Vehicle Model Reliability

[Danoff]

I'm sure we all love car reviews on this site, and there are tons to choose from. But one thing these car reviews seems to have in common is that they review initial quality - which is great and everything, but what about after the honeymoon is over?

I only buy used cars. Occasionally I buy certified pre-owned and so I have the luxury of a dealer warranty, but having to spring for that requires a big premium, so accurate reliability information is important. One of the places I go for reliability information is jdpower - you're probably familiar.

They have a 4 point rating system that looks like a 5 point rating system, except 2 appears to be the lowest score a car can get. They don't go back very far in terms of model years - and seem to be intentionally removing reliability data older than a certain amount.

My only other tool is to find a forum for the car and poke around at what members are saying. It seems to be a good way to convince yourself you don't want a particular car since people only seem to visit those forums when they want to ask about something that has gone wrong or to show off their new bodykit and dropped suspension.

So my question is, where do you get your vehicle reliability data from?

 

[Slash]

The test of time, literally. Being a young mechanic, I tend to go over the car myself and check out everything there is and if it's ok, then the deal will go through. After a certain period of time (which I actually find more important than it's actual mileage), cars go on a case by case basis. Being that you only buy used cars, some reviews might be quite old and years later some things they say might not be true anymore. Say you have 2 cars for sale, both identical, right next to each other. Ones has been beat to hell, the other has been somewhat taken care of and has no foreseeable issues. Yet websites will tell you that all models of the same car are just as reliable as the next one (some people are stupid like this). So which one do you take?

This brings up that part about what you said in terms of that site removing certain vehicles at a certain age. That is bull. Vehicles can be quite reliable after a certain age. It's all in the way they've been taken care of, for the most part.

I trust my own instincts over what someone else tells me when vehicle reliability is concerned.

 

[Danoff]

The test of time, literally. Being a young mechanic, I tend to go over the car myself and check out everything there is and if it's ok, then the deal will go through. After a certain period of time (which I actually find more important than it's actual mileage), cars go on a case by case basis. Being that you only buy used cars, some reviews might be quite old and years later some things they say might not be true anymore. Say you have 2 cars for sale, both identical, right next to each other. Ones has been beat to hell, the other has been somewhat taken care of and has no foreseeable issues. Yet websites will tell you that all models of the same car are just as reliable as the next one (some people are stupid like this). So which one do you take?

This brings up that part about what you said in terms of that site removing certain vehicles at a certain age. That is bull. Vehicles can be quite reliable after a certain age. It's all in the way they've been taken care of, for the most part.

I trust my own instincts over what someone else tells me when vehicle reliability is concerned.

Some cars can be expected to have radiator failure, AC failure, leaky sunroofs, rattles, broken window regulators, broken transmissions etc. etc. For some models, these sorts of things are known to go bad. For other models, none of that stuff goes bad.

I hear what you're saying about 2 identical cars one being taken care of and the other not being taken care of. But if both of those cars is a 2001 honda accord, I wouldn't exact any failures of the kind listed above as long as the transmission fluid had been changed once. If both cars are an audi A3, I don't care how well the car was taken care of I'd expect a lot of those things to happen after I bought the car.

 

[Slash]

It's one of those things I think you kind to have to have been around the block before, like an experience kind of thing.

Of course some cars are going to be more prone to repairs than others, and that's one of the things you watch out for...overall build quality.

 

[Wolfe]

The first thing I look for is a "common problems" list collected by owners on forums and such, to see how nightmarish the worst (most expensive) items are and to know what to watch out for. I've also used Carsurvey.org, which is basically like looking through a forum, but it's nicer to browse and more to the point. It sort of allows you to check for BS, since owners are asked to put in how many miles they've driven with the car (eg. "this car is super reliable, I've driven it for a whole 3000 miles!"), and other users are free to comment along the lines of, "you're a moron, you should have replaced xyz at the scheduled time."

 

[Kent]

Among the methods already mentioned, one of my favorite approaches to internet searching (on this subject) is to use the car's name with "TSB" or "Technical Service Bulletin." It's a great way to find out what dealerships are reporting back to the manufacturer and what the manufacturer is doing to prep dealers for problems.