Cheaper Cars 'Are More Reliable' Magazine Survey States

It is not rocket science, the simpler the car the less things that can go wrong with it.

Findings from the UK study that were NOT surprising:
(i.) Lexus and Porsche were the top brands - which disproves what PlanoA4 writes about simple cars

(iii.) A third of Mercedes E-Class owners needed repairs in the last year, surely everyone knows Mercedes E-Class vehicles are very unreliable by now?

(ii.) Chrysler was at the bottom - which reflects the DCX mentality of "we have great engineers and our vehicles don't have to be reliable"

I was surprised to read that the 5 series did relatively well. A recent article covering automakers costs of warranty repairs noted that BMW spends the highest per vehicle in the industry ($3300) on warranty repairs - ouch. Congrats to Lexus and Porsche.

I too have friends who've had some issues with their new E60 5-Series (electronic related of course). Warranty should fix that problem though.

MercBasher- Man, if you have read my any of my posts you see the logic. Vehicles with higher parts count mathematically will have a higher failure rate UNLESS the QA standards are higher. The Germans typically have a more stringent standards, however the high complexity tends to offset that in some models. It is all mathematics.

Basically if total reliability of each part is constant, but you have a higher parts count by say 10% you will experience an inversely proportionate dip in reliability.

It does vary depending of the part and such, so this is an over simplification. So by the general nature of the German designs, the higher parts count means a proportionally lower failure rate per component is required to maintain the reliability.

Current manufacturing standards are far better than 10 years ago, however the vehicles are also far more complex by nature. So it is a balancing act. Do you make the car more sophisticated and push the envelope or make it simpler and play it safe.

That all depends on your clientele. Germans makers are a VERY demanding breed and simply believe as a group to push the envelope and give their clientele the most advanced technology possible, and the simply get bit more often in the process..

I guess it can be coined as “bleeding technology” instead of leading technology.

Article makes sense. Simple logic dictates that as more technology is added to the car, more things can go wrong. Just recently, on this site I read an article where BMW or MB was considered the auto maker with the most technology in their cars. This article should also support that automakers need to provide better warranty with cars with so much new electronic systems until they have reached a stable state.

2 kinds of liars: An outright liar, and a statistical liar. In this case, the study's author is a liar by statistical omission.
Surveys like these are fundamentally flawed with minimal connection to reality.
#1-Surveys depend on volunteer responses. Most of respondents are very pleased or very upset - with the upsets winning out - creating an unnatural imbalance.
#2A-There is a demographical factor to survey response. The segment that doesn't respond to their rent on time (ie the Saturn, Hyundai, Kia owner) is less likely to respond to a survey than the Benz/Bimmer owning soccer mom who has plenty of time and no one to talk to when Oprah goes to commercial.
#2B-The owner of a $90,000 Porsche 911 is more likely to complain about rattles, trim alignment, brake squeal, etc., than a $9,000 Kia Rio owner. This effect is exaggerated by luxury brand services, such as free loaner cars, that make service more convenient than the yak who's just lost their ride to 7-11 for the sake of a rattle. Free maintenance is a contributor to this as well, since luxury owners more often return their vehicles the dealer for service where warranty nit-picks can be handled in tandem, whereas there is not much Jiffy Lube is going to do about that for Kia folk.
#3-Yeah, more gizmos - like ABS,ABD,TC,DSC,NAV,PDC, memory seats, auto climate control, ride control, xenons, etc. - leave more parts for failure than AM radios and crank windows.

after all,it's a honda