The Auto Auctioneer's Guide to the 10 Worst Cars Today
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New cars rarely hint at their long-term reliability.
The paint is shiny, the interior is immaculate, and everything under the hood looks almost clean enough to touch without getting your hands dirty. There is nothing cleaner in the automotive world than a new car.
Then the miles start to add up and the reality of owning a car slowly enters your daily life. 10,000 50,000 km turns into 50,000 90,000 km, and you start to notice the little things: squeaks, rattles, groans. As a car ages, these little things get bigger, more obvious, and more expensive. XNUMX miles turn into XNUMX miles and pretty soon you're looking at a car that perhaps doesn't ride as well anywhere as it did when it first rolled off the showroom floor.
You may notice that some components are a little "off" - a transmission that seems to shift a little later than before; an engine that has some weird noise that just doesn't sound right. Automakers spend an incredible amount of time and resources testing their vehicles before releasing them to the general public. However, months of testing can't deal with the quality issues that arise as a car ages over the years.
Nothing separates cars that are “built to last” from those that are “built too fast” than the slow and harsh reality we call everyday driving. So how do you know if the model you're buying is more likely than usual to be a lemon? Well, I've spent nearly 17 years as a car auctioneer and car dealer finding clear answers to this tricky question!
As a car auctioneer, I have appraised and disposed of thousands of cars sold by their owners due to a fatal and costly defect. Sometimes it was a car with an engine that needed repair. Other times it would be a transmission that wouldn't shift properly and cost thousands of dollars to replace. All the information I gathered could be of great help to consumers trying to find their next best car, so I decided to work with car auctions around the country, recording this information and making it easily accessible to car buyers who wanted to find the best car. a car that will last long after the warranty period has expired.
The results are reflected in the Long Term Quality Index, which now has over a million vehicles registered since January 2013 in its database. its mechanical condition is in lieu of owners who may be used to hard shifting or engine noise indicating problems inside.
Our results? Well, you can use the Long Term Quality Index search feature to weed out over 600 models dating back to 1996. Or, if you want the ten least reliable cars on sale today, just keep reading!
#10 and #9: GMC Acadia and Buick Enclave
The good news for most car buyers is that defects tend to be very rare during the first five years of ownership. The bad news is that many of today's most popular cars, trucks and SUVs can become terribly expensive to repair after that time.
GMC Acadia and Buick Enclave are prime examples. If you look at the pink parts of the chart below, you'll find that the Buick Enclave had a 24% scrap rate in 2009 and roughly 17% in 2010, while its GMC Acadia sibling offered similar levels of terrible quality.
Why did it happen? In a word: weight. General Motors has chosen to use an engine/transmission combination (also called a transmission) that is commonly used in mid-size cars that weigh around 3,300 pounds, which is much lighter than these two full-size crossovers, which often weigh up to 5,000 pounds.
Unsurprisingly, we found that transmissions tend to have a lot more defects than engines, but both perform significantly worse than other full-size crossovers.
As a result, the Acadia and Enclave sell out about 25,000 miles ahead of their average competitor. If you're looking for a stylish full-size crossover, be sure to weigh these potential long-term costs, especially if you're planning to keep your vehicle after the warranty period.
#8: Volkswagen Jetta
Some cars offer different engines and transmissions. In the case of the Volkswagen Jetta, it can make the stark difference between a reliable car that's easy on your wallet and a rolling lemon that can bankrupt you easily.
The best Jettas are easy to find. They have a manual transmission and four-cylinder naturally aspirated engines that either have a 2.0-litre engine, a 2.5-litre engine, or a diesel engine that is currently not subject to government recalls.
The problem is that millions of Jettas — past and present — are equipped with an automatic transmission, a non-diesel turbocharged engine, or a V6 engine. These less reliable models collectively account for nearly 80% of Jetta's total sales. That pink sea you see in the chart above from 1996 is actually much higher and deeper when you strip away the data from the "good" Jettas.
So if you're looking for an inexpensive European compact car that's fun to drive, the good news is that you can improve your chances of getting a good car. .But for that, you'd better learn how to operate the shift lever, which is also the transmission of choice for most Volkswagen owners outside of the US.
#7: Go Rio
While some lemons can be avoided by choosing a particular engine and transmission, others are simply inevitable. The Kia Rio has been the worst entry-level car when it comes to lemons for nearly 15 years now.
Sometimes a cheap car can cost you a lot more money in the long run. The hard reality for the Kia Rio is that as it ages it becomes far less reliable than any other competitor.
What's worse is the greater need for maintenance. While most automakers have switched to chains or timing belts that can last at least 90,000 miles, the chain for the Kia Rio needs to be changed every 60,000 miles, which was the industry norm for over 20 years ago.
The Rio is lemon for a different reason: the latest models seem to support the idea of changing the transmission fluid every 100,000 miles, which I personally find somewhat optimistic. If you really want to make the Kia Rio a "keeper", my advice is to halve that fluid change routine to 50,000 miles and always change the timing belt before it hits 60,000 miles. Replacing an engine or transmission on these vehicles is incredibly expensive considering what they offer as daily transport.
#6: Jeep Patriot
Jatco's CVT, a notoriously problematic transmission, was an option on three of their most popular vehicles: the Dodge Caliber, the Jeep Compass, and the Jeep Patriot, which ranks sixth on this list.
The Patriot has a double whammy: it is the heaviest car of the three, but it also has the highest percentage of cars with this transmission. Overall, the Patriot was rated 50% to 130% worse than the average compact SUV. This poor quality work results in a costly repair - even today a Jatco CVT replacement can cost upwards of $2500.
#5: Smart ForTwo
In addition to a very high marriage rate, Smart also suffers from a lack of long-term love from owners. The average model sells with just 59,207 miles, the lowest total mileage of any model in our study.
So who is the main culprit?
In most cases, transmission problems result in an exchange. However, with a 15.5% reject rate for vehicles that typically have under 60,000 miles, Smart has the dubious distinction of offering the worst of both worlds in terms of reliability and owner satisfaction. It's not the best choice for car owners looking to save money, as it requires premium fuel and an expensive maintenance schedule.
#4: BMW 7 Series
Sometimes a low ranking is due to the competition that a given model faces in our study. In the case of the BMW 7 Series, it has to contend with the most reliable vehicle in our study: the Lexus LS.
But even with that downside, there's another reason why you should avoid the BMW 7 Series entirely.
No full-size luxury car has been as bad as the BMW 7-Series. Since 1996, the reliability of the 7 Series has fluctuated from poor to downright terrible. Not only because of the level of defects or the cost of repairs, the 7-Series is far behind its closest European competitor, the Mercedes S-Class.
The point is that while competitors have been constantly improving and eliminating many of their more defective components, BMW seems to be virtually immune to attempts to fix problems without the intervention of the federal government. Unsurprisingly, BMWs actually have two of the four most common lemons in our study.
#3: Volkswagen Juke
If today's Beetle remained as cute and durable as the old ones, it probably wouldn't be on our list at all.
Unfortunately, everything we mentioned about the Volkswagen Jetta is also true for the modern Beetle due to the fact that it uses almost all the same low-quality engines and transmission.
Because the Beetle tends to have more owners who need an automatic transmission than the Jetta, it has a higher reject rate overall. More than 20% of Beetles sold have engine or transmission problems that require replacement. This may not seem like such a big deal until you take into account the fact that the average Beetle sells for only 108,000 miles. This is hardly average age in today's automotive world, where a quality car can last well beyond the 200,000-mile mark.
#2: MINI Cooper
The MINI Cooper tends to polarize car owners' opinions about this little car.
On the one hand, there is a strong base of enthusiasts who absolutely love these models. It boasts great handling and fun looks: BMW's design and engineering team created an iconic car back in 2002 that rivals like the Mazda Miata and FIAT 500 can't match. .
The bad news is their reliability.
Aside from temperamental high compression engines and therefore requiring premium fuel (which owners don't always use), MINIs also have chronic problems with both manual and automatic transmissions. Overall, almost a quarter of MINI cars sold have engine or transmission defects that require costly repairs.
MINI's overall reliability isn't 0 - it's just a deplorable 0.028538. Which car is worse?
#1: Travel Avoidance
The Dodge Journey sits at the bottom of the list thanks to an anemic four-cylinder engine mated to a four-speed automatic transmission that is Chrysler's only remaining transmission from the company's bankruptcy.
While the MINI Cooper collected a higher percentage of lemons than the Journey (22.7% versus 21.6%), it took the MINI another seven model years to become so unreliable.
The Dodge Journey has only been available since 2009, which means these cars break down much sooner than the MINI or any other car in our long-term quality study.
I can't stress enough: don't buy a Dodge Journey with a four-cylinder engine and a four-speed automatic transmission. This transmission had compatibility issues in the midsize Dodge Avenger and Chrysler Sebring, two models notorious for their terrible quality. With an extra half ton to haul, this drivetrain is simply too loaded and overloaded to handle.
Now that you're armed with the worst cars in our long-term quality study, you'll hopefully be able to make a more informed decision when looking for a new or used car. To make sure you're getting the best quality car for your money, be sure to ask a certified mechanic to do a pre-purchase inspection.
