21st Jun 2007, 23:07

Porsche 911 reliability is among the very best in the world, at the side of the best Mercedes. Durability is even better than other gasoline cars, because it is designed to last for incredible amounts of miles. This is in part because of the very exact balance of engine parts, and also very importantly because it has 8 main bearings -in a 6 cylinders flat engine-; you only really need 5, the other three are there to give the engine an extra durability, through more rigidness.

So, lets keep aside the EVO or WRX, those cars only have 5 main bearings in a 4 cylinders in line engine, which is the normal amount of main bearings.

This design is unique to the 911, no other car has such a quality and no other car even from years before has had such a construction, only the 911, since it came to life in the 60's.

22nd Jun 2007, 07:08

'Porsche 911 reliability is among the very best in the world, at the side of the best Mercedes.'

Are you having a laugh? Mercedes top in terms of reliability?

Maybe 15 years ago, but since the early 90s Mercedes reliability has gradually got worse to the point that now they are one of the most unreliable cars to buy!

The customer satisfaction surveys don't lie!

28th Jun 2007, 21:42

To the comment of the June 22nd:

Yes, statistics can lie. You have to know how to read them. Many of the most renowned statistics on car's reliability, count faults in one only level: they count in the same level of importance a wiper failure or an engine failure, when you cannot really give them the same importance.

Mercedes is among the very best in reliability and durability, the extremely high mileages on so many cars speaks for itself. There are many Mercedes among the cars with highest mileages in the world - by the way, some of them from the '90s... There are other kind of surveys that really speak about reliability and durability in terms of what kind of problems suffer each car and at what amount of miles -approx- one can expect such a problem, in France L'Automobile and Moniteur Automobile does that, in USA the Automotive Consumers Guide - here it is the link: http://consumerguideauto.howstuffworks.com/consumer-guide-used-car-search.htm. But these surveys are not the most known or handled.

How do you explain so high customer satisfaction with Mercedes if their reliability is as low as you say - and I myself can account for it - read the comments about the 190, the E-Class, the C class, the S Class, all of them from the 90's, and they have some of the best ratings in reliability and in durability.

Japanese cars like Toyota and Honda are also very good, but something many don't understand is that it isn't one or the other. There is place for many brands in the highest points. There are many very good brands; also BMW and Audi are among the best.

I have Mercedes and BMW; my Mercedes has 160,000kms, and has never give a single problem - not even battery change in 9 years - just normal service. A friend of mine has the same model that I have, but he has done 600,000kms and no problems. I have had many Mercedes and never had a problem. It would be very difficult to explain something like that if they had "one of the worst reliabilities". Come on! You have to know them to speak about them.

I also have friends with Toyotas and Hondas, and most of them are delighted, although one of them hates his car and doesn't speak well about their reliability. So, there are many ways of seeing it...

Anyway, Porsche is one of the best brands, not only for performance, but also for durability and reliability.

29th Jun 2007, 06:32

'How do you explain so high customer satisfaction with Mercedes'

Customer satisfaction isn't high with Mercedes. Read the ML class reviews, there can't be many cars on here that have had such bad reviews & comments.

Even Mercedes themselves have admitted that their standards aren't what they used to be. They said they were going to lose a third of their profit in a bid to improve on build quality... a comment that speaks for itself.

29th Jun 2007, 17:58

And more on the above comment:

"What Car?" magazine has just pulled out a survey like the ones we are habituated to read based on claims per 100 cars. The results:

The 10 most reliable cars are:

1) Honda Accord (1999-2003)

2) Honda Civic (1996-2001)

3) Rover 25 (1999-2005)

4) Volvo V40 (1996-2004)

5) Volvo S40 (1996-2004). By the way, look at the reviews on these...

6) Nissan Micra (1998-2002)

7) Nissan Primera (1996-1999)

8) Mercedes CLK (1997-2002) Oh! From the 90's!

9) Audi A4 (2000-2005). (Which one, the turbo, the non turbo, the diesel the gasoline model...?)

10) Ford Ka (1996-)

And isn't the CLK engineered with the same engines, transmissions, and even finishings than the Class C? So, is it a survey imprecision to not put the C Class? Or to put in the CLK...?

The worst reliabilities where for the following cars:

1) Renault Espace (1997-02)

2) Audi TT (1999-) Then why isn't here the Golf turbo and the S3, they share the same platform, the same engines, the same transmissions... Another fault of "surveys don't lie..."

3) Saab 9000 (1991-1997). They don't receive so bad reviews in here, I wonder why...

4) BMW 7 Series (1994-2002). What a surprise! They have very good reviews in many places, among them in here...

5) Land Rover Freelander (1997-2000).

6) Saab 9-5 (1997-2001).

7) Renault Laguna (2000-). No surprise here.

8) Fiat Coupé (1995-2001).

9) Jaguar XK8 (1996-)

10) Fiat Punto (1994-1999)

They rank as the best brand Honda, 2nd place for Mazda, 3rd for Toyota, 4th for Nissan, 5th for Lexus (oh, I thought these where the real deal... Below Nissan? Give me a break! They are too expensive to be below Toyota!!! Anyway, Mercedes in 10th -not among the worst as you assure... and Porsche in 14th, That's just to make Porsche owners angry, worst than Daewoo, SEAT, Mercedes or Hyunday? What a shock.

I don't believe Porsche is worst than Mercedes, or that Mercedes is worst than Honda or that Lexus is worst than Toyota (some of their models are the same!)

As I told you before, you have to know how to read a survey, and which ones to read, they do have serious faults, even more serious than the falts of the cars. That's the good thing about this site, we, owners, speak about our cars.

Now, if you look at JD Power results which are very much respected in the field, the top 5 in their latest report of 35 brands are:

1) Porsche

2) Lexus

3) Toyota

4) Mercury

5) Mercedes (Again: not among the worst, as you claim, but among the best... Wow!).

The worst are.

1) Chrysler.

2) Dodge.

3) HUMMER.

4) Jeep.

5) Land Rover

6) Mazda (This will hurt many)

7) Mitsubishi (This also)

8) Suzuki (Wow! What are they trying to say!!!)

9) Volkswagen.

10) Acura.

Well, maybe truth is in the eye of the beholder.

Cheers.