Car Reliability?

Question

I want to know yur experiences with cars and mainly the reliability factor because I need a very reliable car. If i cant get to work even miss one day my job is on the line. PLEASE HELP

Answer 1

toyota, Volkswagen.

Answer 2

Honda and Toyota and their luxury line Acura and Lexus have a reputation of being reliable but I've seen many of these car break down also on the streets.

Reliablity is more a function of maintence and how well you keep it.

Few years ago, there was a study on the Toyota Corolla and the Geo Prizm. These two cars are identical. They come off the same assembly line in Fremont and some cars received the toyota badge and others the Geo badge. This was the only difference. The production did not specify which cars would get which badge until built and that depended on where they need to ship the cars.

The study showed that the Toyota had fewer problems than the Prizms.

Why is that? These two cars are identical.....

The toyotas were priced a few thousand dollars higher because, well because it was a toyota and you pay for their reputation and name plate. The prizms were price lower and was considered an ecomomy car.

People who purchase the toyotas were generally better off and took their cars in more often for maintence work, while prizm owners were more likely to be streaching their budgets and streached out the maintence periods and did not care for their cars as much, thus were less reliable cars.

The moral of the story:

Some cars are more reliable that others but how well the car is maintained is just as important if not more.

Answer 3

Most would argue that anything Japanese is reliable, and anything French or Italian is the toal opposite of reliable, and to quite an extent, such people will have a point. Look at any satisfaction survey (Top Gear, etc), and at the top with be Japanese motors, with maybe the odd Ford thrown in here and there, with the likes of Renault and Peugeot at the bottom.

If you want guarented reliability, look at stuff like the Toyota Yaris, Honda Civic, etc. Most of these sort of cars won't have the sort of character you'd get from a fizzy little Italian hatchback, but they do well in the surveys and are clearly a safe bet, and mind you, that's your main prority anyway.

Though to be fair, most cars nowadays aren't too bad providing they're maintained properly.

Answer 4

There are very few unreliable cars, in the sense of breakdowns, but that is not what stops you getting to work, punctures and accidents, and waits for spare parts do that.
New car are the worst, so you want 2 years old, 5 is better, full size spare wheel, and a spare spare kept at home, and a common model, Golf GTi not low spec low sales version.
Honda Civic, British built Nissan, BMW 3 or 5 series, You cannot get decent Rover spares anymore but I have never known a 2 litre Rover break down.
If you need to be at work on time every day buy a camper van and live in the carpark.

Answer 5

best place to look is www.reliabilityindex.co.uk

It's compiled by warranty claims, so there's no bias, it's not peoples opinions. Just a solid, factual database of the warranty claims on cars.

If you want super reliable, you really cannot beat Toyota or Honda. And if you think german is good, take a look at the reliability index of a Corolla against the VW Golf, you'll be amazed (ironically, the Vauxhall Astra is also one of the most reliable cars - hooray for british engineering!)

Answer 6

Look up the facts, HONDA has been No.1 for reliability for years Honda took the top 3 (three).places in the J. D. Powers survey in 2005 top cars where
Honda S2000
Honda Jazz (I own one)
Honda Accord
Skoda Octavia
Lexus IS
BMW X5
Skoda Fabia
BMW 5 series
Mazda 6
Merc E Class

Answer 7

Simple answer, get 2 cars. I have done that because I'm in a similar situation to you. I have a Ford Scorpio 2.3 which has never failed to start yet, and a Jaguar XJR which is equally reliable but has a niggling injector problem that seems irreparable that means I sometimes am measuring fuel consumption in gallons to the mile!!!

The Ford Scorpio 2.0 was rubbish as was the 2.5 diesel so if you looked at one of these avoid them, but the 2.3 is fantastic. Cheap to run and very reliable.

Answer 8

Sounds like a competitive job!


Anyway if you want reliability go Japanese (Toyota/Lexus, Honda, Nissan, Mitsubishi or Subaru) German cars are also very good for starting in the cold and can go on for ages as long as you keep up with the maintanence (Audi/Volkswagen, Mercedes, BMW)
Don't go for anything French (Citreon, Renault) They tend to be a bit temperamental, Also stay away from Fords, Vauxhalls or anything like that, that sell to the masses because thats what they are, cars for the masses that aren't especially good for anything
Ford owns Volvo (the V70 is still reliable) Jaguar, Ford and I think a couple American brands too. So rule is to stay away from anything like that.

Go Japanese or German and you should keep you job
(Just keep them serviced regularly)

Answer 9

There are about 9-10 people in the UK with all the facts at their finger tips. They are responsible for 10's of thousands of cars each, some of them for 100's of thousands and they keep detailed records of maintenance rates and breakdown frequency becuase it is their job to do so,

These are the maintenance managers of the big Contract Hire companies.

Any other survey got by asking motorists has no statistical relevance whatsoever, as motorists have other issues, habits prejudices if you like.

The Maintenance Managers don't give a toss for anything but the figures.

The big two. . Lex Vehicle Leasing, GE Leasing. . so why not phone up and ask?

Answer 10

Done over 300,000 miles in Honda's without as much as a glich upgraded to audi quatro, more service and repair ceceipts than you could shake a sticck at in only nine months. Same goes for the Seat i had. Came to my senses and traded both for two Hondas.
Toyota just as good.
Stear clear of all European cars.

Answer 11

The car you need is either a Toyota or Nissan micro , with low mileage of course if your buying s/h . if new buy a modern diesel there all good and very reliable