69 lines
2.7 KiB
Markdown
69 lines
2.7 KiB
Markdown
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title: Cars I Have Known
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---
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I've owned a few cars so far. In chronological order of ownership:
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1. ~1972 Oldsmobile Delta 88
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2. ~1972 Oldsmobile Toronado
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3. ~1989 Honda Prelude
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4. ~1998 Subaru Legacy Wagon
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5. ~1985 Volkswagon Vanagon
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6. 2007 Subaru Outback
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7. 2016 Tesla Model S
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8. 2019 Tesla Model 3
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9. 2017 Nissan LEAF
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10. 2019 Chevrolet Bolt
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Tesla manages to be very much in the public conciousness.
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There's this persistent story that the cars are poorly built and unreliable.
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That hasn't been my experience.
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This next list ranks these cars from most to least reliable,
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including a need for repairs,
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taking into account that gas cars have a higher baseline maintenance burden.
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1. ~1989 Honda Prelude: Nothing
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2. 2017 Nissan LEAF: Several recalls when we first bought it
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3. Tesla Model 3: Recall on a cable in the trunk
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4. 2019 Chevrolet Bolt: Software updates can't happen over the air, and a battery recall that was still open when we bought it
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5. ~1998 Subaru Legacy Wagon: Alternator failure made car die over train tracks!
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6. Tesla Model S: Three door handle microswitch failures, all covered by warranty
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7. 2007 Subaru Outback: Head gasket failed
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8. ~1972 Oldsmobile Delta 88: Older car needed lots of twiddling
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9. ~1972 Oldsmobile Toronado: Older front wheel drive car needed lots and lots of twiddling
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10. ~1988 Volkswagon Vanagon: An endless parade of mechanical problems
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Now including regular maintenance items,
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here are the top 5 from most to least pain in the butt to own:
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1. Tesla Model 3: The only shop visit has been to replace tires
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2. Tesla Model S: All repairs happened in our driveway
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3. 2017 Nissan LEAF: One shop trip to have multiple recalls performed
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4. 2019 Chevrolet Bolt: One shop trip to have recalls performed
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5. ~1989 Honda Prelude: Required regular maintenance at an auto shop
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6. ~1998 Subaru Legacy Wagon: Regular maintenance at shop, and alternator replacement ate 3 days from our vacation and also required body work because it fell off the tow truck
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And in terms of best to worst service center experience,
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the list is:
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1. Tesla
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2. Everybody else
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I could write pages and pages of complaints about the dealership service center experience
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for every car we've had.
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I'm really hoping,
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now that Tesla has illustrated how to sell and service cars without dealerships,
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that other manufacturers start doing the same thing,
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because the dealership experience is uniformly horrid.
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---
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Amy, on reading this list,
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commented that if she had to buy a gas car again,
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she'd want something like the Legacy wagon.
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I agree with that: it was a pretty good gas car.
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But we'd rather have any electric than any gas car.
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They need way less regular maintenance,
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which means that even the nightmare experience of dealing with a dealership is less frequent.
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