I am afraid rust has been by biggest downfall for car life and reliability. Current 03, $800 for power steering lines, $500 for trans fluid lines, probably brake and gas lines in my future. 1/2" of snow followed by an inch of salt,
You bring up a good example, but I’m not sure you meant to . . .
Certain problems are more regional in nature
Rusted lines being a good example . . . Those same 2003 Trailblazers which were sold in southern California and lived their entire lives here didn’t have those problems
But our cars have other problems, related to heat and/or intense sun
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Seeing Subaru at #4 on that list was a surprise to me. While my experience with that brand was limited every repair I took on was significantly more expensive than similar repairs on similar car models. So much of Subaru’s engineering seemed to be unique for no purpose other than to be unique. And certainly Subarus were not comparatively trouble free. But then who made the list and how significant was the data behind the ratings?
You may be surprised to learn that Pollsters doing opinion surveys don’t need a lot of responses to learn how popular a politician is. The secret is to take regional samples to properly reflect the population groups.
An accurate enough sample for the entire USA needs only 15,000 or so responses to reflect whether this candidate has a good chance of winning.
The regional or “cluster” sampling is essential of course.
In the summer of 1964 I was in Arizona and Barry Goldwater’s picture adorned nearly everything! The locals really worshipped this guy!
We all (even Maxwell Smart) know now that Goldwater lost by a landslide. The rest of the country did not buy into his “better dead than red” message. His major accomplishment was to out-hawk LBJ who then launched the Tonkin Gulf Resolution and the rest is history.
You are free to argue with CR, but they put in a serious effort to prepare potential buyers what to possibly expect when purchasing a car.
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But many pollsters were wrong just 2 years ago
Who is to say a person’s response will prove to be accurate?
Could be the person changes his mind between the time of the poll and the time of the election
Or maybe the person who took the poll won’t bother to vote, in the end
Or it could be the person indicated on the poll that he’d vote for candidate a, when in fact he had every intention to vote for candidate b
I subscribe to CR and as a subscriber, I respond to its questionnaires. I use CR as a starting point when making a major purpose. However, I keep in mind that the sample on which the frequency of repair data comes from is subscribers to CR. CR subscribers may or may not be representative of the car buying public. I am a CR subscriber and I doubt that I am a good representative of the car buying public.
For example, Subaru may make a good product. However, I wouldn’t buy a Subaru because my community of over 65,000 doesn’t have a Subaru dealer. I would have to drive 60 miles to get to the nearest dealer.
My household appliances are too old for the CR survey. Our newest appliance is our 23 year old refrigerator.
I bought a flat screen TV on sale at Target. The make of the television is Vizio. The television developed a problem while under warranty. I looked at the warranty and it said that I was to call Vizio to get the address of the closest repair facility and pay the shipping charges to that facility. The set would be repaired and sent back to me with the return shipping charges paid by the Vizio company. I called Vizio and the repairman was sent to my house in three hours. He swapped in a new circuit board in less than 15 minutes and played with our dog for half an hour. Now CR doesn’t give a high rating to a Vizio TV, but the service I got was great. (My dog was also happy–he watches Run Tin Tin reruns).
The last issue of CR had several pages of ratings of vacuum cleaners. All the vacuum cleaners were over $125. If our Eureka which I bought in 1977 quits working, I’ll go to my Big Lots and buy a replacement for under $75.
CR seems to gear the products it tests to more affluent subscribers. I have fun reading CR to know what rich people buy.
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I think it’s very hard to actually get a true sample anymore. Not that statistics don’t lie, but people do. And cell phones aren’t normally listed in the directory. The pollsters would do well to get out into the countryside and visit a few coffee shops to hear what is really going on. Visit a car repair shop or a dealer and actually talk to a few people working on the cars, then it might be more accurate. Then you have people choosing cars for altogether different reasons than “reliability”. What’s the best selling car in Colorado? Doesn’t really match reliability. Then the questions asked just don’t allow any expansion of the answer.
A real investigator or manager would want to hear that expansion, not just the yes or no or ranking number.
So yeah, the pollsters and statisticians are baffled why their formulas don’t work anymore. I’ve taken a number of Acura surveys and yeah, I stuck with Acura, but I switched dealers from one 30 miles away to one 60 miles away. It’s a pain in the neck but the reason was their shop. I can get in immediately if I want instead of waiting two weeks for an appointment and another two weeks for a part to come in. Never once have any of the surveys asked that question. I guess the final straw was when I needed a tire put on on Monday but they couldn’t get me in until Thursday for a 15 minute tire swap. So I’ve come to not rely on CR and couldn’t tell you if its the polling, questions, people behind the desk or what, but just doesn’t work for me.
PS: edited-never mind.
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CR’s recommended cars have to have average or better reliability according to CR’s research. But many other factors go into their car ratings. Plenty of reliable cars do not get their overall recommendation.
Many cars of below average in reliability are still bought and liked because for many owners their many other good aspects outweigh any reliability deficit. My 2007 Town and Country, for example. CR puts it on their used cars to avoid list. It’s just the ticket for me and my wife and our cats and our travel needs.
We should also keep in mind that cars in general are more reliable than they were in years past, and that cell phones and overnight shipping mean that the dangers and duration of a breakdown are less than they used to be - along with a breakdown being less likely than in the past.
@bing. The problem with pollsters and statisticians is that they haven’t learned from history. Do you remember reading about the President of the United States named Alf Landon? In 1936, one poll indicated that Alf Landon would beat FDR. The problem with that poll was that it was based on a telephone survey. The US was coming out of the depression and only the wealthy people had telephones and these people tended to vote for Republicans. The voters who didn’t have access to telephones were barely scaping by and didn’t have telephones. Had only those people who had telephones been allowed to vote, Landon would have been elected.
Time lapse is also a factor. Ford motor company did a survey of potential new car customers as to the features and price they were willing to pay for these features. This was around 1955. Based on this market survey, Ford came out with the Edsel for the 1958 model year. Between 1955 and 1958 the US went into a recession. The Ramblers and Volkswagens became the cars to buy. The tastes of the car buyers changed.
That happens from time to time. My point was that an accurate sample reflects the opinion at that time. I get surveyed on my cars regularly, but I don’t change my answers with respect to problems or actual repairs.
I wonder if the person who complained about the cruise control not working on his Chevrolet Spark ( which it did not have ) filled out a Consumer Report survey.
I really enjoyed reading Consumer Reports issues of the 1950s. In the earlier 1950s, used cars were categorised as A, B, and C with A being the most reliable and C being the least reliable. Also, trouble spots for each make were noted. For the 1947-1949 Studebaker, the front wheel alignment was a problem. For the 1950 Ford, the voltage regulator could be a problem. The clutch on a 1946 Buick could be a problem. The 1955 Oldsmobile was a very reliable car at that time. There were no foreign cars in these early 1950s ratings nor were there any ratings of pickup trucks. Life was simple back then.
I wonder if they would have noted the rocker arm lubrication problems with the 57 Ford? My dad used to carry an oil can and would squirt oil on the rockers from time to time if they got noisy. Seem the oil hole was drilled a little off so no oil got to the rockers. At least in one engine anyway. Nice car though. I hated to see it go.
@bing. The rocker arms were a problem on Ford products back in those days. Outside oil line kits were available to bypass the oil passages in the block. Other makes also had rocker arm problems including the Chevrolet stove bolt 6.
I once owned a 1955 Pontiac. This car, according to Consumer Reports, was a reliable used car. I had problems with the rocker arms chirping. These rocker arms were a ball and stud mount rather than a shaft mounted assembly like the Ford products, so there was no way of fitting a bypass oil lines.
I bought the 1955 Pontiac partly based on the rating given by CR as a used car, partly by inspection of the car for accident damage, partly by the fact that the Rambler dealer had just overhauled the engine and partly because that Pontiac had a manual transmission.
Unfortunately, that was the most troublesome car I ever owned. An oil filter was an option on the 1955 Pontiac and the one I bought didn’t have that option. Secondly, the overhaul was just a sloppy patch which consisted of new rings and s valve job. Finally, this was the worst shifting car I ever owned. I bought the car in 1962, and the current issue of CR didn’t rate cars that old for reliability.
In my situation, a 1955 Mercury would have been better. While it didn’t have a very good reliability rating, the engine in the Mercury was also used by Ford, while the Pontiac engine was unique to that division. Therefore, parts and solutions to problems were more readily available for the Mercury. For me, a 1955 Mercury would have been a more serviceable used car.
Heh heh. The three of us that roomed together all had Pontiacs, a 55, 59 and 61. I got my 59 after I wrecked my VW. In the winter though when it was below zero, I’d have to get up in the middle of the night to drive it around a little or it wouldn’t start in the morning. The 61 always started. The 55 never started so he’d just let it sit for a couple days until a warmer day, then it would start. I don’t think 55 was the greatest year for Pontiac.
When buying my 2007 Impala and 2014 Camry, both times I used CR for technical specs. Although I took note of CR’s reliability ratings as well as some online sites such as Edmunds, it was talking to the mechanics at the indie shop I use except for warranty work that helped me decide my choice after lots of looking and test driving had narrowed my short list to about three acceptable vehicles. I asked about what they were seeing in reliability and typical problems, and also comparative costs of standard maintenance over time, such as how much labor was involved working on the four cylinder versus six cylinder models. I balanced those reliability and cost factors with decision points of comfort, outward driver visibility, ease getting in and out of the car, loading and unloading groceries and bags of cat litter, etc. Still, as the Impala proved, reliability statistics are averages with there being some lemon outliers.
Consumer Reports is NOT the only reliability rating system.
US World and News
MSNCars.com
Carfax.com
And there are many more. While they all don’t agree on every vehicle there is a lot of consensus about which vehicle manufactures have fewer problems then others…and which have the most problems. Consumer Reports is right in line with their results.
A lot of people THINK they own a reliable vehicle, yet they do so with blinders on. My brother-in-law bought Fords for decades and finally saw the light. The Honda Accord with 300k miles we gave to his daughter for college was more reliable then his 4/yo Ford F-150 and far more reliable then his wife’s Ford Taurus. He now owns a Honda Pilot and wife owns a Toyota Corolla. The one thing he loves is he doesn’t know the Honda or Toyota’s service manager by first name.
Good post! I had lunch once with a contractor who owned an Audi and raved about it. When I asked about maintenance and repairs he said he had to budget $1000 per year MORE than for his previous car, a Buick. And this is a nearly new car! At that time I was spending $750 yearly or so to keep my Chevy on the road.
In Canada for years there has been a publication called “Lemon-Aid” by Phil Edmonston. His writing is a little sloppy but he basically comes to the same reliability conclusion that CR publishes .It’s published yearly in book form and sells for about $20 This publication differs in that it also lists recalls and quality defects that have come to light.
Longevity ≠ reliability
He might have spent a fortune in repairs to make it last that long.
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To be precise, my Civic didn’t need a new head gasket until it had about 285,000-290,000 miles on it.