These New Cars Look Like A Reliability Nightmare

Was it ever a question? Obviously the new Land Rover Range Rover. Friends don’t let friends buy a Land Rover without an (extended) warranty.

I can say this confidently with having owned several, but their poor reliability is due to their engineering complexity. It’s a 6000lb SUV that can rock crawl, wade rivers, and pull up to the red carpet.

Submitted by: drporschephile

And...

Agree... But I’d extend the statement to any product offered by JLR. We wanted one for most of our lives and took the plunge on a 2020 Discovery Sport HSE P290 back in 2020. The car never stranded us, but was far from confidence inspiring with 3 dead batteries in 3 years, unexplained significant coolant loss, air bolsters in the driver’s seat that were supposedly “fixed” multiple times and never worked other than the first week of ownership, and door trim that just decided to spontaneously fall off. Plus a blown speaker... from the factory.

We enjoyed it until we were running out of warranty and sold it to Carvana (with it having lost over 50% of it’s value in ~42K miles and 3.5 years).

There were a lot of things we liked about that car, but the ownership experience along with the INSANE service costs ($500 for an oil change and tire rotation) soured us big time on the whole brand.

Submitted by: Craig Weinman

Any PHEV. We’re talking about an ICE car folded in with an EV—all while occupying the same space as the components of a regular ICE-V. How can maintenance and repair NOT be a nightmare for such a crammed-full vehicle?

And considering how quickly insurance adjusters will slap a salvage title on a modern car because the parts to repair it cost just too damn much:

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I can say the same thing for a PHEV that’s got some miles on it when it comes to maintenance. The wear ‘n’ tear repairs will prove so costly, that people will blanch at buying such used cars. IE: the nightmare sticks with the original owner.

Submitted by: the1969DodgeChargerFan

And a counterargument...

I have a five year old Honda Clarity PHEV. Change the oil twice a year, and cabin filters as required. One set of tires, one set of wipers. Brake fluid flush upcoming. Zero other maintenance costs. Best ownership experience I’ve ever had from a reliability standpoint.

Just purchased a Volvo S60 Recharge, so an electric supercharged turbo 4 mated with a PHEV 45ish mile range battery. More potential software demons with Android Automotive, but so far so good.

Submitted by: ekimyllek

As an automotive insider, the EVs and especially Hybrids, will all be disposable junk soon. Reliability in the future is going to consist of a vehicle that either won’t need to be entirely replaced or one that needs its full battery pack / powertrain replaced. Current used market trends are proof enough, of how the ICE cars will last, in comparison to the BEVs, PHEVs etc. I’m not a hater per say, but a nightmare vehicle to me is one I can’t do 50% of stuff at home with basic tools, or take to a local shop to get repaired.

Submitted by: Da Car Guru - 15,000 RPM daily driver

And...

Especially Elon’s nightmare brood. Because he is a grifter and a scumbag, so they are nightmares by design. He wants them to break so as to lock you better into the Tesla ecosystem and get his customer base constantly buying new crap. It is the techbro model, exported to automotive sales.

Submitted by: skeffles

Being a dyed in the wool Alfisti this pains me to say that the Tonale and its Dodge twin the Hornet have the potential to be nightmare’s with their electric hybrid set up. The ICE motor doesn’t scare me so much as the interface with the electric and drivetrain. I’m using the Hornet pic as a protest to actually outing my beloved Alfa....

Submitted by: Monsterajr

Almost any of them, really. This isn’t a “They sure don’t build them like they used to rant” but tech is now the wild card in most new vehicles. Consumers want all the efficiency and gadgets they can get at any price point, and manufacturers are happy to oblige, but at their own price point that maximizes profit. While you might not be as likely to experience catastrophic mechanical failure, you are probably making more trips to a dealer to fix small issues that can only be resolved within locked down software and control modules. Cars are now built to be tethered to a dealer service center, and the quality control issues in the tech supply chain, in addition to manufacturers sourcing those components at the lowest digestible cost, are already queering many of the established data points for measuring reliability.

Submitted by: Hankel_Wankel

And...

This is spot on. Cars just have so much more going on in them now, that something will go wrong, and probably sooner rather than later. Those things are probably less likely to be disabling, but they will pile up.

Even my lowly Miata has headlights that adjust their heading based on the car’s pitch and steering angle. Replacing those headlights won’t be cheap. And all that headlight adjustment is done using sensors that probably aren’t cheap or easy to access/replace.

Submitted by: Give Me Tacos or Give Me Death

I REALLY want an I-PACE. I’ve heard this is the most unwise decision a rational human being can make, so I won’t.

Submitted by: J-BodyBuilder

And...

I’m with you and as an EV engineering insider.

But it’s just such a gorgeous vehicle - Ian Callum does fantastic work.

Upside,

- It’s built by Magna in Magna’s factories, not JLR’s factories so things won’t be missing and build quality will be controlled.

- It does have a heat pump unlike many other EVs like the Mustang Mach-E or the Bolt EV.

- It also has a high amount of ground clearance so it can actually go over the hump on my driveway without scraping unlike nearly all other EVs.

Downside,

- JLR has perhaps the WORST Battery Platform engineering of any major OEM. The fact that they got an EV out early in 2018/2019 but have squandered any knowledge base over the years till now is mind boggling. If they sold numbers like the Bolt EV, it could have been recalled and on the news.

- This year is also the last year that the I-Pace will be sold.

- The older models have a much better looking grille than the cheap looking smooth one of 2024.

- They have depreciated super fast. I’ve seen 2019 models sell used for ~$30k.

Submitted by: BSit

The “new” 2025 Ford Explorer. If the 2020 launch is anything to go by, I don’t expect it to be any smoother this time around. In fact, has the Explorer ever enjoyed a controversy-free generation? Were I a gambling man, I would put my money on a stop-sale or OTA recall within the first few months.

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Submitted by: paradsecar

[...]

Low hanging fruit, I know.

The 2024 Mercedes C63 AMG (and the C43 AMG).

This car is going to bankrupt second and third owners. It’s first owners will actually lease, and while they might be cross at how often their super sedan is in the shop, they’ll just use their spare G-Wagon to get around.

It went from something relatively straightforward - big V8 in a sedan to go fast - to add a billion extra parts to get a hybrid powertrain to perform in the same way. It’s heavy, it has a 4-cyl engine, and it’s probably the most complex car Mercedes has ever produced. It’s also all screens for control, so we should probably count on a few infotainment defects. Given their reliability with cars that aren’t quite as complex recently, I hold zero hopes this car will reverse Merc’s trend.

Submitted by: dolsh

Any Jeep / Stellantis PHEV. Start with a very poor existing record for reliability, add in tons of additional complexity, and do it all in a rush to keep up with the competition. I would LOVE to get a more efficient and environmentally friendly offroader, but wouldn’t dare put my money on one of these 4Xe’s, much less take one into the wilderness where my survival might depend on it actually working long enough to get me home.

Submitted by: Recovering Saabaholic

Jeep Wagoneer. Jeeps are among the lowest in brand reliability lists and I can’t think of a bigger automotive ownership nightmare than spending $90k on an SUV that is almost certainly going to have major issues.

Submitted by: DMaculate

Any Alfa. I remember reading one of the big auto magazine’s long term assessments of the Giulia, and they said “we can’t give an accurate long term assessment because the car was in the shop more than it was in our test fleet.” Even an absolute crapcan should be more roadworthy than that when it’s fresh off the assembly line.

Submitted by: Garland - Last Top Comment on Splinter

Hot take: Mazda CX-90

I expect this vehicle will be fairly reliable even though it is a new model/new drivetrain... HOWEVER any engine repairs needed are very likely to be a true nightmare. A packaging miracle under the hood... unless you actually need to replace anything. It seems to have been inspired by hypercars where it is fairly common to disassemble half the car to perform engine work.

Submitted by: Nextcar

And...

I am wondering if the Mazda CX-90 PHEV issues are going to percolate up into something on here. The reddit is consistent with very unpleasant sounding reports.

We bought the MHEV out of some “what do you mean you want 10k extra for a car on the lot?” local market frustration and its great so far, and the PHEV is a very different car, but we are nervous.

Submitted by: GameDevBurnout

Same as it always was- a Fiat will reliably break down every chance it gets.

Submitted by: icemilkcoffee

I love the idea of Volvo’s twin-charged engines, but I have to wonder how such a complex engine will hold up over time, and how easy they’ll be to get into & work on.

They also offer this engine in a plug-in hybrid setup which only makes makes me more leery.

Submitted by: Aldairion

Low hanging fruit, but no one else has said it.

Anything from Maserati.

I love the brand, and the look of the cars, but there’s just no way I would buy one. I used to live on a few miles from the local dealer and STILL couldn’t pull the trigger.

Submitted by: Chris Furlough