re: Why are there still so many unreliable car brands?

I may just be lucky but I've owned Jeep, Ford, Chevy, and Honda and I've never had a major problem with any of them.

Changing alternator on a couple is probaly the most expensive repair I've done to any of them

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Agree. But again, the Japanese figured this out many years ago. See, Honda CRX HF. 50+ mpg reported frequently.

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We had a Nissan altima that had the cvt go out with 63k on it. Costs twice as much as a regular transmission with very little benefit.

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We had a Nissan altima that had the cvt go out with 63k on it. Costs twice as much as a regular transmission with very little benefit.

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THose CVT trannies are expensive. Dad just had one put in a customer's Versa, $3700.

But they actually have an unearned reputation, they are no better or worse in terms of durability than a conventional automatic, just more expensive when things go wrong.

Yep. It was around 4k I seem to remember.

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I may just be lucky but I've owned Jeep, Ford, Chevy, and Honda and I've never had a major problem with any of them

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I've owned Jeep, Honda, Nissan, 2 Dodge Rams, Dodge Dakota and a Ford. The only one that had any major repairs was the Nissan Altima.

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It hurts me to say this but, don’t buy American. The big three make inferior products to the quality import brands. Chrysler being by far the worst of the big three.

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The GMC/Chevrolet full size trucks are better than the Tundra or Titan, and more reliable. They have been for a very long time.
I've lost count of the full-size GM trucks I know with over 500k miles.

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We had a Nissan altima that had the cvt go out with 63k on it. Costs twice as much as a regular transmission with very little benefit.

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CVTs had problems across the board. All makers that had CVTs had problems with them. For most makers, their trannys are contracted out. ZF for example, makes many of the auto trannys in all the Euro brands.

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Why are there still so many unreliable car brands?

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They're more reliable than ever.

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Hilarious that you both try to say that the Dodges being rated lower in some categories proves they are junk and that the ratings are a joke because the dodge minivans are rated high LOL

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What's hilarious is that YOUR link made my point for ME. The JD Power ratings are silly, overall, because they are rating some crude measure called "initial quality". In a nutshell, if you would try reading, they are supposedly looking at owner reported problems in the first 90 days of ownership. And since I've owned a few new cars over the years, I can tell you it's totally subjective. They send you an email link and pose a number of questions to new buyers where you rate various things on a scale of 1-5, etc. My father-in-law is a huge Chrysler fan. If he bought a RAM today and had three issues with it in the first 90 days, he wouldn't acknowledge them as "problems" because he loves the brand and rationalizes the issues as either new car quirks or assumes he just doesn't understand the problem. He's had a few major issues over the years with several Chrysler vehicles, yet if you ask him about their reliability, he'll swear by them. And 60-year-old grandma and her new T&C isn't going to know her tranny shifting into reverse hard is an issue until it finally drops 20k miles later. So what do you think she'll say on her survey? My point stands that "initial quality" ratings are garbage marketing material for the manufacturers and that's about it. It doesn't change the fact that not only are Chrysler products at the bottom in most of JD Power's categories, but they are ALSO at the bottom in just about everyone else's, too. The Odyssey, on the other hand, is number 1 or 2 in everyone else's reviews. At least Chrysler can say it's consistent.

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JD Powers is recognized as the experts on this subject fool.

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Recognized by whom? The car makers?

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The RAM truck is praised here as one of the best

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Chrysler products

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Oh...okay. Maybe.

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and one of the best trucks overall

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in actuality it turns out that Rams had more reported problems per 100 vehicles than Chrysler did from 2006-2016

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I'd believe it.

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And ALL of the Chrysler lines beat out Honda who no one would call junk.

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Uuuuuummmmmm.........wut? Where dis?

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The actual numbers prove what I have posted on here several times

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Not in this thread.

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ALL Manufacturers today build quality cars across the board.

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For the most part, yes. But there are some that are better at it than others {lookin' at you, Chrysler}.

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That isn't 216 major problems either, that is 216 problems no matter how minor.

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Which goes back to my first statement above and the subjectiveness of "initial quality" ratings from JDP. My father-in-law would brush off a bad O2 sensor in the first 90 days or so as a fluke whereas a new Camry owner may be frustrated at not understanding how to operate their infotainment center and thinking it isn't working properly. One of these things is not like the other; yet they get weighted the same in the JDP surveys.

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Brands to never buy...

Land Rover (I currently own one)
Jaguar
Chrysler/Jeep/Dodge (not including the Wrangler)
Lotus
GM
VW

Brands that are okay but there are typically better options...

Audi
Ford (excluding the F-250/350 as no other brands really offer a reliable alternative to. If I was in the market for a heavy duty work truck this is what I would buy. Well, maybe a customized Mitsubishi Fuso or Isuzu NPR)
Nissan
Saab

Brands that are worth buying under special circumstances(such as, you work on them yourself or have access to cheap parts)...

MB (I currently own one)
BMW
Subaru
Volvo
Porsche


Brands that the majority of people should consider...

Honda/Acura (I currently own one)
Toyota/Lexus
Mazda (VERY UNDERRATED)
Infiniti
Hyundai
Kia
Suzuki
Isuzu

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Agree with all of this, save Suzuki (not really sure since they pulled out of the consumer vehicle market) and Isuzu (also out of the consumer market). Isuzu vehicles were also largely just rebranded Honda (Rodeo/Passport) and GM vehicles (Ascender/Envoy/TrailBlazer). The Trooper was one they did pretty well, though.

I recently bought a 2017 Hyundai Elantra Limited/Ultimate as I have a 30 miles one-way commute to work and needed better gas mileage. The warranty is top notch and the features are near endless. But one of the big selling points....Atkinson cycle engine with a 6-speed tranny. No GDI with a CVT BS.