what's been your most reliable car?

[KIAman]

My 05 Civic Ex. Had it for almost 7 years and driven it for 140k miles.

I do 12k OCI at the local Walmart.
I do air filters every 40k miles.
Recently got my 110k service (water pump, timing belt, hoses, belts).
I do brakes when they are down to metal.
I do tires when they are bald.

Runs perfectly and never had any issues, except my wife ripped the passenger side mirror off while pulling out of garage. That was replaced for $200.

 

[CurseTheSky]

2003 Chevy Malibu. The only major repair was a fuel pump. The AC stopped working, which sucks, but it is otherwise in great mechanical shape. It's nearing 180k miles and still drives like a relatively new car.

1995 Ford F-150 Eddie Bauer. 110k miles and no major repairs. It's getting rusty underneath though / rot in the wheel wells, so we'll probably retire it from road use in the next few years.

Our least reliable car was either a '97 Taurus (blew through two transmissions in ~100k miles, plus numerous other problems), or a '99 Hyundai Elantra with only ~70k miles, which had a bad transmission (got stuck in third gear several times... third gear in an under-powered car is NOT fun when you need to get out into traffic or make it up a hill), power steering problems, fuel problems, rusted-out exhaust, and numerous other issues. What a POS.

 

[JeffreyLebowski]

My assesments aren't really fair as I don't keep most vehicles more than 2-3 years.
But.
Out of the 15 vehicles I've owned in the last 15 years, the 2006 Kia Sephia and the 2006 Chevy Silverado W/T are the only 2 that never had an issue with.
The 2006 Toyota Sienna is the worst vehicle I've ever had the misfortune of buying.

 

[Mxylplyx]

Had a 92 Sentra that went 100K miles with only brakes and oil changes.

 

[Meghan54]

I had a 1966 Plymouth Belvedere with a 225 Slant Six in it that absolutely refused to die. I abused the crap out of that car, including letting it sit in a parking lot for 6 months, which included winter. Started first try after sitting all winter. I even turned it over onto its side once....culvert covered with snow, never saw it. It started right up and drove off after being pulled out of the ditch/culvert by two tow trucks.

Never replaced anything on it other than oil changes and tires.

 

[CraigRT]

My hand me down Altima. Man, I treated that car like a POS. It never missed a beat. I hated it with a passion b/c it was really uncomfy to drive, but you could not kill that thing. I traded it in with 155K or something close like that. The guy said the engine was in awesome condition. Really? You have no idea how many times I did intervals of 12K-15K between oil changes with that car.

Was it 93-01? If so, (KA24) there is pretty much nothing you can do to harm that engine. They are total workhorses.

 

[Harrod]

87 accord bought at 205k for 1700, sold at 292k for 500. I literally drove that car into the ground.

 

[halik]

A6 2.7T of all things, bought at 108K sold at ~150K. Only thing it needed were some valve cover seals, cv boots and new secondary air pump (~$250 in total)

 

[Pinepig]

Believe it or not my 1990 VW Corrado, never had any problems with it, just did the maintenance when it was scheduled, had 248,000 miles on it when I pulled the motor ( only because I had a BUILT 2.0 sitting on an engine stand for about a year and got tired of looking at it ) it had 285,000 miles on it when I sold it and still drove fantastically.

This is a pic the day before the transporter showed up to take to Illinois to meet it's new owner.

 

[EightySix Four]

2001 f150. Made it to 150k+ miles with little to no problems.

 

[kaerflog]

- 90 Accord that was rock solid.
- 2000 Civic Si rock solid for 5+ yrs(stolen twice)
- 1999 Jetta 2.0. Only had to change the fuel pump but the CEL was on(just sold it).
- 2001 Civic Si rock solid for 3 yrs(stolen)
- 2002 S2000 super solid for 5+ yrs(still have it)
- 2006 Civic lx getting 35-40mpg(love this as its my daily.) Just bought it.

 

[SparkyJJO]

My hand me down Altima. Man, I treated that car like a POS. It never missed a beat. I hated it with a passion b/c it was really uncomfy to drive, but you could not kill that thing. I traded it in with 155K or something close like that. The guy said the engine was in awesome condition. Really? You have no idea how many times I did intervals of 12K-15K between oil changes with that car.

My brother wishes his altima was like that, but his has been a pile of crap ever since he got it. Transmission was the most recent thing, it grenaded on him when he was pulling away from a stop light. Didn't even have 90k on it yet.

 

[Kirby]

I've put about 130k miles on my 2000 1.8T Jetta (bought at 34k), and it's held up surprisingly good from all the horror stories I've heard about this generation.

*knocks on wood

 

[WackyDan]

My 99 Dodge Dakota. I'm as surprised as anyone.

 

[nismotigerwvu]

Personally, my 95 240SX has been incredible. It served as a daily driver through undergrad and a bit of grad school and I've taken it from 125k to 210k miles and the only service I've done has been preventative and done myself (replaced the factory clutch at 175k out of simple fear, which was misplaced as it still had plenty of life left on it and I replaced the water pump at same time as well, which was a super easy 10 minute job BTW, thank god for longitudinal mounted engines). However, my parents' old 1990 pathfinder REALLY takes the cake. It was the family workhorse (pulled the boat, offroading ect ect) from the day it was bought new until we sold it around 2005 or so with 350k on the odo. No major services (a few clutches but understandable for the workload/miles/teaching 2 kids to drive a stick on it) and the fellow we sold it to still runs it all the time and its nearing 500k on the factory motor. Apparently the guy claims its the most capable offroader he's ever had for turkey hunting. I always smile when I see one of those noble (yet underpowered) beasts rolling down the road. Kind of humorous to think of all the common parts between it's motor and the plant in my 300ZX TT (VG30E/VG30DETT)

 

[nismotigerwvu]

Was it 93-01? If so, (KA24) there is pretty much nothing you can do to harm that engine. They are total workhorses.

+1

 

[jmarti445]

Easily...My 2008 Honda Civic EX. 78000 miles and not a single problem, all other cars I've owned have had issues. Only have replaced the brakes at 75000 miles and had an alignment and tires. Nothing else, no mechanical problems at all.

Other cars owned have been a 2006 Impala SS, 2000 Maxima and a 92 grand am V6. All were troublesome cars.

 

[mrblotto]

Still got my '97 Celica w/256K on it. Bought it in 2000 w/52K on it.
-regular oil changes
-replaced distributor 6mos ago after it went out
-normal wear and tire stuff as well (ie struts)

Drove it up to PA and back about a month ago. Still gets 30-something mpg on the highway

 

[BrownShoes]

My '96 Miata was atomic. I had 150K miles on it before I sold it and never had a memorable issue.

To be honest, I haven't had big maintenance woes in any of the cars that I've owned over the last decade (two Hondas and now a Nissan).

 

[FuzzyDunlop]

89 Cavalier - :shock: believe it!
It went through eight different 3000 mile trips (as we kids abused it while we went to schools) before the radiator fan blew out. Other than that, and a flat tire, that car wouldnt quit during the entirity of my families ownership.

 

[PricklyPete]

got to thinking - it's a total crapshoot out there... the same model vehicle could have no problems for 10 years while another guy with it has problems every other month.

While it is a "crapshoot" at some level, you can always mitigate risk by reading various sources of statistical data(from True Delta to Consumer Reports) to determine what are the more reliable models.

I had no allusions to reliability when I bought either my wife's car or my car. While both are high reliability wise relative to their respective manufacturers, neither are highly reliable compared to the competition.

I would say my most reliable car was my 2005 Tacoma that went 5.5 years without a problem (I sold it a year ago). The next would be my college car, 1992 Camry. Nothing broke that wasn't normal maintenance with the exception of the drivers side window motor. Everything else that went wrong I would consider maintenance (replaced radiator, water pump, etc) for a car that went 290K miles. Well the paint was not looking good either...but that wasn't taken car of at all.

 

[CraigRT]

My 99 Dodge Dakota. I'm as surprised as anyone.

No surprises. They are great trucks. I still want that generation of Dakota someday, when I can afford to have a few vehicles for different uses.

 

[7window]

My brother wishes his altima was like that, but his has been a pile of crap ever since he got it. Transmission was the most recent thing, it grenaded on him when he was pulling away from a stop light. Didn't even have 90k on it yet.

I would say on the ka motor at 200k you will have headgasket issue. It is a good motor but not a work horse. That has been my high mileage car for our family though until headgasket problem.

 

[CraigRT]

I would say on the ka motor at 200k you will have headgasket issue. It is a good motor but not a work horse. That has been my high mileage car for our family though until headgasket problem.

They are work horses. There is a reason the KA24 was in the pickup trucks. Lots of torque and very reliable.
Also, at 200K its not exactly uncommon for a HG to go.. was the coolant ever changed? over heated? In lots of cases its owner neglect that causes the HG to go. (Not always)

 

[Jeff7181]

I had a '77 Cutlass with a 260ci V8 that I got at 30k miles and put about 40k on it. Most significant part I replaced was the radiator.