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Comment by CamperBob2 | Hacker News Reader

Hard to answer the question because "reliable" means different things to different people. Infotainment system keeps dropping Bluetooth connections? "Unreliable." Engine seizes at 70 MPH? "Unreliable." Car only has minor mechanical problems, but dealers can't get parts for months? "Unreliable."

A car is too complex a thing to be characterized with a single scalar value.

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From TFA: "We study 20 trouble areas, from nuisances—such as squeaky brakes and broken interior trim—to major bummers, such as potentially expensive out-of-warranty engine, transmission, EV battery, and EV charging problems. [...] We weigh the severity of each type of problem to create a predicted reliability score for each vehicle, from 1 to 100."

The article explicitly accounts for the severity of different issues, and assigns them different point values.

You absolutely can reduce it to a single scalar value. You might personally disagree with the weights, but then your calculation is just a little bit different.

And you have to be able to reduce it to a scalar value at the end of the day, or else you'd never be able to make a decision about which car to buy, because you'd be entirely paralyzed when it came to cost/benefit assessments.

Technically a resolute agent can handle a utility function that messed up, but I'm not sure if people in general would be able to self-commit well enough.

I prefer the opinions of mechanics.

There was a reddit thread this year where someone asked "what brand would you tell everyone to avoid", and it was a pretty unanimous "Toyota wins."

Hopefully they'll quit making infotainment systems. I like my phone->FM adapter.

Edit: I worded my comment poorly. The mechanics all love Toyota. Everything else was on many guys' shit-lists.

Do you have a link to that thread?

Maybe here: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/jbw8i7/mechanics...

Older than I thought, but perhaps I just stumbled across it this year. That's the only one I could find with a big number of comments, like I recall.

Thank you!

Any details on why? I was under the impression that Camrys and Corollas are infamous for lasting a long time.

> There was a reddit thread this year where someone asked "what brand would you tell everyone to avoid", and it was a pretty unanimous "Toyota wins."

Interesting, as I was under the assumption that Toyota and Honda were the cheapest to repair.

Surely Toyota didn't win "most avoided", but rather most recommended?

But same re. infotainment. I have a suction cup MagSafe charging mount for my 2004 4Runner and I patched a bluetooth receiver into the stock head unit. Nothing better than that glorious amber glow when driving late at night. LCD's are blinding by comparison.

Plus this way I don't ever have to enter the iPhone's crippled CarPlay navigation mode, or really deal with CarPlay ever. I just use the phone the same as any other time, no new UI or "safe driving" features to obstruct me.

Yes, they won most recommended, sorry. I spent a while looking for the thread, but can't find it. Here's a very similar one, though, which was in AskReddit vs AskMechanics.

https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/jbw8i7/mechanics...

Interestingly, on the OP link, they don't list the Tacoma, notoriously one of the most reliable vehicles.

Weird that consumer reports would exclude one of the top selling Toyota vehicles in the US.

"Not technically a car" but I don't think that's the correct reason for why the article wouldn't have.

They include Tundra

I have a feeling you’re misremembering the details. Toyota’s have a reputation for being some of the most reliable cars.

> it was a pretty unanimous "Toyota wins."

Part of the reason is that Toyota uses really conservative, classic engineering. They sell things that have worked well for decades, and they're hesitant to introduce new features.

That's also why their infotainment systems are notoriously terrible and they lagged years behind everyone else on selling electric cars. Gotta take the good with the bad.

> and they lagged years behind everyone else on selling electric cars

I thought part of that was that they were big believers in hydrogen?

after learning about how conservative Toyota is in general, their interest in hydrogen seems blown out of proportion solely because every other manufacture was so quick to move to electric. Toyota is still in the "figure out what works best long term" phase

I am more of a bike guy, so it was just something I recall reading. I don't have any deep insights into the car industry. I do have a Toyota though and it seems to run pretty well and gets me from place to place when needed.

Exactly

Its like counting number of bugs or lines of codes as metrics

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