“Get a Toyota.” These mere three words, sliced from our language with an economy and precision only Hemingway could match, represented the totality of my late father-in-law’s car-buying advice. A Chevy man since WWII, he came around (as so many did) to the value and reliability of Japanese cars as the Malaise Era was delivering peak ennui and the imports were striving to build top-quality machines. He acknowledged the superior reliability and durability of Japanese brands in general, but high above them all was Toyota. Looking for a truck? Get a Toyota. You need an economy car? Get a Toyota. Something sporty? Get a Toyota. Premium sedan? Get a Toyota (a Cressida, specifically). Because reliability. You can’t go wrong with a Toyota!
But of course, sometimes you can go wrong with a Toyota, or any other super definitely reliable brand. And the inverse is also true: examples of brands and models that “everyone knows” are totes unreliable still have their proponents that will tell you they can, in fact, be counted on. Tony does not have to fix it again!
And so, The Autopian Asks: what universally-regarded-as-reliable car was unreliable for you–or vice-versa?
To the comments!
I had a 2012 Ford Focus SEL with a Powershift double clutch automatic that only failed once (TCM failed at 72k miles, which they all seemed to do, and was covered under warranty). No clutch slipping, no uncommanded shifts to the wrong gear or neutral, hell, it even shifted pretty fast and smooth after the TCM replacement. I sometimes feel that I got the only good one ever made.
The rest of the car was pretty reliable too – a cracked spark plug replaced under warranty at 47k, new O2 sensors at about 120k, and regular maintenance. I kept to 145k, then sold it to my father who wanted something cheaper when his leased Escape went back to the dealership. He drove it another 15k before selling it, doing only regular maintenance and replacing an engine mount to cure increasing engine vibration while he had it.
2008 Honda Odyssey purchased CPO from local dealer. Constant issues, but never left us stranded. I think it may have been a flood car based on the low miles and constant problems. No way a Honda could be such a pile of crap.
Not my car, but my mom’s.
When she graduated from college, her parents presented her with a brand new 1976 Chevrolet Vega. It was a great, trouble-free car–an opinion shared by the car-knowlegeable members in my family. (The only nice Vega ever built,” says my uncle.)
When she got married a few years later, my dad made her get rid of the Vega and replaced it with a VW Rabbit, a maintenance nightmare that honked every time you turned left. He’s probably owned 100 cars since then, and not one was a VW.
My Mother gave my son her 2000 VW Jetta. Yes it’s a MK4 VW, but I think having a nice local mechanic make it easy. When they went for oil changes or inspections he would replace the blown bulbs that would randomly pop up. Sometimes at no charge. It still works great. Just tires, oil and some pesky burnt out bulbs. I’ve owned a few VW as his Dad and have VW PTSD, but his has been oddly OK over 23 years.
Unreliable: That would be a 1970 VW Beetle that I bought new in San Diego. Six months in I find myself purchasing and paying to install “case savers”, something that was supposed to stop leaks and preserve the engine. Within a year several other piddling things went wrong and I was wondering where that VW reliability was. Ended up trading it for a 1959 Mercedes 220S with a swapped out auto trans replacing the four speed.
Reliable: After returning to the states after 18 years in Germany, I needed wheels until my car arrived from Germany. Went to a well known fly by night used car dealer and asked what he had for $1000. He laughed and said nothing in that range existed. He did however have a well used 1974 Chevrolet 3/4 ton with 153K miles on it. It was beat to shit and looked like hell, but seemed to have “good bones” so I bought it. The previous owner had an LP gas set-up installed that was available for an extra $300 which I foolishly turned down. It is now 2023 and that same truck is still on the road, still running the original engine, trans, rear end, and front end components. The steering is very loose but still turns when directed. He still doesn’t burn a drop of oil. The mileage? Now standing at 325+K miles! Now that’s reliable.
Square body Chevys have solid mechanical components, it’s the rust that kills them.
For vise versa, back in college I got a 2006 Audi A3 with 19000 miles, and was expecting it to basically self destruct once the 100,000 mile CPO warranty was up. I ended up selling it a few years ago at almost 190,000 miles, and it still was in decent shape. It was taken offroad more than most Jeeps, tires off the ground, through flooded streams, bottomed out, stuck in the snow, occasionally smoked the clutch creeping over small rocks, etc, and also was regularly bounced off the rev limiter driving way too fast on canyon and mountain roads, so certainly saw it’s fair share of abuse. It needed some extra maintenance past the 100k mark, but nothing major. The biggest problem it had was needing the intake carbon cleaned at about 140k miles.
Some family friends were quite disappointed recently when their babied 80,000 mile highlander basically blew a hole in the side of the engine
Not sure how reliable they truly were but my parents owned several 80’s Escorts and they lasted without much thrown at them other than consumables. So when I bought my second car an 86 Escort Wagon was it, and in short order the transmission went, then electrical issues, then the hatch wouldn’t open, then it wouldn’t close, and then the final straw it refused to start below 40 degrees (F not C).
Oddly enough BMWs get a lot of hate for being expensive and unreliable, but so far in 4 years of ownership my 2001 Z3 2.5i has not given me much trouble. Did I mention it has 286K miles on the clock? Have a refreshed somethings like trans fluid, suspension, and brakes yeah, but all cars will need those eventually. All total I think I have put less than $1000 into the car, including a new top.
I use to have a 2003 5spd manual civic hybrid that I had for 10 years. On top of getting 50MPG It was, and probably will be, the most reliable vehicle I’ve ever had which is saying a lot as I’ve had well over 100 vehicles as this point. I put over 250k miles on it totaling roughly 345kish by the time I sold it. In those 12 years the items that I replaced were the basic consumables; gas/oil/tires. At only point I did get a new hybrid battery because the old one would throw an IMA code from time to time but didn’t affect drivability just fuel economy. I loved this car, but due to being in the Midwest, and using it as a daily, it began to rust in half. Partially I must admit that this was my fault as I installed coilovers and it had maybe an inch of ground clearance. The stiffness of the suspension slowly started to bend the front aprons as the metal weakened from rust, and you could visually see the gap between the fenders grow. Cosmetically the car looked great, but my concern for the car beginning to crumble in other areas was ultimately the reason I sold it. If it wasn’t for the rust I would still be driving it as the inside of the engine was spotless, I even checked the cylinders one day with a scope doing the 100k plugs and there were still honing lines!
As far as most unreliable, I had a 1st gen Tahoe hybrid, and its been nothing but headaches. Its needed valve covers, header helpers, cam sensors, water pump, a transmission, 2 hybrid battery’s, rear main seal, rear diff seal, sway bar links, crash sensors for the SRS, throttle body, oxygen sensors, and I’m sure I’m missing things.
My 2013 Dodge Dart. I thought that … oh. Wait. No, never mind.
My 2013 Subaru Outback 2.5. I love the thing; it’s a beast in our torrential downpours, comfortable for my 6’3″ frame, and loves light trails. But it has nickel and dimed me starting around 90k miles. This is my 2nd Japanese-branded American-made vehicle, and like the first (Nissan pickup truck), their various components don’t measure up to what’s used in J-VIN vehicles. I’m at 200k miles now and will continue to dump money into it until it’s long-ordered replacement arrives later this year. You can be assured it will have a J-, K-, or even 3-VIN.
Subaru reliability/dependabilty is the most overrated, in my opinion. I agree with what you said regarding how good they are in inclimate weather…. but I (and many others) have had to have new engines put in before 100k (newer motors, oil consumption) and EJ’s blow head gaskets and WRX’s of certain years have a rod knock issue that Subaru refuses to do anything about…..the only solid motors they have ever made were the 6 cylinders, but even those had more minor issues vs. 4 cylinders.
FIAT in the form of a used 1981 X-19. If ran perfectly for years with just oil, tires and not a lot of gas.
The secret? I think it was the fuel injection and electronic ignition.
I rocked a 2000 Insight for 13 years. Sold it at 150k miles and in that short-ish span it went through four (4) IMA batteries. Even the Bumblebee Batteries replacement I bought failed in the last week of its warranty and then its replacement threw the dreaded IMA warning light two years later, literally the day I was selling the car to a new owner.
This is what cured me of my Honda fanboi status. Any Honda post 1999 other than a S2000 or Element is dead to me.
I’ve got examples for both scenarios:
2017 Honda Ridgeline. The perfect suburban dad truck. It could haul everything I asked of it, had plenty of space in the cab for my kids, comfortable long distance cruiser and got great gas mileage for its size. It was the first vehicle I purchased new since a 1998 Mini Cooper and was religiously maintained at the dealer. First I started having issues with the transmission, nothing that left me stranded though and seemed to be fixed with a flush and a reprogram, then last year the engine decided to throw a cam carrier….About 3000 miles out of warranty. The dealer servicing it asked if I’d purchased an extended warranty from the original dealer, I told him the reason I bought a Honda was so I wouldn’t have to deal with that crap. To their credit Honda USA covered about 2/3 of the repair costs.
With the engine fixed the transmission started acting up again, so after reading the articles on this site I decided to buy the most reliable truck out there. An F150 with the 400ci inline 6 and a manual transmission! I also bought a GTi as a daily, but that did come with an extended warranty.
I survived my 2001 B5 2.7 Turbo Audi Allroad: It never once left me stranded, granted I bought it from a friend of the family who took it to 112,000 miles from new and did everything they were supposed to at the dealership. Air shocks failed pretty soon afterward but I was able to retrofit coilovers and get the ride height sensors to cooperate with the change. The timing belt on these cars is a chore, as we all probably know here already, and you replace the pulleys water pump and alternator while you’re in there since you had to deconstruct the front end of the vehicle just to gain access to them. My car was a homely green/green combo that looked like a retired dentist on the way to the country club and it caught people off guard all the time when they tried to beat me off the light on a narrowing road. Finally, at 180k the torque converter started going and rust began to bubble out from the door sill plastic moldings. Since I’d finally landed an “adult” job with decent pay, I traded it in for an off-lease Silverado…with pushrods…because I was over the whole interference engine thing. Still, for those three years or so, it was actually a wonderful car.
My 78 MGB has really had no major issues. The speedometer/odometer stopped working at around 93,000 miles. Not sure if it has about 100k or 200k but it starts right up.
I guess that the nonfunctional speedometer and heater plus a non-existent radio would count as ‘broken’ to some people but I think most Autopians would understand that those aren’t entirely necessary.
I’ve posted about it before: 2015 Jeep Renegade Latitude, 1.4T manual.
I bought it new because I liked the packaging, it was a 5-door hatchback with a manual, surprisingly good handling and good usable interior space in a small footprint. An ideal family car for a family of 3. I paid a little extra for a 100k mile warranty, because come on. It’s an FCA product, with a Fiat engine, built in a Fiat factory in Italy. I told myself I’d get my project car running before the Jeep hit 100k so I’d have extra transportation. I consciously rolled the dice on reliability and longevity is what I’m saying.
That was 8 years and 155,000 miles ago. I had to replace the Renegade’s radiator a few years back after it sprung a pinhole leak near the end of a road trip, likely from road debris. The uConnect head unit bricked and was replaced under warranty, that was 6 years ago.
That’s it. It’s been religiously maintained, because that’s what I do. But the radiator and the infotainment head unit are the only actual failures. Aside from that it’s been totally flawless.
The manual was the key part to your success. I worked at a Ford/Kia dealership and we had 3 Jeep renegades that all had blown transmissions. All 9 speed autos though.
No doubt about that. Also the manuals were paired with the 1.4 Turbo MultiAir rather than the problematic 2.4 Tigershark which all the automatics had.
Wow! Good for you that’s awesome.
My dads 68′ Series IIa runs like a sewing machine with it’s original 2.25 4cyl engine. Electronics all work too!
68 Land Rover? They have any electrics? haha
2005 Subaru Forester: it drove wonderfully and everything worked and it was never actually ‘unreliable’, but it cost a fortune in maintenance. On top of the required timing belt replacement when I first bought it (previous owners had cannily traded it in just before reaching this kilometerage), a wheel bearing would fail every few months which due to the way the wheels were engineered would cost about $400 to replace. Plus other suspension, strut issues, and the mileage was not necessarily too good. Reliable, but not a cheap car to run. Current 2016 CR-V, going on 4 years hasn’t cost a penny
I had a 99 Forester that is still going. I had to do an engine swap, but that was my fault (ALWAYS replace the tensioner when you do the timing belt, the ensuing head rebuild resulted in one of the head bolts getting loose on the last tightening step. We all know what that means…). By now it has to be around or over 300k and, from what I’ve heard, it is still an all-around good car for the current owner.
I have a 1998 VW Polo that just refuses to die and has never left me completely stranded. It’s been so dependable, I actually decided to fix the damage from a fender bender that cost about 1.5x the market value of the car to fix a couple of years ago. Only recently has it started to act out and coolant is disappearing from an invisible leak. I feared it could be a blown gastken or worse, some crack in the head/block but there’s no condensation in the dipstick, so coolant isn’t getting into the wrong parts of the engine. But the reservoir will gets empty in just a few days.
I’m kinda just letting this car die at this point. I’d rather get an early Twingo that I can wrench on and whose interior plastics aren’t slowly turning into crayon-smelling dust (decent condition Twingos are worth a bit more than Polos, even if both are still very common around here). I’m behind on the timing belt maintenance schedule. I have no idea if the former owner did the first scheduled maintenance so it may be anywhere between 15K and 115K km late. I kinda feel bad that I’m not taking good care of the only reliable Volkswagen in Southern Europe, but I’d much rather keep any early Twingo on the road than a goddamn Polo 6N.
Check the expansion tank for hairline cracks. I had a Clio that ran great but had a coolant leak I couldn’t trace. When I sold it I told the new owner about it and said just keep an eye on the coolant every 2 weeks or so. She didn’t and cooked the head gasket. Turns out the expansion tank was watertight when cold, not so much when the engine had warmed up.
Good tip!
VW seem to have a bad reputation in the US, but over here in the UK they’re widely known to be reliable. My family has owned mostly VWs for most of my life, and while there’s been a few breakdowns, standard maintenance has been enough.
(Of course, it’s a lot cheaper and easier for us to get parts direct from Germany. Or at least it was pre-Brexit)
As a Brit, every foreign machine must seem reliable.
Rude! Possibly true, but still rude :p
Not that we have any domestic manufacturers left. IIRC the only two that are still owned in the UK, and make more than a handful of cars per year, are Morgan and McLaren.
There’s a bunch of boutique manufacturers like Nobel and Lister, but most of them only build a small handful of cars.
My theory is that Americans aren’t very good at maintenance. Like going 10,000 miles between oil changes or letting the coolant levels fall to zero. Brands like GM, Toyota and Ford seem to have some level of abuse and neglect engineered into them. But the German brands? They assume the owners will be absolutely OCD about maintenance. But even so my Mother in law had a VW Jetta wagon TDI, built in Germany…. and it was the biggest piece of shit with everything falling apart both inside and out.
Every Rover (not Land Rover), all with the K series engine that’s known for cooling issues.
Just required standard wear items and nothing more.
I had a 2004 Acura TSX. Great car, but glad I had a 4 year / 46,000 mile warranty. If I had to pay out of pocket at dealership service prices, it would have been around $13K in repairs in the first 4 years.
Found out later at about 50K miles that neither the master or slave clutch cylinder were ever replaced. The factory assembly marker paint was still on the bolt threads. I sent the receipts to Honda America and they raised hell with the Acura dealer for not actually replacing the parts, but billing Honda. No telling what else the local Acura dealer billed Honda America for, but never actually fixed.
To make matters worse, almost every trip to the dealer for service required a follow up for something they messed.
The car was okay from 46K till 98K except for another AC compressor implosion. Seemed they had a serious design flaw.
I had a friend with a 2004 TSX wagon that he bought new. That thing went through brakes like tic-tacs, and I think the radio display was replaced at least twice. Beyond that, the thing was awesome with just normal routine maintenance. I wanted to buy it when he sold it in 2008 until I realized the car had 280,000 miles on it. I knew his commute was brutal, but I didn’t realize just HOW brutal. The car looked fantastic for the mileage though.
Ok got this one. 2006 Toyota sequoia, 4th longest lasting car (% on road with more that 200k or some type of metric). Legendarily reliable 2uz. Here’s what I’ve done in the last 2 years. Granted it had 194k on it but a 12 page dealer maintenance history. Abs sensor, lower control arms, lower ball joints, endlinks, cv shafts, driveshaft (slip yoke was shot), radiator, steering rack, upper ball joints, upper control arms, t case output seal, all 4 brake calipers, front brake hardlines, knock sensor, thermostat, trunk handle, trunk latch mechanism, and several more odds and ends.
I’ve never owned a car that was considered a “universally-regarded-as-reliable car,” so I’m going to have sit this one out. I’ve owned several suspect cars that actually held up, but when you buy used, you never know whether it’s the car or the previous owner.
I will say, the only car I’ve ever purchased new was an Isuzu Impulse, and you couldn’t put that vehicle down if you shot it straight in the block. Only thing that could take it out was a break in that destroyed the dash and half the interior, ripping everything out. It was old by this point, so just let it go.