Re: Study : Germans make the least reliable engines Quote:
Originally Posted by manishalive The older merc are therefore more reliable - lesser electronics. Yes these are build like tank and is a known fact.
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Sorry, it's simply not true. The idea that electronics make cars unreliable compared to older cars is not true. I have owned many classic and many modern cars. Still own a MercedesW123 with no electronics and a Jaguar XJR that's is absolutely jam packed with every imaginable piece of electronic you can think of and then some. I'd be the first to agree that the W123 is built like a tank, but that doesn't mean it's more reliable than the XJR. Neither when new or now after thirty years.
But we must be aware we should never extrapolate our own experience to be relevant at a national or global level.
So lets look at it beyond personal experience and look at long term trends on large scale volumes of cars:
We just forget what sort of problems we had with those old cars when they were new. Over the course of the last thirty years, cars have become increasingly more reliable, period. We might take a look at what we call reliability. The way I look at it, it's how often a car leaves me stranded. Either it won't start or it breaks down during a trip to the point where I can't drive it anymore.
So therefor the table on the best and least reliability doesn't mean so much. To me reliability is about convenience. If my car develops a little problem, maybe a warning light on the dashboard, but it will drive me for another 1000 kilomters, that's fine. But if I break down, or wont start at all, that it is real problem and therefor a huge inconvenience.
Check with organisations that provide road side assistance and you will find that:
1) the number of call outs they get per car long term is coming down as a trend
2) older cars have more issues and break down more than new cars. That starts happening as soon as cars pass the 3-5 year mark.
There is always exceptions to the rule.
Jeroen
Last edited by Jeroen : 19th February 2013 at 13:30.
Reason: added a few things, corrected grammar
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