you would have to did into what exactly is creating the reliability rating. for most people today, it's the infotainment system. or they ask vague questions like, 'how many times have you had to return to the dealer.'maybe it's because i'm old, but my definition of reliability is 'will the car start this morning and get me to where i need to be'.
A variation on that, is to not pile on the miles faster than other adopters, and pay attention to what they discovered. You can pay it back, by passing on those discoveries, cobbling remedies.
There is a reason JD Power is the Industry Standard Ratings Methodology | How J.D. Power Ratings Work | J.D. Power Most sensible people would use JD Power, Consumer Reports, Edmunds and whatever else is available to help shape their focus- then do a number of go and sees - test drives- and even car forum searches to assist with their decision. They would not argue about vehicle evaluators and tests. They appreciate all the help they can get to make a good decision involving thousands of dollars.
The JD number is number of problems per hundred cars. Now, 3 problems is worse than 1 under it. They aren't sharing the brake down of categories. So those 3 problems could be a loose trim piece, too much done through the screen, and annoying ADAS warnings. Then the 1 could be the turbo explodes.
That would be my definition too. Or you could add to that, what does it take to keep it going like that? Does it need a $100 alternator every 3 or 4 years, or does the $9,000 transmission suddenly explode at 80k miles? Neither is great, but I'd take the failing alternator over the transmission even if it happened more often. Fair enough. Add to that a pre-purchase inspection if it's being bought used.
Probably. But I was only illustrating a point. Then again I can't find the alternator on my Avalon hybrid. It must be somewhere close to the carburetor. Another site I like is CarComplaints.com. There aren't many complaints for gen 3 Mini Coopers except the first couple of years. There aren't hardly any complaints on the gen 2 Chevy Trax, but then again it also just came out in 2022. The gen 4 Mini Cooper just came out for the 2025 model year, but I don't like it as much as the gen 3. Of course I still would need to compares these to a Toyota hybrid or Chevy Bolt to be fair.
