Car ?'s

You had me at first, but Ford in the last 5-6 years? Oof.

mkopec said:

Speaking as an auto engineer that has been around this shit his whole life, I would NEVER buy a fucking chrysler ANYTHING. Ford sells, give or take, million trucks a year for like ever now shit on them all you want but if you want reliability go Ford.

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Henry Ford famously asked his engineers why a certain part was hardly ever failing on one of Ford's early vehicles. It was overbuilt, because it never failed, is the logic he used. True enough, I guess. So they discontinued the part and replaced it with one that had a more acceptable, higher failure rate so he knew they weren't wasting money on it. I wonder how much of this still goes on, where we'll never truly see another ultra-reliable car because every engineering manager has to hit acceptable thresholds for part failures and 0 is seen as a bad thing.

mkopec said:

Speaking as an auto engineer that has been around this shit his whole life, I would NEVER buy a fucking chrysler ANYTHING. Ford sells, give or take, million trucks a year for like ever now shit on them all you want but if you want reliability go Ford.

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Btw what's your full take on Chrysler? The RAM truck I'm looking at has a 3.6 Pentastar V6, it's not going to tow much but it gets over 20 mpg on the highway and they've built over 10 million of them, putting them into all kinds of vehicles from vans to trucks to cars. They had issues with the 2011-2013 years but apparently it's a pretty mature engine today and reportedly more reliable than even the 5.7 Hemi you can get.

I fix cars for friends and I'd second any Chrysler hate. All cars are full of electronic control modules these days, basically just a board with relays and chips that controls everything from headlights to wipers to the transmission. Chrysler one is badly sealed off with just a clipped on plastic cover that warps and then leaks so you have water getting into your main electronic control box causing all sorts of random issues (google Chrysler TIPM for fun results). They put it right behind the headlight too where it's going to get hit by rain water during driving.



BMW for example puts most of the modules inside the car where they are less susceptible to water ingress in the first place, and the other ones are in a separate box with a bolted down lid next to the firewall where it is unlikely to get wet. Design decisions like this and a few cents worth of bolts can make all the difference sometimes.

I'll copy the gate for most Chrysler/FCA products though im still favorable to ram trucks somewhat.

But for the rest of the brands, too many get stuck in a rut of broad opinions they keep with for decades when in reality who is arguably the best or at least not shit seems to objectively change over time.

As others pointed out, Ford really had started to sit the bed in recent years.

My beloved Toyota I think is going to disappoint me with a lot of their newer products though half probably due to govt restrictions.

mkopec said:

Thats a fucking myth, as if were all there to design in some flaws that just happen when the warranty is out so they can deviously get you with part costs, loool. Like how do you even do that? Were engineers not fortunetellers. I mean think about it, there is so many variables at worrk there. From the roads you drive on and how shitty they are down to how hard you drive the vehicle, weather you live in, do they use salt on roads, do you drive on gravel roads repetedly? etc...etc....

Go blame the government thats stepping in and telling car makers what impossible milage/gal they can have so we now have to eek out grams of weight everywhere to make that happen. putting in turbo charged 3 cylindrs in, looool...You reduce weight, you reduce quality.

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I recently bought a Tacoma. I would have waited for the 2023 until I saw they were doing away with the V6. That made my decision much easier. I will not buy a turbo charged engine if I can help it. It reduces the quality and life of the engine. It is of course a win for the dealers/manufacturer as it forces people to spend more money in the long run.

To the person asking about Tacoma/Tundra. I enjoy my Tacoma. However I am 5'9" and so can easily fit into it. I could see a tall person not fitting as easily. It drives fine despite the transmission not acting as smooth as I would like.

In the end, a person really does need to test drive all of the variants and do the research. What works for me might not work for another person.

mkopec said:

Go blame the government thats stepping in and telling car makers what impossible milage/gal they can have so we now have to eek out grams of weight everywhere to make that happen. putting in turbo charged 3 cylindrs in, looool...You reduce weight, you reduce quality.

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Nah, not government. Toyota and Honda still building reliable cars. I have a 2020 Highlander and can drive it until the day I die, and with minimum repairs. Same for my Tundra.

US car manufactures' problem is with the BOD...board of directors. Pursue every venue of cost saving and now at the expense of reliability and shafting your customers on warranty repairs. Shitty parts much worse than 1970's shit. Ford is actively denying warranty repairs on brand new diesel trucks. Fuel pump grenades and takes out the ENTIRE fuel system. $11k+. Guess who gets to pay that bill on top of the $80k truck that is a few months old?

It seems like every auto manufacturer has some model of some certain year(s) that have major issues.

Lambourne said:

I fix cars for friends and I'd second any Chrysler hate. All cars are full of electronic control modules these days, basically just a board with relays and chips that controls everything from headlights to wipers to the transmission. Chrysler one is badly sealed off with just a clipped on plastic cover that warps and then leaks so you have water getting into your main electronic control box causing all sorts of random issues (google Chrysler TIPM for fun results). They put it right behind the headlight too where it's going to get hit by rain water during driving.

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BMW for example puts most of the modules inside the car where they are less susceptible to water ingress in the first place, and the other ones are in a separate box with a bolted down lid next to the firewall where it is unlikely to get wet. Design decisions like this and a few cents worth of bolts can make all the difference sometimes.

View attachment 482945

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From what I've read you really have to do a lot of research on BMWs, particularly when buying a used one, quite a few of them seem to suffer some kind of major engine/transmission failure no matter what maintenance gets done around or before 100k miles.

Break said:

It seems like every auto manufacturer has some model of some certain year(s) that have major issues.

From what I've read you really have to do a lot of research on BMWs, particularly when buying a used one, quite a few of them seem to suffer some kind of major engine/transmission failure no matter what maintenance gets done around or before 100k miles.

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Yeah that's true, the first generations of direct injection engines were quite trouble prone and diesels had a bunch of timing chain issues around the same time. The latest generation of B-series engines (2016-ish and on) seem to do much better as long as you stick to the 4 and 6 cylinders, the V8 cars I'd never buy out of warranty. Avoid any 3rd party performance tunes, most of the ones that do blow up have an aftermarket tune on them. Modern engines are highly prone to detonation and the factory tune is set up to avoid the conditions that can cause it to happen, can't just bump up the boost pressure and expect things to work out like you once could.

ZF 8 speed transmission has been in just about all of their cars in the last decade and isn't known for being troublesome although I'd still avoid 4 wheel drive cars unless you absolutely must have one.

Unfortunately it's a general trend among all car makers to build engines lighter and smaller, it's forced by emissions standards that require them to optimize for efficiency rather than durability. No free rides when it comes to engineering, there's always a compromise and the push for ever lower emissions comes at the cost of complexity which the end user will have to pay for one way or the other.

Nothing like throwing 100k down on a benz to go up in flames.
I guess it's no different than nissans and other makes that had fault fuel injectors that would catch fire while driving. At least these burn up in the drive way. Funny how benz and chevy bolts have the same problem. I think bolts don't even have a fix to them yet after 2 years.

Lanx said:

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You're not supposed to own a luxury car long enough to need to replace a light bulb. This sounds like one of those poors who buys a 7k dollar Mercedes v12 that's "only" 8 years old.