Most Dependable Car

[nissangirl74]

What's the most dependable car you've ever owned? I'm curious to see if any modified cars made the list

[Bubba1]

1997 Toyota 4 Runner SR5 5 speed manual that I bought new. Bone stock. I put a quarter million miles on her over 17 yrs, never burned a drop of oil, still had the original clutch, A/C always blew ice cold, great heater, never left me stranded. The only reason I sold it was frame rot (I live in the northeast)was too far along to pass PA inspection. By far the most dependable vehicle I've ever owned.

[elwesso]

I've not owned a lot of vehicles for a ton of miles, but so far the most dependable car I've had is my 1994 Q45. Bought it with 110k miles, currently has 240k miles, and the only thing that's keeping it from driving is rust (rear suspension/HICAS is SHOT).. It doesn't seem like a lot, but it's survived being beaten on by pretty much every long-time NICO member.

[centralcoaster33]

I had a 1988 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme Coupe. That thing went everywhere I told it to go. Dirt roads, snow, ice, where's the road? roads, small boulders in creek crossings, large gravel in dry rivers, everywhere! I put a stereo in there, drank coffee and smoked for 100,000 miles of driving in just one year, saw much of California with it. I named her "Boomin' Granny". I had it for a few years, not so many miles were put on in the other years, but more than average, maybe 50K. I bought tires, gas and oil changes... and some sensor that goes on the gas pedal. I slept on the bench seat in the back. I traded it in to a dealership for my first 240sx. I should have kept it, I assume it's still clocking miles. I'd even go for another one.

[srellim234]

Most dependable - 1994 Honda Civic LX. We drove that car from coast to coast multiple times and put nearly 200,000 miles on it with only standard service and maintenance. The air conditioning failed at about 190,000. We passed it on to our son and he put another 20,000 on it before he traded it in; by then the rear windows no longer worked. The engine and drive train were still fine.

Least dependable - 1987 Dodge Aries K wagon. Major oil leaks, transmission problems, electrical problems, etc. The car was driven conservatively and still toast by 90,000 miles.

[PapaSmurf2k3]

Most dependable for me has to be an old 96 Accord 5 speed I owned. I bought it, put a ton of teenage miles on it, changed the oil occasionally, then sold it. Thing had a legendary E-brake and was pretty unstoppable in the snow.

[MinisterofDOOM]

By a large margin, my '95 Ranger 2.3 2wd. There's barely enough truck for anything to break anyway, and they're built like bomb shelters.

[BusyBadger]

It's a toss-up between an '89 Prelude or my '92 240SX.

[Jesda]

1992 Cadillac Seville STS and 1990 Nissan Maxima.

Those cars could accumulate miles like crazy. The Seville was an OHV 4.9, a descendant of the famously terrible Cadillac HT4100 that was refined and improved tremendously over time. The Maxima was a VG30 with a manual so there was nothing to break other than a CV boot and axle. The Seville needed a fuel level sender, heater core, radiator, and inner tie rods.

I took them both through some seriously dangerous winter conditions in Idaho, Montana, and Washington in the middle of nowhere at night. They climbed snowy mountains like goats.

People talk about their lightly aged Camrys as if they're tanks, living easy lives between work and the grocery store.

I put my cars through cross country hell.

[AZ89two4Tsx]

2002 Maxima. For reference, had the VQ35DE.

Beat the living piss out of it. Not really well engineered - torsion beam in the rear and overall a pretty "cheaply" built car (coming from an E34 BMW). You'd think they'd care a little more from a large-er sedan. It was more of a compact car underneath the skin with a big engine. However, the engine is where it shined. 195,000 hard miles on it. Not a drop of oil leaked or burned. Basically like a diesel truck in where everything around the engine will begin to fall apart eventually. It never let me down though. Everything always worked and only regular maintenance was needed. 120+ degree summers, road trips, driving through floods, snow, you name it. Many can vouch that the A32 and A33 are absolute tanks.

I'd think about adding my 240sx's as well, but since most problems can be diagnosed/fixed through the forums, (thanks countless times NICO) it doesn't really count.

[rgregoryb]

1984 Isuzu pup, diesel pickup truck. Got 317k miles with routine maintenance. Sold it and that guy drove it for several more years.

[szh]

My wife's 1997 Acura 2.2CL was incredibly reliable ... till the day ... 14 years later ... when the transmission went. Cost to replace was more than the value of the car, so we sold it to the car repair place that wanted to make it a loaner.

Hardly much more than routine maintenance (fluids and tires) on that car, with only two exceptions: leaking radiator problem one time and the final transmission failure. Everything just worked!

Z

[elwesso]

I put my cars through cross country hell.

I was thinking the gas station hot dogs and extra large burrito's would be more of a reliability concern than anything you could do driving a vehicle.......

[Bubba1]

I was thinking about the abuse his Caddy endured while at Carlisle...

[MinisterofDOOM]

1984 Isuzu pup, diesel pickup truck. Got 317k miles with routine maintenance. Sold it and that guy drove it for several more years.

I wanted one of those pretty bad, but they were hard to find with the diesel, so I ended up getting a Ranger instead.

[PEZi]

I currently have what would be known as one of the least reliable cars known to man... a B5 Audi. Somehow, it is also the most reliable car I've owned. It is modified... maybe that has something to do with it? The only issues I've really run into outside of basic maintenance involve the front suspension which I've just tackled piece by piece. 225k so far... running like a champ

[Jesda]

I put my cars through cross country hell.

I was thinking the gas station hot dogs and extra large burrito's would be more of a reliability concern than anything you could do driving a vehicle.......

Damn near suffocated myself doing that once. Thankfully, the Lincoln Navigator had a large cabin. In something tightly built with a small volume of air like a Chrysler Crossfire I'd have passed out and driven into oncoming traffic.



Also a contender is my dad's 78 Toyota pickup. He paid $500 in 2004, put a starter in it, and I replaced the clutch slave cylinder ($20 part). He sold it this year for $500. Based on registration records it has well over 400,000 miles.

http://jesda.com/2012/07/29/review-1978 ... kup-hilux/

[frapjap]

My 88 Trans Am was pretty damned reliable under my ownership.
It was modified, but mostly because of the shortcomings of the stock components (or so I was told).
The car came with a stack of receipts for ignition parts, an intake manifold, transmission work, and rear end seals. I'm not sure if that was because it kept leaving the previous owner stranded, or because he wanted to modify it, but it never required anything more from me than tires, oil, radiator, and some spark plugs. Hell, at one point I nearly ran it out of coolant, low on oil, and running on 6 cylinders and it just chugged along.
It eventually blew a brake line and needed some wheel bearings, but it had needed wheel bearings since I bought it. But considering it was sold running with 178k on it, I couldn't complain.