It hasn’t been easy gathering together enough car owners to get TrueDelta’s vehicle reliability research off the ground. For many models, a forum dedicated to the car has been essential in getting the word out. Unfortunately, truly great automotive forums are increasingly rare. As Greg Childs of NICOClub, a forum for Nissan and Infiniti owners, notes in a recent editorial,… More →
Category: Car Forums
Car Forums
Stacey L. Childs: Putting things into perspective
Operating a website with thousands of members is hard work. No matter how much you give, you’ll still receive many complaints in return. The experience has made site admins a generally cantankerous bunch. I know this from what goes on inside my own head, and from my communications with other admins. And then there’s Greg of Nissan and Infiniti forum… More →
Need a new muffler bearing? Well, they’re now available online!
Years ago a friend of mine worked as a dealership service writer. Every once in a while they’d have a customer who insisted there was something wrong with a car, but the dealer could find nothing wrong. So they’d replace the muffler bearing. And if that didn’t work, the lubristat. Free of charge, of course. It was the automotive equivalent of a placebo,… More →
How many forum members does it take to change a lightbulb?
If you visit automotive forums like I do, then you’re likely aware of the ways discussions can progress. So I had a few good laughs when a member of a Lexus IS forum posted “how many forum members does it take to change a lightbulb?” It begins: 1 to change the light bulb and to post that the light bulb… More →
A milestone: the 100th 2007 Nissan Versa joins the panel
When TrueDelta.com started collecting vehicle reliability information, plenty of people asserted that it would never succeed. These doubters said there’s a reason car buyers have only one flawed source of such information: it’s far too difficult to gather a sufficient number of participants. Actually, all it takes is an active, enthusiastic forum. NICOClub.com, the Internet’s most vibrant Nissan and Infiniti… More →
Want to know how much people like a car? Check the forums (if they exist).
As the May results draw near, I am increasingly excited that TrueDelta that they will include some 2007 models. While the sample sizes will not be large, and the number of models small, I see this as a “proof of concept,” an early demonstration of what TrueDelta’s research process is capable of. After all, Consumer Reports won’t have reliability information on these models… More →