The Jeep Wrangler is included. Not to cast doubt on this report but there’s only one car in the list, the Aveo. All the rest are larger vehicles which leads me to believe the test criteria is skewed towards fuel economy and safety crash tests.
I have an 89 Chevy subdivision myself with over 300,000 miles on it. I bought it used with 148,000 miles on it over ten years ago and it is still running strong.
Back while I was still working, I had the rear springs rearched and an overload spring added. That came in handy a few years ago when I had it heavily loaded moving a complete bedroom set and some other things from Akron ohio down to Florida.
The only problem I really have with it is the poor quality sheet metal which is getting a bit rusty. The rust is what will eventually end the trucks useful life. The bolt-on parts can easily be replaced, but the sheet metal is harder to fix and after awhile becomes too expensive to bother with.
I might wind up buying another used Suburban with a good body and transplanting the good running gear from my current truck to that one just to get around the rust problem.
The Suburbans are just too good to get rid of because they really fill a niche for me in that they can carry both cargo and people in a way that no car can match.
I had a brand new Chevy one ton K30 Crew Cab pickup back when I lived in near Chicago and it started rusting out after it’s second year. That particular engine, a small block 350, was also known for bad tempering (hardening) on it’s cam shafts and was the object of a ‘consent decree’ as a resulf of a federal lawsuit. My cam shaft had to be replaced after only a few years also.
I only got about 69,000 miles on that truck before I got rid of it. On a trip to Arizona and back, it only averaged 6.8 miles per gallon while carrying a slide in camper.
I wonder if safety only includes the people inside the vehicle, or takes into account the likelihood of doing harm to whoever you hit (which would pretty much be at the bottom of my priority list when picking a car)...
Not to mention that Jeep Wranglers are not cars designed for city and highway driving, they are off road vehicles. Bouncy, with the aerodynamics of a brick on the highway, they really come alive off road when the stiff springs and shocks suddenly smooth out on rough terrain.
“Not to cast doubt on this report but there’s only one car in the list, the Aveo. All the rest are larger vehicles which leads me to believe the test criteria is skewed towards fuel economy and safety crash tests.”
The article says the picks were based on vehicles with poor CR projected reliability and poor JD Powers reliability ratings. Some of them also had rather poor occupant safety ratings, which considering their size should really not be an issue - after all, we get people on here all the time who equate size with safety.
“the test criteria is skewed towards fuel economy and safety crash tests”
Two I don’t coinsider!