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+---
+title: Cars I Have Known
+date: 2022-10-02T00:00:00Z
+---
+
+I've owned a few cars so far. In chronological order of ownership:
+
+1. ~1972 Oldsmobile Delta 88
+2. ~1972 Oldsmobile Toronado
+3. ~1989 Honda Prelude
+4. ~1998 Subaru Legacy Wagon
+5. ~1985 Volkswagon Vanagon
+6. 2007 Subaru Outback
+7. 2016 Tesla Model S
+8. 2019 Tesla Model 3
+9. 2017 Nissan LEAF
+10. 2019 Chevrolet Bolt
+
+Tesla manages to be very much in the public conciousness.
+There's this persistent story that the cars are poorly built and unreliable.
+That hasn't been my experience.
+
+This next list ranks these cars from most to least reliable,
+including a need for repairs,
+taking into account that gas cars have a higher baseline maintenance burden.
+
+1. ~1989 Honda Prelude: Nothing
+2. 2017 Nissan LEAF: Several recalls when we first bought it
+3. Tesla Model 3: Recall on a cable in the trunk
+4. 2019 Chevrolet Bolt: Software updates can't happen over the air, and a battery recall that was still open when we bought it
+5. ~1998 Subaru Legacy Wagon: Alternator failure made car die over train tracks!
+6. Tesla Model S: Three door handle microswitch failures, all covered by warranty
+7. 2007 Subaru Outback: Head gasket failed
+8. ~1972 Oldsmobile Delta 88: Older car needed lots of twiddling
+9. ~1972 Oldsmobile Toronado: Older front wheel drive car needed lots and lots of twiddling
+10. ~1988 Volkswagon Vanagon: An endless parade of mechanical problems
+
+Now including regular maintenance items,
+here are the top 5 from most to least pain in the butt to own:
+
+1. Tesla Model 3: The only shop visit has been to replace tires
+2. Tesla Model S: All repairs happened in our driveway
+3. 2017 Nissan LEAF: One shop trip to have multiple recalls performed
+4. 2019 Chevrolet Bolt: One shop trip to have recalls performed
+5. ~1989 Honda Prelude: Required regular maintenance at an auto shop
+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
+
+And in terms of best to worst service center experience,
+the list is:
+
+1. Tesla
+2. Everybody else
+
+I could write pages and pages of complaints about the dealership service center experience
+for every car we've had.
+I'm really hoping,
+now that Tesla has illustrated how to sell and service cars without dealerships,
+that other manufacturers start doing the same thing,
+because the dealership experience is uniformly horrid.
+
+---
+
+Amy, on reading this list,
+commented that if she had to buy a gas car again,
+she'd want something like the Legacy wagon.
+I agree with that: it was a pretty good gas car.
+
+But we'd rather have any electric than any gas car.
+They need way less regular maintenance,
+which means that even the nightmare experience of dealing with a dealership is less frequent.