What does reliable mean to you?

[HarryLui]

I see a lot of people skipping the regular maintenance items on their car's owner manual to save money or they are ignorant to read the owner manual. Things like regular oil change, timing belt, waterpump, transmission fluid/filter change, coolant change, spark plugs, etc. When the part fails, they are in panic mode, call their vehicle unreliable and probably have to pay more to get the car fix due to towing and extra damage that failed part may cause.

When I look at a car, I see thousands of parts that is manufactured by different companies all working together to make this "car" work. When one part failed short of its warranty period or service interval, I don't see the "car" being unreliable, but rather, just that part is unreliable and I usually look for a replacement part made by a different company.

With any cars, when they get miles on them, parts are going to wear out. I mean, do you really expect tires to last over 100k? Same with any parts, they simply wear out! To delay the inevitable, up-keeping of the vehicle is needed, things like oil change, transmission fluid change, coolant change, timing belt/waterpump, and etc. To ignore these maintenance items and when parts start to wear out/fair, I don't see the car being unreliable. I see operator error.

My GF recently bought a car with 100k. I'm doing timing belt/waterpump, cam/crank seals, engine mounts, air filters, valve cover gasket (oil leaks to plugs), intake manifold gaskets(have to remove to get to valve cover gasket), PCV valve, brake fluid flush, coolant, oil/filter, transmission fluid/filter, thermostat/gasket, tires, plugs/wires, and etc. I know I am going beyond what it needs, but I have no maintenance history on the vehicle and most parts looked like they been though 100k. I know those parts will not last another 100k, so I'm changing them now rather than waiting for the parts to completely wear out.

I feel a little offended when people says, "Wow, that car needed a lot of work! My car never need that much work!" They are probably right, but I wanted to be sure this vehicle will be trouble free for my girlfriend, instead of replacing stuff ever other week and I can be sure she won't be on the side of the road because of a broken timing belt.

 

[IcePickFreak]

I remember seeing an article maybe 10 years ago that stated the average care has/had 14,000 parts. Now granted not all are vital parts that will put a vehicle out of commission, it's still amazing to me that cars don't break down more often when you think about it. Especially when you consider, as you said, most people will ignore preventive maintenance when a manufacturer states a part is only good for x amount of miles. Pretty much if it needs more than gas or oil in the first 100k miles, a lot of people will think it's junk.

It is a bit ironic though that many people will look at preventive maintenance like your going to do as being "expensive" when you consider how crucial a car is for most people, yet those same people don't have a problem paying $5+ for a cup of coffee every morning.

 

[speedy2]

The biggest issue is these people have no clue how a car works. So they don't really "see" how vital maintenance is. My dad is a watch maker. He also does clocks. It's probably easier to see on a clock....but, after enough time the oil in the gears will start to dry up. dust will stick to the oil. And you basically have gears that grind themselves to nothing. The owner never gets the clock cleaned and then they wonder why we tell them it's not fixable. Or it needs a complete movement.

That's how mechanical things are. I thought they taught friction in elementary school?

 

[exdeath]

All of this. ^ I never blame the car, it's always some piece of shit disposable part.

I just pulled the transmission on the Cobra last Friday. Four hours of work to fix a coolant leak... the o-ring that I replaced at the heater bypass fitting at the back of the head when I finally got to it cost me $1.00. All of that time was spent working out bolts with my fingers 1/4 turn at a time in tight quarters. T-56 scores another pt with me; if not for the removable bell housing, I'd have had to pull the long tube headers.

I'm a bit biased regarding the term "reliable". To me things happen no matter what car or what you do to maintain it; never the car's fault. I catch things very early and pursue them with a vengeance. I don't hesitate to spend the weekend at the shop if I see so much as a drop of oil on the undercarriage. More so with a high performance or tuned or modified car. You EXPECT shit to break and wear out prematurely.

I have a Ford that is basically as reliable as I'll allow to be if I ever leave it alone and quit screwing with shit. And even then, nothing wrong with the car such as a coolant o ring or oil cooler gasket dripping has ever caused it to not start in half a crank even after it's ridden hard and put away hot and wet under 17 lbs of boost.

I have a Toyota that still had the factory plugs and never had anything done but oil changes, timing belts/water pumps for 150k miles. No wait I think I did a CV boot when I noticed it was cracking (not even leaking yet). Eventually age got to it and plug wires rotted, seals started cracking and leaking, etc. Nearly stripped it down to the long block and spent a couple $100 replacing everything that wasn't metal and it runs like it's brand new again.

All my cars have always been there for me and they don't owe me jack.

 

[thescreensavers]

Well its up to the car company to do the proper R&D to make sure parts last. Its hard to put on so many miles on a concept before it eventually comes out.

But if the company just skimps on things and then things break because of it, then thats unreliable.

 

[Bartman39]

Just sold a 2005 Toyota Corolla S with 106K miles and really hated to see it go... Had it for 5 years and in that time the only things I did to was after the breakin oil and first oil change thereafter it got synthetic 5w-30 every 6K miles... Next at 35K miles it got a set of Yokohama TRZ`s which lasted 45K miles... Then a set of Wally World junk tires that made a whopping 20K miles and then back to the TRZ`s... At 75K miles I did the front brakes and cleaned and adjust the rear... At 96K miles it got a set of OEM plugs and at 101K miles it got the trans flushed... Never had it aligned or anything else (did`nt need it, never bounced off anything)...

BTW never saw a dealer one and the only shop was for the trans flush and was done as a favor by a bud of mine... Also I checked the milage about a month ago we went to the lake and it still got 41 mpg on the highway and was still getting 32-34 mpg combined city/hwy... Paid 16K for the car in 2005 sold it for 8K in 2010 not a bad deal IMPO...


That is what I call reliable...

 

[mmntech]

Reliable to me is a car that won't need serious repairs before at minimum 50,000km, provided it has regular, quality maintenance.

I hate to keep beating a dead horse here but the Chevy Cobalt is my best current example of an unreliable car. Our fleet bought a ton of them. Every single one had the lower control arm bushings go on them. About half had the heater fans seize up. They have power steering problems, don't shift into gear, and the ignition switches stick. Most of them rattle above 80km/h on the highway. Sensors are also prone to failure. All of them went well before 50,000km. The car is barely broken in at that point.

 

[TraumaRN]

Reliable to me has been my current car.

After 30,000 miles it's had 3 oil changes, 6 tire rotations(still got more then half tread left), and one burned out tail light. That's been it. Generally I change my own oil but with my Fusion Hybrid I've found it to be cheaper and easier to take it to the dealer. 39 bucks nets a full synthetic oil change + tire rotation + multi-point inspection including checking the hybrid battery. And considering I can't check the battery at home, can't check the trans at home, cant check the air filter etc etc...it's worth the 39 bucks and peace of mind.

On my wife's Focus however I check/change everything and so far it's been reliable as well, nothing besides tire rotation and oil changes.

 

[skyking]

My 98 camry has been very reliable, and yet it had an odd part failure that could have easily destroyed the engine. The car had 60K on it when the factory oil sender failed and started spewing oil right out of the wire terminal. Had I not stopped and noticed the smell when I did, it could have both run out of oil AND failed to tell me about in the same instance
Go figure.

 

[KentState]

Reliable is a car to me that can last 100,000 miles without needing any major repairs and didn't require many trips to the shop during the initial warranty.

 

[JeffreyLebowski]

Reliable is a car to me that can last 100,000 miles without needing any major repairs and didn't require many trips to the shop during the initial warranty.

This. A new car should go 100K without stranding you somewhere.
Obviously things like brakes, tires, oil need to be changed, but if you have to go in for bad wheel bearings, or anything that trips a CEL, then it is not reliable.

 

[hanoverphist]

im almost to 200k on my 2001 dodge ram 1500, replaced theh clutch when i bought it used, new starter, radiator and power steering pump and thats about it so far. im assuming im up for a few more things breaking soon, its been a pretty good 192k miles for the most part.

my old intrepid had less miles and way more repairs, and ended up being traded in with a blown head gasket with much less miles than my truck has now.

 

[T2urtle]

Lots of people dont care/know about the problems they need to do on their cars. Gas and oil changes is what they know. And even then they forget to do oil changes.

in my mind there are parts that should be 100k parts and parts that should be lifetime. 100k parts are mainly suspension related. Other then sway bar, and CV boots, all should be 100k. like wheel bearings, ball joints, tie rods. Some engine parts, o2, MAF should be 100k items. starter and alternators.

parts i expect to be lifetime or close to would be radiators, timing chains, PS racks, knock sensor. brake lines, fuel line and fuel tank.

there are more things that go into these list but really if you do your routine maintence work like flushing out coolant every couple of years and brake flushes. Obviously do things associated with a replace, like when you do a timing belt, do the seals and gaskets and water pump, serp belts.

My 3 cars to date, camry, maxima and G35. all didn't need any repairs. they needed CV axles, VC gaskets, sway bar bushings and endlinks. timing belt on the camry and serp belt on the maxima. Other stuff is just general stuff, plug,wires, filters, tire and oil. Well my G35 now needs compression bushings... this is something i feel should be a 100k part but people need them every 30-50k, i showed signs of needed them at 48k. To me this counts as subframe type of bushing, they should be 100k or close to lifetime. But if this is the only thing i need to go GREAT.

 

[JulesMaximus]

I just had to replace the motor mounts in my Maxima at 92k miles. The front motor mount was cracked and leaking so I just did all three. Did struts last summer (they weren't shot, just wanted to freshen up the ride) and cam position sensors probably 2 years ago. Other than that it has been routine maintenance, oil changes, 30/60/90k service, belts, tires, and brakes. I have yet to replace a single bulb in the car too...but one of the remotes is acting up and needs to be replaced.

Reliable to me means not leaving me stranded on the side of the road. It means no surprises when I take it in for routine maintenance. It means it starts up every morning and doesn't make me worry about breaking down whether I'm driving to work, to the grocery store, or across the country.

 

[Meghan54]

Our '02 Blazer, now with around 215K on it, has been fairly reliable.

Outside normal maintenance and wearout items....oil changes, spark plugs, dist. cap/rotor, rear end lube changes, tranny fluid/filter changes......it's had three shop repairs.

1) Alternator went out at around 160K with wife on the road, 800 miles from the house. Had to have it repaired on the road, unfortunately.

2) Fuel pump died at around 175K. Stopped at a stop sign, died. Had to have it towed in after making sure it wasn't something simple. Fortunately, the stop sign it died at was 30 ft. from our driveway.

3) Cat converter clogged at around 185K. Didn't completely clog, so managed to limp into the shop at 35mph. Was one time the labor was less than the part. (Over $350 for the cat....$150 or so for labor.)

Not too bad. Been driving it for over 4.5 years with only insurance payments on it, so the repairs were way cheaper than car payments.

 

[JackBurton]

1997 GMC truck, 220,000+ miles and the clutch is the only thing I've had to replace. Now THAT is reliability.

 

[alphatarget1]

parts i expect to be lifetime or close to would be radiators, timing chains, PS racks, knock sensor. brake lines, fuel line and fuel tank.

Lifetime radiator?? The seals between the plastic and aluminum wear out and coolant starts seeping out.

 

[SparkyJJO]

So far I've had 3 vehicles, and all 3 I got after 100k miles, so reliability to me is a little less meaningful in a sense heh.

First, 93 taurus. I really didn't do much to it except put gas in it and change the oil. Near the end of its life it burned out the water pump, the struts were worn, and then the brake lines blew out. And it rusted... so at 150k it was gone. It was in the family since it had around 50k though, and it didn't need much attention during that 100k we had it. Just gas, oil, tires, trans fluid change, an idler pulley, and some other random small thing or two.

Second, 98 Camaro, got it at 104k. Abused before I got it, wasn't really a good buy because of that. I sank thousands into it over a couple years fixing it and keeping it on the road. Every time something broke, I couldn't afford to replace the car, and I had to have a car, so I'd fix it. Over and over... Man it sucked. But, once I did all that, the 3rd year was pretty good. It needed shocks at 125k miles, and I did have a caliper stick on me, but other than that it was really good. That last year and a few months I put 40k on it and it never let me down. So I guess you could say I took an unreliable car and made it reliable. Was in an accident however and it's wrecked now, at 161k. I miss that car

3rd vehicle, 02 Trailblazer, got it with 112k miles in September. I've replaced the idler pulley on it, blower motor resistor pack, spare tire winch, and the manifold O2 sensor. Everything but the blower motor resistor pack and the O2 sensor I knew it needed when I bought it. So far, so good. It has 118k on it now, I would guess I'll have 120k by the end of the month. Yeah, I drive a lot Its first couple months have been much better than the Camaro was haha. We'll see how it goes but I am hoping it will serve me well. It was taken much better care of than the Camaro.

 

[jlee]

parts i expect to be lifetime or close to would be radiators, timing chains, PS racks, knock sensor. brake lines, fuel line and fuel tank.

Oh to live in a land with no road salt...one of these days...

 

[halik]

Car with over 100K that I have full confidence taking on a road trip.

 

[Greenman]

I just had to replace the motor mounts in my Maxima at 92k miles. The front motor mount was cracked and leaking so I just did all three.

What leaks out of a motor mount? Every one I've ever seen was made of rubber and steel.

 

[halik]

What leaks out of a motor mount? Every one I've ever seen was made of rubber and steel.

dynamic mounts have fluid inside of them and usually a valve to allow them to soften/firm up

 

[T2urtle]

Lifetime radiator?? The seals between the plastic and aluminum wear out and coolant starts seeping out.

I feel a radiator is life time. most of the times people need radiators are from front end accidents or the RUST either outside or from not changing the coolant

Oh to live in a land with no road salt...one of these days...

living in chicago is a nightmare and obviously my life of "Lifetime parts" is based off non-road salt areas.