Consumer Reports Annual Car Reliability Survey 2009

[The G Man]

I tend to agree with Threxx, GM and Ford were actually pretty reliable in the 70s and 80s, especially the pickup truck, when compare to the Japanese and the Germans. Keep in mind, we are not taking about quality here, just reliability. Chrysler was a totally different story

[ekc]

I tend to think because the reliability of Japanese cars didn't pick up until the late 80s or early 90's, maybe the reliablility gap wasn't as much between American cars and Japanese cars. I can still name a bunch of horrible American cars made in the 80s/90s... Ford Tempo/Escort, Dodge Aries, Chevy Cavalier/Celebrity...

[The G Man]

Originally Posted by ekc

I tend to think because the reliability of Japanese cars didn't pick up until the late 80s or early 90's, maybe the reliablility gap wasn't as much between American cars and Japanese cars. I can still name a bunch of horrible American cars made in the 80s/90s... Ford Tempo/Escort, Dodge Aries, Chevy Cavalier/Celebrity...

Yes, in the late 80s and early 90s, the Japanese raise the relaibility standards and the Americans and the Germans would not keep up. In recent years, the reliability gap is getting smaller industry wise.

[mmarshall]

Originally Posted by ekc

I tend to think because the reliability of Japanese cars didn't pick up until the late 80s or early 90's, maybe the reliablility gap wasn't as much between American cars and Japanese cars. I can still name a bunch of horrible American cars made in the 80s/90s... Ford Tempo/Escort, Dodge Aries, Chevy Cavalier/Celebrity...

Toyota and Nissan (Datsun) reliability (except for the then-Japanese bugaboo of body rust) was pretty much established in the 1970's. By the 1980's, Honda reliability was just as good, if not better. Honda, unlike the other Japanese companies, did not build their first 4-wheel vehicle until the little 600 model of '71-72, with the first Civic to follow in '73.

The decline in the quality of American-designed vehicles, BTW, did not wait until the 1980's. It actually started, with Chrysler, in the the late 60's, and the 1971 Ford Pinto and Chevy Vega, in a number of ways, were worse than even some of the classic 1980's junk. But, for Detroit as a whole, the worst period was from the late 70's to the late 80's. By the 90's, things had slowly started to improve.

[GSdriven]

I just go an e mail from Lexus " See the new standard " I wonder if it is worse than the old standard or are they trying to uphold the old standard and calling it new. If we can afford a Lexus we can afford 80% of the cars out there. I started to lean to Lexus because of reliability and their supposedly design for 10 years life. Owning an 06 IS350 has not been reasuring specially with the 6 or 8 TSB I had to get done to the car.
I like flash, power and reliability which I thought I was getting with my Lexus and I have refused to look at certain marquees because of perceived reliability issues even if the flash is there or power but unfortunately I am not sure what I can say about Lexus any more.

[The G Man]

Originally Posted by GSdriven

I just go an e mail from Lexus " See the new standard " I wonder if it is worse than the old standard or are they trying to uphold the old standard and calling it new. If we can afford a Lexus we can afford 80% of the cars out there. I started to lean to Lexus because of reliability and their supposedly design for 10 years life. Owning an 06 IS350 has not been reasuring specially with the 6 or 8 TSB I had to get done to the car.
I like flash, power and reliability which I thought I was getting with my Lexus and I have refused to look at certain marquees because of perceived reliability issues even if the flash is there or power but unfortunately I am not sure what I can say about Lexus any more.

Lexus still makes the most reliable sport sedans in my opinion. Lexus, like any other car company will have more problems as their cars get more complex. An engine that is high performance and design for max output will be even more prone to problems.

[(Cj)]

Originally Posted by The G Man

Lexus still makes the most reliable sport sedans in my opinion. Lexus, like any other car company will have more problems as their cars get more complex. An engine that is high performance and design for max output will be even more prone to problems.

Agreed. Every manufacturer has problems hence why in Consumer Reports has rated no car with a 100% reliability ranking (although I believe the LS has a 99% ranking). The main difference between Lexus and the other lux brands is the amount and severity of the problems is lower. That doesn't mean you won't have problems, but it mean you're problems will be less frequent and less sever.

[The G Man]

Originally Posted by GSdriven

I just go an e mail from Lexus " See the new standard " I wonder if it is worse than the old standard or are they trying to uphold the old standard and calling it new. If we can afford a Lexus we can afford 80% of the cars out there. I started to lean to Lexus because of reliability and their supposedly design for 10 years life. Owning an 06 IS350 has not been reasuring specially with the 6 or 8 TSB I had to get done to the car.
I like flash, power and reliability which I thought I was getting with my Lexus and I have refused to look at certain marquees because of perceived reliability issues even if the flash is there or power but unfortunately I am not sure what I can say about Lexus any more.

I just got the same email, it was an ad about the 2010 ES350. Lexus describe the ES as " Premium is the new standard ". I wonder what was the standard before the 2010 ES, non premium?