The GREAT Debate: Is Reliability OVERRATED? Can You Have Something FUN And RELIABLE?

This is a very subjective matter. What do YOU consider fun? What do YOU consider reliable? Yeah, my daily driver is fun, reliable (so far), and even comfortable. Mind you, I'm not a track jockey, and my car has only raced someone once (with a friend and his wife in the front seats, and me in the back, chuckling to myself as we pass the other guy in a sporty coupe).

I'd imagine a guy who can handily afford a Ferrari or Lambo finds it "reliable enough" for what they get out of it, and that's an abundance of fun. To each their own, right>?

Totally agree! And my experience has probably been the opposite of most. Had a Honda Accord which was the least reliable car we have had. For sure one of the most reliable cars we have had was a 2000 model M5. Had some pixels in the lower IP go bad....

Actually - Matt should be able to comment on this item - based on TVR experience - and road races in the distant past. When you ran a road race - you probably had a MECHANIC in the car riding shotgun.

The problem is that the average person simply takes no time to learn about their cars - and how to FIX them. In every car - there are certain things that tend to go wrong - and that knowledge allows you to prepare for it. Fixing many mechanical problems in a car (Short of engine rebuild and transmission rebuild) are not rocket science and any reasonably intelligent red-neck with a third grade education seems to be able to learn how to do it - so why can't a college grad learn it.

Make it ultra light but also make the cockpit roomier.

This is the prompt: "In an ideal world, we’d all like to have our cake and eat it too. For an enthusiast that would mean having an incredibly fast, capable, emotional and reliable vehicle."

This is Agent 00R's thesis: "In reality, that’s just not possible."

Talk about BS! There are more than a few dead reliable vehicles that are a hoot to drive: Mustang, Camaro, Stingray, Challenger, Focus/Fiesta ST, Lexus RCF,...

As for TomM and his TVR musing:

With TVRs--the old ones--there's a reason there is a cottage industry in the UK devoted to balancing the Speed 6 engines, and doing rewiring jobs: reliability. With those fixes an old TVR is reliable more or less. I say more or less because TVRs are hand built and therefore will have many human-error issues that robot-made cars just won't.

A handful of TVR owners have replaced the engine and wiring harness with an LS7 and a Corvette wiring harness.

Acquiring a TVR and bringing it to the USA is easy. If it's a track car, pretty much anything can be imported without issue. Shipping is expensive but not impossible. I have come to know several people who acquired one, brought it here, and then realized they were in over their heads.

The TVRs we've done have been full pull-apart jobs. We go down to the tube frame, observe all the welds for soundness, and then powder coat it for rust protection. A Corvette wiring harness is an easy restomod.

The new TVRs will be reliable given the Mustang engine, Mustang wiring harness, and a host of Mustang components and that was done specifically for reliability and durability. The new TVR is also focusing much more on quality control, but it will still be a TVR "that smells of glue" but let's hope parts of the body aren't falling off.

Reliability is KING. Daily driver or track monster. Nobody wants to see a check engine light when they want to go somewhere right now. My first ever car was a 93 Corolla. 209k Km and 7 years later it was mint and everything worked. And that is saying something having gone through CND winters. In contrast my 2000 BMW 3 series fell apart at year 7. Both window motors dead? Center stack fan dead? Struts dead? 201K KM on my 04 4Runner now. Likely go until it reaches 450k. Toyota - mike drop...

If you want to play at the track, having a reliable car means you can play longer.

I'm with you Canadian guy, I think we in the 99% can't afford not going for reliability. Lucky are the 1% for whom a stalling Range Rover only means using the S-Class that weekend. And dumb those in the 99% who would still buy a VW over a Hyundai.

I have found that people with money do in fact buy cars they know are unreliable and then bitch up a storm when they break down and then they expect you to kiss their asses.