[vb-saan]

Voted for option 1 – driving pleasure!

Reliability is good but at the cost of driving pleasure can be quite boring IMO. If the car is exciting to drive, some of those imperfections can be forgiven or even help to foster the man-machine relationship

Reliable driving pleasure – something like a Toyota GT86 maybe!

[VeluM]

A lot of people are being very honest in this poll. My vote brought it to exactly 50:50 (88 votes each), where I was sure that it would be more in the 70:30 region biased towards driving pleasure.

Glad to know that the members that make up the forum are as mature as that

To the poll I have to say that our choices probably speak for themselves. I started out like any Indian with a used, reliable WagonR. That didn't last very long - just two years in fact before I bought a Chevy Spark, and five years later with an enhanced budget to my Rapid.

However I did buy the N.A. petrol Skoda which is arguably the most reliable engine & transmission they have, so I think I'm somewhere in the middle but leaning towards driving pleasure.

[pnredkar]

Voted for driving pleasure, but with a caveat. I may need multiple visits to the service station, but they should be competent enough to resolve my issues. Unfortunately, the less reliable cars also come with less competent service force.

[venkateshkm]

I would love to have both ideally but i am not sure which car provides that or if it does provide, can i afford it. I use a Polo for my daily drives and this 2011, 1.2L diesel is stable at 100+ speeds during occassional highway drives, does not rub against Bangalore humps, and potholes, feels safe, and has had no niggles yet in 6 years of usage. It is fun to drive in City too.

However, i needed a bigger vehicle for long drives with potentially 5 seated and luggage. I compared XUV, Hexa, Isuzu VCross and Creta from a price band perspective and with the possibility of a Ladakh trip ( which i completed in August) in mind, i eventually bought a VCross. I bought it because, it has a reputation for reliability, go anywhere nature, and low maintenance cost expectations.

So eventually it was horses for courses for me.

I plan to replace my Polo but dont know which car to buy. I would perhaps look for another fun to drive car, perhaps a GT TSI, or a Punto Abarth, but not necessarily a "reliable but not fun to drive" car.

[arindambasu13]

Voted for reliability. As much as I would like to vote for driving pleasure (and I might have done had I voted a few years back), I have now come to value reliability of the vehicle even more than other factors. My car is a daily driver to office and back and weekend trips, and its very important to me that it clocks thousands of kms without any hitch.

Not that I would be happy with a boring to drive car. Mine is a Swift petrol and together with its legendary reliability and toughness, it does provide quite a few smiles per mile when I get the chance to gun the engine on Bangalore roads (true, these are few and far between, but late night and early morning drives continue to remain a pleasure). The rev happy engine with go kart handling, coupled with the unwavering reliability, reiterates why this car is the darling of the masses and has been for over a decade

My next car will certainly focus on reliability, but at the same time, will try to pack in the fun quotient. May be a Ford TDCI!

[kavensri]

As mentioned by most of the members, even i would prefer combination of both 'driving pleasure with absolute reliability'. But, if there is an option to go for either of these, I would any day prefer Reliability over driving pleasure. I use my car for daily commute to office (total of 24 kms) and keep hitting highways at a regular intervals. So, I don't want to be stranded either in a city or a highway with or w/o family.

[centaur]

Definitely reliability. Not that I dont crave driving pleasure. I do, every single time I am behind the wheel but if the vehicle isnt reliable, how am I going to be able to drive it and get that driving pleasure in the first place? If it spends dating the mechanics and SA's at the garage then how do I get my time with her? I did rather go with a reliable one and bite on a towel every time I grind my teeth for not having enough driving pleasure.

Adding to it, when I drive with my family, it only me who gets the driving pleasure but if there is a reliability problem then all with me get affected too

[gkveda]

I really cannot vote for this. Reason being very simple. We are talking about two parameters that are not disjoint. In my opinion, One parameter is completely dependent upon the another one. Sounds too theoretical ? Please read below (But, do not pounce on me )

I believe that we derive driving pleasure only when the car is reliable. when it is unreliable, the driving pleasure is not really driving pleasure.

How can one get real driving pleasure if the car is literally unreliable? He will drive the entire journey with anxiety or fear that when and where the car would show up its real face. Only when I drive a reliable car, then, there is a possibility of deriving driving pleasure with additional requirements satisfied

[2000rpm]

After having owned some reliable and some unreliable cars, I can safely say that anyone who has faced a major breakdown during a long distance trip will prioritize reliability over driving pleasure. Reliability is as important as safety because poor reliability can seriously affect safety. Let me elaborate, imagine the following scenarios
1. Breakdown in the middle of the night on a Ghat with full family.
2. Critical component failure while driving on a secluded highway
3. Clutch or Brake failure in city traffic conditions

I think one need not choose one over the other. I chose the Civic because it balances both to a large degree. I was thinking of buying a new Swift however just didnt appeal to me then. I wanted driving pleasure, with safety and reliability. Got the Civic in the same budget. Never regret the decision.

[BBR_SHR]

RELIABILITY. All it takes is 'that' one day for driving pleasure to go down the drain when you find yourself in the middle of nowhere with a car which drives nice but cannot at that moment. Within the city driving pleasure means nothing as it will only take you to the next traffic signal or jam faster and as a result all the smiles gained in the process are nullified.

[Thermodynamics]

Can afford two cars ?. Choose one for driving pleasure and the other for reliability just like many of our members here.

If I can only afford one car, I would choose reliability.

Imagine an emergency situation at home, particularly health related, to one of your beloved ones and your only car is in the workshop. The situation is more common in families with kids and elders. Some may ask, why not explore alternative options, Ambulance? Taxi? Auto? Public Transport? or the three idiots style scooter sandwich?. Personally, I would not wait for help to come.

[2000rpm]

Originally Posted by Thermodynamics

Can afford two cars ?.

The problem today with most of us is not affordability of the second car. It is the available for parking.

In metros, we just dont have space for the second car. With increasing government crack down on road parking and "Mag Wheel Thieves", this will only become more difficult.

[Axe77]

Originally Posted by GTO

That doesn't mean I'll touch an unreliable car - no way do I want to live with a headache!! Just that I'm willing to live with acceptable (not exceptional) levels of reliability if I get a lot of driving satisfaction in return.

I think this here really sums it up for some of us. I would ideally look for a bit of a balance between the two. Would I pick a Superb over a Camry - Hell No. Did I choose a BMW GT though over the Camry - Yes!! The decision was based on the fact that it'll be mostly reliable and between a combination of warranty and insurance and a decent repute after sales of BMW, I'd be fine.

Originally Posted by GTO

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).

Agree here too. We have at least a 2 car garage at any time and I would ensure at least one car is absolutely hassle free. No wonder then that our garage currently has a 2009 / 97,000 kms City A/T that pretty much does anything its asked to (barring climbing rocks) which included wading through water a few weeks ago unscathed and the pleasure car is the 3 GT.

_________________

In the real world, like I said its all about striking a bit of a balance as far as possible. Importantly though, if I had only one car to pick and in striking a balance had to lean a bit one way or the other, I'd actually go for reliability (or even comfort actually). I simply don't spend enough time at the wheel anymore to make a big compromise on reliability for only driving pleasure.

[androdev]

Someone buying a "reliable" car so the family doesn't get stranded on the highway is overlooking lot of things. The risk of a car shutting down on the highway is negligible compared to meeting with an accident. So if you care about your family then worry about safety of the car, safe driving, time of travel, weather condition, etc. How about not driving on a rainy night through a ghat section with a baby and aged parents?

In 2017, I don't think there is any car that is sold that simply shuts down on the highway. I have not had a breakdown while traveling with family, but if my car shuts down on me while we are on our way to another stupid resort, I can assure you that I take it as a sign of a great holiday. Nobody I know needs a 99.99% uptime. If anything they need a lot of downtime so their entire life doesn't pass by them.

Buying a reliable or fun to drive car depends on your requirements. Going by sales numbers of various cars, it looks as if everyone is on budget, indifferent to how it drives and want a car that runs for lakhs of miles. But the reality is not everyone is on budget and not everyone has a need to run the car for lakhs of miles. No driver is indifferent to how the car drives irrespective of race, religion, age, etc. I can only conclude that a lot of people are buying the wrong car and contributing to road rage.

[Reinhard]

One more perspective I'd like to add here is about many saying that I must have the car available all the time. Reliability is paramount. No doubt and no argument to that surely.

However - we are ignoring the availability of vastly improved public / on-demand-hire transport that is now 4 taps away on a smartphone. In the worst case if the car doesn't start in the morning, we can always opt for the OLAs and the UBERs. I can use that boring car for some trips while my car comes back to good health.

Private car is certainly not the only available mode of transport. There are alternatives for those rainy days when the pleasure machine throws tantrums.