[greenhorn]

This is like asking if food should be nutritious or tasty. For me, if my car is not reliable, no matter how fun it is to drive, i will be looking at the possibility of being stranded at some random place, and losing out on life and work commitments. I do not have friends to call or cabs to hire at the place where i live at irregular hours, so reliability it is. If I lived in a place where there was reliable public transport, or had friends and family I could count on ( ie alternative reliable transport) i would have voted for driving pleasure.

[hitender10]

I feel there should have been an option of 'Looks over Driving Pleasure and Reliability" as well in this poll.

I am living with first generation VW Polo with 3 cylinder Diesel for over 5 year but the Looks are what drew me first time towards Polo and it still brings a smile to my face.

[alpha1]

Originally Posted by Reinhard

Hardly any new car sold today falls in this category (in bold). So...

So then what differentiation in reliability are we talking about?

[Reinhard]

Originally Posted by alpha1

So then what differentiation in reliability are we talking about?

I wonder too . But then, my vote is for pleasure.

I think the reliability here is about whether a car spends upto 4 days of the year in the garage or 8. Like I said in an earlier post, my opinion is that reliability is an extremely variable term. It can never be gauged or quantified at all.

[jetti]

I have voted "Absolute reliability over driving pleasure". I do enjoy driving, and any day love to drive a car that behaves well. However, all the driving pleasure will become 0 and the driver if the car breaks down in the middle of nowhere or refuses to start. Can't have any driving pleasure if you can't drive, can you?

[T.S.]

Considering reliability of the mechanicals and of the other irritating niggles, I voted for "Absolute reliability over driving pleasure". Since, I am and will own only one car at a time and the usage will be for self and family, reliability is important. Like someone mentioned above, I would too hate to be stranded for some mechanical failure or drive my car too many niggles. If given a choice, I would choose a pre owned 2014 or 2015 Innova over the new Crysta. I think this also sums up my apprehensions to replace my 4 year old Ertiga diesel with the new Nexon diesel even though I think I am in love with the latter. Not that I am saying Nexon is reliable but its reliability is yet to be proven.

[COMMUTER]

I voted for Reliability. I have a Figo 1.5D(36k) and an Ameo 1.5D(6k). I haven't had any issues with them and it might be too early for me to comment comprehensively on their reliability. But when I chose, I avoided, to the best of my knowledge, the brands that had horror stories floating around with respect to either their build or mechanicals or maintenance or resale.

With most of the buyers in the sub 10 lac category being constrained by the amount of money they get to spend on purchasing, running and maintaining their car, I do am tempted to think that most of them won't go for cars that are explicitly unreliable thus portending huge maintenance costs.

[Ramsagar]

Driving pleasure! VW

Having observed a thing or two with Germans: Skoda, VW, BMW, Merc, Audi used regularly are more reliable? of-course with regular maintenance. For occasional use, the Japs would fare better than the Germans.
This is just my analysis. Your thoughts pls.

Driven Vento TDI for 1.15K Lac kms as of today. Apart from regular maintenance, very happy with the choice. I drive Every day, 5 days to work and weekend jaunts. This is the only vehicle I own. No two wheeler too. I wanted to squeeze every bit of it, I mean, in a good way & shelf it in my farm when I’m done with it. Pass-on to my children as a "Barn-find-Classic".

Thinking in lines of Skoda Octavia TDI MT/Jeep Compass for the upgrade. Not sure.
I would rather take MT instead of DSG for the sake of reliability.

[shashanka]

Originally Posted by GTO

.......Just that I'm willing to live with acceptable (not exceptional) levels of reliability if I get a lot of driving satisfaction in return. Both my primary rides work fine day after day, but they aren't exactly the last word in dependability. Equally, if I were buying a car for my family, reliability would be prioritised over joy behind the wheel (e.g. my Sunny - lovingly called the cockroach because it survives every kind of driver or situation).

I guess I jumped the gun - voting for "absolute reliability over...." - before reading your full post!

But the above excerpt from your post covers the situation very well for blokes like me - who love cars, but are wary of ending up with a lemon! Our memories of the Tata Sierra are mixed - we loved the fact that it looked decently gorgeous for its time, but get goose-pimples each time we ponder over its bottomless pit of major/minor niggles!

[alpha1]

Originally Posted by Reinhard

I wonder too . But then, my vote is for pleasure.

I think the reliability here is about whether a car spends upto 4 days of the year in the garage or 8. Like I said in an earlier post, my opinion is that reliability is an extremely variable term. It can never be gauged or quantified at all.

I think reliability measurement in terms of days spent at garage is a good quantitative measure - but doesn't portray the entire picture.

I would consider the reliability to measured in terms of how many times did the car not perform its basic duty of starting and moving when called for action.

There is a subtle difference here. Even if your can get the car repaired without spending hours/days at garage - it is a PITA, because the car did not carry out its basic duty and caused you inconvenience.

[vsatish]

Voted for reliability. For me reliability encompasses peace of mind and dependability for me and for my family and that scores higher over the driving pleasure. Driving pleasure is a instantaneous feeling and I can live with it as the feeling is short lived; where as lack of reliability is a sense of insecurity (of breakage or costs) and is life long feeling - which I cannot live with.

For me; Reliability of the car really means total ownership experience package - reliability, quality of components, ease of ownership, service center experience, spare parts availability and over all spare part/accidental part costs.

[SmartCat]

My Take:

1) I think only a small percentage (perhaps 5 to 10%) of cars on sale can be placed in either RELIABLE basket or the DRIVING PLEASURE basket with confidence. Sure, Skoda Octavia TSi and Fiat Punto Abarth are easy - but where would you place:

Renault Duster (Reliable or Fun To drive?)
Mahindra XUV 500 (Reliable or Fun to drive?)
Tata Tiago (Reliable or Fun To Drive?)
Suzuki Swift (Reliable or Fun To Drive?)
.
.
and so on.

The reason for this is that majority of cars offer a mix of reliability & driving pleasure, but admittedly with a small tilt towards either side. So when majority of us buy a car, reliability and driving pleasure happens to be just 2 factors among many (features, looks, practicality, price etc) we look at before buying.

2) The absolute definition of the two terms - reliability and driving pleasure - differs among buyers.

Reliability: I consider a car or brand as reliable if it does NOT have critical failures - like gearbox failure or coolant leakage or engine not starting or axle breaking apart. I don't mind non-critical reliability issues like funny noises or alignment issues or things falling off that much because it is not leaving me stranded somewhere. With such a definition of reliability, I have pretty much every brand/model in my shortlist - except for certain brands whom we shall not name

Driving Pleasure: For some, driving pleasure is all about engine power / torque, snappy gearshifts and great handling. But for a cruiser like me, driving pleasure is all about sharp / feelsome steering and decent ride quality.

3) Take a look at some travelogues in the forum. OK, so you will find a Linea or Polo in the travelogues, but you will also find TUV 300 or Verna in travelogues too. If driving a TUV 300 is really dull, the owner would probably take a bus! Basically, not all owners will have the same definition of driving pleasure.

4) And finally, what would you prefer to drive?

Skoda Laura Tsi on this road -



OR

Honda Jazz on this road -



We don't realize it, but the roads we drive on contributes significantly to driving pleasure - much more than the car itself.

[petroguzzler]

Originally Posted by smartcat

My Take:

We don't realize it, but the roads we drive on contributes significantly to driving pleasure - much more than the car itself.

Well said. Sparsely trafficked, winding roads with smooth tarmac can make make even a Kwid a driver's car.

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by smartcat

4) And finally, what would you prefer to drive?

Skoda Laura Tsi on this road -

OR

Honda Jazz on this road -

We don't realize it, but the roads we drive on contributes significantly to driving pleasure - much more than the car itself.

Beautiful and thought provoking post. I'm yet to vote in this thread because i just haven't made up my mind yet!

However to answer this particular question above -

I'd rather take the Laura on the second road. The road sure determines the fun - but what we drive adds to that fun too! Case in point - take a motorcycle down that hilly road and you'll end up wondering where is the fun in driving cars!

A fun car will be fun even on fun roads. A sober car will remain sober even on fun roads, just that it may allow the driver to focus on the surroundings more rather than the car.

[SmartCat]

Originally Posted by ampere

Well.. Driving is pleasure!!

Your 3 words = My 300 words!

Originally Posted by vnabhi

I am 'suffering' with reliability from my 16-year old WagonR. It's very reliable and easy on the pocket. At the same time it is absolutely boring to drive, with zero driver involvement.

I think the problem has more to do with "16 year old" part, rather than "boringly reliable" part. 90% of us will get bored of such an old car.

I have driven the 1st generation Wagon R in Goa 10 years back, and at no point did I fall asleep (figuratively) on the wheel. The steering is dull yes, but 'safe understeer' comes in so early that you can have some 'tyre screaming' fun on wet curvy smooth roads without risking your neck. See? An 'understeery' car can still be fun.

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

However to answer this particular question above - I'd rather take the Laura on the second road.

Of course, that was just a rhetorical question. But like this poll (Driving Pleasure OR Reliability), you cannot have it BOTH ways (Laura on winding roads).

Basically, what I'm trying to say is that - a hardcore driving enthusiast might consider a particular car or brand as 'boringly reliable', but the owner might be deriving oodles of driving pleasure from its ownership.