Most reliable car you have owned?

[Pocatello]

A 1977 Chevy Nova. Change oil and tires. All the plastic trims were cracked or broken of course, original seat cover were tattered. It was running pretty good when my dad sold it to some high school kid.

 

[Nyati13]

Personally, I don't drive enough to ever push a car into "most reliable" territory, but when I was a kid in Kenya we had some vehicles that got very hard used.

Isuzu Trooper - had about 350,000km on it in 4 years before my Mom ran it under the back end of a truck.
Toyota Hilux - I think it hit 450,000km or more in 5 years and suffered one blown water pump in that whole time.
Subaru GL wagon - about 300,000 to 350,000km in it's 5 years. No breakdowns at all.

A pretty hefty percentage of the 'mileage' was off road, and 'off road' doesn't mean no pavement, it means no road at all.

 

[BMdoobieW]

My leased 2005 Mazda3s. Drove it 25,000 miles from new with nary a problem.

 

[The Stigenator]

2000 ford focus - 157000 miles. I had minor issues, but nothing too bad.. still runs good. I am going to keep her till she dies.

 

[SuperSix]

Originally posted by: BMdoobieW
My leased 2005 Mazda3s. Drove it 25,000 miles from new with nary a problem.

Excited because it made it to 25k w/no issues?

Lowered expectations FTL

 

[siclmn]

I had a Datsun 510 for 17 years it was still red and shiny and then someone stole it. 180 thousand miles and the engine was getting tired. In 1990 I bought a used Maxima with 160K and I drove it to 270K. It still ran perfect and never any synthetic oil ever. This car was never going to die so I just sold it to buy a Honda Element. It will last forever being a Honda.

 

[imported_Truenofan]

my dad would probably say his 85 mazda 323 1.5i. he had around 275-300k miles on it. no rust(i mean, the thing was CLEAN, and this thing spent most of its life in washington state and wisconsin.), perfect running car. he couldnt afford to replace the aging suspension parts and exhaust system was rusting away so he sold it for 500-700 i think it was. for me, i haven't had a chance to own anything outside of whats in my sig.

 

[dug777]

Originally posted by: Truenofan
my dad would probably say his 85 mazda 323 1.5i. he had around 275-300k miles on it. no rust(i mean, the thing was CLEAN, and this thing spent most of its life in washington state and wisconsin.), perfect running car. he couldnt afford to replace the aging suspension parts and exhaust system was rusting away so he sold it for 500-700 i think it was. for me, i haven't had a chance to own anything outside of whats in my sig.

http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/dug777/323.JPG

Except mine's an '89 1.6 (carbied too)

Not a spot of rust, but the struts are getting a bit worn now.

That RX-7 a paragon of reliability?

 

[lurk3r]

Originally posted by: Arkaign

Originally posted by: Kremerica
I am currently running a 1998 Ford Mustang GT. it has 172k miles on it and still running great.
from about 50k to 100k miles I ragged the crap out of it at the drag strips, for the past 70k miles I have just used it as a daily driver.
the only thing that has gone wrong is the heater core started leaking coolant and I had to swap that out... pulling the dash is a pita.
change oil and fluids regularly including plugs and wires, filters, air and gas, change brakes when needed...

from all the mix of cars in this post, it looks like a car's reliability is more based on the person that takes care of it rather than brand...

Truth. I've seen cars die at 50k or less, even Camrys/Accords/Civics/Corollas, because the owners skipped oil changes. I've seen tons of cars with ~100k or so that die a permanent death because the owner doesn't get the timing belt changed, which can be catastrophic on many 4cyls.

On the flip side, I've seen truly atrocious cars (Ford Escort, Cadavalier, Neon, etc) occasionally last into the ~200k range because the owner actually took care of them.

Then there are the other anomalies, the rarest, where a reliable car dies early even with great maintenance, or unreliable makes/models lasting a long time even with terrible maintenance.

We see it all in the car world. But general truths remain, and the smartest thing you can do is take care of what you have, because it will generally take care of you right back.

This is true, most cars as designed are very reliable, the failures that occur are nearly always avoidable, and with a reasonable quality control department, none should make it into a customer's hands.

--edit -- Our best vehicle was a Green '77 Dodge van with a 440, we rolled it well over 300k, 3 trips across the country, this thing destroyed several Camaros, and the occasional vette, and the mileage was reasonable for a vehicle that size (11/19).

The spark plugs were brutal to change, barely 2" of clearance all the way around the engine.

There were 2 issues I remember with this old beast, fairly hard smack took out the oilpan, and a garage bent the driveshaft with a hoist.

 

[bigi]

1995 Accord. Got it @124K Miles, sold @ 280K Miles to very happy buyer.
1996 Camry. Nothing happens to it. Now @ 136K Miles.

 

[Vetterin]

1971 Olds 442.

 

[djc208]

My current 93 Dodge Shadow with the V6 would be my pick. 169k and still has the original exhaust under it! Otherwise the only big ticket surprises were a radiator and heater core that went bad and a starter about 4 years ago. Otherwise it's been hit three times, everything from the doors back has been replaced. Passenger door twice, tailgate twice. It was stolen and used in a shooting across town, but the police recovered it and after replacing the door (second time) and some interior bits they broke or stole I've been driving it for the last three years.

Unfortunatly the body isn't doing so well having spent all but the last few in PA and OH but it's paid for and gets me to and from work and I don't have to worry about dents or dings any more so I can leave my shiny new car safe at home.

 

[TheAudit]

I had a 1996 Mazda Miata that I put 115k miles on it and I don't recall having any problems whatsoever.

 

[minendo]

My 1992 Dodge Stealth. Only work beside normal maintenance done on the car was a result of an accident I was involved in outside of Chicago and a window replacement due to an attempted break in. Car has 132,000 or so miles on it and still runs great.

 

[Midnight Rambler]

'63 VW Bug. I tried my best to "kill" it, but it just would not die ...

 

[AdamK47]

07 Corvette. 1200 miles and still going strong.

 

[Vetterin]

Originally posted by: AdamK47
07 Corvette. 1200 miles and still going strong.

Give it another 500 miles! LOL. Actually my 85 Vette is still running strong after 87000 miles.

 

[Demon-Xanth]

Taking into account mileage: my Grand Prix, I bought it with 150k and sold it with 250k four years later. The only major problem it ever had was a spark plug hole stripping out.

That said, my Dakota's on 94k and here's the list of things I've replaced:
Spark plugs
Air filter
Oil+oil filter
Ball joints (now with 100k warrentee!)
O2 sensor
Tires
battery
1 vacuum hose that cracked
clutch
soon to be the rear output seal on the transmission (suspect we damaged it by using a cap too large when we swapped the clutch)

It's never seen a tow truck, even after someone pulled out in front of me.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Originally posted by: AdamK47
07 Corvette. 1200 miles and still going strong.

1200 miles? Dude, you're about due for an engine rebuild. :laugh:

I've had a few sensors replaced on my '03 Maxima. Coming up on 70k miles on it and other than routine maintenance it has been pretty good.

My wife's Lexus IS250 has 30k miles and we've done nothing but routine maintenance and tires.

 

[bigpow]

98 corolla

 

[zoiks]

Originally posted by: siclmn
I had a Datsun 510 for 17 years it was still red and shiny and then someone stole it. 180 thousand miles and the engine was getting tired. In 1990 I bought a used Maxima with 160K and I drove it to 270K. It still ran perfect and never any synthetic oil ever. This car was never going to die so I just sold it to buy a Honda Element. It will last forever being a Honda.

Yep. I've never seen a Honda at a shop.

 

[AdamK47]

Originally posted by: zoiks

Originally posted by: siclmn
I had a Datsun 510 for 17 years it was still red and shiny and then someone stole it. 180 thousand miles and the engine was getting tired. In 1990 I bought a used Maxima with 160K and I drove it to 270K. It still ran perfect and never any synthetic oil ever. This car was never going to die so I just sold it to buy a Honda Element. It will last forever being a Honda.

Yep. I've never seen a Honda at a shop.

I've heard that you can use pancake syrup instead of engine oil and a Honda will still run forever without a syrup change.

 

[aleckz]

Originally posted by: AdamK47

Originally posted by: zoiks

Originally posted by: siclmn
I had a Datsun 510 for 17 years it was still red and shiny and then someone stole it. 180 thousand miles and the engine was getting tired. In 1990 I bought a used Maxima with 160K and I drove it to 270K. It still ran perfect and never any synthetic oil ever. This car was never going to die so I just sold it to buy a Honda Element. It will last forever being a Honda.

Yep. I've never seen a Honda at a shop.

I've heard that you can use pancake syrup instead of engine oil and a Honda will still run forever without a syrup change.

It has to be pure maple, remember this.