Is it just me or does the quality of cars in general seem to have gone down in the past few years??? I know that with a mass produced vehicle that there will be some problems but I've been seeing more and more recalls and from manufacturers who normally have a reputation of producing quality vehicles. Case in point, Toyota's recent recall of the Prius and trucks. Even my S2000 has issues like the rear bumper not aligning correctly. It just seems that the manufacturers are so concerned with spitting out as many cars as quickly as they can that the quality is going down.

 

It's just you.

 

Gee thanks!!!

 

case by case basis, but I think cars in general are 99% trouble free. Except my 1997 Z3, all have been good/great.

I've had a maybe 12 recalls in the last 5 years (on several cars), but nothing that effected my cars. For instance my Toyota Sienna had 3-4 recalls but they were not a bother to me b/c I did them with normal scheduled service.


IMO if you look at or read so and so recalls 1 million cars etc.. That does not mean all the cars are bad, It might be just 100 out of a million. It's very hard to say one way or the other, but from my experience buying new cars (10 in the past 20 years), they have all been 99% trouble free except for my Z3 which was cursed.

 

I'm not sure what time frame you are looking at for quality comparisons, but I think it's quite easy to see that quality overall has gone up in a huge way over the past years. Cars are more reliable, nicer, safer, more efficient...etc etc. Unfortunately, the trade off is weight and cost.

 

Ya, I'm at a loss to think of even one car that has gone down in quality. There are ergonomics issues floating around out there, but no major steps backward.

 

i agree. it's just you.

 

I don't know too much about reliabilities of all cars, but....

all I know is MB has not had the best quality lately.

For example, my parents' friend's brandnew E class has rust problem in his first year of ownership (no accident, no repairs...).

My father-in-law's friend's brandnew S class (in Poland) has rust on the body (no accident and no repair, too).

Coincidence? I think not.

 

Mercedes quality has definitely dropped. There is no question in my mind about that.

It's not that the leather is worse, or the plastics aren't better. It's just that reliability is dropping with all of the electrical and computerized options the cars have. They're finicky.

It's not so much that quality is going down - it's that they're adding so much that's very tough to keep reliable (though Lexus doesn't seem to have many issues). It taints the rest of the car. They're still solid, they're still luxurious, they just don't work (overall) quite as well any more.

 

I hear you.

However, rust in the first year?

A person who spent $9,000 for a cheapo Korean car may not have the same problem though.