Nvidia, initially a manufacturer of personal computer graphics cards, has been emerging as a leading provider of hardware and software for autonomous driving. Most, maybe all, of the companies developing autonomous cars have been purchasing hardware from Nvidia, Tesla most vocally. This Nvidia Drive PX circuit board, which became available to auto makers and their suppliers last May, includes two… More →
Author: Michael
How would you like your data sliced?
Over the years we’ve added so many different ways to view TrueDelta’s car reliability information that some have flown under members’ radar. Maybe it would help to have a recap? We started with the number of successfully completed repair trips per year, calculated per 100 cars to remove the decimal. Some people want to focus on problems that can potentially… More →
“I no longer have the car, I can’t tell you more”
Occasionally a participant in the Car Reliability Survey tells me, “I no longer have the car, but I can’t tell you more than that.” They don’t have to tell me more. I know what this means. The manufacturer (usually Honda, but sometimes some others) has bought the car back because some problem with it could not be fixed despite three… More →
New car problems: don’t procrastinate
Some problems are difficult for a dealer to fix, perhaps because they are difficult to replicate. If the problem in question is frightening–perhaps the car cuts off in traffic or on the highway for no evident reason–some owners decide to just park the car and deal with it later. If the problem is more minor, the owner might decide to… More →
What’s going on with the 2015 VW Golf?
The Volkswagen Golf and GTI were completely redesigned for 2015. The GTI reached dealers first, and to date few repairs have been reported for it. The Golf with the 1.8T gas and 2.0 TDI diesel engines has not been so lucky. With this month’s update it looks like they’ll have reported repair frequencies in the 50s (per 100 cars), more… More →
How up-to-date are TrueDelta’s stats? Our timetable.
Other car reliability surveys can spend nearly six months from when their survey starts to when they release any results. I designed TrueDelta’s process to provide stats that can be over a year ahead of others, and are never based on data more than five months old. Here’s what our quarterly schedule looks like, using the current quarter as an… More →
Can Lincoln sell “quiet luxury?”
Luxury cars are an odd market. Cadillac has been trying to out-BMW BMW by producing the fastest accelerating, best-handling, rear-wheel-drive-based luxury sedans. Mercedes-Benz also has been pushing performance and handling more than at any previous time in its storied history. A consensus has been emerging that the C63 AMG is the best among an increasingly large, increasingly capable crowd of… More →
Car reliability survey brand rankings compared
In a recent blog entry, I listed some reasons TrueDelta’s reliability results can differ from those in Consumer Reports. But how much do our rankings of brand actually differ? In instances where they do differ, what is the likely cause? Consumer Reports bases its brand rankings on the most recent three model years. On TrueDelta, you can specify which model… More →
A Tale of Two Tucsons
Which level of equipment do you tend to be most interested in. Nothing but the essentials? Mid-level, with perhaps leather, nav, and/or sunroof? Or all boxes checked? I ask because the cars I test can be any of these. The Hyundai Tucson I tested a few weeks ago was the base-level SE. The Mazda CX-3 I have this week is… More →
Responsibility and Car Recommendations
From Forbes, August 27, 2015: In late August, Consumer Reports announced that the Tesla Model S was such a good car that it had broken the highly influential organization’s ratings scale with a road test score of 103 out of 100, and reaped a PR bonanza for both Tesla and themselves. If you missed the story, you must have been… More →