Overhaulin'

When they review new cars, how can they tell how long they will last and how reliable they are?

I have a 1996 Toyota Camry, which I LOVE. I live in Chicago where we have some tough weather and that car is 100% dependable. I know people with cars only a couple years old who have more problems than I ever have. I'm not having mechanical issues, but other stuff is wearing out, like a door handle broke, the antenna won't go down, etc. My husband finally convinced me to THINK about a new car. He wants to look at various car guides and Consumer Reports to see reviews of the latest models, but I'm wondering how these magazines can possibly rate the reliability of a car that has only been on the market for a year. I guess I am a die-hard Toyota fan (had others before) and I want a car that is going to last a loooong time. I don't want to buy a car every couple of years. So my question is how can these car guides determine a car model's reliability when it's only a year old? Thanks!

Public Comments

1. If you think think the auto makers don't pay for these ratings, you must believe in the tooth fairy. Everything moves around money!
2. Generally a good reviewer should be able to tell from the car's obvious build quality (interior etc), it's specification and similarities to older models wether it will last a reasonable amount of time or not. Unfortunately there's no way they can tell if there will be major hiccups in the future (like some older cars' gearbox only lasting ~50,000miles, when they came out there's no way the tester could have predicted that!). A major problem as mentioned by another answerer is the bias of some reviews. Best bet is to try and collect together multiple reviews of the car in question to try and gain a good idea of how it will perform, not all media is crooked!
3. unless it's a totally new model they are basing it on previous models. if it's been redesigned they will tell you reliability is unknown. when buying a newly redesigned model I would suggest paying for the extended warranty. but only in this case. first year cars tend to have some bugs that need to be worked out.