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A first model year Dodge Neon that got to about 140K miles with really only an oxygen sensor problem, small oil leak, and chronic AC problems. (In a cooler climate, we wouldn't have bothered fixing the AC every spring ,but, hey, Florida it's a must have, IMO) Once drove it back from Orlando with pretty much no oil in the engine because the guy fixing the leak didn't top off properly after the fix, and that was around 75K miles.
2001 Jetta, the MKIV iteration. Granted, it's in diesel and Most of the nightmare tales were the gassers, but my ills have amounted to a couple vacuum lines, the suspension/bushings and an alternator. Over 240k miles (to 300k), I'd say that's not too bad. Still on the OEM/original brakes (pads and rotors, yes that's right...) and clutch. Not much to DIY on it... rotate tires every 10k, change the oil every 20k (lol, yeah...), change the belts/water pump every 90k miles... rinse and repeat.
Hoping to see 500k and no car payments for Another decade.
I bought a 1954 Sunbeam Talbot in 1955. The son that got it for a college graduation present went to Europe and would not come back so his father sold it for about 1/3rd of it's value.
They won a lot of road races in Europe such as Monte Carlo, and were a wonder to drive. Problem, they burned out the valves often. I replaced them with custom cut truck valves, for high compression diesel engines, and no more problem. Got caught in a multi car collision on Bay Shore freeway in Redwood City area crushed between two large cars. Really hated to see it go. But when you walk away from a 60 mile an hour wreck crushed both front and back, and not get a scratch, you just say good bye old friend you served me well.
I've had a ton of cars over the years, and most have been fairly reliable. However, in 86 I bought a brand new Mercury Cougar with the 3.8 engine, and it was a disaster. Engine fried at 20,000 miles and the new one they put in was no better.
I got on a first name basis with the rep at Ford customer service and he pulled up my build sheet one day. Told me I had the Canadian body with the Mexican engine and he kind of hinted that they were having a lot of problems with those.
Used to be that everyone bought Toyotas, and buying a Ford Escort was buying trouble. I was told may times that those cars were junk.
Never had any trouble with them. Sold one at 215K, and then used to see it prowling the streets of Anchorage years later, and Anchorage is a brutal environmment for anything automotive.
My present DD is a BMW, and thus far it's been gas and oil. I'd drive it across the country tomorrow, like I did last summer. 10 years and 125K on it and uses no oil between changes.
Nearly every brand has reliable and unreliable models. You have to research and be selective about the engine and transmission in the particular vehicle. For example, the GM 3.8 was a good engine, but the subsequent engines, such as the 3.6, not so much. The 225 Slant 6 was a real good engine, but, I had a '71 with a 198 and had problems with it.
I have owned four Chrysler products, two Jeep Wranglers and two Dodge Chargers since 2002. All have been very reliable, averaging maybe 1 minor electrical problem each over the full period. By electrical, I mean things like a broken button or switch, or maybe a burned out relay.
GM's have been a mixed bag. Some excellent. Some not so much.
Every Ford product I have ever owned has been the opposite. Absolute nightmares.
Japanese brands I would consider replacement level, in my experiences with Hondas and Subarus. None of them terrible, but none of them as good as their reputation either. Acceptable, but greatness is not found there.
Of course, this is all just my anecdotal experience.
It's funny you mention that about Japanese vehicles. My dad was a Honda fanatic, but his civic was constantly overheating and his mechanic (I never worked on my parents vehicles) could never figure out why. I've owned two Maxima's (Nissan), and while I've love both very dearly, they've actually been the least reliable vehicles I've owned.
One of them actually left me stranded, my 91 Maxima. The fuel pump died on the road, and when I went to replace it, the wires look like they had all been sliced right down the sheathing/insulation, longways. In other words The sheathing was peeling back and all the fuel pump wires were exposed. I'm hoping that was caused by someone owning the car before me, because I have no idea how that could happen. Then I had issues with the transmission (manual) and some other odds and ends.
Funny thing is, even after this, I decided to give Nissan another try by buying an Infiniti.
I think that's his point. Try reading more than the first sentence next time.
Thank you.
On a side note, some really interesting response here. Especially the one with the fried engine at 30k miles and another at 20k.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rivertowntalk
Nearly every brand has reliable and unreliable models. You have to research and be selective about the engine and transmission in the particular vehicle. For example, the GM 3.8 was a good engine, but the subsequent engines, such as the 3.6, not so much. The 225 Slant 6 was a real good engine, but, I had a '71 with a 198 and had problems with it.
While I am aware of that, I'm more interested in vehicles that haven't been serviced by dealerships or commercial garages; mostly vehicles that have been purely owner serviced/worked on. In order to get that info, I'd have to post this at auto forums for every make which would be quite a bit more time consuming. I also like the amount of traffic here at city data, lots of people on here browsing at any given time.
Last edited by Username00; 09-24-2016 at 08:44 AM..
Bought a beat up Ford escort...1992... it was 8 years old when I got it. Ppl in my neighborhood laughed cuz the muffler rattled terribly. One entire weekend dedicated to fixing its glitches. And for ten years that little darling,got me thru snow and some swift roadways. Had to finally give it up when the rust ratio didn't pass inspection.
I have an older mid-90's Volvo. It hasn't been so expensive to maintain for me to DIY, but if I were paying a mechanic it would have been expensive. The bigger repairs I have done to it include the evaporator ($1200 fix, give or take - my cost was around $100), transmission (over $1k in labor alone, I got my replacement transmission for "free" by buying another car like mine with a blown motor for next to nothing, so saved roughly $1600+ on that repair) and a complete suspension overhaul front and rear (around $800 my cost alone in parts for quality pieces). The other minor but expensive things were brakes all four corners, new radiator, PCV system cleaning, etc.
The biggest cost with maintaining the European cars tend to be the cost of the parts themselves. My wife had a VW and while every normal car used cheap transmission fluid for it's power steering system, VW used expensive mineral oil of sorts. Also special VW coolant. The cost to replace the power steering pump on her car, parts alone, was something like $250(!). Everything was expensive on that stupid VW. Car drove great and was super easy to work on but parts were expensive even compared to my Volvo.
Look up a pair of OEM control arms for most Euro brands, they tend to be pretty expensive just as an example. Several hundred bucks a piece.
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