Yahoo Autos' Guide To Every Used-Car Brand's Biggest Weak Spot

Photo: U.S. National Archives

How long will my new car last?

Everyone asks this question. Whether we get to enjoy that unique new car smell in exchange for a long-term car note or endure that less alluring smell of an older cheaper used car. We all want our next car to be our best car.

Sometimes that just doesn’t happen.

Even if you get your oil changes done and follow the maintenance schedule to a perfect T, sometimes a manufacturer will cheap out on a part that eventually becomes your big problem.

As someone who has spent several years inspecting, appraising and selling over 10,000 vehicles a year for an auto finance company, I have seen countless vehicles that have been traded in because the owner can’t afford an unforeseen and expensive repair. More times than not, this expensive repair happens beyond the warranty period.

What could have been a cheap and easy fix for the manufacturer quickly becomes a several thousand-dollar barnacle for the current owner. In certain cases, thousands of folks will get hit with the exact same whammy of a repair while they still owe money on the vehicle.

Three years ago I decided to do something about this. Along with statistician Nick Lariviere, we developed what would become known as the Long-Term Quality Index. This study now has over 820,000 trade-ins from all over the United States.

What we have found is that every manufacturer has made mistakes in the past, and sadly, many will play a denial to avoid reimbursing customers for those faults. But some are far guiltier than others.

Is your car one of them? Feel free to click here to search for your model or here if you want to look at how your most and least favorite brands currently perform. We plan on offering this information for free, forever.

And if you’re kicking the tires on a used car, here’s a not-so-short list of the biggest weak spots in every major brand:

Audi: The Audi A4 has notorious engine sludge issues with the 1.8-liter turbocharged engine along with oil consumption issues on the 2-liter engine that replaced it. This lead Volkswagen, which owns Audi, to offer a class action settlement on the 1.8 liter engine, and an additional class settlement on the 2.0 liter engine.

Acura: Despite Acura’s rank as our second highest brand for long-term reliability, a slew of these models had automatic transmission issues during the late 1990’s and early 2000’s. This included the Acura CL, TL, and RL

BMW: The BMW 7-Series seems to be a lightning rod for long-term quality issues. From 1998 thru 2010, the model has never matched the more lenient average for the full-size luxury car segment.

Buick: The great American road is full of Buicks, and our study now has over 13,000 of them. Out of all those models only the Buick Enclave has a low long-term reliability rating due to unusually high transmission issues. The GMC Acadia and Saturn Outlook are sister vehicles that also have the same issue.

Cadillac: The Northstar engine used to be the engine of death for many Cadillac owners due to head gasket issues. However the absolute worst Cadillac is the Catera which registers a score of only 12 out of 100 for long-term reliability. This is due to what can only be described as hellish engine problems.

Chevrolet: Chevy full-size trucks and SUVs offer outstanding long-term reliability across the board. However the now defunct Chevrolet Aveo suffered from timing belts that may snap prematurely, and the early five-cylinder versions of the Chevy Colorado was cast with defective cylinder heads. No recall was ever issued for these problems.

Chrysler: If you find a Chrysler with a 2.7-liter V-6 engine built between 1998 and 2010, run away. These engines resulted in five separate class action lawsuits and a lot of unhappy owners. In addition, turbocharged versions of the PT Cruiser and transmissions on the Chrysler Voyager minivan are well below average. None of these issues were ever recalled or remedied due to Chrysler’s bankruptcy in 2009.

Dodge: What tends to be true for 28,000 Chrysler trade-ins is also true for 44,000 Dodge models. The 2.7-liter engines and minivan transmissions tend to be weak points. As for other models, the 2009 and 2010 Dodge Journey has been a rolling basket case with engine and transmission issues that make it a bottom dweller in the crossover segment.

Ford: Nearly 100,000 Fords are in our database. Like Chevy, the full-size SUVs and pickups are outstanding—with a couple of big exceptions. The Navistar diesel engine which was made from 2003 thru 2007 eventually yielded a multitude of engine issues and a class action settlement.  Also the 5.4-liter Triton V8 has an ongoing lawsuit alleging defects. As for transmissions, the ones in the Ford Freestyle and the 2002 thru 2008 Ford Explorer should also be avoided.

GMC: This truck brand now has a higher overall ranking than Honda—4th overall. Despite that achievement, there is one minor blip with the GMC Acadia registering more transmission issues than other full-size crossovers.

Honda: If it weren’t for the epidemic of transmission issues with V-6 equipped Hondas from 1998 thru 2004, Honda would be our top-ranked brand. Only the Isuzu built Honda Passport has ever registered a consistently low level of reliability year after year.

Hyundai: Despite its more recent models scoring well in other studies, Hyundai is not equal to other top brands according to our results. Hyundai currently ranks 21st out 38 brands with each model hanging around average with one notable exception: The Hyundai Accent experienced poor levels of reliability from 2001 thru 2004.