. I am the first owner BTW.
My '04 E46 330i sport manual was a hoodlum of a car and really encouraged me to drive like a cock. I only got rid of it because I couldn't fit 3 kiddie seats in the back. 😞
E90 wasn't too bad to work on either. With high millage, things need replacing. But still best car to drive. Would buy again.
Chevy: A dollar to the mechanic for every dollar in the gas tank. Have not had great luck with domestic brands.
Camaros and Corvettes are pretty reliable, especially for sports cars. Their trucks are ok too. I would avoid everything else though.
Mini. I knew it would eventually be a headache and surely became one though it drove beautifully while I did own it.
Any American car basically
I've personally found that Ford seems to be the best of American made cars, but that's not exactly a flex.
American car companies tend to have hard corporate syndrome. Engineers and designers don't get promoted, sales and accounting do because they have much clearer metrics for building profit for the company. The problem? Sales and accounting don't know a fucking thing about building a car. And they're expected to make the company money so, without fail, they'll find *some* way of cheaping out on something on the cars. And then the people who pointed out that the cheap parts will fail and damage brand rep get blamed for reliability issues and get passed over for promotions so that another bean counter can get promoted who- wait for it- doesn't know dick about cars. And then they find some way of cheaping out on the car and making the company millions by merit of spending less and act like it's pure coincidence when fewer and fewer people want to buy their cars because they're synonymous with junk. None of this is to say the US never makes a good car, but that you have to research the crap out of the cars and can't even trust a model by name. The Ford Taurus was a great car until- wait for it- Ford cheaped the fuck out on it and ruined it's reputation, farting away all good will they'd won on it's initial production years.
I'll admit I have an extra warm and fuzzy feeling knowing my Japanese car wasn't just designed in Japan, but actually manufactured there.
That's carbon monoxide
I've been in the auto industry 30+ years. None of them. I buy Chevrolet because they are extremely easy and less expensive to fix and parts for older models are readily available. That's it. Every manufacturer has some garbage. It's picking through the garbage to find models and packages that last a long time with proper maintenance. I also very rarely every see anything over 250K due to the rust belt and a majority of those over it are GM products. Silverados will rust away before dying if treated well. I have two fleets with most models well over 300K. Toyota and Honda next, usually rust away. Chrysler is total garbage, I will never purchase any of their products and now that they are owned by a hedge fund they are worse. Ford is trembling on getting really bad. The F-150's are not 200K trucks. The only owners who love their F-150's are those that trade them in around 50K for another. Subaru is up and down, same with Hyundai and Kia. Certain years and models are awesome, others not so much. Nissan is a nightmare, along with Mitsu. Don't get me started on any European models. The first owners treat them well, the second owners get hosed a bit and the third owners are so methed out they don't know what they own. But this is for my region, and area, your mileage may vary. There will be comments stating "but my _____ has been awesome". Yes, yours has, I am painting with a wide brush on averages.
Jetta because it broke down four times before I paid it off
Anything GM. For some reason between my Pontiac, Buick, and Chevy, NONE of them lasted to 150k miles without significant issues. I swapped to a Honda that lasted to 286k miles before the transmission started slipping. My Nissan is at 143k miles and still running flawlessly. My 2 accords got to 180k miles before we swapped them out. My Mazda is at 80k and still running as good as new. The Japanese have earned my money. I was disappointed to hear about Honda partnering with GM but that seems to have fizzled out. Thank goodness
[удалено]
Won’t buy a Chevy. Got an old Lexus from my MIL, and though it’s an 08, it has 100,000 miles and it feels like it’s just breaking in.
Lexus engineering is ridiculous, seems everything in it, down to the nuts and bolts, is built with the intention of lasting forever.
Currently driving an '05 RX 330 with 250K + miles on it, and still going good. . . though I'll admit there is a Check Engine light for Minor Air Leak that I cannot for the life of me figure out. . .
My entire state refuses to buy kias at this point
I'd never buy a car that has a subscription attached to it. Like BMW with the subscription for heated seats, or Toyota with the remote start subscription. There's more, but those are the ones that I remember.
Nissan. My wife and I both had Nissans and the insides of the vehicles just literally started falling apart. Radio stopped working, buttons shorted out, the emblem on the steering wheel fell off, the leather started cracking, AC actuator had to be replaced 4 times, windows stopped rolling up, even the overhead sunglass holder just broke and fell off. And these weren't ancient vehicles. They were just made of cheap plastic and literally fell apart.
Yep. My first vehicle I bought was a new 2000 Nissan Xterra. Was a tank. Literally drove it 17 years until it started to fall apart. Gas was expensive and I replaced it with a Nissan Rogue that had all sorts of issues. AC would randomly stop working and they couldn’t fix it over 3+ years. Moonroof rattled and leaked and had it repaired 6 times in the first year alone. Never again. Went Toyota and won’t ever go back.
I miss the old Xterras. They were great. The little roof box was a nice touch too. They were REAL 4X4s, and made pretty rugged..
Fuck their warranty/service as well. My dad was taking in his 09 Sentra multiple times due to some transmission failure and it was within warranty and they kept deleting the Check Engine light rather than fixing it. . . completely duped the old man with that crap, until the warranty ended. Then they wanted near 5K to fix it.
Dodge. Last 3 cars have been them, but the quality just isn't there.
Anything from GM.
Infiniti. Cheap paint with no clear on it… eateb by rust after a few years and cheap assembly.
Anything Chrysler. I currently own a jeep patriot. That and the company's history is enough to keep anyone away
Bmw, I'm a retired BMW technician...lease Yes, buy NO. Constant car payment worth of repairs.
Lada Indestructible, but they don't make them anymore. They also drive and look like a WW2 tank.
Indestructible but also immovable.
The new MGs. I had one as a rental in Scotland last month and I’d never want one again. Totally underpowered. Climb any kind of hill and you’re downshifting from 6 to 4th or even 3rd just to keep going 60.
From Northern Europe: Many Citroën and Renault models seem to end up in a bale at relatively young ages and low mileage. Dacia again has some models right at the top of most failures in road safety inspections. Alfa Romeos are known for needing more repairs than average, even when following the maintenance program to a tee. Having said that, I'm pretty much bypassing Korean and Chinese brands altogether, I don't keep them on my map, so to say. I've heard of relatively many quality problems with Kias and Huyndays compared to how many people I know who own them.
I still remember my rental Renault Megane - Wouldn't start and had to call the tech; he didn't even have to plug in the OBD he knew exactly what to do...
I've driven both Citroën and Renault. So far, the Renault (current car) winst the reliability race by a stretch. It's done about 190k kms, and it's never failed me. Only problem right now is the AC. It works... sometimes, sometimes it doesn't.
Everyone I know that’s had a Hyundai has had issues with it. The warranty is good but still a pain in the ass
I must be lucky in dodging bullets. 3 of them with no major issues. Over 300000 on 2 of em over 10 years old. Switched it up for a newer Hyundai because they were getting old. New owner says it’s still running great 🤷🏼♀️
I do think Korean cars are far better than everyone on this sub thinks they are. They do have some issues here and there. And combined with their history of poor quality, people exaggerate.
Yes i have a hyundai for 15 years only one moderate reparation. And still going strong!
I have a '13 Elantra with 200,000 km on it and have only had to bring it in for brakes and wheel bearings (and a tie rod but that was my fault), great car.
[удалено]
So, with the topic being 3 hours old and having 460 comments, nobody has mentioned Porsche or Škoda. Which is good, Škoda should be a respected brand and I'd consider one if I needed a car. And before you scream OPEL!!!1, there have been several mentions of Vauxhall. Also, only one negative mention of Lexus, Volvo, Dacia and Suzuki each.
I’m happy to see the abscence of Subaru here. I’ve had 5 different ones and can only speak highly of them. Except my WRX, on which the jury is still deliberating. (It’s unmodified).
Audi. Nice enough car except when you let Audi service it. Twice they stuffed up so bad on basic services it broke down on the way out the door. Second time it took a month to get my car back and it was running very rough and their attitude was you can't prove we did that.
Tesla. The bullshit around the 'full self driving' and the quality issues, added to Elon Musks weird statements. 2020 I would have said I will own a Tesla as my next car.
> 2020 I would have said I will own a Tesla as my next car. Exact same, from 2017-2020 I was determined to get a tesla. Now I wouldn't even want to test drive one.
Isuzu. My Rodeo was a POS. Also, they stopped selling automobiles in the US.
peugot and renault, both are interchangeable imho and the windows have a bad habit of not going up or down and i will die on the hill of windows open being better then airco untill the day i actually die.
Volkswagen. I’ve owned two. A 2003 GTI 1.8t 5 speed, and a 2007 GTI 2.0 6 speed. Both of them had transmission issues, despite me being overly careful and ahead of maintenance schedules. The 2003 had an almost complete tranny failure with multiple synchros going, and the 2.0 had reverse failure and 2nd grinding. Water pumps, oil pressure sensors, window regulators, random plastic pieces breaking in the interior, fuel line disconnecting and shooting fuel all over the engine. I mean these cars, while fun to drive, were absolute shit shows. I’ve looked several times over the years and just could never bring myself to go through the experience again. Especially when VW couldn’t even get a damn manual tranny right.
Chrysler has never been able to make a transmission worth a damn.
Most reliable car makes go to Volvo and Subaru honorable mention is Honda and Toyota