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Make reliability and ownership

G

gus6464

Golden Member
From reading all the horror stories of most cars out there and seeing first hand how much it costs to maintain a BMW I wonder how is everyone not scared shitless to buy a car that is not a Toyota or a Honda? In the same amount of time we have owned our Accord (5 years) with 0 issues I have seen friends who have other makes go through a lot of crap with newer cars.

Every time I bring up getting a new car to my wife she is scared of buying anything that is not a Toyota or Honda. She even said that she would rather spend the money on a more expensive Lexus or Acura than me getting a Mustang.
 
I agree with your wife. I have owned Toyota's since my first a 1966 Corona. With the exception of maintenance I have never had to "repair" any of them. I usually put greater than 150K miles on them before getting a new one.
 
gus6464 said:
From reading all the horror stories of most cars out there and seeing first hand how much it costs to maintain a BMW I wonder how is everyone not scared shitless to buy a car that is not a Toyota or a Honda? In the same amount of time we have owned our Accord (5 years) with 0 issues I have seen friends who have other makes go through a lot of crap with newer cars.
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Because if you got the disposable income, the driving experience of the BMW >>>>>> toyota/honda
 
gus6464 said:
She even said that she would rather spend the money on a more expensive Lexus or Acura than me getting a Mustang.
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Mustangs are generally reliable. Not too sure about the ecoboost version but the non-turbo mustangs don't have alot of reported problems
 
For what it's worth, I own only Hondas and Toyotas.

QIRAlpha.png



If Honda's numbers look weird, it's probably because they were selling an Isuzu on their lots (Passport is an Isuzu rebadge), combined with the transmission problems in the V6 auto Accords and Odysseys:

HondaQIR.png


EDIT: Source
 
Because cheaper domestic cars are 90% as reliable, cost 75% as much used, and are therefore worth a gamble if you need to save the extra couple grand.

BMWs are BMWs. You get it or you don't.
 
We are going to check out a 2014 GS 350 F Sport this weekend with 20k miles. Fully loaded with nav and mark levinson and the red leather. CPO so will have a lot warranty left as well.
 
dave_the_nerd said:
Because cheaper domestic cars are 90% as reliable, cost 75% as much used, and are therefore worth a gamble if you need to save the extra couple grand.

BMWs are BMWs. You get it or you don't.
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So what you are saying is because it's a BMW it's ok that they are unreliable expensive crap?
 
gus6464 said:
So what you are saying is because it's a BMW it's ok that they are unreliable expensive crap?
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I've been repeatedly assured that is the case, yes. I'm one of the "doesn't get it" group.

To be fair, they're probably as reliable as cheap domestic cars, overall, but it does seem like the maintenance costs are higher.
 
gus6464 said:
We are going to check out a 2014 GS 350 F Sport this weekend with 20k miles. Fully loaded with nav and mark levinson and the red leather. CPO so will have a lot warranty left as well.
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Just out of curiosity, what are they asking for it? I've driven a few of those and they always strike me as upscale, comfortable and reliable. Not really very exciting though.
 
If you look at the highest mileage cars for sale .. you wll find there is a blend of companies.
Toyota Land Cruiser is supposed to be most reliable/dependable thing every built, and while Lexus tends to have the most dependable cars overall, many other manufacturers have very very very dependable models as well.

http://www.autotrader.com/car-news/these-are-the-7-highest-mileage-cars-listed-on-autotrader-256616

I gambled and bought the woman a Ford Edge. Toyota and Honda do not make any midsize or large 2 row SUV, and the compact SUVs are not comfortable or roomy enough for us for long road trips. (My forester is fine for my daily driver, but sucks for spending 1000 miles going down south or whatever.)

I am likely to replace my car with a Toyota, Honda, Subaru, or Nissan product in the next few years .. but its possible I may go with a GM product, after all, the Chevy "Tahoe" is nearly as invulnerable as a 4runner.
 
It's maintenance. Unless I wrap it around a tree or something, my Focus will more than likely be retired north of 200k.

I'll just have to keep putting parts into it to make that happen.
 
JulesMaximus said:
Just out of curiosity, what are they asking for it? I've driven a few of those and they always strike me as upscale, comfortable and reliable. Not really very exciting though.
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39k. Going to see if we can get a couple of thousand off.

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk
 
Certainly its hard to go wrong with Toyonda, however they have had some failures over the years as well. I only buy them new cause used it makes way more sense to go NA for a used car or other Asian brand. everybody makes reliable cars nowadays the problem with charts above are taking into account past dogs, but you can't buy a Cavalier or Neon anymore.
The issue is you have to research, EG Mazda CX7
http://longtermqualityindex.com/vehicles/Mazda_CX-7.html
At the start of their run, horrific engine and powertrain issues, but by 2011 industry average and 2012 much better than industry average
So I would buy one if it was the right year
I don't think I could ever buy a Euro car though simply because even if they compete in reliability, maintenance is a whole nother experience.
 
I keep buying Honda's. Never had anything break down. Aside from changing batteries, oil, wiper blades and tires, I don't do crap to them and they keep on driving like brand new. So it doesn't seem logical to deviate from good experiences.
 
I have owned 1 Ford (my dad's old hand me down, 93 Taurus) which was a decent car, and I've owned 4 GMs so far.

First GM was a 98 Camaro V6, it was a pile but it was also heavily abused. Once I got the abuse worked out of it that car was fine.
Next was a 2002 Trailblazer. 215k on it and it ran like a top but it was rusting out badly so this year when it needed a power steering line and brakes I said goodbye to it. Mostly was just maintenance stuff, although in December 2012 it did do some really stupid stuff that needed fixed. Not expensive, just annoying. Most of the stuff that did need fixed later on were more due to rust than anything.
I have a 99 Camaro I bought in 2012, it has been pretty reliable aside from a broken valve spring that I had to fix, but it is also modified with aftermarket springs, cam, etc, so no blaming GM for that lol.
Current daily driver is a 2007 Silverado I bought last year, now has 145k miles on it. Nothing gone weird with it yet, just maintenance stuff.

I know of people who have had no problems with some brands, or have had all sorts of problems with them. I figure in many cases it probably comes down to how it is maintained more than anything for the most part. Sure, some are more prone to issues (Honda V6 transmissions, GM Northstar engines, etc).
 
I've owned 2 Lexus IS300's and currently have a BMW 135i. Is the maintenance higher on the BMW? Absolutely. The only non-maintenance work I've had to do on it so far was the A/C compressor and out here in AZ, those go at some point in most cars. Would I prefer the maintenance costs be closer to Lexus? Sure. Would I trade it for another IS? No.
 
I guess I'm lucky. I've owned a lot of shit heaps over the years including three 80s Chrysler products one an 81 plymouth horizan I got for free because it broke down in my parents driveway yet I've never really had an unreliable car. Even that horizan which was absolutely beat to death ran fine for 2 years after I rebuilt the carb. Sure I had to fix something every now again on them but I was only stranded once when my 89 dodge caravan's flywheel cracked and it gave me plenty of warnings which I ignored. Finally bought something newish a 2013 focus last year.
 
dave_the_nerd said:
I've been repeatedly assured that is the case, yes. I'm one of the "doesn't get it" group.

To be fair, they're probably as reliable as cheap domestic cars, overall, but it does seem like the maintenance costs are higher.
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FWIW everyone has an irrational expense. If you don't particularly care about the driving experience itself you'll never buy German. By all logic a Lexus is a more rational buy if you want a luxury car. However they feel dead to me. I'll never understand why anyone needs $200 pants or a $1000 golf driver. *shrug*
 
Midwayman said:
By all logic a Lexus is a more rational buy if you want a luxury car. However they feel dead to me.
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Accurate. A Lexus feels like a really nice Toyota...because it is. A BMW feels like someone took a car designed for the racetrack and morphed it into a luxury car.

bmw-m5-powerslide-drift-gif.gif
 
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