Do something four times a year for ten years, and you’ll have done it 40 times. Today’s update to TrueDelta’s car reliability stats, covering through the end of June 2016, is our 40th. I can’t believe it’s really been that many. Car reliability has improved dramatically since we began. For some models (including the 2013 Toyota Tacoma) dozens of members… More →
Category: Car Reliability
Car Reliability
In Reliability: New Faces, New Scales, and by Generation
People sometimes find the breadth and depth of TrueDelta’s car reliability information overwhelming. Even those that don’t often want a quick snapshot of how a model has been faring over multiple model years. For both purposes we decided to add car reliability stats by model generation. What’s a model generation? When a car model receives a significant update, it begins… More →
The most and least reliable cars in our survey
My previous post included the models with the lowest reported repair frequencies for each model year. As noted in that past, this wasn’t entirely fair. Other models are close, and given sampling error and the meaninglessness of small differences are essentially just as reliable. So here’s a list of all models (among those we received at least 25 responses for)… More →
How often do cars require repairs as they age?
Before TrueDelta, nearly all publicly available car reliability information was relative to the average. While “better than average” certainly seemed preferable to “worse than average,” one key piece of information wasn’t provided: how high (or low) was the average? Did the average car require one repair per year? Two? More? No one without insider status knew. To fix this, I… More →
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 →
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 →
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 →
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 →
CR: new transmissions, infotainment systems are key sources of problems
Consumer Reports released their updated reliability ratings today in a presentation to the Detroit-based Automotive Press Association (APA). Their presentation highlighted infotainment systems and new transmission designs as key sources of problems in recently redesigned cars. Problems with both are often resolved with software updates. But in the case of new transmissions, all too often hardware and even the entire… More →