Spider951 wrote: The least reliable award goes to 1994 Chevy Cavalier (6 cyl) - the thing would leak some type of fluid (sometimes multiple types simultaneously) at intervals way less than your 2,000 mile interval. A fire extinguisher was mandatory equipment. I threatened to drive the thing into the ocean on more than one occasion... but why be a threat to marine life. Most expensive to own - German.
The transmission computer was under the passenger floorboards on some of those and if your passenger tapped his feet down on it too hard they would go into limp mode. Not very great in New England when you passenger has cold feet from the snow. Computer would usually require replacement and it was a $1,000 issue to deal with each time it happened.
My 124 Spider after the initial dealing with prior owner issues has been a reliable daily driver for 3 years now. Its been get my free alignment each year, rotate the tires, wiper blades, fluid checks and oil changes
I am a Brit . I've spent most of my life with a long series of British cars , Morris Minor , M G B , several Rovers including a V8 P 6 ,XKE Jaguar and a Jensen Interceptor as summer " hobby cars " . My family persuaded me that I was too old to be hooning around in 2 tons + of very hairy Jensen so I sold it and bought a 1979 124S for my old age summer toy .
This has been a revelation , its far superior to the equivalent aged MG , T R 6, Sunbeam Alpine , prettier than a big Healey and it's reliable . No more Joe , Prince of Darkness Lucas electrical gremlins , instead it has intelligent wiring with fuses and relays .It' has been utterly reliable , needing only routine fettling.
Unfortunately it goes against the British instinct to glorify heroic failures . I was raised on - Scott of the Antarctic , Shackleton , Titanic , Dehavilland Comet etc . In my old age I am driving an old car which yields no surprises , I reach home in comfort with no sense of having triumphed against the odds and battled adversity ; in short it's a lovely little car but just a bit BORING
Maxdog
MTBF the word failure in this context suggests not being able to drive the car at all or safely, ie no brakes or car does not run. By that measure I have found my Fiat to be reliable and not at all a failure in the time i have owned it (about 14 months).
Now that does not mean i have not spent money on it for "improvements" and maintenance, yes i have, but less than my 2008 audi over the same period and certainly with more fun attached. Like many of us on this forum i like adjusting brakes, cleaning and maintaining electrical systems, tuning carbs and generally using wrenches and tools in a satisfying manner.
My actual maintenance costs, not cosmetic or upgrades or repairs to PO's work, over 14 months and 7000 kms have been about 200$ for parts related to ignition (plugs, wires, rotor, cap, etc and brake pads), brakes (pads and caliper rebuild kits because bleeder screws were rusted solid) and the usual oil and filter changes. This works out to about 0.028 $/km
I also spent about 200$ on a clutch, pilot shaft, tranny input shaft and throwout bearings, because i didn't like the noise, and i changed the muffler 200$ to make the car a bit quieter, but neither of those were stopping me driving the car.
Interestingly my costs for cosmetics and upgrades, like new sun visors, LED dash lights, relays for the wipers and horn, new seat foam, materials to rebuild the door cards, changing the seatbelt buzzer to a chime, adding footwell lights, adding beauty rings to the wheels, then finding the matching pair of alloys to the 2 vintage MOMOs that came with the car, etc have all added up to about 800$. So all up I am currently spending about $100/month on the car or a Latte a day or 1.71 $/km. Likely that will diminish as the project list reduces (until the urge to modify the engine takes hold).
Now the car i bought did have a bunch of work done over the 12 years the PO owned it, including a $3,300 repaint. He put 10,000 kms on the car and spent $13,000 over the years (1.3 $/km), but he paid a shop to do all the work which included new rad and hoses, new top, paint job, brake system including MC, timing belt, tires, carb upgrade, rear sway bar, drive shaft rebuild, motor mounts and tuneups.
interestingly the PO and i are spending very similar money annually, but on different things, so the take away from all this appears to me to be that the car will cost at least $1000/year in needed or desired work but that is almost independent of miles driven. That value allows for occasional big ticket items like new top or paint job, plus all the regular maintenece.
I would be curious to know how many Lattes/day others spend on their cars.
dinghyguy
medium latte in hand
1981 Red Spider "Redbob"
1972 blue Volvo 1800ES "Bob"
1998 Red Ford Ranger
After I first went through putting the car back on the road 3 years ago the only thing I did was put in some relays to make things better however it was not a failure and replace the $13 clutch cable when it broke. The broken clutch cable did not make the car undriveable but just required that I start it in gear and power shift until a few hours later when I picked up the new clutch cable at the local Oreilly's parts store.
I added a Hopkins kit for adapting the Fiat to support a utility trailer lighting and added some relays to better power the tail lights so the trailer lights showed brighter however that was not a failure either. To go with the trailer wiring of course a trailer hitch was fabricated too.
If I didn't have to do something to the car every so often, I wouldn't enjoy it. Knock on wood she's never stranded me, but I don't know how! Ran on 3 cylinders the first year with a hidden/hanging fuel injection connector and a sticking AFM flap. Clogged fuel vapor valve and hoses caused vacuum in the tank and sputtering/stalling time to time, remedied by opening the gas cap time to time before I finally replaced the valve and blew out the lines. Sputters and puffs on deceleration for 3 years before I figured out I needed to adjust the TPS. Would overheat before I realized the coolant overflow bottle was cracked on the bottom, my radiator was leaking, and fan switch was corroded causing the fan not to come on.
Above said, I wanted to know how to work on cars since i was a young boy and never changed my own oil until i was 41! This car has scratched that itch for sure! Scared to say it's reliable, but if i were going across country i'd think my chances were better with the spider than my benz...mainly as I know i can fix her on the side of the road if need be.
