Consumer Reports finds a great big "DUH!"

[Drew Dowdell]

YONKERS, N.Y., Aug. 30, 2007; With proper care, many of today's cars can last 200,000 miles or more, and owners seeking to limit repair costs by trading in their vehicle every three to five years may lose out on thousands of savings, says Consumer Reports October issue.

All their Good Bets and Bad Bets picks are foreign.

Good Bets: Honda Civic, Honda CR-V, Honda Element, Lexus ES, Lexus LS, Toyota 4Runner, Toyota Highlander, Toyota Land Cruiser, Toyota Prius, Toyota RAV4

Bad Bets: BMW 7-Series, Infiniti QX56, Jaguar S-Type, Jaguar X-Type, Mercedes-Benz M-Class (V8), Mercedes-Benz SL, Nissan Armada, Nissan Titan, Volkswagen Touareg, Volvo XC90 (6-cyl.)

Duh Link.

[VenSeattle]

This is an interesting topic now that the domestics have all but closed the reliability gap.

Just a skeptical passing thought... If Consumer Reports can't convince buyers to continue purchasing Asian brands based on reliability, they'll just tell their loyal fan base to stop buying cars altogether. The cars they currently own are good enough.

Fortunately, this could backfire since the "devout import/Asian buyer" will wait longer before trading in their vehicle, thus reducing sales of the brand that holds their loyalty. Could this mean cars are now too reliable?

[Drew Dowdell]

Could this mean cars are now too reliable?

Soylent Green-line?

[CARBIZ]

This is an interesting topic now that the domestics have all but closed the reliability gap.

Just a skeptical passing thought... If Consumer Reports can't convince buyers to continue purchasing Asian brands based on reliability, they'll just tell their loyal fan base to stop buying cars altogether. The cars they currently own are good enough.

Fortunately, this could backfire since the "devout import/Asian buyer" will wait longer before trading in their vehicle, thus reducing sales of the brand that holds their loyalty. Could this mean cars are now too reliable?

:rotflmao:

[CARBIZ]

The definition of Paradox: CR relies on Toyota's checks to keep them in business, but since Toyota's cars are perfect, why bother to EVER trade it in, but then Toyota would eventually go BUST and the checks to CR would stop.

A true conundrum.

[FAPTurbo]

YONKERS, N.Y., Aug. 30, 2007; With proper care, many of today's cars can last 200,000 miles or more, and owners seeking to limit repair costs by trading in their vehicle every three to five years may lose out on thousands of savings, says Consumer Reports October issue.

ORLY?! NO WAI!

[AAS]

I wonder how many Prius-es have reached 200,000 miles?

[Drew Dowdell]

I wonder how many Prius-es have reached 200,000 miles?

are there any Prius-es that are on their 3rd set of batteries?

[Sixty8panther]

Honda Element a long lasting product?

Well at least plastic can't rust.

[balthazar]

This earth-shattering 'revelation' reminds me of the mico-diddling over resale values : it overlooks the big picture: a new car is the worse financial action you can partake in (with a half-handful of exceptions), yet most blindly accept a new car's depreciation as long as it's better than another car they wouldn't buy anyway. One out of 20 cars I've owned was bought new- and there are no near-future possibilities of another new one for me. Frankly, it just doesn't make good financial sense.

[Z-06]

You know why they put 200,00 limit. Because domestics last beyond 400,000 miles. And if they would have put that limit, none of the imports would have passed the bar. That IS bias. :AH-HA_wink:

[toyoguy]

Fortunately, this could backfire since the "devout import/Asian buyer" will wait longer before trading in their vehicle, thus reducing sales of the brand that holds their loyalty. Could this mean cars are now too reliable?

odd mine is a bit over 9yrs old and I have no plans on replacing it anytime soon.

[PurdueGuy]

Duh.

Next on the "Duh" article series... buying used can save you money, too!

[A Horse With No Name]

This earth-shattering 'revelation' reminds me of the mico-diddling over resale values : it overlooks the big picture: a new car is the worse financial action you can partake in (with a half-handful of exceptions), yet most blindly accept a new car's depreciation as long as it's better than another car they wouldn't buy anyway. One out of 20 cars I've owned was bought new- and there are no near-future possibilities of another new one for me. Frankly, it just doesn't make good financial sense.

Depends. I figure that it costs me about a thousand bucks to run a car 10,000 miles given repair-depreciation-tires-etc. Everything but gas and insurance. A new Aura or Cobalt could do that, or a twenty year old Impala could do that. I think the key is to drive a car beyond the first few years of its life.

Although I am like you, I've owned over 20 cars and only one was new. But cars are getting more complicated and I am kind of thinking about buying my next car new just because so much can go wrong to one of the newer-more complicated cars if it is abused IMHO.

That and I fantasixe about being able to go back in History and buy a 63 Split window or a ram air 69 Firebird new.

Chris

[PurdueGuy]

Depends. I figure that it costs me about a thousand bucks to run a car 10,000 miles given repair-depreciation-tires-etc. Everything but gas and insurance. A new Aura or Cobalt could do that, or a twenty year old Impala could do that. I think the key is to drive a car beyond the first few years of its life.

Although I am like you, I've owned over 20 cars and only one was new. But cars are getting more complicated and I am kind of thinking about buying my next car new just because so much can go wrong to one of the newer-more complicated cars if it is abused IMHO.

That and I fantasixe about being able to go back in History and buy a 63 Split window or a ram air 69 Firebird new.

Chris

But the electronic nannys don't allow abuse much of the time...

Honestly, for the price of the first year's depreciation alone, a person could typically pay outright to replace an engine or transmission, neither of which is likely to fail in a one year old car. It's pretty much never cheaper to buy new, just easier.

[Paolino]

are there any Prius-es that are on their 3rd set of batteries?

I know a Prius on its 2nd set... that got it after 6 months :AH-HA_wink: