Ask a Car Nut - Part Deux

[Formaldehyde]

If I found someone's car keys on the street near my house, what should I do with them?

A local grocery store has a bar code tag you put on your keys to let them know who you are for discounts and such. If you drop one of those into a mailbox, they somehow find their way back to the owner.

I suppose you could turn them into the police. But how many people go to the police to see if anybody has found their keys?

 

[Goodfella]

I don't know of anything like that and there are too many grocery stores nearby. About the police station, I don't think very many would. Plus I live near a park and it gets a decent amount of visitors from around the county and the owner might not even live in the county either.

I thought newer car keys had id numbers or codes inside which might be able to identify the car's original owner. Could the police or a Ford dealership (they're Ford keys) do that?

 

[Zelig]

I've never heard of ReliabilityIndex.com before. It's sponsored by one of those completely lame extended warranty services so it has no credibility.

Good thing you've posted an alternative with more credibility.

And what sort of scale is that? Are we really supposed to believe that the Honda Jazz is 300 times more reliable than a Porsche 911, which is 6 times more likely to break down than the average car?

I wouldn't read too much into individual scores, but more expensive cars pretty clearly aren't more reliable.

According to your own site, the Ford Taurus has 4.5 stars for "reliability" while the Fiesta only has 3. You do realize that is the opposite scale from the other site. Right?

I'm pretty sure this is 3.5:

And if you want to look at Ford's entire line, sorted by low-end average price:

Fiesta, $14741, 3.0
Focus, $17152, 3.0
Fusion, $21820, 4.0
Mustang, $22741, 4.0
Escape, $23271, 2.5
F-150, $25202, 3.5
C-Max Hybrid, $25170, 3.0
Fusion Hybrid, $25905, 4.0
Taurus, $26564, 3.5
Edge, $28023, 3.0
Flex, $28522, 2.5
Explorer, $29084, 3.0
C-Max Energi, $32250, 3.0
Fusion Energi, $33393, 3.5
Focus Electric, $35483, 3.0
Expedition, $40555, 2.5

If you graph these, there's actually a negative correlation between reliability and price:

 

[Bulldog Bats]

Question for you Australians - what do people think of the Utes? Here is the US, there are no small pickup trucks. I would love a car-based auto that can haul a load of firewood, but gets decent mileage, drives acceptably well, and is reasiably priced.

 

[Bulldog Bats]

By "car-based", I mean built on a car frame (like the Subaru Baja), so it drives easier. I have a Toyota Tundra, which I love, but gas mileage sucks, and it drives, well, like a truck.

 

[Formaldehyde]

I thought newer car keys had id numbers or codes inside which might be able to identify the car's original owner. Could the police or a Ford dealership (they're Ford keys) do that?

I rather doubt it. But you could check with a Ford dealership. The person who lost them has likely either replaced them by now or already had another set anyway.

Good thing you've posted an alternative with more credibility.

There really is no "credibility" in this particular regard. But at least US News and World Report doesn't have it's own obvious axe to grind.

You seem to think this is some sort of statistically verifiable quantitative decision based on impeccable data when it is just the opposite. Actual reliability data is closely guarded by the auto manufacturers and nobody really does a good independent job of determining what it actually is.

This is your own personal opinion that buying cheap econoboxes and literally driving them into the ground is the most economical way to do things based on your extremely limited experience. You apparently have no experience at all doing so with a new car, nor do you seemingly have any experience with cars that aren't made as cheaply as possible.

I'm pretty sure this is 3.5...

Either way, it is just the opposite of what you continue to claim with no real evidence. Not to mention that a Taurus is hardly a BMW in terms of quality or reliability.

Again, I never stated that this was true from the same vendor. Now did I? That was your own self-imposed restriction on my statement, not mine.

Plus the top car in the same list as the Taurus was rated a 5.

Question for you Australians - what do people think of the Utes? Here is the US, there are no small pickup trucks. I would love a car-based auto that can haul a load of firewood, but gets decent mileage, drives acceptably well, and is reasiably priced.

This has come up before either in this thread or the similar one that RugbyLeagueFan started. While we have compact pickups like the Toyota Tacoma, we haven't had anything similar to the utes since the Chevrolet El Camino and the Ford Ranchero.

But it does seem that the idea originally came from Australia. Ford made one in 1934 for that market:

 

[Zelig]

You seem to think this is some sort of statistically verifiable quantitative decision based on impeccable data when it is just the opposite.

The opposite of that would be total randomness.

This is your own personal opinion that buying cheap econoboxes and literally driving them into the ground is the best way to do things based on your extremely limited personal experience in this regard.

Never made that claim. I'm just saying that there isn't good evidence to believe that luxury cars are more reliable than econoboxes.

You apparently have no experience at all doing so with a new car, nor do you apparently have any experience with cars that aren't made as cheaply as possible.

And you apparently have no experience driving econoboxes into the ground.

However, I do have a data-related dayjob at a company with hundreds of thousands of records on fleet vehicles. (Funny enough, very few econoboxes, so I guess my personal experience with econoboxes being relatively reliable and cheap to fix will have to suffice for that.)

Either way, it is just the opposite of what you continue to claim with no real evidence. Nto to mention that a Taurus is hardly a BMW in terms of quality or reliability.
Plus the top car in the same list as the Taurus was rated a 5.

Again, I never stated that this was true from the same vendor. Now did I? That was your own self-imposed restriction on my statement, not mine.

This is all a general observation on my part based on my own experiences. YMMV.

I claimed that there isn't good evidence that econoboxes aren't in general significantly less reliable than luxury cars by the same manufacturer, and a Ford Taurus with a 3.5 vs. a Fiesta with a 3.0 reliability score is "just the opposite" of that? Not to mention none of the BMWs have a higher reliability score than the Taurus.

And again, if you're not comparing cars from the same manufacturer, what's the point? If reliability were (hypothetically) completely and only dependent on manufacturer, but low-reliability manufacturers had their line skewed to include more economy cars, there'd exist a correlation between price and reliability but it wouldn't be a particularly meaningful one to point out.

 

[Bulldog Bats]

The Tacoma is barely smaller. Ford's Ranger was the last "small" truck. The Baja was a great little vehicle, but it got phased out several years ago. I've read up the the Utes, and would love to see something like that here.

Only because I have heard some rumors of the Utes making it to the states (although I won't hold my breath), what is the opinion of those who drove them? Mileage/reliability/ride/etc - are they decent vehicles, or just toys?

 

[Formaldehyde]

The first generation Tacomas were compact pickup trucks. The second generation are mid-sized.

I think it is pretty clear from the wiki article I posted above that they aren't just perceived as being toys. That they have wide scale use as “a vehicle to go to church in on a Sunday and which can carry our pigs to market on Mondays”.

 

[Bulldog Bats]

I had read the article a while ago when I was first starting to research/fantasize about my next auto. I was hoping for some local knowledge - I see a lot of Australian posters in here.

The US use to have a number of small trucks, but they make more money selling bigger trucks. Add in the chicken tax issue, and I don't see any incentive for them to sell them - although it makes no sense that Ford re-did the Ranger, and is selling it everywhere but here.

I am almost considering trying to find an old Ranchero or El Camino and fixing it up (I have a Karmann Ghia that I love) - just want something more practical, comfortable and with better gass mileage as a daily driver.

 

[Zelig]

FWIW, GM will be selling the Canyon/Colorado in North America again shortly, starting with the 2015 model.

I drove an S10 for several years and wasn't super impressed by it, if I was in the market for a compact pickup now I'd probably just look for a late-model Ranger.

 

[Bulldog Bats]

As far back as 2008, GMC said it was going to bring the Holden over here, but nothing ever came of it - another unfulfilled dream...

 

[peter grimes]

If I'm told my tie rod ends are bad, what does that mean and how long can I ignore this? I have also been told that I need a new power steering pump. I'm trying to prioritize here...

 

[Borachio]

That's the big-end bearings, isn't it? (I'm guessing that's what your US terminology means, here.)

Not good news.

 

[Formaldehyde]

No, tie rod ends are what attach your steering rack to the front wheels.

It is usually the outer one that needs replacing. If they fail completely you will lose the ability to steer. But what normally occurs is that your steering gets sloppy and your tires will wear abnormally due to the toe changing as you drive.

You can perform both jobs yourself if you have the tools and are reasonably handy. But replacing the tie rod ends means that you will need to get a new alignment to set the toe-in.

 

[Borachio]

Oh right. So not a disaster then.

 

[Zelig]

Well you can drive indefinitely without power steering.

 

[Formaldehyde]

It is incredibly difficult to turn the wheel on many cars if the power steering isn't working properly.

 

[Zelig]

I must not have driven any of those cars. I was driving a Subaru Legacy earlier this week with busted power steering, I'd describe the difficulty level there somewhere around "quite" rather than "incredible".

 

[timtofly]

How fast were you moving? The slower you go, the more noticeable it would be. Technically it may not be wise to turn the wheels while stopped, but with power steering, it is done without thinking. If you were stopped and tried turning the wheels before you started to move, without power steering, it would be feel like lifting weights. If you are used to lifting weights, then you probably would not notice a difference when the power steering goes out.