My current car was well-reviewed when new but had a cosmically stupid timing chain design that screws over the second or third owner. But most reviewers are targeting new-car buyers.
Thinking about that made me wonder if there are channels/creators specializing in reviews of cars that have significant mileage on them. Looking at relatively recent cars and asking “how did this model actually hold up? What design flaws should second-hand buyers watch out for?”
RCR kind of ends up doing that sometimes, but it’s not really their specific focus.
Thanks!
The biggest problem with that approach is that people who have had major issues and dissatisfaction probably don’t own the vehicle anymore and thus won’t be found in these groups. I don’t disagree it’s a good place to get feedback, but just be aware of the inherent survivorship bias.
Meh, I find forums are still pretty honest that way.
This. Forums are the best. The issue is, if the car doesn’t have an enthusiast following, info is non-existent.
Every cars I’ve owned the past 30 years have all had strong forum (now reddit) communities. These have people/groups are a treasure trove of information and sadly older indexable/searchable formats are getting less frequented (old school forums), for non searchable formats such as tic tok and you tube.
It seems like for every honest person you get on a forum, you get 10 “best car I ever had, never had any problems and I put 500k on it”.
And for everyone of of those you get a “I’VE HAD NO ISSUES WHATSOEVER. 17,000 MILES ON THE ODOMETER.” Like yeah. It’s not supposed to have any problems at 17,000 miles, even for a poopsmear brand like Jaguar or Alfa.
Forums are just a data point among many. You need to sift through all the garbage and see what passes the sniff test.
My favorite is “just passed the 6 month mark! Still running great and looks new!”
"Just brought her home! Can’t wait to live my best life dailying this beauty!
PS: Will someone explain how to shift this thing?
Anyway, five stars for sure!
I feel like the bias can also go the other way. People who’ve had a bad experience are more likely to complain on the forums and if it ain’t broke people aren’t posting about it.
Forum posters are already an extreme minority.