First, disregard consumer reports and other things like JD power. They gauge reliability on very strange things and their "long term" is usually like 2 years of ownership. One survey I read a few years ago placed a car with transmission issues as more reliable on the scale compared to another which had a few infotainment glitches. This would be fine for a lease, but I'm pretty sure someone who plans on owning a vehicle long-term would be more concerned about potential expensive transmission issues compared to infotainment needing to be turned off and back on for bluetooth issues. The purpose of these reports is mainly to try and educate consumers on the features of new vehicles, not necessarily the 5 years down the road reliability.
Read brand and model specific forums about potential issues on a vehicle you are thinking about buying. This will give you REAL WORLD problems people are having, and work arounds/fixes for them so you know what you are up against and can budget for them. All cars break, but if you are financially prepared and know what you are getting into you can avoid surprise repair bills. Have a plan for repairing the car. Is is a car you can DIY repairs? Can you take it to a local Indy shop? Are air filters $700 a piece? All things you want to know ahead of time. When shopping used look for maintenance records, or parts replaced. I try to buy cars from private owners, dealerships usually throw out any documentation relating to the car so they can hide previous owner info, and then they shine it up to try and hide any flaws. You can learn a lot about how a car was maintained by talking to the previous owner, finding out what parts they bought or where they took the vehicle for maintenance.
Read brand and model specific forums about potential issues on a vehicle you are thinking about buying. This will give you REAL WORLD problems people are having, and work arounds/fixes for them so you know what you are up against and can budget for them. All cars break, but if you are financially prepared and know what you are getting into you can avoid surprise repair bills. Have a plan for repairing the car. Is is a car you can DIY repairs? Can you take it to a local Indy shop? Are air filters $700 a piece? All things you want to know ahead of time. When shopping used look for maintenance records, or parts replaced. I try to buy cars from private owners, dealerships usually throw out any documentation relating to the car so they can hide previous owner info, and then they shine it up to try and hide any flaws. You can learn a lot about how a car was maintained by talking to the previous owner, finding out what parts they bought or where they took the vehicle for maintenance.