Is there such a thing as an unreliable U.S. new car today?

[Exhaustgases]

All of them.

 

[atikovi]

Spoken by somebody who makes a living selling VERY WELL USED vehicles.

Exactly. Try taking any new car to 500,000 miles like my 20 year old Sequoia did.

 

[atikovi]

Asking for a friend why our 2018 VW Tiguan with 141k on factory parts?

I said NEW cars. And let me know when it hits 250k like my 17 Corolla.

 

[JustN89]

I said NEW cars. And let me know when it hits 250k like my 17 Corolla.

You are buying these cars at this mileage. You have no idea what went into getting them to that mileage.

 

[dishdude]

Thats why I’m sticking with my oil leakin, perfect running ‘95 Geo Prizm with cold air, a few rattles and a third paint job Bought it for $1900 in 2008. Now has 253K miles on factory motor and transmission. I consider it disposable really. But in todays environment. It’s somewhat of A gem.

That's a BITOG car if I ever heard of one.

 

[dishdude]

Exactly. Try taking any new car to 500,000 miles like my 20 year old Sequoia did.

You bought it with 500k on it, for all you know it had 8 engines and 12 transmissions.

 

[atikovi]

You bought it with 500k on it, for all you know it had 8 engines and 12 transmissions.

Not according to the engine serial number.

 

[eljefino]

You bought it with 500k on it, for all you know it had 8 engines and 12 transmissions.

600K-Mile Kia Sorento Driver Milks 10-Year Warranty for 9 Engines

A viral Reddit post about the high-mile Sorento only tells part of the story.

www.thedrive.com

 

[CKN]

You are buying these cars at this mileage. You have no idea what went into getting them to that mileage.

That's a good point.

 

[Plawan]

Our 2019 dodge grand caravan needed a new head at 60k and rebuild trans mission at 100k. This makes me want to trade my 2020 ram with 59k in cuz I no longer trust FCA.
08 ford fusion still going with 170k (no AC)
2012 Toyota yaris going strong at 140k
2012 mazda2 was going well at 180k (no AC) before someone pulled out in front of it at 80 miles an hour.
The dodge is very dissaponting. Will never buy FCA again.

 

[atikovi]

You bought it with 500k on it, for all you know it had 8 engines and 12 transmissions.

It's not a Dodge.

 

[fisher83]

I suppose that would depend on how someone defines unreliable. My last F-150 had quite a few relatively minor issues pretty early on in it's life but it did always get me to my destination. It was enough to annoy me and make me concerned about it long term but I'm not sure I could necessarily condemn it as unreliable. Less reliable than some of the competition, perhaps. Unreliable to me would be something that leaves me stranded.

 

[chris719]

Cars are more reliable than they have ever been, to a point. I am sure the average car makes it to 150k with far fewer problems than older cars. Will they fare as well past 150k as some early / mid 00s cars? Not sure, probably depends on the exact model and drivetrain. On the whole, yes, they are more reliable.

 

[J Dubbs]

Yes, probably.

I think all the proverbial extra bells and whistles added recently make all cars less reliable. That and weight saving features (especially plastic parts that should be metal).

I agree, I'm so sick of all the overcomplicated electronic crap that doesn't work for long, is a major pain to fix (designed that way I think ), and expensive as well

And I don't even want to get started on plastic engines

Plus we haven't even discussed the quality of dealership warranty work yet have we? I have some real horror stories about my experiences... I'm sure you guys do to lol.

 

[jeepman3071]

Nothing is ever 100% reliable. All you can do is play the averages and keep up with maintenance.

On average new vehicles seem to get more reliable as to basic function every year.

However the fiddly bits get more and more expensive to fix when they break. There are going to be a lot of cars in 20 years of all makes and models that still run but have no radio, HVAC and the sunroof leaks.

Yup this 100%.

I think in the future electrical problems (both physical and software related) will be the downfall of vehicles not mechanical problems.

 

[brianl703]

I think in the future electrical problems (both physical and software related) will be the downfall of vehicles not mechanical problems.

There's a guy on YT (Pine Hollow Auto Diagnostics) that makes a living fixing electrical problems that the dealership gave up on.

 

[John105]

I know it's relative, but if you were a low mileage driver (like me) and drove like an old lady (like me) and were a stickler for maintenance (like me) ... shouldn't the majority of today's vehicles last many miles?

I've read the smaller JEEP SUV's were borderline junk, however, we had a Compass as a company vehicle that approached 100k trouble free miles. I'd be leery of a Fiat, but they're a tiny part of the U.S. market now.

Can't really think of any brand new junkers on the market.

Is there a bad half price sushi on Mondays, restaurant?

 

[wpod]

All new cars are junk. If auto makers can save 50 cents on a part inside the engine or transmission that will last through the warranty period but unlikely to last much beyond 100,000 miles, they gladly will.

That is not a new problem.

 

[Kurtatron]

I agree, I'm so sick of all the overcomplicated electronic crap that doesn't work for long, is a major pain to fix (designed that way I think ), and expensive as well

And I don't even want to get started on plastic engines

Plus we haven't even discussed the quality of dealership warranty work yet have we? I have some real horror stories about my experiences... I'm sure you guys do to lol.

I despise it too. My Nissan rogue is annoying. Every time I turn off the AC, it switches the vents to defrost mode, then when I turn it on, it has to reset the vents again. I know this is a safety thing because when the vent motors fail, it’s a safety issue to have them stuck on anything but windshield defrost mode. My 91 Toyota will never have this problem. Why? It uses physical levers to adjust the vents. So simple and easy. Will never break unless the plastic cracks.

I don’t care what people say, I prefer simple and stupid. If it’s not simple, at least make it easy and cheap to fix.

 

[fdcg27]

I think the OP is right and that his observations would be valid for at least the past twenty years.
The worst new car today is more reliable than the best of thirty or forty years ago.
For those who want to play with ancient vehicles as daily drivers, I'd say have at it. Most of us have better ways in which to spend our time and money.