alt Hacker NewsReliable? What a quaint idea for a modern car. Mercedes and BMW in particular have been designing cars that fail just after the initial lease period (think plastic water pumps, timing chains at the back of the engine, wet rubber timing belts, CVT transmissions).
Some crazy, unfixable magnetic suspension that lasts 3 years and requires $5000 a corner shocks is par for the course these days.
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> CVT transmissions
Well, you can take money out of an ATM machine to pay for that. Just try to remember your PIN number.
Yeah, I'm adding Audi to the list. Car just totaled for a blown engine with no determining reason a few months out of warranty. Audi won't touch it. Not worth the engine replacement cost.
Not sure it would make sense to design cars to fail right when they get them back from the lessee?
timing chains at the back of the engine
Smallblock Chevys have a timing chain at the front but it's basically never a failure point. I agree with your other points, however; the trend is to optimise for short-term efficiency and cost, resulting in complex and relatively fragile designs.