Today's legendary reliability vehicle is?

[Vikas]

Using the same principle, the most reliable vehicle is Range Rover. I never see even a one in the shop I visit. He has lots of Toyotas and Hondas waiting for maintenance at his shop.

Some people are born without part of the brain which does the logical computations.

 

[AuthorEditor]

Quote:
Just visit all service bays on all makes and ask the mechanics what they think..then you will not be guessing...

I have done that several times over the years with my local greasy garage where the old, cheap cars get worked on. Without fail half the cars there are Chrysler vehicles, waiting to get repaired. I almost never see a Honda or a Toyota. The owner of the place answers that without a doubt Hondas and Toyotas are the most reliable. Of US makes he likes Buicks strangely enough. He does say that old Crown Vics hold up better than most to the rot from road salt, so there's that. In my experience they are generally reliable, but always need something done--lots of little niggling repairs to keep them going, and they often aren't that easy to do. Try changing the starter motor on one, for example!

 

[CourierDriver]

Love my ancient 2005 La-Sabre,,,30mpg on highway average, its paid for, low miles about 124k. Oldest best car I ever owned,,,my brand new 67 Beetle,,ancient ride these days,but It worked for me...

 

[spk2000]

Originally Posted By: AirgunSavant
The Yugo
You never see one at a service station do you???????


Nope must have great reliability.

 

[Starman2112]

Don't really understand the debate - it's Toyota.

Are they perfect? No, but who is? Still the best-built vehicles in the world.

 

[Bud]

I personally base it on what I have owned over the years. The most bullet proof for me was a 63 Plymouth Valiant, my first car. I drove it like I stole it, abused it and the transmission. Never failed me. The worst was a 97 Toyota Camry. Poor build quality, transmission failed during the first year of ownership, and many other problems.

 

[Panzerman]

I have to say Ford. I have just been impressed with Fords in my personal life as well as at work. I rented a car once and it was a Toyota. It was boring. I even took a Camry for a test ride. Just seemed plain. I guess if you view the car just as a mode of transportation and nothing more. A Toyota is fine. I can't see myself ever owning one. Maybe a Hyundai Genesis but that's probably as close as I ll ever get.

 

[AuthorEditor]

The cheapest car I ever owned was a Rabbit diesel I purchased used for $200 with north of 155,000 miles on it (the odometer was broken). I drove it for two years, commuting about 30K per year and never did anything to it except change the oil and filter once in awhile at cheapy lubes, and I got 55mpg on the highway! After two years I was ready to move on so I sold it back to the guy I purchased it from for $200. Zero depreciation!

 

[HerrStig]

Originally Posted By: Panzerman
I have to say Ford. I have just been impressed with Fords in my personal life as well as at work. I rented a car once and it was a Toyota. It was boring. I even took a Camry for a test ride. Just seemed plain. I guess if you view the car just as a mode of transportation and nothing more. A Toyota is fine. I can't see myself ever owning one. Maybe a Hyundai Genesis but that's probably as close as I ll ever get.
Try a Camry with the 285 HP V6 and SE option sometime. There's even a strut brace for the BACK struts, OEM.

 

[SumpChump]

Corolla hands down.

 

[aquariuscsm]

In my experience of ownership,anything Japanese.

 

[The_Jeff]

I buy $500 cars for fun. It's a trope, but it's all in how they're treated.

I had a corolla. Its rocker panels rusted out, signaling its near end of life. It also needed struts and burned a quart of oil every 300-400 miles. Reliable means it started every morning, but it wasn't durable as it was signalling loudly and clearly that it was ready for retirement. Sadly, at 170k.

My camry ate an ignition coil, the 2nd in under a year. Yeah I wasn't "stranded" running on three cylinders but it wasn't fun either.

IMO the most reliable cars have the most reliable electronics. Wear items give anyone with half a clue a warning. Wear items are more a "durability" thing, noted in the corolla example above.

A "reliable" car can be issued to a moron college student and told to gas and go and change the oil 2x a year. But you also want it to be "durable" so you don't get "that call" from 100s of miles away that they were at a chain garage being told the wheel bearings are shot and a caliper seized.

I'd have to give the nod to prius because a lot of people want to see those weird little blobs fail. You can tell they got 2x the engineering attention.

Domestic pickups also get engineering love, but I'd want something simple with a 4 or 5 speed automatic transmission.

 

[AirgunSavant]

I live in a world of Ford bashers
I have several and I don't have issues with them.
I take care of my stuff but still.
I had an insurance adjuster come for hail damage and I had two cars caught out in it. A 2011 f350 CC diesel and a 2013 Honda Accord Sport.
He started telling me how great Honda was and how Ford su.ck.ed.
10 minutes later the Ford had no damage and the Honda was blistered and that's not mechanical but he said the Ford paint was superb and the Honda subpar. I knew that...

Look up the Ford Fusion Hybrid here that's used for NY taxi duty at 500K- Amazing


Originally Posted By: Panzerman
I have to say Ford. I have just been impressed with Fords in my personal life as well as at work. I rented a car once and it was a Toyota. It was boring. I even took a Camry for a test ride. Just seemed plain. I guess if you view the car just as a mode of transportation and nothing more. A Toyota is fine. I can't see myself ever owning one. Maybe a Hyundai Genesis but that's probably as close as I ll ever get.

 

[bubbatime]

Anything from Chrysler-Fiat. Especially the transmissions. Those things are bomb proof.

 

[Pontual]

They say that 90% of Subarus made in the early 90's are still running, exception are those wrecked ones. I still have the first year Impreza (93) running fine in the family.

 

[bigt61]

Chevy or Ford V8 work truck.

 

[fdcg27]

I'd probably approach this from the other side.
Most new vehicles are very durable and reliable regardless of the badge they wear.
The outliers are vehicles that are notably unreliable and lacking in durability.
There are few such vehicles available today, but anything near the bottom of any of the many durability/reliability surveys is probably nothing anyone would really want to own as daily transportation.

 

[mballard70]

From the high milage examples of cars on Ebay and Autotrader I'd say full size Diesel pickups, Toyota 4Runners, and Crown Vics

 

[BHopkins]

Originally Posted By: cadfaeltex
I remember as I really started to notice cars in the late '70's - early '80's that MB, Volvo, and Saab were cars famous for their reliability. By the end of the decade the Japanese had swooped in and Honda and Toyota seemed to hold that title for about twenty years. As I survey the new car landscape now, there doesn't seem to be any contender for that throne.

Have we seen the end of legendary reliability? Is it just that mechanicals now are enough better that no one marque stands apart?

Or is there a maker today making such cars and I just am ignorant of it?


It's not so much that there is no contender for the throne, but that there are many contenders. Volvo did't slip. Everyone else caught up. Honda isn't what they used to be, but they are still par with all the other leaders.

Today it would be much easier to identify those who haven't figured out how to make a long lasting car. Most anything coming out of a plant owned by FCA would fit in that category.

Volvo and Saab used to toot their own horns about their cars going 300,000 miles or better. That's nothing today. There are plenty of models from Ford, Toyota, GM, Honda, Subaru, Mazda, Nissan, that can make 300k miles. Perhaps even VW, Mercedes, Audi? I don't have enough exposure to European cars to say.

The key is maintenance. Perform all PM work when due. Make repairs when needed.

 

[Kuato]

Originally Posted By: pbm
I...you will see that Toyota's and Honda's ...


Please stop doing this. It is "Toyotas and Hondas" with no apostrophe.

Other than that I agree with you, both brands have had more issues in the last few years.

Another vote for the Crown Vic.