Legal Bill

I am a somewhat surprised by all the reliability comments I read on this forum. I know reliability is important, but I always relegated that issue (and references to consumer reports) to the middle-aged, family-man, Camry crowd. I never thought so many sports car owners would harp on that issue. It isn't like the S2000 is the most reliable car on the market.

I can get "reliability" comments form anyone. When I come here, I expect a discussion about performance. It isn't like most of the comments about reliability require any great analysis or critical thought. Most people just flame a manufacturer for a poor quality history. Plus, it seems the reliability comment cannot be made just once. I see it repeated several times in any thread about a non Honda/Toyota product.

I'm not trying to stifle anyone's comments, so I'm not sure what the solution is. In fact, I like reliability comments that identify a known fault or defect as opposed to to the generic comments about a certain maker's reputation. Maybe someone can create a reliability smilie and anyone who wants to flame about a certain car's reliability can just post the smilie.

Anyway, what do the rest of you think?

rai

Yes, yes.


Gas Mileage
Cost
Reliability
Style

Performance
Fun to drive

The first four are not as important (to me) as the last 2 features. Not to say all these aspects are not important, but reliability is not the main reason I'll buy a car.

A lot of times I'll say I like xyz car b/c it's fun or handles good. And people will say abc car is faster around a track or in a straight line or costs less. To me speed straight or track or cost is secondary I'll have a fun-to-drive slow car over a fast not-fun-to drive car.

As far as reliability goes, it's really subjective. I had a Z3 that was in the shop 6 times in 18 months. That's un-acceptable to me. But that doesn't mean every Z3 or every BMW is bad.

b0mbrman

Hmm...I will agree with you that the reliability claims with relevant data attached are helpful. However, I'll never understand why there are so many unsubstantiated reliability claims...

My best guess is that there are many people who don't even consider American cars because domestics don't offer enough in terms of status by their standards...and they rationalize their choice by talking about reliablity...

Officer_down

I think, in any car, save for the ultra exotic, reliability is very important, regardless of performance. I think, with a normal sports car, people use it regularly, and so reliability is as important (or slightly less) as a Camry.

My S2000 wasn't the most reliable either, but in general, reliability is very important, even in sports cars. I'm saying this to all cars, not just domestic or imported cars.

allkingz

The problem is that so many reliability comments come from people who have little or no experience with the car they are flaming. They read something online or hear from someone with a bad experience and think they're an expert.

If you're going to give reliability comments, you better have personal experience. Don't tell me what another forum or your best friend's sister's exboyfriend's stepfather told you.

b0mbrman

[QUOTE=allkingz,Mar 15 2005, 09:50 PM]

no_really

hear hear. "Reliability" seems to be the favorite meaningless buzzword of some people, and always seems to appear in defense of some Japanese product, and/or attack of some non-Japanese product. Might as well start using the word "Japan-factor" instead - it seems to better describe the potent magic the rest of us cannot see anyway

And it isn't like the word "reliability" really addresses the vast majority of the problems that can afflict a car. A window switch might break, but it hardly affects your ability to get home from work or anything. But for damn sure someone is gonna bring up their step-mom's 83 Cavalier wagon's broken window switch in a discussion about C6 Corvettes

Officer_down

[QUOTE=no_really,Mar 15 2005, 11:20 PM] hear hear.

steve c

S2000 IS FASTERZ CAR IN WOLRDZ AND MADE BY HONDA WHO IS BESTEST MAKERZ IN WORLDZ. AMERICAN CAR IS JUNK!! HONDA IS BESTEZ!!!!

We are on the same page.

Officer_down

Personally, I haven't had much experience with domestic vehicles, but I can say that my Taurus is definitely a POS. But that doesn't mean all of them are like that. I'm sure some other domestic vehicles are excellent and reliable.

However, if you cared so much, tell it to all the market researchers (or whatever they are called) to stop stuffing that information into our heads, because everywhere I look, I'd see that they (consumer reporters, researchers, etc.) would always have remarkable things to say about the reliability of Japanese cars. Is it possible that the Japanese are paying the American researchers to say that for many past years? Do you reckon so? Hmm...interesting theory! Damn those shrewd Japanese for bribing! Damn them all!

Why aren't the American manufactures bribing the American reporters/researchers?!! That's what I'm wondering.

Btw, I don't care who makes what cars, nothing, I repeat, NOTHING is more reliable than my Camry. My affordable, yet invincibly reliable Camry!