Car reliability worsens in J.D. Power study

[willbur]

Originally Posted By: hattaresguy
Buick has always made a pretty good car. Boring yes until recently,d with junk interiors, but always boringly reliable and cheap to fix.


Look at the typical driver of Buicks-invariably a senior citizen. They drive carefully, slowly, put few miles on their Buicks,and maintain them well. That may explain the apparent reliability you mention.IMO, demographics can explain a significant portion of a brands reliability. People that buy expensive makes also have money to maintain them ,so the cars are "reliable".

 

[Mykl]

Originally Posted By: Michael_P
A shame the Accord no longer has a double wishbone suspension. It has a backup camera now. Personally I would rather have the double wishbone suspension and no camera, but I'm in the minority. I hear the new MacPherson strut suspension does a good job though.


I tend to agree with this, and as much as I mourn the loss of double wishbone suspended Hondas, I still have to recognize that there are many exceptionally good handling cars available with MacStruts. So there's no reason why the newer Hondas couldn't or shouldn't handle great.

 

[Nick R]

I was reading yesterday that the "engine problems" as most part of that survey is because people are disappointed is the acceleration of a 4 cup or the "engine is too noisy. I wish I was joking apparently these are dependability problems.

 

[Silverado12]

Hyundai and Kia above Dodge? Say it ain't so.

 

[Doog]

No doubt the adoption of 0w20 has ruined the industry

 

[Doog]

Originally Posted By: Silverado12
Hyundai and Kia above Dodge? Say it ain't so.


Dodge is a below average brand.....

of course MY Toyota, Honda and Lexus vehicles are ABOVE average...like me.

 

[Doog]

Originally Posted By: willbur
Originally Posted By: hattaresguy
Buick has always made a pretty good car. Boring yes until recently,d with junk interiors, but always boringly reliable and cheap to fix.


Look at the typical driver of Buicks-invariably a senior citizen. They drive carefully, slowly, put few miles on their Buicks,and maintain them well. That may explain the apparent reliability you mention.IMO, demographics can explain a significant portion of a brands reliability. People that buy expensive makes also have money to maintain them ,so the cars are "reliable".


They don't make the bottom surveys because it takes 27 years for them to hit 100,000 miles. So everyone thinks they are uber reliable because the only ones surveyed have 11,000 miles on them and are 7 years old and they have had the oil changed 14 times. "Dad's Buick lasted him 27 years until he died and it was still like new." (That's because it was still new and "Dad" was in a nursing home for the past 12 years)

 

[Mykl]

How long have they been doing these surveys? Is it possible to find a chart from 10 to 15 years ago to compare? I'd be curious to see how the worst on this chart rates against the best from the '90's.

 

[hattaresguy]

Originally Posted By: willbur
Originally Posted By: hattaresguy
Buick has always made a pretty good car. Boring yes until recently,d with junk interiors, but always boringly reliable and cheap to fix.


Look at the typical driver of Buicks-invariably a senior citizen. They drive carefully, slowly, put few miles on their Buicks,and maintain them well. That may explain the apparent reliability you mention.IMO, demographics can explain a significant portion of a brands reliability. People that buy expensive makes also have money to maintain them ,so the cars are "reliable".


I disagree they are cheap to fix simple vehicles. I know a number of people who had 3.8 Buicks see them threw HS and most of college.

Old people owning them leads to a nice supply of used vehicles.

Around here Japanese cars are priced like they are made out of solid gold even with spaceship mileage on them. Often you have the choice between a 13 year old Honda with enough miles to circle the moon on it, or a 6 year old low mileage clean Buick. The Buick is a better buy.

 

[dishdude]

I've seen a lot of younger people driving Buicks since they refreshed their lineup, heck I had a 2011 Regal that I bought when I was 33. If you told me 10 years ago I'd buy a brand new Buick I wouldn't have believed it.

 

[itguy08]

Originally Posted By: Silverado12
Hyundai and Kia above Dodge? Say it ain't so.


Chrysler has always brought up the rear. Nothing new there. They have made junk since, well, they started making cars.

 

[stephen9666]

As a regretful Hyundai owner I'm not surprised to see their low ranking...

 

[waltywalt]

Bought a 2012 Hyundai veloster. Wish I didn't it is by far the biggest plastic piece of [censored] I ever owned. The so called 10 year 100,000 mile warranty aint worth the paper its written on. Glad I bought the extended warranty. Why I did that I don't know. Nothing but trouble this car has been. Its falling apart inside and out. I wanna light this car on fire and drive it through their showroom. Ill never buy a Hyundai ever again. Pure junk. I am actually thinking about bringing the back to Hyundai and leaving it in the parking lot and saying its all yours. Could care less about my credit anymore. The cars a deathtrap.

 

[waltywalt]

sorry didn't know I couldn't say poop

 

[R2d2]

GM did a great job on that list, all above average. Cadillac certainly has my attention.

 

[antiqueshell]

Originally Posted By: Mykl

I tend to agree with this, and as much as I mourn the loss of double wishbone suspended Hondas, I still have to recognize that there are many exceptionally good handling cars available with MacStruts. So there's no reason why the newer Hondas couldn't or shouldn't handle great.


That's the thing you are right, plenty of cars using the traditional set up with McP struts handle very well, BUT THEY DO NOT HAVE THE EXCEPTION COMFORT that the Accords had with DWB suspension, with that set up the Accord was a superior handling car with the comfort you simply CANNOT get with the MP struts.

 

[artificialist]

The real sign of reliability is how all those cars are doing 10 years in the future.

 

[whip]

Originally Posted By: mclasser
I also didn't know the Korean companies were doing so poorly.

Just a few years ago, they were poorly made entry level vehicles. They designed a few good looking cars, but didn't change the manufacturing process. I don't know why people are surprised to see them at the bottom.

 

[jeepman3071]

Originally Posted By: artificialist
The real sign of reliability is how all those cars are doing 10 years in the future.


This.

Mercedes surely wouldn't be at the top of the list then. Most of the owners only keep the cars 3-4 years just for that reason.

 

[k24a4]

I wonder how much of the reliability decline is due to the advent of DI, more turbo's mated to smaller displacement 4cyl engines, and CVT transmissions?