BHPians share the most & least reliable cars they have owned

I'm apprehensive about today's products and the intent of service centers only to fulfill their targets and that's why I'm staying away from an avoidable issue.

BHPian anajan_c2007 recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Here we can discuss about the most to the least troublesome cars that we have owned or still own till date. The topic gives me the leeway to discuss about the three cars I have owned. In fact, they are still with me as on date.

To start with, the oldest (ownership date wise) is my Maruti 800 SB 308 from 1987. Its pictures have appeared in quite a few threads. The three plus decades have passed by so quickly that it feels the car was bought just sometime ago. The car has the distinction in being the least expensive to maintain for me amongst all and the costs of maintenance are slightly more than a two wheeler. I have done some long distance driving on this car. Coming after the Ambassador, Premier and Mahindra jeep era, the Maruti with its front wheel drive was a breeze (Maruti has got its Brezza now) to drive and its three cylinder engine was almost noiseless until the electric fan had to start, sensing the engine and radiator water temperature. And the old generation cars made their driver tired after covering long distances. But not with the tiny Marutis, that changed the way India drove. Our habits to open the bonnet, check the radiator water level, engine oil level or check any fouling up inside the engine bay and gauge the engine mood were all gone with the advent of the Maruti. Its spares are still available at very reasonable prices though some of these require efforts and involve waiting. But it also shares the distinction of being the car that got me stranded midway the most. It was quite OK till the late 1990's but its niggles started showing just before the new millenium. Sometimes it was either the distributor, water pump, then the engine, then its carburettor and lately its fuel line that got clogged up due to ethanol blending in petrol. The fuel tank, fuel pump and quite many carburettor components had to be changed very recently due to the ethanol's devil. As it is less used, the damage due to ethanol mixed petrol is also the most. Though it runs flawlessly when in a good mood, it is fast becoming unpredictable. One expects a Japanese car to be the best of the lot and the most reliable, but in my case my British and Indian cars jointly share the 'most reliable' tag.

My next car, year of manufacture wise the oldest of the lot is the 1955 Landmaster that has appeared in quite a few threads on the vintage/ classic cars section here. This car is a gem of a machine and no matter what names James Ruppert, Editor, Autocar, U.K. calls these then BMC cars by, in his book "The British Car Industry Our Part in its Downfall", the car is excellently engineered and vows with the "Quality First" phrase that Lord Nuffield used for his company's Morris cars. The car left me stranded only once in August 2003 on a busy junction just a few weeks after I had bought it. The fault was traced to the pinhole in its brass float in its SU Carburettor. As a result a few liters of petrol spilled on the road. A traffic policeman helped me push the car to the kerbside and thereafter I sought help from the garage to tow it for repairs. I wish I had a camera on the spot then to click the cop doing a good Samaritan's job. This car now goes for long runs courtesy our vintage club here the Cent Ind Vintage Automotive Association (CIVAA) traversing 100 to 200 plus kms to the hinterland. It does the rough roads with ease and as I remember someone aptly describing it as a "he" when I had addressed my Landmaster as a "she". But on the spares front, there's insecurity and I have ended up buying more and more spares for the car, even going to the extent of importing some. Whatever conks off is either repaired if repairable or else replaced. It does garage visits on a regular basis and that keeps it fit. After all, don't we go to health clubs and gyms to keep fit ?

It will complete a glorious 70 years of its life in 2025.

My newest buy was the Scorpio in 2009. It is already 14 plus years since I am using it and this is due for fitness in 2024. It has done its 14 plus years with me giving me smiles across the miles through the years. It has never, ever left me stranded on the road anytime. Its a robust and brute SUV that I still do not like to swap for anything new. On the road it gives the occupants a sense of security though these did not have any NCAP done on them way back in 2009. The Scorpio scored zero about a decade ago, but are there no other cars with ZERO or ONE that were sold in the lakhs as late as 2021. Some of Zeroes have graduated to ONE in 2023. So why does my 2009 Scorpio has to bear the brunt from safety buffs for its probable ZERO. Its build quality makes us feel secure. With the CrDe engine one does not miss its peppiness and initially I did not believe I was driving a diesel monster. The turbo lag at 30-50 kmph lasted till just around 300 kms but is forever gone now. And it has spoilt me as a driver. I tend to move a wee bit to the right of the road ad the oncoming traffic makes way for my SUV. Of course, that's when the left has some errant vehicles moving ahead in the same direction that do not give us the right of way or the right to overtake. Doing the same moves by moving to the right of the road on my Maruti is disastrous and when I see autorickshaws aggressively moving towards me, I realise that I am behind the wheels of my Maruti 800.

I am a very satisfied owner and can vouch for the fact that never ever did this SUV need a second self to crank it's engine to life. The only time once in 2019 it needed a second self was when it's battery had become weak. Hence, other than changing its engine oil, gear oil and coolant it has never needed any major repairs. However, while doing speeds above 100 kmph on the highways the fuel consumption increases noticeably. There were just a few minor niggles like a brake oil leak, some rubber parts becoming unserviceable and so on but these can be surely condoned for the good times it has given me and all my family members.

Here's what GTO had to say on the matter:

No troubles:

• BMW 530d. Even though I was prepared for the occasional gremlins and headaches, the car has delivered top-class reliability. What's more, the condition-based service means my 10-year old BMW has not gone to the workshop since Feb 2022!! Its service is due in August '23, a full 1.5 years since last time.
• Honda City Vtec. An indestructible car. We put it through a lot and the car just ran, and ran. It was very basic & simple (Asian taxi), yet all parts were overengineered.
• Maruti Esteem. Ran it to 2-lakh km and didn't require any work out of the ordinary.
• Maruti Zen. Ditto.
• Padmini 137D (ran like a champ to 2 lakh km or so). This was the beater of the house. Multiple drivers, superb reliability. Whoever owned one will understand why this was the preferred taxi model in Mumbai.

Lukewarm Reliability:

• Mahindra Classic (still with me, 3rd engine). Runs good, but now requires work from time to time due to its age. 3rd engine swap (Bolero 2.5L motor) still runs strong, and the Jeep's post-build reliability from 2010 to 2020 was A+. Now though, all the 2010-installed parts are wearing out big time.
• Mercedes C220. Had some trouble from 30,000 - 60,000 km and then, once the weak parts were changed with aftermarket ones, it ran superbly till 1 lakh km. Found out that, sometimes, aftermarket parts can be better than OEM ones (this was the period of cost-cutting by Mercedes).
• Honda Civic. Surprisingly, the reliability wasn't as good as the City Vtec. Wasn't troublesome to own, but it did have a fair share of part replacements (ABS board, air-con compressor, steering rack repair, engine mounts etc. etc.)

Most troublesome:

• Maruti 800. Don't be surprised, we had bought it pre-owned when I was just 14 and hence, had no knowledge of cars. It was clearly an over-run, abused & accident car. Horrible reliability.
• Premier 118NE. Piece of crap build. Rust repair every 2 years. Lots of issues with overheating, starting trouble, misfiring engine etc.
• Mercedes C180 (too problematic). Forced Mercedes to buy it back and give me a full refund, which was adjusted against the replacement C220.
• Tata Indigo (fell apart in 4 years). Whatever issue you can think of, we had with the car. Breakdowns, overheating, starting trouble, AC not working, diesel leakage etc. etc.

Pending Updates:

The 2021 Skoda Superb L&K & 2022 Mahindra Thar P-AT are too new to comment on.

Here's what BHPian vigsom had to say on the matter:

A little background

Pre- 1993 : In relative terms, the older cars (pre-1993) with the exception of Maruti would need a lot of "car seva" while the best period was from when the Maruti Zen arrived (1993) to somewhere around 2013. In this period, people who had gotten fed up with constant attention that the Premiers and Ambys wanted, now had a choice with corrosion proof bodyshells, the fill it, shut it forget it type cars that needed just routine service for the most part.

1998 : Enter Honda and Hyundai and Maruti was woken up from deep slumber to offer MPFi engines. Honda had the Hyper-16 valve engine while the humble Santro had the 12 valve fuel injected one.

1998- 2014 : The period thereafter was a super blend of technology, reliability, and a little old school solidity.

Post 2014, quality issues started cropping up, and all the TQM, Lean, Six Sigma all went out of the window and we started getting back to living with automotive issues as normal fare. We are now in an age where buying warranty for peace of mind is a must have, unlike the golden period when the name would stand guarantee even after the standard 2 year 40,000km warranty. It's all about money now.

Now, my experiences with my cars - all pre owned. Ranking them in the order of least troublesome to most attention seeking.

Cars that required the least attention were a 2003 Maruti Versa and a 2005 Toyota Corolla

• 1995 Maruti Esteem
• 2007 Suzuki Grand Vitara (this has required attention only post 10 years, mostly due to age related issues)
• 2012 Mitsubishi Pajero Sport which had some freak issues but all sorted now
• 2003 Toyota Corolla AT - AC issues primarily due to shoddy jobs by some earlier technicians.
• 1993 Premier Padmini which used to require attention every now and then

I'm apprehensive about today's products and the intent of service centers only to fulfill their targets and that's why I'm staying away from an avoidable issue.

The least troublesome

to the most attention seeking

Here's what BHPian revsperminute had to say on the matter:

Most Reliable- Honda City(s). 4 of them, never left us stranded anywhere. Current one hasn’t skipped a beat over 60k of beater duties.

Least Reliable- I remember my dad buying a Tata Indica when they first came out and the thing pretty much grenaded itself one fine day. (Right in the middle of Tatanagar ironically)

Honourable mentions- BMWs in my circle and our GLE have broken the mould when it comes to the notorious german reliability issues whereas my beloved Octavia has kept our feet firmly on the ground.

Here's what BHPian mgastor2022grey had to say on the matter:

The most trouble-free car I have ever owned is the Chevrolet Beat, though I owned is for only 6 years. It did not have driving feel, no features, shoddy finishes and wobbly high speed stability. However, the no-nonsense car was not a carputer and it was extremely maintenance-free.

I had the top variant with ABS and airbags. But even in the topmost one, it missed on Bluetooth and dead pedal. But nonetheless, it gave a mileage of around 21-22 kmpl and was very reliable. Chevrolet service centers were also very helpful and always impressed me. Even when Chevrolet declared their exit, support was provided for the next 3 years. I only had 1 minor issue, which was the clutch wearing out early, which was also fixed immediately. I loved the car and sold it off to another car freak with 78000 kilometers on it, at a price of 3.2 lakhs!

Here's what BHPian sebring had to say on the matter:

Marutis of the past were supremely reliable. I had my Zen for 17 years, totally trouble-free. Gave it up, as the AC was not stepping up to a hotter Bengaluru.

Tata Nexon - has given me zero issues since 2017. Happy and proud of this fact.

Read BHPian comments for more insights and information.