Yeah, you have said in the past if you know how and where to buy parts and are prepared to wait for overnight delivery (depending on where you are) many models aren't too expensive. But that is where the inconvenience factor comes in. Many people are not mechanically inclined and simply would not source parts themselves. They would just like to be able to take their car to their local service agent and not have to worry about all that and expect the car back in a timely fashion.
stevo2,
Mar 24, 6:10pm
Yeah, Im sure if I took my car and a box full of new parts into my local garage and said "here ya go champ' fit these for me", they'edsoon tell me to Fk Off. Cheers Stevo
1fordluva,
Mar 24, 6:15pm
Have to agree there,one difference would be fuel quality. What are some others,well europe is big and the cars over there are run for longer periods and not stopping and starting all the time like here in nz. Could come up with some more but cant be bothered.
theunicorn,
Mar 24, 6:16pm
That website also ranks manufacturers and if you look at best and worst, which is what gives rise to perceptions . Top 10 - 1 USA, 7 Asia, 2 Europe Bottom 10 - 2 USA, 0 Asia, 8 Europe.
I see a very clear Asia/Europe split in those figures.
wrong2,
Mar 24, 7:14pm
not all new cars are reliable
the opel based holden barina for example is a Lemon
they can give mass trouble before you hit 40K in mileage
johnf_456,
Mar 24, 7:16pm
talk to scotty they must be good haha
wrong2,
Mar 24, 7:19pm
8 japanese cars in the top 10
7 euro cars in the bottom 10
Honda Jazz is 5th . Fiat Punto is 69
morrisman1,
Mar 24, 7:25pm
oh its easy to look at numbers but if you drive one it will have the power of a v8, economy of a bicycle, pussy magnet included and the CVT is like non other.
No kidding :P
wrong2,
Mar 24, 7:26pm
in the harsh baking rock roads of afghanistan, the only vehicles ive seen by people going to a fight (& expecting to be transported away from the fight) were driving toyotas
wrong2,
Mar 24, 7:27pm
& apparently the 2.0L golf will do over 23 km/L - which is better than the 1.6L golf
aren't they clever
tgray,
Mar 24, 7:52pm
I like reliability, that's why I drive my 93 camaro Z28 every day. Hey, it uses $200 a week on gas, but nothing ever goes wrong and it's a hell of a lot of fun.
mantagsi,
Mar 24, 8:13pm
Got a 43 yr old euro in the shed, runs like a charm, easy to get parts for, and I can do work from the smallest jobs to the biggest jobs relatively easily in my shed. No prizes for guessing what that is. Got a 16yr old nissan as a daily driver, can't be assed working on it as it is a mission to do anything, so I pay a chap to do it for me. Truthfully the jappa has cost me more to keep on the road than the euro, I've owned quite a lot of euro cars that even europeans would call oddball, never had any trouble, yet I still can't shake the fixation that my jappa is somehow better! Growing up we all heard euro-bashing so much it is buried pretty deep in the old psyche I think. I still like them though
mantagsi,
Mar 24, 8:17pm
And anyhow in response to the original thread title question, I find personally my move towards reliability (please disregard hypocrisy in previous post) has a lot to do with the fact that I am older, I am sick of being in a cold shed on a Sunday night at 11pm trying to get the car going before Monday workday, I now have a larger income therefore I can afford something a little bit better than the $100 shitters I bought as a kid, and of course last but not least, like Stevo I have better things to do with my brief spare time than stuffing around working on cars to save a few dollars here and there :)
johnf_456,
Mar 25, 6:22am
No its what have you said before, you are very stern about holden being tops no matter what don't deny it as in other threads.Based on your attitude in several threads its pretty obvious to you holden are tops no matter what.
kcf,
Mar 25, 6:29am
Going back to the original question, I got reliability obsessed about 15 years back, because I had Mini's, and every time I went in for a WOF or took the car to scrutineering for competition events it failed on something (or multiple somethings).Plus the feature where the car liked to have a little nap whenever I encountered a rainy day got a little bit annoying.
At that stage I swapped the Mini's for a Corolla (I think it was about a 1986 Corolla GT).Suddenly I passed WOF's and scrutineering!It was quite a novelty.
That said, 15 years later, my "new" car is a 92 Corolla, and my race car is an 87 Corolla.So, I seriously have failed to modernise my fleet.
elect70,
Mar 25, 12:32pm
I must admit these days I am BMW man had 3 &liked them all .I believe their engineering/reliabilityisof a high standardrather than built to a price .
thejazzpianoma,
Mar 25, 12:58pm
If you are not mechanically inclined you can of course research and find a good garage. You are right that people "can't be bothered" but it amazes me as it can save them a ton of money. Oddly I find it a million times easier just to ring Dino Enterprises, Startech or other 3rd party importers and order over night even when I get a choice of buying form BNT etc for the same price.
If I ring the likes of Startech, they know straight away what I am on about, exactly what part I need without endless fluffing around and they will also give me a heads up on anything I havn't thought of.
Compare that to a few weeks ago when I wanted some brake shoes, wheel cylenders and a wheel bearing kit for a Hilux, I was in a hurry and wanted local. Man what a saga, seriously I spent more than half a day driving around having the old parts measured, begin given the wrong parts, being told I needed to go to another branch accross town and in the end I didn't even get all the parts I wanted.
Absolutely hopeless!
thejazzpianoma,
Mar 25, 1:02pm
I did this a lot when I was busy running the biz and later when I was really crook. I am sure some mechanics wouldn't like it but the guy I use was stoked.
All genuine parts guaranteed to fit and ready to go (as you get from the good importers) means he can just rip in and do the job. No mucking around chasing parts etc. Sure he might not get a cut on the bits but every hour spent on the car is chargeable (as opposed to ringing around for bits) and the car is in and out in a flash.
I am sure they would be annoyed if you half assed it and gave them crap or incomplete bits but done right its win/win.
thejazzpianoma,
Mar 25, 1:07pm
Thats what I was getting at about "looking properly". When you actually look at the top ten the first two cars are old models with next to no features and completely irrelevant to looking for newish cars today.
The newer more sophisticated examples of those are ranked right amongst the VW's etc.
The first "proper" modern and sophisticated car in the list is a Volvo.
Thats the problem in a nutshell, people do crap research. They skim look for evidence of the common beliefs and leave it at that. If you asked a Scientist or Statistician to look at the list and draw conclusions you would get a very different picture.
You also have to stop and think hard about what the top 10 and bottom 10 actually mean. which is very little of relevance. The more important question is "is the car I am looking at rating similar or better than the others in the class and age group or is it miles behind"
wrong2,
Mar 25, 2:42pm
but then you wake up, realising that once again you have been tugging it in your sleep
opel based Holdens are LEMONS
wrong2,
Mar 25, 2:49pm
my god are you a blind euro-humper
we are talking about the link you posted right, the one that has both brand new models in the top 10 & bottom 10 right
the one that completely doesnt back up the point that you used it as evidence of your correctness
it staggers the mind how either completely stupid, or blind you can be. there is virtually no point in discussing cars with you - direct evidence has no effect on your preconcieved mindset
tigra,
Mar 25, 3:11pm
thejazzpianoma has tried to put us all in the same vehicle owning basket. Not possible- we all want different things, some for very practical reasons and some for "wannahave" reasons.For years I have driven around in a very practical basic vehicle bought for under $4000 managed to get 4 or 5 years or fairly reliable running out of it and flicked it on when I felt I was pushing my luck too far and bought another. Its worked and my car owning costs have been relatively minimal. But every now and then you hanker for something that looks a bit nicer and hopefully all the money you have saved is available to be spent on what you fancy that logic tells you you shouldnt but still you do it anyway. They try to tell you its a mid-life crisis thingy but it can happen at anytime.
thejazzpianoma,
Mar 25, 3:31pm
Legend! Sometimes I think you have missed your true calling papariccardo. And to think, English might not even be your first language!
craig04,
Mar 25, 5:26pm
Yep, older models still going very strong compared to much newer Euro's with some reliability issues early on.
thejazzpianoma,
Mar 25, 5:33pm
Yeah, but if the Euro breaks down you can always get one of the horses out of the back and ride home.
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