Car Manufacturers Ranked in Terms of Maintenance Costs / 10 years.

[T3X4S]

I thought this was pretty interesting.

No surprise BMW is #1 - for being one of the most unreliable cars on the planet.
Mercedes, I guess it is #2 due to costs - but not as much maintenance ?

Also not surprising is Lexus with the overall best in terms of cost of cars / cost of repairs.

 

[Mr. Gibs]

Doesn't have to mean its unreliable. German cars are notorious for making parts of the engine pretty difficult / complex to replace / fix. That means even simple things like a water pump replacement cost more because of the amount of work they have to do to get to the damn thing. 

[+Mirumir Subscriber¹]

I'd rather keep on repairing my audi/bmw/mb than drive any of those other brands listed.

 

Also, who buys a new car and keeps it for 10 years these days? Chances are that most new cars are traded-in after three to five years, before a major problem pops up.

 

p.s. from my experience, a kia/hyundai costs less to maintain than a toyota. The parts are cheaper and the rate per hour is lower.

[Torolol]

not surprising that the top chart are mostly dominated by euro cars.

[Jim K Global Moderator]

25 minutes ago, Mirumir said:

I'd rather keep on repairing my audi/bmw/mb than drive any of those other brands listed.

 

Also, who buys a new car and keeps it for 10 years these days? Chances are that most new cars are traded-in after three to five years, before a major problem pops up.

 

p.s. from my experience, a kia/hyundai costs less to maintain than a toyota. The parts are cheaper and the rate per hour is lower.

have had my Ford for 16 years.  Had a fund set aside for when I wanted to purchase a car ... paid for a '09 Infiniti in cash (sold it when I deployed) and then just recently bought a 2016 Infiniti in cash.  Have a new fund set aside for my next car...many years down the road.  Anyway, haven't had a car loan in about 14 years.

 

You do not need a car every 3-5 years .... unless you just have money to burn.

[adrynalyne]

16 hours ago, -Razorfold said:

Doesn't have to mean its unreliable. German cars are notorious for making parts of the engine pretty difficult / complex to replace / fix. That means even simple things like a water pump replacement cost more because of the amount of work they have to do to get to the damn thing. 

Actually, you can check out a lot of car enthusiast forums and see that many BMWs are not just expensive to fix, but unreliable. 

[adrynalyne]

16 hours ago, -Razorfold said:

Doesn't have to mean its unreliable. German cars are notorious for making parts of the engine pretty difficult / complex to replace / fix. That means even simple things like a water pump replacement cost more because of the amount of work they have to do to get to the damn thing. 

Actually, you can check out a lot of car enthusiast forums and see that many BMWs are not just expensive to fix, but unreliable. 

7 minutes ago, jjkusaf said:

have had my Ford for 16 years.  Had a fund set aside for when I wanted to purchase a car ... paid for a '09 Infiniti in cash (sold it when I deployed) and then just recently bought a 2016 Infiniti in cash.  Have a new fund set aside for my next car...many years down the road.  Anyway, haven't had a car loan in about 14 years.

 

You do not need a car every 3-5 years .... unless you just have money to burn.

I think he was just bragging with the overall tone of the post.

[tsupersonic]

I'd put MB in the more unreliable category over BMW. 

[shockz]

This is kind of a ###### statistic.

 

10 years ago was before the auto industry collapsed. The new GM, while still problematic has by far increased their reliability rankings. Same with Hyundai and Kia. The only ones I don't expect to change much between then and now are Toyota and possibly Honda.

[+Mirumir Subscriber¹]

8 minutes ago, shockz said:

This is kind of a ###### statistic.

Any American-based study on the car industry is usually biased towards being pro-American, pro-Japanese, and anti-German.

 

JD Power is the worst offender with their reliability rating.

[The Evil Overlord]

1 hour ago, Mirumir said:

I'd rather keep on repairing my audi/bmw/mb than drive any of those other brands listed.

 

Also, who buys a new car and keeps it for 10 years these days? Chances are that most new cars are traded-in after three to five years, before a major problem pops up.

 

p.s. from my experience, a kia/hyundai costs less to maintain than a toyota. The parts are cheaper and the rate per hour is lower.

Never had a Skyline eh?  

[Jim K Global Moderator]

12 minutes ago, Mirumir said:

Any American-based study on the car industry is usually biased towards being pro-American, pro-Japanese, and anti-German.

 

JD Power is the worst offender with their reliability rating.

So who would be the authority to give unbiased opinions on car reliability?

 

I can see how maintenance costs on, for example a BMW, can run up.  An oil change at my local BMW dealer is $120 ... with the option to tack on another 90 bucks for a "oil change upgrade package" ... whatever that is.

 

Infiniti ... I think less than 50 bucks at the dealer.

[+Gary7 Subscriber²]

I drive a 2000 Acura 3.2TL with 105,000 miles on it and no major problems.

[+E.Worm Jimmy Subscriber¹]

I don't believe for on bit that lexus is cheaper to maintain then hyundai.    hourly rate AND parts are cheaper at hyundai.

 

bmw engines are not a problem but their electronics are terribly unreliable and expansive.

 

for an old 7 series repair, it is cheaper to just get another similar old one without the problem.  it is damn expensive to fix.

but you don't have to go to a dealer to fix. aftermarket solution exist and they charge the cost drastically!

 

under warranty, i don't trust audi, mb or bmw  -  local dealerships don't let let you see the working are OR the parts they replaced.   that is crap! 

mazda and nissan and acura i drove were fully transparent with the work they have done and allowed me to see it, and the results! and they cost WAY cheaper!

[+Biscuits Brown MVC]

5 hours ago, Mirumir said:

Also, who buys a new car and keeps it for 10 years these days?

I do.  I my newest car right now is over 8 years old and aside from changing oil every 4K miles or so, I've not had any work other than regular scheduled maintenance - and the car is at nearly 170k miles. I plan on another 6 or 7 years. My last car lasted just over 15. Car gets me from point a to point b why do I need a new one every few years.

[+Gary7 Subscriber²]

I have kept mine for 16 years @Mirumir 

[+E.Worm Jimmy Subscriber¹]

2 minutes ago, Gary7 said:

I have kept mine for 16 years @Mirumir 

my parents bmw is close to 15 years old and actually looks brand new. they still use it daily   they just take care of it. minor scratches aside, inside still looks almost the same as it looked the day the car was bought.

 

(electronics however.... don't even get me started   )

[+Gary7 Subscriber²]

6 minutes ago, E.worm Jimmy said:

my parents bmw is close to 15 years old and actually looks brand new. they still use it daily   they just take care of it. minor scratches aside, inside still looks almost the same as it looked the day the car was bought.

 

(electronics however.... don't even get me started   )

My Acura runs as good today as when I drove it of the lot. It also is quite fast, I had it up to 140 with plenty of pedal to go.

[Rippleman]

6 hours ago, jjkusaf said:

have had my Ford for 16 years.  Had a fund set aside for when I wanted to purchase a car ... paid for a '09 Infiniti in cash (sold it when I deployed) and then just recently bought a 2016 Infiniti in cash.  Have a new fund set aside for my next car...many years down the road.  Anyway, haven't had a car loan in about 14 years.

 

You do not need a car every 3-5 years .... unless you just have money to burn.

I used to work in the car business for a decade and the common saying for the finance office IN ALL DEALERSHIPS is "the only people that buy new cars and millionaires and idiots" - meaning: expensive!

[conna]

Toyota FTW!

24 minutes ago, E.worm Jimmy said:

I don't believe for on bit that lexus is cheaper to maintain then hyundai.    hourly rate AND parts are cheaper at hyundai.

4

It's because Lexus vehicles are made by the same factories that make Toyotas. 

 

http://www.bbcamerica.com/shows/top-gear/video-extras/the-indestructible-truck

[adrynalyne]

6 minutes ago, conna said:

Toyota FTW!

It's because Lexus vehicles are made by the same factories that make Toyotas. 

 

http://www.bbcamerica.com/shows/top-gear/video-extras/the-indestructible-truck

Toyota and Lexus are the SAME company. Of course they use the same factories. 

[adrynalyne]

19 minutes ago, Gary7 said:

My Acura runs as good today as when I drove it of the lot. It also is quite fast, I had it up to 140 with plenty of pedal to go.

Plenty of pedal to go that would have netted another 2mph. 

28 minutes ago, E.worm Jimmy said:

my parents bmw is close to 15 years old and actually looks brand new. they still use it daily   they just take care of it. minor scratches aside, inside still looks almost the same as it looked the day the car was bought.

 

(electronics however.... don't even get me started   )

Electronics are the bane of most cars these days. 

[conna]

1 minute ago, adrynalyne said:

Toyota and Lexus are the SAME company. Of course they use the same factories. 

 

#28 

#29

#30

Lexus, Scion, and Toyota are one and the same. I was responding to how someone would think Hyundai would be cheaper because of hourly rate and parts. 

[adrynalyne]

2 minutes ago, conna said:

#28 

#29

#30

Lexus, Scion, and Toyota are one and the same. I was responding to how someone would think Hyundai would be cheaper because of hourly rate and parts. 

Hyundai is cheaper on parts and hourly rate. 

[techbeck]

How old is that image in the OP?  Thought Saturn and Pontiac were not even being made anymore.