Anyone own a 1st/2nd year model?

[gizzsdad]

Originally Posted By: Gary Allan
That is, was the CU study done on 1st and 2nd year models in the 10th year ..or merely over a limited time frame?


To answer Gary's question, I am pretty sure that the CU studies are for cars during the first year(or two years) of ownership. As you look at most models, they develop more 'black circles' the older they get.

I have had four consecutive Maximas, a '96(2nd year), an '00(1st), an '05(2nd), and now a '10(2nd). While all have been very reliable, each succeeding generation has had fewer of the "niggling" complaints/problems.

 

[Gary Allan]

Quote:
To answer Gary's question, I am pretty sure that the CU studies are for cars during the first year(or two years) of ownership. As you look at most models, they develop more 'black circles' the older they get.


Yes, they surely will develop more service needs as they age. I've just seen more problems ..serious ones ..occur outside of the 2 year "new car" time frame. It's no less an indictment of "flaws of design origin" than having them occur in the first evolution of a given new product. It just means that they got it "less wrong" than others.

 

[donny939]

I have a 07 civic.. Its the second year of the new gen. Fingers crossed i havent had any issues and i have almost 40,000 miles but i know the 06 civic had at least ten recalls

 

[Nick R]

We do, 2003 expedition, first year of the redesign.

 

[ShiningArcanine]

I have a 1995 Toyota Avalon. The Toyota Avalon debuted in 1995, so it is the original design. My parents purchased it in April 1995 when it first became available. It has always gotten us where we need to go.

 

[CROWNVIC4LIFE]

I worked for car service company back in back in 91 and they bought [2] new 91 Town Cars...It was the first year for the 4.6 modular engine...We had no issues what so ever with them and they were driven into oblivion...They also bought [2] new redesigned 4.6 Grand Marquis...They had no issues either.

 

[GMBoy]

I've owned 2 first year models. A 2001 Olds Aurora 4.0V8 and currently a 2008 Cadilllac CTS. The Aurora was trouble free, amazingly given the complexity of the car and being a 1st year GM. My current CTS (3.6DI)is now at 23k miles and also troublefree. I had a 2nd year Fiero, a 1985, but the first year for the GT and V-6 and it was a darn good little car. These were all purchased new. That's all I can think of for now but there may be another.

 

[JHZR2]

Originally Posted By: gizzsdad
Originally Posted By: paulo57509
I'm on my second clutch and second timing belt.


Wow - that seems like a ton of miles on Honda timing belts!!


+1

 

[DeeAgeaux]

93 Chrysler Concorde

Lots of traction control/abs gremlins. Needed about 2 months to fix under warranty. AC problems fixed under warranty. Alot of small recalls can't remember.

70k 95% city miles then transmission whent Kaboom.

Gave car away to charity for tax write off.

03 Honda Accord

TSB for windshield wiper motor. Battery died after 50 months.

The rest have been filters and fluids.

After joining here and Accord fan sites lost peace of mind knowing about auto transmission failures but so far no issues.

 

[artificialist]

My mom owned a 1985 Nissan Maxima, which was the first year Nissan built a FWD Maxima:

P/S rack failed at 40,000 miles, $1200.
A/C compressors lasted 3 years, $500 each.
Alternators lasted 3 years, $500 each
Starters lasted 3 years, $500 each
The first set of halfshafts failed at 50,000 miles, and $600 to do both.
The headlights leaked in water, so dad drilled holes in them to drain the water. Replacements would have been $100 per side.

The T-belt failed at 9 years and 90,000 miles, and mom got rid of it, because fixing an interference type V6 would have been insanely expensive.

My mom had friends with '86, '87, and '88 Maximas, and they had the same set of problems.

However, that car did some things in its 9 years and 90,000 miles that the competition didn't:
No failed smog test
No check engine light
No oil or coolant leaks
The interior held together, only the glove box and cassette player failed.

Whenever someone tells me a Japanese car is automatically good, I tell them about the Maximas built between 1985 and 1988.

I am convinced that what happened was that the engineers were not given enough time by the management to solve the design bugs.

Mom also had a 2002 Toyota Solara, which was the first year the 2AZ-FE engine was used. The oil pan leaked at 40,000 miles, and the argument with the dealership made me very angry at Toyota. I would often see 2002 and 2003 2AZ-FE engines leak oil from the pan gasket.

 

[MNgopher]

'97 Ford F150 delivered in October of '96. Drove it to 163,000 miles - one recall on bad chrome plated bumpers, Firestone tire recall, and the cruise control recall. Otherwise 1 alternator (155,000 miles) and one set of tie rod ends (112,000 miles). Was a great truck and I still wish I hadn't sold it!

 

[artificialist]

EDIT: Also, my 2003 Saturn ION hasn't been nice to me.
Multiple small issues had to be repaired during the first 20,000 miles.

At 50,000 miles, the ignition lock cylinder and case failed, $500!
70,000 miles the control arm bushings failed, and I paid $100 for both. I installed them in 1 and a half hours.
75,000 miles, the struts and mounts failed. I am so glad I could do that by myself.

 

[Chris Meutsch]

2001 Civic. I've been lucky. Only the A/C thermal overload circuit twice ($100 grand total) and the alternator at 178k which I did myself for under $200. 205k on the clock.

 

[fdcg27]

Our '99 Accord is the second year of that generation.
No problems at all in the years since it was new.
My mother has an '03 Accord, the first year of that generation, and has had no problems.
Finally, one of my sisters curently drives a '94 Accord, bought new originally by my parents, the first year of its generation.
It remains trouble free.
I drove the '94 car from OH to Spokane, where it now resides, in 2005, hitting 100K while passing through Wisconsin. I was impressed with how well the old dear drove, averaging 32+ mpg for the trip, with cruising speeds in the mid eighties.

 

[Patman]

I've owned quite a few first or second year models, my very first car was a 1979 Mustang, I only had it a few months but it was a pretty decent car other than the fact that it kept stalling when cold (which was traced to the hot air return from the carburator)

My second car was a 1984 Laser (same as the Daytona) and it was a nightmare car! Tons of problems, it was in the shop at least 20 times in the 18 months I owned it.

Another first year car I owned was an 84 Corvette. There wasn't too many things on that car that actually worked! Almost every major part on that car had some sort of problem with it.

I also owned a 98 Firebird Formula, first year for the redesign and first year with the LS1 engine. This car was very reliable, although that's probably because a lot of the major mechanical parts on the car were out for a while before they went into the "new" f-body.

My current car, my 98 Corvette, is the second year of the 5th generation (known as C5) Corvette and it has been super reliable!! It has only had two repairs in over 5 years of ownership (and one of those repairs I could've fixed myself for free had I known about the free fix that's posted on the Corvetteforum now)

 

[Patman]

Originally Posted By: 97 GTP


87 mustang gt: First year for fuel injected. My only issue was the oil burning with these engines. No other real issues. Owned car for ~9 years and kept in the family for another 4.



The 86 Mustang was the first Mustang to get the fuel injected 5.0 actually, it was rated at 200hp in the 86, then they bumped it up to 225 hp in 87 with the change to a bigger intake, bigger throttle body and different cam. Oil burning is pretty typical of the 5.0 engine, in fact many people say that Ford designed this engine to burn a little bit of oil in order to make it last longer (and it seems to have worked, as the 5.0 engine is a very reliable engine)

 

[JohnBrowning]

I have a 2003 Camry with 2AZ-FE and the only repair to date was actualy done at around 70,000 miles and was a good faith repair based on a TSB. The tensioner pulley would make noise on cold start especialy when it was cold out side. It did not fail it was just noisey the first 10 minutes the car was running. THey changed the tensioner,pulley and belt for $100 which I thought was more then fair! The oil pan is tight and dry "knock on wood" so are all the other seals. My main complaint is the lack of an OEM power steering cooler like all the trucks have as stock. These cars cook the snot out of the ps fluid like made! Never gotten less then 7 years out of a Toyota starter and never had a powersteering pump,alternator or AC compressor fail in less then 12 years of ownership which is by all accounts fair.

I agree the first Maxima's where not that great but they gradualy improved on them and it was not too long before they where very good. Chrysler never fixed the head gasket,belly pan gasket any other gasket issue in 40 years of having very simalar designes for their various small blocks. My Dad's Dart Swinger with 340 engine in it went through 3 sets of head gaskets in the first 17,000 miles he owned it and until Chrylser phased out their Magnum engines they had still had the same issues they had witht he LA series. Then you have GM and it took them what 20+ year to finaly fix the intake manifold leaks on all the 60 degree V6's????!!!?? SO domestics are far worse when you look at how darn long it takes them to fix anything. In fact if you are lucky they just phase out that engine and replace it with a better design!

You have to have a ballance between the engineers and the bean counter's if you give the engineers too much then people cannot afford the product or the company does not make enough profit. If you give the bean counters too much room then you end up with cheap interiors, all kinds of early parts failures and recalls etc......

My Dad tells me that if I had free rein to design a power train no one could afford it unless it was in a Luxury app. I like to design things not too far off from how commerical diesels are designed and that is to say very robust. I like good materials, lots of heat treat and nice surface finish's and all of those are expensive. I have to chose between more technology or better materials I go for materials any day.

In fact my 1986 4Runner is still being used to do hard core 4 wheeling to this day from muding to sand dunes........Last I checked my friend had not managed to breakanything on it yet. That is a testament to it's design. Not many S-10 blazers from 1986 are still on the road and few of them could survive catching 9 feet of air off sand dunes and slaming back to the earth as a matter or weekend routine duty in the spring and summer as well as daily driving. This means that they built it too well and left too much money in the product.

 

[Win]

It has never bothered me to buy the first production run of something. Life is short, why wait?

My '79 Honda Prelude was the first year of that model. That car was so lousy that if it could rip, rust, bust, break, leak, bend, squeak, rattle, short out, or just plain fall off the car, it did.

My '83 Turbo T Bird was an early build, and the only problems it had were trivial, all centered around the poor quality of the early Bosch injectors.

My '89 Jaguar was a trying experience - some of its issues plaqued me well into the 21st century. Still, I loved that car - it was the first car I ever used a hammer on.

My '94 Xj12 was so early it was actually a March '93 build, the problems it has had are mostly caused by too much physical engine mass and thermal mass in too little space, not production date.

The '04 Xj8 was an '03 build, a huge technology jump and still state of the art, and it has been problem free. It only has about 23K on it but I would think anything that was going to break would have done so after six years.

My '04 GTO was problem free except for being hit by lightning - hard to blame that on the car.

My '08 G8 has been problem free so far.

 

[Spector]

1st year model on my 92 Camry, still going at 206,000 with some oil seepages. Many original parts like the alternator, starter exhaust.

 

[NHHEMI]

Originally Posted By: Popinski
Back in late 90's, 1st and 2nd year models usually had poor reliability; they were buggy that needed to be fixed and the last year models were the best built. My Elantra was the last model year and it has been very reliable.

However, I was looking in Consumer Reports and noticed that it was the totally opposite.

To those of you who bought a 1st or 2nd model year, how's the reliability of your car?


The following are vehicles I owned in the 1st and 2nd year of their release and any problems I had...

1994 Dodge Ram( 1st year model ) - some issues but not too bad
2003 Dodge Ram( 1st year model ) - 2 problems( brakes and small electrical )
2004 Dodge Ram( 2nd year model ) - 0 problems = best vehicle I have EVER owned!
2005 Toyota Tacoma( 1st year model ) - more problems in the 7 months I owned it than every other vehicle, both new and used combined, I have owned. Worst vehicle I have ever had the sorry displeasure to own. Engine, brakes, tires, electrical, paint, squeaks/clunks/rattles/wind noises, etc...
2007 New Body Style Chevy Silverado( 1st year model ) - 0 problems