this post was submitted on 16 Aug 2025
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Regarding reliability it's weird Hyundai already has such a good reputation for reliability, because it's not many years ago that Hyundai was pretty poor quality. Like for instance the Hyundai Sonata was really awful with rust. And the way the car was built was outdated.
So just a few years ago, there was no comparison that VW and Toyota were vastly superior quality to Hyundai.
I know they are better today,but still I must admit I'm surprised if they are really better than VW?
For instance the Hyundai Kona 64 had a total recall on the batteries. That's an enormous issue to have had.
VW was never comparable to Toyota. The top has always been the Japanese brands, sometimes with caveats about certain transmissions (e.g. Mazda and Mitsubishi CVTs).
German cars are fine, but parts are generally hard to get or are expensive. Many shops won't touch them, so you need to find a European imports shop.
Here's some data from 2024, VW is fourth last, ahead of Land Rover, Audi, and Chrystler. Somehow they're behind Luncoln...
Hyundai and Kia aren't at the top, but they're reasonably good and their price and warranty make up for the issues they have.
Here's the image:
That schematic is basically worthless, first it's "per car", with no mention of average age or mileage.
Mercedes is no doubt among the absolute most reliable cars you can get, most Taxi drivers here use Mercedes for that reason.
But Mercedes also on average drive longer than most other cars, because people who drive a lot tend to prefer Mercedes more.
VW only ranking a couple places above Chrysler is laughable. There is no way that can be right.
Also Audi ranking below VW is ridiculous. Audi is to VW somewhat what Lexus is to Toyota.
Something is definitely off with that chart.
But I do not deny that Hyundai may have improved enough to be as good or maybe even better than VW, What I questioned was how they could have that reputation already few years after they clearly sucked on quality. Being reasonably good now, is exactly as expected though. Because when they were bad over a decade ago, they were so bad there are probably very few left on the roads. It was not just something that needed to be fixed bad, it was very much also end of life for the vehicle bad.
I skimmed the article to find the methodology behind the numbers, but couldn't find it.
That indicates my previous point, they don't account for age, it's easy to stay "average" if your cars are scrapped after a few years. It also explains the poor position of Mercedes.
Here for instance Volvo has a longer life span on average than Toyota. Toyota are good cars, but they are generally not built to last as long as Audi or Mercedes.
I bet you don't see as many 30+ year old Toyota as you do Mercedes.
Audi is full of shit. Don't chalk that pile of garbage up with Mercedes.
But, Toyota is easily better than any German brand. The reason why this just is garbage, is because Honda isn't on top of the list.
Honda should absolutely be higher too. And literally that study is worthless, there is no reliable common set standard for the results, which is probably why I can't even find the methodology used described in the article.
The below linked article based on a TÜV study, is based on legally mandatory safety checks performed by an independent third party:
In this way more rigorous and fair study, based on security issues detected at mandatory checks, VW turns out to be #1!
So clearly Toyota is NOT easily better than VW, Audi or Mercedes, which actually all beat Toyota in an actually useful fully transparent study.
It was claimed earlier that price was a factor in the study posted earlier.
In that regard, I can say that Tesla model 3 is hailed as the cheapest to maintain the first 4 years here in Denmark.
Many car reviewers noted that as a plus for Tesla. But the maintenance also suck balls, because after 4 years we have the first mandatory safety check, and 33% of Tesla model 3 fail that test, even with very serious issues like on steering and brakes. No other brand fails on steering after 4 years!!
So clearly basing it on cost is not worth shit. You may save a buck, and then die next time you need to make a double maneuver or brake hard.
Toyota are absolutely good cars, but they are not easily better than VW. They are mostly on par.