There's news that (according to Consumer Reports) Subaru is now the most reliable car brand. https://www.cars.com/articles/subaru-tops-consumer-reports-annual-auto-reliability-survey-499052/?msockid=202073d3ce6167c220a366decf69664f One of their most reliable car is the Impreza. I hope that includes the older manual transmission models. (I love manuals, but I'd miss the better fuel mileage in my Toyota hybrid though). I also feel a bit of nostalgia for having a boxer engine again. At any rate, I don't see how buying a used Toyota, Honda, Mazda or Subaru is at all economical. These cars are expensive used, still close to their original MSRP even after many years and dozens of thousands of miles since new. I guess the good thing is they don't need repairs as often.
Agreed, I usually can get them cheap, when they're broken. I still won't buy even a cheap Subaru, due to the oil burn issue. While they are reliable, IF you don't abuse them and keep up with maintenance. In my experience, the ones with a turbo charger has been thoroughly abused and heavily modified. Owners think they're Mario Andretti and it's a formula one race car. They think they're doing you a favor by selling you their beater, that burns a quart every 500 miles. FWIW; that's usually what I run into on Subaru's.... I understand the new 2024s finally has baffles in the valve covers to reduce oil sloshing and prevent intermittent oil starvation while cornering or excessive G-forces to one side or the other. A common issue for boxer engines.
For a few years you could actually select which race driver it turned you into, an extra trigger switch under the shift knob. Had mine stuck on Ken Miles mode for a while. Lots of antisocial fun before I entered road sharing rehab It absolutely categorically does not. CR ratings and reviews are applicable to the current model year only. ...of course you can still look up their old review from when the one you care about was new.
JD Power is considered the Industry Standard for ranking reliability - Subaru is well down on this list just over the Industry Average Defects per Vehicle. This is the Standard the Industry uses to measure itself against other Manufacturers. Toyota Corporation had an absolutely stellar performance 2024 Most Reliable Vehicles - U.S. Dependability Study "Lexus ranks highest overall in vehicle dependability for a second consecutive year" "Toyota ranks highest in the mass market segment" Have to wait until February 2025 before JD Power releases their 2025 newest results
Wow! I have no idea who is the Industry Standard, but I do have my doubts about JD Power. On mass market segment, first is Toyota but then Buick followed by Chevrolet and Mini tied at #3!? I always thought Mini did not have a good reputation, and I have some serious doubts about the quality at Chevy. Like their Trax that has an oil bathed timing belt on a small turbo 3 cylinder powering a not-that-small wind brick. That and how they do their electrical and I'm not at all convinced. But if Mini is #3 in reliability, let me get a 2024 manual Mini pretty please! To be honest I don't think CR is the Industry Standard either. I have some qualms about their testing results too.
Their reliability prediction is based off surveys covering models going back to 2000MY. Have to have a subscription to get the details for the areas covered in the survey. Who Makes the Most Reliable New Cars? - Consumer Reports There are other sources for looking into the drive train reliability It's the industry standard cause the car companies don't care how well a car over three years old does. The problem with these ratings is that a problem reported by an owner may not actually be something that is broken. Poor user interface dinged Ford and others in the past. The JD link mentions an increase in the ADAS alerts being an issue for owners. A working ADAS can bring a brand rating down under their methodology of posting number of problems per 100 cars. CR moved away from that metric.
yeah as damaged as CR is I still think they've always offered better info for the shopper than JDP ever did. Seemed like Power's business model was to figure out what each brand was "unbeaten" at and then sell them a trophy that let them make a corresponding claim in their advertising. So there's probably some pickup out there than has had the most graceful radio preset programming for 8 years running and a trophy to show for it.
They both have their drawbacks. The basic thing to keep in mind is that JD P sells their reports to the manufacturer, and CR to the consumer. Aside, that Trax timing belt is likely what Ford switched to years ago, a woven steel belt like used in CVTs. It should be as reliable as a chain, without the noise.
This is not true at all. Ford was perhaps the first, and several others caught on. But I'd suspect that in the wake of all the problems that have arisen from using oil coated timing belts that within time all car manufacturer's will eventually abandon the technology. The Trax timing belt change intraval was originally 150k. Now it's recomended every 40k. But it is extremely hard to get to and needs special tools.
Who is recommending 40k mile change? Not GM. This engine has been used in the Trailblazer since 2021. Longer in other markets. Belt in oil systems were first used in 2008. There were issues, and some manufacturers reduced the interval for those models. Sounds like motor oil discussions where people can't accept that the technology has improved since 3000 mile change intervals. Current models should be fine as long as the correct oil is used and changed on time.
Had a 2000 Ranger once. It was recommended by the 'internet' to change cam position sensor at 60k miles. I went digging into whether this is something Ford actually recommends. They do, for some old diesel engine of theirs. Couldn't find any such recommendation for a gasoline engine, nor anything on the sensors failing early. Search the internet and you will find stories of timing chains snapping. Any parts can fail. Oil bathed timing belts have been out since 2008. Belt driven oil pumps have been around longer. With thousands of examples on the road, you will find cases where these belts failed and caused problems. But how common is it? Was there any other circumstances involved? A video cited for these belts being a bed idea was looking at a oil pump belt that came out of an oil starved and overheating engine. The Trax is not the first model to get this engine in the US, and the others have been around long enough that if early failure was an issue, specific cases could be found. I couldn't find anything for the Trailblazer. Well, nothing besides the people crying doom.
Very good points. I guess the scary thing is the unknown on a device that costs a good part of a year's wage. I don't know of anyone who spent tens of thousands on a car that ended up with a bad timing belt due to being wet. But I have known a few that something else went out that was a major expense, and didn't seem to be the fault of the owner at all. With car prices, buying a car is kind of scary, at least for me. I dread the day the Avalon dies. I hope it never does. Anywho, the point was that JD Power basically awards GM in second place in terms of mass market vehicle reliability after Toyota, followed by Mini as third. Is this actually true? I always thought Honda and either Mazda or Subaru would follow Toyota as second and third. But if the Trax and Mini Cooper are reliable, then that opens my doors to considering a couple of cars I would have never considered before.
That is the nature of machines. The whole trick is to use them in such a way that gets you paid you for much, much more than their own costs.
That is hard to quantify. Especialy due to the unknown. I used to only buy sub $1,000 cars. That way if they exploded in a month or two, I hadn't lost that much money on them. I don't think sub $1,000 cars is an option anymore.
I'm going to view belts in oil like direct injection. The early examples had issues, but technology improves, and things get better. Car companies think 150k miles is the life of the car, but they don't want to pay in money and reputation with early failures.
So the age old rule of thumb, "Don't buy the first model if you can't take the risk of being an early adopter." Still, are Mini Coopers really #3 in reliability? Now I want one! At least a 2024 or older model. 2025's don't come with stick shifts any more (plus are a new design from what I understand, so again one would be an "early adopter" of the model refresh).
if it was reliable as in 'doesn't break down as often as x' i would buy one. but that is not what cr is about
What about JD Power's ratings? They place Mini at #3. Consumer Reports does recommend the Mini Cooper, but they place it well below a lot of other cars including Hondas and even some Fords. So is Consumer Reports correct that the Honda Civic Si is more reliable than the Mini Cooper, or is JD Power correct that the Mini Cooper is the more reliable car?
