Originally Posted By: Bladecutter
As for the "Sources" of data above you quoted, not a single one of those sources actually determines the conditions the vehicle is put under, during the "evaluation" of the vehicle. Did they engine sludge up because the owner drove for 35k miles without ever getting the oil changed? Does the car interior rattle because the owner drives on road surfaces that look like bomb testing facilities? Is the owner giving the car a poor mark because their engine requires premium fuel, and they hate paying for anything other than regular?
I put almost no value into their reliability data.
Wouldn't most brands and models have some owners that abuse the vehicles, others that baby them, and a bulk that fall somewhere in the middle? IOW, given a large enough sample size, there should be a bell curve of sorts with the y-axis being number of owners and the x-axis being "how much do you take care of the car".
IOW, I don't expect the (American) owners of Lexus vehicles and Land Rover vehicles to be substantially different in their use and treatment of their vehicles. Yet, one is often near the top of reliability ratings while the other is often near the bottom.
As for the "Sources" of data above you quoted, not a single one of those sources actually determines the conditions the vehicle is put under, during the "evaluation" of the vehicle. Did they engine sludge up because the owner drove for 35k miles without ever getting the oil changed? Does the car interior rattle because the owner drives on road surfaces that look like bomb testing facilities? Is the owner giving the car a poor mark because their engine requires premium fuel, and they hate paying for anything other than regular?
I put almost no value into their reliability data.
Wouldn't most brands and models have some owners that abuse the vehicles, others that baby them, and a bulk that fall somewhere in the middle? IOW, given a large enough sample size, there should be a bell curve of sorts with the y-axis being number of owners and the x-axis being "how much do you take care of the car".
IOW, I don't expect the (American) owners of Lexus vehicles and Land Rover vehicles to be substantially different in their use and treatment of their vehicles. Yet, one is often near the top of reliability ratings while the other is often near the bottom.
