Reliable premium sports cars ? Do they exist ?

[phib]

Reading so many threads recently where it seems so many modern sports cars have fundamental issues i.e. Porsche 996 / 997 engines RMS, Audi DSG etc etc are there any premium sports cars that don't have a big issues to look out for ? And that would last for 100k miles without the wallet being drained !!

Maybe Jag F ?

Phib

[kambites]

I guess the smaller the volumes mechanical components are built in, the less thoroughly it's viable to test them so your best bet will be a sports car using a drive-train which is found in more mundane vehicles. Corvette maybe?

[itcaptainslow]

I'm biased but Lotus-their drivetrains are Toyota and seem to suffer very few problems. Goes for both in the Elise, Exige and Evora (clutches seem to be the biggest issue with these and I guess that's mainly wear & tear).

Think it must help the cars are lightweight and relatively simple.

[mackay45]

Not all Porsches are unreliable...

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

[kambites]

itcaptainslow said:

I'm biased but Lotus-their drivetrains are Toyota and seem to suffer very few problems. Goes for both in the Elise, Exige and Evora (clutches seem to be the biggest issue with these and I guess that's mainly wear & tear).

Think it must help the cars are lightweight and relatively simple.

The engines are generally reliable, but the rest of the cars hardly tend to be faultless.

[Pete Eroleum]

Honda NSX/NSX type-R would be my choice. Or wait until Lexus makes one.

[ChemicalChaos]

I'm fairly convinced that a lot of problems stem from a) owners trying to run a 100k hand-built car like a 20k white goods car,
Or b) owners using them once in a blue moon causing things to sieze up or electronics to go senile.

Case in point - my Range Rover worked just dandy as a daily driver on my placement last year and wanted nothing for maintenance. Since I went back to uni in September it only gets a fortnightly 10 mile run out. In that time it's ruined a battery and the park interlock on the gearbox failed, trapping the key in the ignition.

[phib]

itcaptainslow said:

I'm biased but Lotus-their drivetrains are Toyota and seem to suffer very few problems. Goes for both in the Elise, Exige and Evora (clutches seem to be the biggest issue with these and I guess that's mainly wear & tear).

Think it must help the cars are lightweight and relatively simple.

Funny I have a lotus elise ( Toyota engine) too and its been very good (touch wood) the last really reliable sports cars I had / have were Porsche 993's, the 996 GT2 and Ferrari 355.

I always did 30k in my 911's (had 9 of them 993's x 3 were good as was GT2 however the 996' and 997's were less reliable), granturismo was fine ( had an early 4.2) etc etc

Just wonder what the equivalent is now

Phib

[Loyly]

Yep, Lotus seem to have played a blinder in recent years. A good host of reliable cars with strong engines.

The 981 Boxster seems very good too.

[MorganP104]

Pete Eroleum said:

Honda NSX/NSX type-R would be my choice. Or wait until Lexus makes one.

Lexus LFA, anyone?

[Pete Eroleum]

MorganP104 said:

Lexus LFA, anyone?

Well, I think I'd call that more of a supercar than a sportscar, and not just on price.

[RobM77]

I think there are a few effects at work here:

• Whilst we hear a lot about these problems, it remains a very small percentage of owners. If we got people to post every few weeks if their car was running well we'd see the true stats, but forums would be very boring!

• If you spend more money on a car, your expectations will be higher and thus your frustration will be greater if it goes wrong. In my group of friends I've known 2 fairly major engine problems with Fords and another 3 break downs requiring serious work, but when these failures happened, my friends just got a bit depressed about it and had it fixed, they didn't start shouting from the rooftops about the issue. In this way, the internet makes us think £50k Porsches are less reliable than Fords. My evidence is anecdotal, but I wouldn't be surprised at all if this effect is real, there's certainly solid evidence in other arenas of expectations vs purchase cost.

• People who are interested in cars tend to take part in online discussions and write to car magazines etc a lot more than people who aren't interested in cars. Plus people who are interested in cars do, on average, own more interesting cars (e.g. sports cars). Ergo we hear more about running Porsches day to day than we do Kias.

• It's tempting to think that these stories affect all nice sports cars, but actually I'm sure there are loads that we've forgotten about that don't have tales of woe associated with them; the BMW Z4 for example, or the Mercedes SLK.

[C7 JFW]

I've got to admit, Lotus Evora or Honda NSX, those are really the best options in my eyes. Japanese reliability.

Edited by C7 JFW on Monday 20th February 15:56

[hoegaardenruls]

ChemicalChaos said:

I'm fairly convinced that a lot of problems stem from a) owners trying to run a 100k hand-built car like a 20k white goods car,
Or b) owners using them once in a blue moon causing things to sieze up or electronics to go senile.

Case in point - my Range Rover worked just dandy as a daily driver on my placement last year and wanted nothing for maintenance. Since I went back to uni in September it only gets a fortnightly 10 mile run out. In that time it's ruined a battery and the park interlock on the gearbox failed, trapping the key in the ignition.

Likewise, if you read all the horror stories on the internet, you wouldn't buy any car in the first place.

The Porsche 997 (Gen 1 Turbo) I've just moved on from was pretty much faultless over nearly four years and 29k miles, other than the usual Porsche battery issues. The recent DFI engines have a much better reputation as well.

[bordseye]

kambites said:

The engines are generally reliable, but the rest of the cars hardly tend to be faultless.

Had an Elise R for 7 years and the only problem in that time was a plug falling out of the multi function relay pack on the bulkhead. Cured by pushing it back in when the RAC got me home. Not a single issue apart from that.

Not sure that I would class them as a premium sports car though

[MorganP104]

Pete Eroleum said:

MorganP104 said:

Lexus LFA, anyone?

Well, I think I'd call that more of a supercar than a sportscar, and not just on price.

To be fair, you mentioned the NSX Type-R, so I thought I was in the same ballpark with the LFA.

[Pete Eroleum]

MorganP104 said:

Pete Eroleum said:

MorganP104 said:

Lexus LFA, anyone?

Well, I think I'd call that more of a supercar than a sportscar, and not just on price.

To be fair, you mentioned the NSX Type-R, so I thought I was in the same ballpark with the LFA.

Good grief! I didn't realise the NSX Type-R was that much. Strewth! Scratch that from my very short list then.

[MorganP104]

Pete Eroleum said:

Good grief! I didn't realise the NSX Type-R was that much. Strewth! Scratch that from my very short list then.

It was the Honda badge, wasn't it? Made you think the car would be reasonably priced, didn't it?

[Pete Eroleum]

MorganP104 said:

It was the Honda badge, wasn't it? Made you think the car would be reasonably priced, didn't it?

Lol,actually no, I'm a mechanic, so I generally just care about the quality of the oily bits. I remember how much it was when it was released,
I just didn't realise it had gone up by quite that much since.

[itcaptainslow]

kambites said:

itcaptainslow said:

I'm biased but Lotus-their drivetrains are Toyota and seem to suffer very few problems. Goes for both in the Elise, Exige and Evora (clutches seem to be the biggest issue with these and I guess that's mainly wear & tear).

Think it must help the cars are lightweight and relatively simple.

The engines are generally reliable, but the rest of the cars hardly tend to be faultless.

I'd disagree-on my previous Elise (a K-Series at that too!) I've only ever had to replace wear parts and fit a new radiator-pretty reasonable I'd say for a 15 year old car. The interior quality on my S3 is noticeably better than earlier cars too; the fit, finish and quality of the materials is all excellent.