The secret to Japanese car reliability - REVEALED!
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Date: 2022-04-11
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Comments and reviews: 10
Paul
As well as reliability, Japenese culture and ethos includes premium customer service as a matter of respect. Respect for customers is reflected as respect for nation and self. It is this respect and pride in workmanship that was missing from the West who just concentrated on profit and cheapness.
I drive a Lexus F Sport RX450h as featured. It is the best car I've ever owned. Those who scoff that it's not the fastest. real world 0-60 in 6. 8secs (as tested) is fast enough for anyone and huge combined torque = effortless overtakes. It does this whilst carrying 4 in complete luxury and is capable of going around the earth 10 times before you need worry about anything major on that lovely v6 engine. Can you see any landrover or jag managing this? No. They'd need an articulated lorry full of spares and a large team just to keep the things on the road.
Don't be fooled though. The best quality goes into the better Lexus cars so you buy either the LS or the RX if you want the best. Cheaper models have their issues and all suffer from things like premature suspension wear. primarily control arm bushes failing due to our roads and their weight being heavy hybrids. Avoid their diesels. those are far less reliable. Older lexus cars are best in petrol form. Best bang for buck is the older non hybrid GS300 V6 3 litre. Ls luxury in a car to rival pure driving pleasure of bmw.
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As well as reliability, Japenese culture and ethos includes premium customer service as a matter of respect. Respect for customers is reflected as respect for nation and self. It is this respect and pride in workmanship that was missing from the West who just concentrated on profit and cheapness.
I drive a Lexus F Sport RX450h as featured. It is the best car I've ever owned. Those who scoff that it's not the fastest. real world 0-60 in 6. 8secs (as tested) is fast enough for anyone and huge combined torque = effortless overtakes. It does this whilst carrying 4 in complete luxury and is capable of going around the earth 10 times before you need worry about anything major on that lovely v6 engine. Can you see any landrover or jag managing this? No. They'd need an articulated lorry full of spares and a large team just to keep the things on the road.
Don't be fooled though. The best quality goes into the better Lexus cars so you buy either the LS or the RX if you want the best. Cheaper models have their issues and all suffer from things like premature suspension wear. primarily control arm bushes failing due to our roads and their weight being heavy hybrids. Avoid their diesels. those are far less reliable. Older lexus cars are best in petrol form. Best bang for buck is the older non hybrid GS300 V6 3 litre. Ls luxury in a car to rival pure driving pleasure of bmw.
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Beatwolf
Sorry to see that you really do not seem engaged in this one matt. We know you are a German car fetishist, but come on, at least act like you aren't a little bit impressed by the reliability of the Japanese cars. They might not tickle your balls as much as a BMW but for many people that doesn't matter as much as a reliably car that doesn't brake down. Especially in this age where we have to try to watch our carbon footprint. more repairs means consuming more of our earths resources. People are starting to tire of it, and with the increasing performance and longevity of electric cars, the German manufacturers really have to step up. Also, it would have been interesting if you had done a bit of digging on the fundamental differences between the engineering philosophies of German car builders and Japanese ones. Despite my comments, great video with some great insight. (Owner of a 2018 Passat and a Toyta Corolla 1. 6, 2001): )
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Sorry to see that you really do not seem engaged in this one matt. We know you are a German car fetishist, but come on, at least act like you aren't a little bit impressed by the reliability of the Japanese cars. They might not tickle your balls as much as a BMW but for many people that doesn't matter as much as a reliably car that doesn't brake down. Especially in this age where we have to try to watch our carbon footprint. more repairs means consuming more of our earths resources. People are starting to tire of it, and with the increasing performance and longevity of electric cars, the German manufacturers really have to step up. Also, it would have been interesting if you had done a bit of digging on the fundamental differences between the engineering philosophies of German car builders and Japanese ones. Despite my comments, great video with some great insight. (Owner of a 2018 Passat and a Toyta Corolla 1. 6, 2001): )
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07wrxtr1
+ The culture is different in that they take their job more seriously as the family is more interdependent, unlike most western nations where -You're 18, get the F outta here! -. US Corporations try to mimic this by pulling this whole bs: -We're one big family- as if the company is a replacement for intact families. This is why there to this day is still a wide gap and that usually shows up in resell values at the end of the day. In Japan, your name is your reputation. I'm not how much that's changed in present day, however I have heard that is/was a key reason why Japanese workers take more pride in what they do. Here, in the US, you probably still don't want that C8 built on a Friday or Monday lol. Overall US culture has embedded resentment as the hierarchical corporate structure favors the few at the expense of the many, and this is why we now have next to no experts as workers are forced to job hop for pay raises.
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+ The culture is different in that they take their job more seriously as the family is more interdependent, unlike most western nations where -You're 18, get the F outta here! -. US Corporations try to mimic this by pulling this whole bs: -We're one big family- as if the company is a replacement for intact families. This is why there to this day is still a wide gap and that usually shows up in resell values at the end of the day. In Japan, your name is your reputation. I'm not how much that's changed in present day, however I have heard that is/was a key reason why Japanese workers take more pride in what they do. Here, in the US, you probably still don't want that C8 built on a Friday or Monday lol. Overall US culture has embedded resentment as the hierarchical corporate structure favors the few at the expense of the many, and this is why we now have next to no experts as workers are forced to job hop for pay raises.
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striker3
Actually it was an American that improved not only Japanese cars but Japanese Mfg in General! In 1950, Japanese businessmen turned to an obscure American from Wyoming to help them rebuild an economy shattered in World War II. That industrial expert, W. Edwards Deming, taught Japan-s manufacturers how to produce top quality products economically. The Japanese used that knowledge to turn the global economy on its head and beat U. S. industry at its own game.
Companies such as Toyota Motor Corp. and Sony Corp. adopted Deming-s concepts and became world-class producers in their fields, helping Japan become one of the planet-s dominant economic powers. Japan-s rise was the start of a regional metamorphosis. Asia eventually became a manufacturing giant. Although American companies could have learned from Deming, most ignored him for decades even as Asian competitors gobbled away at Americans- customer base and profits.
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Actually it was an American that improved not only Japanese cars but Japanese Mfg in General! In 1950, Japanese businessmen turned to an obscure American from Wyoming to help them rebuild an economy shattered in World War II. That industrial expert, W. Edwards Deming, taught Japan-s manufacturers how to produce top quality products economically. The Japanese used that knowledge to turn the global economy on its head and beat U. S. industry at its own game.
Companies such as Toyota Motor Corp. and Sony Corp. adopted Deming-s concepts and became world-class producers in their fields, helping Japan become one of the planet-s dominant economic powers. Japan-s rise was the start of a regional metamorphosis. Asia eventually became a manufacturing giant. Although American companies could have learned from Deming, most ignored him for decades even as Asian competitors gobbled away at Americans- customer base and profits.
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Scott
This is good content, Matt. There is no doubt here in the States as well that Japanese cars objectively have the best reputation for reliability. But I've always struggled with why other manufacturers (especially the US ones) haven't looked at these cars and those processes you mentioned and said -we have got to match this kind of reliability. - And if they have, nobody has been as successful at it. Sure, there are always outlier cars out there with tons of miles but I just get the feeling that the other car makers dont want to spend the resources and apply the extra TLC that the Japanese car makers do. My only guess is because a large group of people continue to buy cars mainly for their looks and/or specs, which is understandable (something like the late Dodge Avenger.
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This is good content, Matt. There is no doubt here in the States as well that Japanese cars objectively have the best reputation for reliability. But I've always struggled with why other manufacturers (especially the US ones) haven't looked at these cars and those processes you mentioned and said -we have got to match this kind of reliability. - And if they have, nobody has been as successful at it. Sure, there are always outlier cars out there with tons of miles but I just get the feeling that the other car makers dont want to spend the resources and apply the extra TLC that the Japanese car makers do. My only guess is because a large group of people continue to buy cars mainly for their looks and/or specs, which is understandable (something like the late Dodge Avenger.
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Ben
I understand it was BMW who pioneered the use of plastic parts under the bonnet(water pumps, thermostat housings etc). VW quickly followed. I-m sure Toyota we-re watching this trend with interest, possibly focusing on the longer term parts failure stats and anecdotal customer reports. Here in Australia plastic parts are known to have a limited life due to the continued ambient heat, sitting under a hot bonnet in a vehicle which hasn-t been driven since yesterday. Cracked radiators, thermostat housings, turbo pipes etc have been experienced repeatedly by owners.
I wonder if Toyota, and other Japanese makers, are now using more plastics under hood? If so, the compounds used may be more flexible etc?
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I understand it was BMW who pioneered the use of plastic parts under the bonnet(water pumps, thermostat housings etc). VW quickly followed. I-m sure Toyota we-re watching this trend with interest, possibly focusing on the longer term parts failure stats and anecdotal customer reports. Here in Australia plastic parts are known to have a limited life due to the continued ambient heat, sitting under a hot bonnet in a vehicle which hasn-t been driven since yesterday. Cracked radiators, thermostat housings, turbo pipes etc have been experienced repeatedly by owners.
I wonder if Toyota, and other Japanese makers, are now using more plastics under hood? If so, the compounds used may be more flexible etc?
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Nolkyo
There is a lot of things you forgot:
Mainly: The customer's satisfaction is paramount for japanese brand in Japan. If you buy a new car and it breaks down, it's a huge failure for the car company and the dealership, a brand's reputation is much more important than in some of our western country where service is shitty because guess what, they mainly sell new cars to company so they don't really have any interest in the long term reliability.
If a car breaks down well they think they're gonna just be selling their new car in 10 years while in japan they would think the owner would never buy a car from this brand again.
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There is a lot of things you forgot:
Mainly: The customer's satisfaction is paramount for japanese brand in Japan. If you buy a new car and it breaks down, it's a huge failure for the car company and the dealership, a brand's reputation is much more important than in some of our western country where service is shitty because guess what, they mainly sell new cars to company so they don't really have any interest in the long term reliability.
If a car breaks down well they think they're gonna just be selling their new car in 10 years while in japan they would think the owner would never buy a car from this brand again.
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Ray
I'd also add Mazda in the list of the most reliable Japanese brands! Mazda inline engines are as reliable as Honda and Toyota and I'm talking purely by experience! We had a 1996 323 1. 5 (which we sold in 2009 to get a Mazda 6 GH 1. 8) and it never let us down! It even had a metallic intake manifold instead of the dreary plastic hell all modern cars have!
Also, don't forget that all Mazdas come to us from Hiroshima, in Japan, and they've always come from there! This certainly means something!
P. S.: Get your Wankel/Rotary stuff out, this video is about reliability! -
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I'd also add Mazda in the list of the most reliable Japanese brands! Mazda inline engines are as reliable as Honda and Toyota and I'm talking purely by experience! We had a 1996 323 1. 5 (which we sold in 2009 to get a Mazda 6 GH 1. 8) and it never let us down! It even had a metallic intake manifold instead of the dreary plastic hell all modern cars have!
Also, don't forget that all Mazdas come to us from Hiroshima, in Japan, and they've always come from there! This certainly means something!
P. S.: Get your Wankel/Rotary stuff out, this video is about reliability! -
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Nolkyo
I am sorry but the Toyota Supra's story is very unique.
There is -Up to Speed- Episode on that car and it's 2JZ engine but in a few line:
It is a car that been over engineered because it was created to compete in the GT500 Japanese's supercar serie and they just decided to use a FORGED engine from factory to power up this car.
The car itself is legendary for that but it's not a supercar nor a sport car, it's just a 90's GT with an amazing engine, but it reality its concurrents were the Nissan 300ZX and the Mitsubishi 3000GT
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I am sorry but the Toyota Supra's story is very unique.
There is -Up to Speed- Episode on that car and it's 2JZ engine but in a few line:
It is a car that been over engineered because it was created to compete in the GT500 Japanese's supercar serie and they just decided to use a FORGED engine from factory to power up this car.
The car itself is legendary for that but it's not a supercar nor a sport car, it's just a 90's GT with an amazing engine, but it reality its concurrents were the Nissan 300ZX and the Mitsubishi 3000GT
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Dave
Whilst I admit that Toyota and Honda are the MOST reliable cars, I gotta give a shoutout to Volvo, at least the older TRUE volvos (not the Ford era ones.
I think Volvo's pursuit of Safety also meant that the cars had to be very reliable. A good volvo will last the same, if not longer than a Honda/Toyota, because Honda's rust out, and Volvos dont. Volvo very expensive maintainence though BUT they are more luxurious and better equipped.
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Whilst I admit that Toyota and Honda are the MOST reliable cars, I gotta give a shoutout to Volvo, at least the older TRUE volvos (not the Ford era ones.
I think Volvo's pursuit of Safety also meant that the cars had to be very reliable. A good volvo will last the same, if not longer than a Honda/Toyota, because Honda's rust out, and Volvos dont. Volvo very expensive maintainence though BUT they are more luxurious and better equipped.
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