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Totaled my '03 Honda Accord (190k), which was a great car that gave me little trouble. I had purchased the Accord in March of 2003 after leasing a Civic for three years. Haven't sniffed a car lot since.
I really have to do something in the next two weeks before all the deals expire.
Thinking midsize sedan or small SUV/Crossover. Another Accord is the obvious starting point. Mazda 6 and Mazda CX-5 will get a look. Am thinking about checking out Ford Fusion and Hyundai Sonata and Tuscon. But, the last time I bought a car, Ford was not in a good position and known for a lot of crap (at least for cars, if not trucks), and Hyundai was at best just starting its emergence as something other than bargain basement transportation. So, I have a little bias against those brands, even though I know they've come a long way. I know plenty of people who own Hyundais and love them. I've seen plenty of positive reviews. I don't know a ton of Ford owners, but do know one guy with a Fusion, who really likes it (though it is fairly new).
I don't want to reduce my options by being "bigoted" towards certain brands.
Really just venting as I nervously prepare to buy a car in the coming weeks.
I have a 2005 Accord with 185K, no major issues at all. If I need to buy another car, my choices are between the new Accord, a Mazda 3, or a Mazda 6. As much as I like how Mazdas look and drive, however, I'm a bit leery about jumping to an unfamiliar brand, especially considering the exceptional reliability I've gotten out of the Accord. I'm not entirely sold on Hyundai/Kia and was never a fan of American cars. It would likely come down to another Honda, a Toyota, Mazda, or even a Subaru. If I was in a better financial position, I'd lease an Audi.
Location: New Albany, Indiana (Greater Louisville)
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My experience is the Detroit brands make some good cars but it's not consistently good. GM made the very reliable 1980s Chevy Cavaliers but then also made the Quad 4 nightmare. Ford Ranger from the early 1990s is as reliable as a Toyota but new Fords with the CVT can barely make it 30k miles before having major problems. The best Japanese brands (Toyota, Honda, Subaru) don't have that issue. IMO the ultimate measure of reliable is how many old cars from each brand you see on the road today. I routinely see 25 year old Toyotas and Hondas but I rarely see a Detroit brand car that goes beyond year 2000. How can any survey put out the same time as a new car know anything about reliability?
I always buy american cars. I work.in the industry so it keeps food on my table. I try to stay away from anything that has a 4 cylender in it, they seem like they start having big problems after 100,000 miles. I try to stay away from chrysler / dodge as their transmissions seem finicky. although the chalenger is looking pretty nice but they have changed hands half a dozen times so ill pass. Personally I would go with a nice camaro or suburban. Cadillac is putting out some nice looking cars too these days.
I bought a Hyundai Elantra in 1995 and had nothing but trouble with it. It was an awful, awful car. Two years later I told it and moved to a city where I didn't need a car. I was grateful to be rid of that albatross.
Cut to: 2005. I'm in need of a car now that I've moved back to the suburbs, but I do not have a lot of money to spend. My husband and I researched and found that Hyundai was the only brand that fit into our budget (we wanted to get a new car, not used). I pitched a fit, saying I would NEVER own a Hyundai again. My husband reminded me it was the only brand we could afford at the time.
Begrudgingly, we went to Hyundai, where I test drove their 2005 Hyundai Elantra. I was miserable. Resentful, bitter - I'm sure the sales guy just wanted me GONE rather than get a sale. I flat out told him I didn't want the car and didn't care how low a price he offered me.
But then he offered me a rock bottom price. WELL BELOW what we had been prepared to pay. And the car had some options included that were not on the base model we were prepared to purchase. After a brief discussion, I agreed to go ahead and get the car, figuring I'd keep it for a couple years TOPS and then get rid of it.
Here I am, 11+ years later, still driving that same Hyundai Elantra I didn't want to buy in 2005. It has been a GREAT car to me - so much so that I'm most likely going to get a Hyundai as my next car as well.
First there is little difference in reliability between brands or models. Once in a while, any brand makes some bad choices for one or more models.
Most brands buy the same parts or simlar parts from the same supplier, so there is no real difference in those parts. Look at the airbag recall. Not one brand, or two, not really specific to any models. Everyone was buying the same thing from the same place.
Transmissions are much the same. Some companies make some of their transmissions in house, but most buy from a small number of outside transmission manufacturers (Mostly ZF) for many of their models.
All companies squeeze the supplier so all suppliers cut corners. This is a factor of our society wanting bling over quality.
Even within a model, unless there is some particularly bad component (like CVT) you can usually end up with a super reliable car or a POS depending on who was working that day and how they were feeling. Some people will point to the automated assembly plants and say workers have little impact on quality anymore - however there is a lot more to a vehicle than final assembly. All cars contain critical parts made in a small Chinese factory somewhere, primarily using human labor.
So the bottom line is any car maker makes some great cars and some junky ones. You really have no way to ensure you get one that is somewhat more reliable than another. Aside form certain models with parts that have 100% failure problems, the difference from one brand to another or one model to another is miniscule. Do you really care whether your model has reported an 18% problem rate or a 22% problem? How, where you drive and how you maintain your car will have a massively larger impact on reliability than ratings from studies or polls.
In order of most to least reliable new vehicles I've owned - Mazda 3, Hummer H3, Chevy Camaro, Ford Explorer x 2, and BMW 328i. The first 2 on the list are a factor above the rest. I was also thinking the other day that Acura has done a poor job of branding themselves as a luxury car. Being based on a Honda platform should mean high reliability but it's rarely mentioned in the same sentence as Lexus. My next vehicle will be a Lexus. My first little one is on the way and I don't want to risk my wife being stranded on the side of the road (it's happened multiple times with our BMW).
WRONG WRONG WRONG!!! the mazda pick up was a rebadged ranger. it used mazda engines as well as ford engines. the ford courier was rebadged mazda.
rbohm is totally correct. The Mazda B series was built in the US (Louisville, St. Paul and Edison, New Jersey) with pushrod engines (exception: the 2.3/2.5 I4 and the later 4.0 V6) and was just a fancy Ranger. It was the reverse setup of the Courier.
I have a couple biases, rooted in the experiences of others and not my own, and some of my own making. For example, I highly doubt I will ever own an Audi.
I've had several friends over the years own them, and none of them have had a good experience. I don't even like the styling either, though that is subjective. Reliability issues have been a major complaint from every single one of my friends, so I've sworn off the brand even though I've never owned one.
I'll never buy another Acura either. On the surface, they look nice, refined, etc. However, that's just "lipstick on a pig" as they say, because the quality of materials underlying everything is cheap. I had a poor experience with an MDX, and my mother's RL looks absolutely terrible after 10 years but only 50k miles. Here's an example that sums up what Acura is... the interior door handle. It's wrapped in leather, with uniform stitching, feels nice to the hand. But, underneath, it's just leather wrapped over a cheap plastic handle, and that weak plastic handle is expected to open/close a 75 lb door? Try that in the TX heat sometime, and you'll snap the damn thing right off. Cost to replace $240. That's how all their cars are built, looks good for appearances sake, but underneath, you aren't getting luxury, you're getting bargain basement Honda.
Those are the only brands that I can say I will absolutely never own. There are others that are pretty unlikely, but could sway me if they came out with something exceptional.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
44,551 posts, read 81,103,317 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mo8414
I always buy american cars. I work.in the industry so it keeps food on my table. I try to stay away from anything that has a 4 cylender in it, they seem like they start having big problems after 100,000 miles. I try to stay away from chrysler / dodge as their transmissions seem finicky. although the chalenger is looking pretty nice but they have changed hands half a dozen times so ill pass. Personally I would go with a nice camaro or suburban. Cadillac is putting out some nice looking cars too these days.
I did the research before buying my Challenger, and went with a 2013, which has a Mercedes 5G-Tronic transmission.
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