Most reliable vehicle you've owned vs least reliable

Most reliable:
1988 Nissan Pathfinder, 4WD. - 396,178 miles (<- that's correct) I kept it for 14 years.
Oil changes, tuneups, tires, 3 brake jobs, 3 exhaust systems.
I sold it to my son's best friend as he was in desperate need of a car to get back and forth to school.
He put just over 49,000 on it. Oil changes, tuneup, tires.
He sold it to his sister who put just over 20,000 miles on it before she forgot to put it in gear and put the parking brake on and it rolled off a hill into the woods.

Least reliable:
1985 Plymouth - It was fine, except if it sat out in heavy fog or mist.
When you tried to start it, fuel would pour up out of the carburetor.
Rain was not a problem, snow was not a problem, cold or heat were not problems.
My wife was working nights at that time and it stranded her, a lot.
Plymouth couldn't fix it, or even come up with an explanation of what could even cause such a problem, so after a lengthy period, and the involvement of lawyers, they finally gave me my money back.

Runner up:
1994 Jeep Wrangler. Something on it was always broken.
The only saving grace was it was built like a tank and was unstoppable in the snow.
 
I was trying to think of anything I've had that was unreliable. Nothing I've owned with less than 10 years and 100,000 miles on it has ever had more than basic wear items like brakes/tires/batteries give me a problem. I've mostly owned Fords... the one thing I could think of is our 2010 Subaru Outback had unusually hard to replace low beam headlights that blew fairly frequently. It had an annoying design characteristic where you if you left it parked in a garage with the key in the ignition and autolamps on it would just leave the headlights on and drain the battery flat. It was also the only vehicle I've owned made after 2000 that you could still leave a dome light on in and drain the battery flat.

I'd have to call the 79 IH Scout and the 77 Mercury Marquis I have as well as the 82 Mercedes 300SD I used to have the least reliable group but they're all ancient vehicles I bought as projects with plenty of miles on them so really what do you expect?
 
Most reliable: Anything with a "Toyota" nameplate: 2000 Solara, 2004 Matrix, 2007 Lexus RX350, 2016 Corolla. My VW Beetles (1966, 1969) were very good, too.

Least reliable: 1972 Chevy Vega. Period, end of story. Dishonorable mention: 1977 VW Dasher; 1986 Camaro; 1984 Cadillac Sedan deVille.

The '84 Caddy, with its aluminum block engine, was awful. I took a chance and went back to Cadillac for an '89 SdV, and it was very good.

It's too early to conclude one way or the other, but so far my 2018 Audi Q3 is performing flawlessly. Audi has had a bad rep, but Consumer Reports says Audi has lately been the most trouble-free of the German brands.
 
Most reliable, tie between any of the Toyotas I've owned the last 20 years.

Least reliable was my first car. A "mustang" (in quotes because it wasn't a real mustang) which I put 3 clutches in in less than 2 years, then the transmission had a problem and I got rid of it.

1978_ford_mustang_155443622695d565ef66e7dMG_3935-e1555379789851-940x626.jpg
 
Salty said:
Most reliable, tie between any of the Toyotas I've owned the last 20 years.

Least reliable was my first car. A "mustang" (in quotes because it wasn't a real mustang) which I put 3 clutches in in less than 2 years, then the transmission had a problem and I got rid of it.

1978_ford_mustang_155443622695d565ef66e7dMG_3935-e1555379789851-940x626.jpg
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Haha.... I remember the Mustang2. What a POS!

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I don't know that I've really had any vehicle that was super reliable or not reliable. Usually somewhere in between. My current F-150 I've had 12 years, 100,000 miles. I've had both front springs break (common I've found due to rust/corrosion), fuel pump controller (common due to corrosion as well, but easy to change), and the rear end (I believe maintenance induced after a seal change). My bride has a Jeep, and has had multiple issues with in dash HVAC components, which seems to be common to Chrysler products for decades.

Neither would I call a lemon, but neither would I call them trouble free. Just a piece of equipment that stuff occasionally breaks on.
 
AlleyCat67 said:
Most reliable was my 1990 Toyota Corolla. But reliable cars are boring...

Most exciting was my used 1975 Volvo sedan.
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Can't say I ever heard "Volvo" and "exciting" in the same sentence. But after reading your post, I saw what you meant.:D
 
In 1969, while I was stationed in Denver, I acquired a red, 1965, Jaguar XKE, convertible.
I couldn't believe how little money the guy wanted for it. He claimed he had to sell it because he was shipping out to a base in Europe
I soon found out why.
It would only run 198 miles before the carbs were so out of sync that it wouldn't run.
I would work on it Monday through Thursday so I could drive it Friday night, Saturday and part of Sunday.
I had replace all the Lucas parts with an American after market kit for the electrical system, but the replacement kit for the carbs was more than I paid for the car.
But I didn't care.
In 1969, in Denver, there was nothing that attracted women like that XKE. They didn't care that I was Air Force. I had a Jag.
 
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Most reliable car is the one I'm driving now, a 2014 Ford Fusion Energi, which has a plug in hybrid drivetrain. I'm sneaking up on six years/76,000 miles, and it's needed one repair. When I got it, the light around the vehicle charge port had a crack in it. The dealer fixed it under warranty. Other than that, it's needed three oil changes, a pair of wiper blades, six tires, and a 12 volt lead acid battery. I rotated the tires recently, and got a look at the brakes. They have a lot of life in them still.

Most reliable vehicle we've had is our 2015 Yamaha 212SS boat. This will be its fifth season, scheduled maintenance only.

Least reliable, my first car, a 1974 Opel Manta. Even though we bought it new, it needed something fixed every six months. My dad got tired of that and sold it.

@Weekend Warrior, I'm sorry about your Explorer. My wife drives a 2014 Explorer, and it's been a little better than either of her previous cars, which were a 1999 Lexus RX300 and a 2006 Honda Odyssey. The Odyssey, in addition to occasionally needing a repair, absolutely ate front tires and front brakes. My other complaint with that car was the paint was of poor quality, one of the kids would bump a bike tire on the bumper and a big piece of paint would flake off.
 
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Least reliable was probably the 1969 Pontiac Bonneville convertible I bought my wife for a birthday present, paid $1200 and put the whole thing on a credit card. Anywhere we went, we were never sure if it was going to start again. That 428 was made for ultra premium; it just wasn't happy on the gas you could buy in the late 1980s. Even the Fiat Spiders I had were more reliable... they might break down but you could always fix it on the side of the road with a pair of pliers and a bent nail or something.

Best is probably my wife's current 2014 Mazda 3. Around 120K now, never anything but routine service.
 
Weekend Warrior said:
This is no "official survey", but it seems even outside of this thread, I hear good things about F-150s. I've never owned one, but I've considered it. I'm in the rust belt, and in the past I've worried about rust on these (my friend owns a body shop, and says Ford F-150s are the worst for rust), but now they are aluminum, right?
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2000 F150 4wd with 5.4 triton. 343K and still going. I replaced a manifold, AC compressor and window motor last year. I replaced a water pump around 200K. Other than that I have only done oil, belts and tires. It really needs some paint but this is the best $26000 I ever spent.
 
Best: 2009 Toyota Corolla. Got it at 80k miles, put 80k more on it in 5 years. Haven't so much as changed the brakes. Only oil changes thus far. I finally took it in for a comprehensive inspection since I do most of the little stuff myself. Clean bill of health. I've had that thing in snow, in fields of grass up to the window, all manner of storms during 5 hour commutes. I rear ended an F-150, put a new bumper and hood on it and she's still running strong. However, clutch is showing signs it's on its last legs. It's worth it to me to replace it though, since I need a commuter car and don't want to make car payments. We shall see.

Worst: Probably the 2002 Nissan Altima I had. The engine blew on me after just 2 years. Warranty covered it, but then in a couple more years, its was eating oil like crazy. Got to the point where I would top off before a long drive, like I was flying a radial engine airplane. So I got rid of that junk.
 
Most reliable is my current ride, a Toyota Avalon. 5 years, a couple of electrical issues. Has the 2gr-fe engine; Toyota has shipped 14 million of the things, and it shows in reliability.

Least reliable: probably a Chrysler LHS. Looked great; rode well; sold it to a mechanic when the trans locked in to limp home mode.
 
Most reliable: 2016 Toyota Corolla (currently 39k miles without any issues).

Most fun: 1970 Porsche 914-6 with a 1989 3.2 liter 911 Carrera engine.

Least reliable: 1962 Jaguar XKE Roadster which was in the shop more often than not.
 
Most reliable: 91 Honda Accord (170,000mi no breakdowns traded in)

Least reliable: '05 VW Jetta 1.8L Turbo (130,000mi - failed relay @ 20,000mi(towed to shop), failed coil pack @ ~60,000mi (towed to shop),failed coil pack @~65,000mi (managed to drive to shop) no further breakdowns. Traded in @130,000mi

Most disappointing/least liked: '09 Subaru Impreza hatch back (140,000mi - 1 breakdown/catastrophic engine failure) This was the piece of crap car I loved to hate, it didn't do anything well. But, it went from point A to point B relatively trouble free, right up until the engine imploded on the freeway at 60mph.
 
Most reliable, all of my Nissan trucks. Except for my first one in which I spun a rod bearing in a mud hole, I haven't had to replace anything but starters. And that first one went another 10k miles, knocking the whole way, before really quitting on me.

Least reliable is probably a tie between my 93 Jeep Wrangler or my 83 Chevy truck. The Jeep, it broke a lot, but it was usually stuff that breaks when you off-road, which I did. The Chevy just broke for no good reason, I vowed to never own another Chevy after this one. A vow I ended up breaking when I bought my 88 k2500 which has been flawless and seemingly will not die nearing 300k on the odometer. I bought it much later in life when I was much wiser regarding vehicle shopping and the red flags to look for in a used truck. I saw that k2500 and just knew it was a good, well cared for truck.
 
Weekend Warrior said:
Least reliable:

Runner up:
2018 Ford Explorer. My current daily driver is a piece of junk. Its been in the shop 8 times in a year. Still not anywhere near as bad as the Tundra though.

How about you?
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Those were called in Jeep circles "Exploders". Years ago. Now, just remember that JEEP stands for Just Empty Every Pocket. Of course, that was usually used in conjunction with the list of modifications that had been made to that Jeep.

My most reliable car was a 1988 1/2 Ford Escort. The mistake I made with that car was buying the extended warranty. Never used it. That car just ran and ran. Routine maintenance was all it got.

Runner up is my 2013 Ford Escape. I've got just over 111,000 miles on it and other than routine maintenance (and needing a new set of tires again) it's been pretty solid. The controls for the radio (volume most notably) fail now and then, but work again the next time I start it. No biggie, the buttons on the steering wheel always work.

My 1999 Jeep Wrangler (with over 190,000 miles on the clock) has it's share of annoying problems. I've had the fuel pump replaced once. It has an electrical problem that is intermittent, so I haven't had it repaired as I don't want to pay for someone to troubleshoot and intermittent problem. I "think" I know what is wrong, but I'd hate to pay someone to replace a fuse block and find out I was wrong. But, 1000 miles a year these days is using it heavily so I'm reluctant to spend any money on it. If I convince a grand daughter that she should start out with it, instead of my son spending money to buy her something, then I'll get it fixed in a New York second. Until then...

The least reliable car, hands down, was a 1976 MG Midget. I had it for about a year, bought it used in 1983. You did not walk up to that car without a wrench or a screwdriver in your hand. A total mechanic's delight car. Even made a KGO radio traffic report driving into work when a coolant hose developed a leak, right on to the catalytic converter. Steam pouring up around all the edges of the hood. You've never seen a hole open up between your lane and the side of the road open up so fast. By the time the CHP arrived I had figured out what had blown and just had them call a tow truck to tow it home. My insurance agent gave me a hard time saying I was supposed to have it towed to the nearest place it could be repaired. I told him that was exactly what I did. I wasn't about to pay some inflated price to replace a hose i could replace myself. Didn't take long, either. There was a shop in Santa Clara that specialized in restoring old MGs. They had a bumper sticker I should have bought and put on that MG. "I'll have you know that the parts falling off this car are of the highest British quality!"
 
Least reliable was the 1947 Chevy 5 window pickup. Now remember it was 43 years old when I got it and it had been sitting in a field for around 10 years. I replaced the fuel tank, fuel lines and fuel pump, put a new 6 volt battery in it, turned on the switch, stepped on the starter pedal and it fired up and ran.

I would drive it to the college and park it on the far side of the parking lot because there was a slight down hill from that side. In case the battery was dead, I would turn on the switch, push in the clutch and let it roll about 10 feet, let out the clutch and off I would go.

Needed to be careful on left turns because sometimes the right door would swing open. I lost a couple friends that way, but they got over it and learned to hang on during left turns.

The key switch was a little worn out. I would be driving down the road when the engine would just shut off. I would jiggle the key switch a little, then get a good back fire out the exhaust and keep on going.

The horn was still the 6 volt horn and with the 12 volt system it really sounded off. The fun part was when my then girl friend would walk in front of the truck, and I would hit the horn. Man, she would get ****ed off.!!

The heater worked great, once I replaced the 40 some odd year old heater core. And as long as the engine ran long enough to warm up. I had to rebuild the heater fan switch. It only had 2 speeds. Low kept the cab warm, and if I needed defrost high would get that done in no time. Especially since it was still the 6 volt fan motor.

That thing must have had at least a 5.1 rear gear ratio. I have been in race cars with top speeds of 170-180 mph, but 55 in that truck was pretty scary. The steering box had considerable wear in it so it was a work out keeping it on the road at 55. The steering wheel had to be 18 inches across, and it was about 7 turns to go from lock to lock. I was backing up in a field once when the right front tire hung up on a stump. That steering wheel was a blur as it went from full right turn to full left turn. I was afraid if I tried to stop it that I would lose a finger.

I finally converted it to a 12 volt and replaced the distributer and it would run a little better. I carried a 1/2 inch and 9/16 inch wrench, a flat and a phillips screw drivers and a hammer. That was all I needed to fix it if/when it quit running.

I hated to sell it. It went with the great sell off of my race shop when I decided to get out of racing and start flying.
 
Best: 2006 Accord V6 MT. 1 dome-light bulb and a throttle position sensor up to 200k

Worst: 2009 Mercedes E350. Where to begin?
 
SoonerAviator said:
There's a relatively new show on Motortrend TV called JDM Legends. JDM Legends is a Japanese repair/restoration shop in Cali that does a lot of really cool work on all sorts of old Datsun/Nissan cars as well as Toyotas and Mazdas. They seem to have a love for them, and a wealth of knowledge on the details between different models. Really some beautiful cars they've turned out, although I'm partial to the Z cars.
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There's a guy in my neighborhood who has a beautifully restored 240Z. I drooled when I saw it.
 
Most reliable was my 1998 Dodge Ram 1500 Pickup. Racked up 218,000 miles with only $400 in repairs above normal wear and tear.

Then got a '05 Ram 1500 then '07 Ram 1500.

'07 Ram was the biggest POS. Blew up transmission at 100K miles after a slew of other ongoing issues.

I now drive Chevy trucks and my 2010 2500 Sivlerado has been ROCK SOLID for going on 220,000 miles now. Some minor fixits but no major Mx costs so far.
 
I have kept pretty good records of the 40 vehicles I have owned over my 60 plus years of driving. I have owned Chrysler, Ford, GM and some imports. Many have been good vehicles. Without question, on the whole on my experience, Fords have been the worst vehicles I have owned and I have received the worst customer service from the Ford factory and their dealers. The only way I would ever own a Ford again is that is the only vehicle available in the entire world!

Least Reliable:

My very first brand new car! 1969 Dodge Charger R/T with 440CI Magnum engine. When it would run properly, which was very seldom, it was a dream performance car. Had a huge Carter AFB 4 barrel carb whose settings changed hourly and which could never be counted on to start (just think about starting the engine and it would flood.) Spark plugs were always gumming up and not firing. If the car had a part on it that included the word “pump”, it had to be replaced. Oil pump, water pump, accelerator pump, smog pump and several more, all within the first 20K miles, NONE OF WHICH WAS COVERED BY WARRANTY. In those days, factory warranty was only for 90 days or 4000 miles. After numerous breakdowns and being left stranded, it had to go.

Most Reliable:

1993 Chevrolet Lumni. New vehicle that was my company car and I put 130K miles in 5 years. The only unscheduled maintenance was a dead alternator on the day I purchased a new vehicle. Sold the car to a employee who drove it for another 4 years and another 100K without any unscheduled maintenance.
 
Most - GMC Safari van. Owned two, put over 200k on both of them. One was my race car tow vehicle.

Least - Tie between a Ford Taurus station wagon and a MINI Cooper S. Both became rolling restorations at about 80,000 miles.
 
mcheathe said:
I have kept pretty good records of the 40 vehicles I have owned over my 60 plus years of driving. I have owned Chrysler, Ford, GM and some imports. Many have been good vehicles. Without question, on the whole on my experience, Fords have been the worst vehicles I have owned and I have received the worst customer service from the Ford factory and their dealers. The only way I would ever own a Ford again is that is the only vehicle available in the entire world!

Least Reliable:

My very first brand new car! 1969 Dodge Charger R/T with 440CI Magnum engine. When it would run properly, which was very seldom, it was a dream performance car. Had a huge Carter AFB 4 barrel carb whose settings changed hourly and which could never be counted on to start (just think about starting the engine and it would flood.) Spark plugs were always gumming up and not firing. If the car had a part on it that included the word “pump”, it had to be replaced. Oil pump, water pump, accelerator pump, smog pump and several more, all within the first 20K miles, NONE OF WHICH WAS COVERED BY WARRANTY. In those days, factory warranty was only for 90 days or 4000 miles. After numerous breakdowns and being left stranded, it had to go.

Most Reliable:

1993 Chevrolet Lumni. New vehicle that was my company car and I put 130K miles in 5 years. The only unscheduled maintenance was a dead alternator on the day I purchased a new vehicle. Sold the car to a employee who drove it for another 4 years and another 100K without any unscheduled maintenance.
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Kind of a funny stat, because the 440 is usually considered the more reliable/consistent engine option over the 426 HEMI which was a bit more susceptible to environmental differences and tuning error. Many claim that the 440 Magnum was a better engine than the 426 in a street race simply because the chances that the HEMI was adjusted correctly were slim and the 440 would run well even out of tune.
 
Reliable: Mostly the Japanese made cars.

1994 Mazda 626
1995 Nissan Sentra
1999 Toyota Camry
2007 Toyota Corolla

I used to buy them cheap and then drive em till the wheels fell off. I babied them, with regular oil changes and drove like a grandma (as my friends would say). Did not see much problems with any.

Worst: Chevy Blazer. I think it was a 1995. Nothing but trouble, and the thing barely had 100K on the clock. Sensor after sensor kept going bad.

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Salty said:
Most reliable, tie between any of the Toyotas I've owned the last 20 years.

Least reliable was my first car. A "mustang" (in quotes because it wasn't a real mustang) which I put 3 clutches in in less than 2 years, then the transmission had a problem and I got rid of it.

1978_ford_mustang_155443622695d565ef66e7dMG_3935-e1555379789851-940x626.jpg
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My dad bought that same style “mustang” in pea green. He would probably say it was the worst car he ever owned (I think he sold it after a troubled year of ownership).
 
My daily driver is a 1971 Volvo 142E. I bought it new in April of '71 and it now has 551,000 on the clock. Other than a couple of clutches, couple of electric fuel pumps (it is a fuel injected engine) and a valve job at 385,000 it has been pretty reliable. Granted it has a coil, points, condenser, rotor, etc. but I can deal with those items. You can actually SEE the spark plugs!!!, no catalytic converter, no power steering, no air bags (car is strong enough, uses "real" steel!!), roll down main windows, "wind vent windows" (remember those??), air conditioner (R-12 refrigerant unfortunately) and a bit of rust from its east coast days. Almost ready for "antique" license plates next year (so am I!!). Wouldn't buy a new car at all. Too much reliance on electronics...and cup holders!!
 
My daily driver is a 1999 Camry, with a 2.2L four banger. It has 178,000 miles on the clock.

I've owned it for 13 years, bought it from the estate of an elderly woman. I just did a quick calculation, and figured out I've spent about $275 a year on repairs since buying it. They've all been maintenance rather than breakdown related.

It's pretty much been bulletproof. I keep thinking about buying a replacement, but there's really no reason to.
 
mcheathe said:
My very first brand new car! 1969 Dodge Charger R/T with 440CI Magnum engine.
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My dad was a California Highway Patrolman who occasionally bought ex-CHP cruisers at auction. For a while my wife and I drove this 1966 Dodge Polara with a 440. Power brakes, no power steering, and it would pass anything but a filling station.

Dan Aykroyd's line from Blues Brothers described it perfectly: "It's got a cop motor, a 440 cubic inch plant, it's got cop tires, cop suspensions, cop shocks. It's a model made before catalytic converters so it'll run good on regular gas."

D8693466-8BB9-420E-87D8-E2D0A1C28836.jpeg
 
Pilawt said:
My dad was a California Highway Patrolman who occasionally bought ex-CHP cruisers at auction. For a while my wife and I drove this 1966 Dodge Polara with a 440. Power brakes, no power steering, and it would pass anything but a filling station.

Dan Aykroyd's line from Blues Brothers described it perfectly: "It's got a cop motor, a 440 cubic inch plant, it's got cop tires, cop suspensions, cop shocks. It's a model made before catalytic converters so it'll run good on regular gas."

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Dad had nearly the same car, ‘66 Dodge Monaco. Slightly nicer trim compared to the polara, his had a 383-4V and factory AC. It was a nice car, one of his favorites.
 
First car was a 1974 VW Bus... I was-going to buy a Triumph Spitfire, but my dad took one look at it and said no way... I got the dealer's (VW - Triumph Dealership) demo bus with about 5K on it... had it up to 1985 with multiple cross the USA and up and down both coast trips... She had about 180K on the clock and could have gone for more... but I needed a newer car.... starting life in the harsh winters of the Northeast and living at the beach in CA for five years took its toll on the body.

Second car was a 1985 VW Vanagon... put about 200K on that one, but that car had a few headaches... two new clutches and a new gearbox along with a gremlin in the air flow meter would cause the van to just stop... it caused me a ticket with once when in happened on freeway in Los Angeles.. VW finally fixed the issue and gladly asked us to fork over $120 bucks to correct their problem... With 180K on the clock, the van finally kraped out and came to a stop right in front of a Ford Dealership...

Third car was a 1992 Ford Aerostar van.. 3.0L V-6 with a 5 speed manual.. See what I did there... what they hay they gave me $1000.00 for a trade in on the VW. Put about 180K on that one and I will say was the most reliable and strongest car/van/truck I ever had... I pulled my dirt bikes and catamaran trailers all over the country with that thing and only once did it let me down... the accelerator cable broke. Why they stopped making them I'll never know..

Next came the Jeep Cherrokee... I was living back in the Northeast at the time and needed the 4 wheel drive.. the car was a piece of krap build wise but the 4.0L engine was a tank...

After this, I have had a Mazda MPV... and a 2002 Toyota Camry that I had up to last year which was very good on reliability and maintenance, and now a Sienna van...

To rank them...

1.) 2002 Toyota Camry... they got it right with this one..
2.) Aerostar Van that thing was bullet proof and had a good build... didn't turn into a rattle trap.
3.) 74 VW Bus - even though it tuned into a rust bucket, it never left me stranded..
.
.
10. Jeep Cherokee.. WTH... a Chrysler product what was I thinking.. o_O

All and all I have had some good luck with cars... but then again I take care of them..
 
My first car was a 12 year old Triumph TR-6. That car was my daily driver for over 4 years and never left me stranded. But it did require a lot of preventative maintenance. After college, I moved on to a VW Golf GTI and the TR lived with some buddies of mine, one of whom snapped an axle on it. So it did leave someone stranded, just not me. The axle snapping was a common problem with the TR-6. It had a fair amount of torque and British Leyland didn't engineer their axles well enough. One other issue I faced with that car was burning up headlight switches. They direct switched the lights on that car. There's a reason most cars have a relay in that application.

The GTI was my ride for several years and never stranded me. But it had a surprising number of niggling problems for a relatively new car (it was 2 years old when I bought it.) It blew a heater core (covered under a recall), which was the most annoying problem. I saw that coming and had it fixed before it left me stranded. Nice driving car, but...

I replace it with a VW Passat. It only stranded me once, when the head gasket finally blew, in conjunction with the heater core. That was an expensive day and I was stranded.

The Passat was replaced by a series of 3 Honda Accords. I put 250K trouble free miles on the first one, and a friend's son put >50K more miles on it before selling it and losing track of it. I put 270K on the second one with few problems. The only real problem was when the clutch stopped disengaging when the pedal was depressed. Several shops looked at it and couldn't figure it out. I finally crawled into the footwell to find that the bracket holding the clutch pedal to the firewall had a huge fatigue crack, which meant I could floor the pedal without getting full travel on the actuating arm. A new pedal assembly fixed that. The third Accord? About 60K miles now. Very reliable although I'm suspicious of the main display screen which occasionally seems to do weird things, then snap back to normal. The great thing about the 3 Accords (spread over 20+ years) is that they have all cost approximately the same (~$22k), and Honda has improved the driving dynamics of every sequential model. The new one drives the best of the lot, but I do wish it had the larger windows (thanks, safety regulation) and lighter weight of the earlier models. The most recent iteration feels much bigger than the others. Oh, and the new one performs better and gets better milage than its ligher weight older brothers.

Ultimately, all of my cars have been reliable, but I think that is as much about me paying attention and dealing with issues before they became failures. One thing that has probably helped the reliability of all of my cars is that they all had/have manual transmissions. Those things are bullet proof, properly driven.
 
Most reliable, 2000 Subaru Outback

Runners up: Two different Jeep Cherokee XJs with the 4.0L one manual the other auto, and the 2004 Yukon.

Least reliable: VW Jetta TDI bought new. Over $13,500 in warranty repairs on it in six years and the motor mounts were going when we traded it away forever.

Runner ups : Three separate Ford F-150s all with typical Ford design problems for their model years. Latest one is the Lincoln LT. Cam phasers, complete timing chain and all components overhaul, redoing the already fixed ones stupid ass spark plug recall, two replaced brake calipers and multiple attempts to fix a rear brake noise... I really should have known better.

Same mileage Yukon had $3500 in unexpected repairs, Lincoln $7500.

Also in the “was great” category was the 1976 Corolla “Liftback”. I blew an exhaust valve in it but that was my fault and fixed it easily myself.

Also likely in the “would have run forever” list was the 2001 Dodge Ram 3500 with the 5.9 Cummins HO diesel but it did need steering work like all Dodges of that vintage and a Bosch fuel pump and other mods caused a blown head gasket, but I can’t blame Cummins for things I blew up. Ha.

It was also worked a lot harder than anything besides dad’s 91 Suburban with the 500+ CU engine and the super low rear end. That would have also run forever but we didn’t keep it at 8 MPG when he passed.

Oh forgot. Karen’s 2001 Honda Civic. What a tank. She was hit six times in seven years and she even stuffed a tree branch through the radiator one day and kept driving it until it shut down and that engine ran great as did car after insane abuse. LOL. Insurance made us total it, we found a buyer who’d take it on a salvage title and got more money. Hahah. It’s probably still running somewhere today.

I’m surprised at how many people say 150 is high mileage. We usually run to 200 minimum these days whenever possible.

I was kinda sad I only got the Yukon down to 11.3 cents per mile. It had lots more miles in it but the climbing up was not for me anymore.

So... we see how many miles we can put on this 2017 Outback starting at 30K... so far so good but it’s just a baby. :)

The funny part. Switching insurance from old “unsafe” 04 Yukon to vehicle worth $20K+ more but monster safety features... $114 a year increase. They ain’t insuring the car... just the humans...

12 years with that Yukon... so we will see how many out of “Snowball”. Yeah we name them and the white on white Subaru was kinda obvious...
 
FormerHangie said:
...My other complaint with that car was the paint was of poor quality, one of the kids would bump a bike tire on the bumper and a big piece of paint would flake off.
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That poor quality paint was a common complaint across many brands in the mid 2000s. As I understand it, during that time the epa was tightening down on automotive paints that were harmful to the environment, and paint quality was a problem until decent new formulas were created. That was one of the major concerns of that 2008 Tundra: the paint would just flake off in big sections (pie plate sized sections).
 
Most reliable: 2002 Toyota 4Runner & 2000 Subaru Forester. My Chevy trucks (2002 and 2016). All have been / were trouble free.

Least reliable: Every Chrysler & Jeep vehicle I ever owned...about a 1/2 dozen from 1985 to 2010. (All purchased new. Got then all at employee pricing discount at the time, still not worth it).
 
Most reliable - current drive, 2004 Subaru Outback. 194,000, just routine maintenance, clutch and a scheduled timing belt change. Also had a Dodge Caravan for 16.5 years - very reliable.

Least reliable - my first car, 1967 VW bug convertable. Loved the car, but broke down alot. Being a new driver didn't help.
 
Most reliable - Ford F-150
Least reliable - 1968 VW Bug

Interesting to read how some folks have very few issues with their cars while others buy only lemons. Leads one to believe that the owner may be at least partially to blame for automotive reliability. Perhaps how you drive and maintain your car is the real issue, perhaps more so than what car you purchased. I know that's stepping on a few toes, but I've rode along with a few people that are in "road rage" mode all the time and that certainly has an effect on longevity (both theirs and the car's). No one on this board wants to admit they're a bad driver.

The VW Bug listed as the least reliable was a hand-me-down from my dad and quickly dropped a valve from lack of maintenance and the abuse of a 16 yo driver. My dad didn't care for the fact that the valves needed to be adjusted so often and neglected basic maintenance. The reckless 16 yo behind the wheel was a major contributing factor to its reliability.
I've owned both American and foreign cars for the last 45 years and have yet to own a lemon. I've even owned Harley-Davidson motorcycles that I put over 100,000 miles on without issue. I just drive/ride my vehicles while doing preventative maintenance and never bounce off the rev-limiter or abuse a cold engine. After the VW experience, it's pretty much been automotive bliss. Being a mechanic didn't hurt the equation much either.
 
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