My current car was well-reviewed when new but had a cosmically stupid timing chain design that screws over the second or third owner. But most reviewers are targeting new-car buyers.
Thinking about that made me wonder if there are channels/creators specializing in reviews of cars that have significant mileage on them. Looking at relatively recent cars and asking “how did this model actually hold up? What design flaws should second-hand buyers watch out for?”
RCR kind of ends up doing that sometimes, but it’s not really their specific focus.
Thanks!
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Edmunds Used Consumer Reviews is my go-to. Here is an example for the BMW 1-Series.
It’s actually kind of hard to find. In a perverse kinda way, I think the site doesn’t really want you to find this area because some brands get really crappy reviews from owners, and I think Edmunds doesn’t want to upset these brands.
Savagegeese has a few like that, but they are definitely in the minority. I think most recently they’ve had a GR Corolla, Civic Type R, MDX Type S, GR 86, and Mazda 3 hatch long term reviews that talked about the ownership experiences.
I’ve considered doing this, but for vehicles from the 90’s and 2000’s. I have a fondness for sub $3000 cars and love diving into the forums and researching how they hold up. I also have a ton of experience from that era of vehicles with high miles. It would be pretty easy to keep a steady flow of good content while I rack up miles for personal long-term reviews.
Alex on Autos (aka Auto Buyers Guide) has had a few long termers, but not huge.
At least form what I can recall –
- 2nd gen Kia Soul EV
- Mustang Mach E
- Kia EV 6
- Tesla Model 3 Standard Range
- Rav4 Prime
- Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV (their current long term).
Go talk to a mechanic. Even though I’m primarily a Toyota guy, I have my finger on the pulse of what’s what in the industry.
Which is why I only buy Toyota and Lexus vehicles…
Hoovie and the Car Wizard
Harry’s garage
Was about to post this. Harry does long and very long term reviews occasionally but he typically doesn’t cover cars that the average American car enthusiast would care about
There are long term car reviews. But by the time they are completed, a lot of people already bought shiny new car.
Well the simple fact is that you can’t assess long term reliability on a new car. That requires many data points on many high mile cars to be able to see trends.
What you can do is look at brand reputation and what parts are carried over. If the car is new, but the drivetrain is a known quantity proven to be reliable in other models then you can generally assume that the drivetrain will maintain its reliability.
Those kinds of reviews are very hard to get views for unless they are significantly well-known classic cars. And in that case their price tags can rival new cars if not surpass.
It is fundamentally and literally impossible for a single creator to do multiple concurrent long term reviews. You have to rely on different owners for different cars you are interested in, and in the case of Youtube, that is not too difficult since you can search the model and ‘long term review’ to find a lot of amateurs giving their input. But as others have said, this is one of those topics that online forums do a better job.
Munro Live disassembles cars and talks about their build spec/design and shortcomings.
Car and Driver also does long-term tests and reviews.
Try ReDriven.
You can look up reliability ratings of old cars in Consumer Reports. If you don’t want to pay for the membership, check your local library. They sometimes can give you access for free.
Motorweek has a long term update I think