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There's reliability and there's maintenance. They are related but not the same thing.
Most cars these days are reliable in the sense that they start and run OK and won't leave you stranded (DI failures excepted!). And when you come down to it, that's what you need for the most part. As cars age this kind of reliability varies, but if a car has been well maintained it should be OK.
But European cars have always been more maintenance intensive than Japanese or domestics. Maintenance is the thing. Most people don't want to maintain their car: it should be like a refrigerator or a toaster. So a car that's designed to still work with little maintenance is "more reliable."
Another side of reliability is in stuff wearing out or breaking. Some of this is age, other times it's poor design or manufacturing. But every car hits this point at numerous times in its life. Like when you need tires, exhaust, brakes and shocks in rapid succession. Or when a radiator, starter, serp belt, plugs and filters all hit at about the same time. This is aging but appears to be unreliability, but it's really just maintenance. But people often think of it as a reliability issue. This is when they may trade their car.
OTOH, as cars get more complex there's more to go wrong. Japanese cars seem to win here. Their systems are generally very reliable, in terms of functioning as intended and expected. This is really their secret sauce. European and domestics are not so good on that score, and there is, IMO, no justification for them to not be as good as the Japanese.
What it comes down to with me, on Japanese cars, is other stuff. Are the seats good for an 8 hour drive? Do I fit OK? Is it good in bad weather--ice and snow? How well does it hold up in an accident? Can it help me avoid an accident? How does the steering feel? Are the ergonomics good? Can I hurl it down a windy road at too high a speed and have the car feel like it's not about to plunge into the trees? And is it fun to drive like that? Do I have plenty of power in reserve? Is it simply fun to drive and pleasant to be in? That's what narrrows the choice to Saab for me.
My Saabs have been very reliable, although they have higher maintenance costs than something boring like a Toyota. It's worth every penny. The way I look at it is that if I keep a car 8-10 years and it costs me an extra $3000 for maintenance/repair over that period it's a reasonable price to pay for the other stuff that matters to me.
Life's too short to own boring cars.
posted by 24.52.16...
, Sat, 6 May 2006 23:55:27
, Fri, 5 May 2006 18:52:28, Fri, 5 May 2006 22:02:30
, Fri, 5 May 2006 16:47:18, Sat, 6 May 2006 09:57:36
, Fri, 5 May 2006 06:51:05, Fri, 5 May 2006 08:59:35, Thu, 4 May 2006 16:17:19, Fri, 5 May 2006 07:08:18, Thu, 4 May 2006 15:09:55, Fri, 5 May 2006 06:46:24
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