just saw this story on reliability:
Consumer Reports: All-new cars have more problems
Of the bottom 7, 5 are Fiat-Chrysler-Jeep products. (The other two at the bottom are Tesla and GMC).
http://money.cnn.com/2016/10/24/autos/consumer-reports-auto-dependability/index.html
Subaru seems to be moving strongly the wrong direction.
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So the EPA bast**ds are doing to cars what they have done to appliances, made them less effective and useless. So they don’t do the job as well, or for as long.
Well, one thing cars do do better than they did a generation or two ago, is last. A new car needed to be cycled after 2 or 3 years, then if someone was handy, they could keep it running another 4 or 5. Now, cars should be expected to run as good as new for 10 years / 120,000 miles (at which point I'd replace the belt and go for another 5, but most will go into the used car pool). Even the hybrids or plug ins should go 5 to 7 years on the factory battery, at which point they may not be worth maintaining.
I've got a car that looked rough when I bought it used 6 years ago and looks like crap after a bad hail storm, but with 160,000 on the odometer purrs along at 75 mph. I try to take it in for service every 30,000, and have told the garage I'll probably get rid of it at about 250,000 rather than replace the belt a second time. So if you need a good car in about 6 years....