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!
I think there’s useful information to be gleaned from owner groups and forums. But I also think a person needs to be careful.
Ownership bias is very real. And I think you tend to actually get more of the extremes. i.e. people who are there to go on about how much they just love their vehicle. Or conversely just how much their experience was the worst ever.
Likewise… the vast majority of people don’t have any significant time with comparable models.
You gotta look into maintenance threads and buyers guides. Less opinion pieces and more gleaning from what people are dealing with. Anyone’s gonna try to sell you if you ask for an opinion.
Look through an e46 forum everyone will tell you they’re reliable if you replace every piece of rubber and plastic every 5 years. Which is partially true but that’s a ton of maintenance itself. You’ll know you’ll be dealing with cooling issues, and there’s a million threads on subframe issues etc.