[HPsquared]

Optimizing for cost, weight & performance often comes at the cost of repairability. Buyers compare cars on measurable statistics so they'll buy the one that is cheaper, faster etc.

Watch a Sandy Munro video and see the design details that get a lot of praise. The gigacasting is a nice example: great for performance and manufacturing, but bad for repair. Or, the car not having a separate floorpan and mounting the seats etc directly to the battery casing. Or the octovalve. These are great for everything except repairability.

[kridsdale1]

I guess I break the mold. I buy Toyota/Lexus that are inferior on stats today, but will be fine in 15 years while the other competitors build this year will have been in a scrap yard for 10 already.

[BoorishBears]

I do homework on "unreliable" cars, take good care of them (regular oil changes, preventative maintenance, etc.) and they survive me thrashing them constantly without issue.

The real secret finding what specific platforms/engines/transmission packages have earned a track record for being reliable.

Most Toyotas sold are their reliable models so they get a good track record, but Toyota has put out some poor engines even in cars otherwise known as being reliable, like the Camry

BMW has had some extreme stinkers like their early hot V V8, but there's also BMWs that package the B58 and ZF8, which make such a reliable combo that they're in a currently sold Toyota.

I recommend anyone buying a car and worried about reliability search their specific engine and transmission to find issues, and avoid first generations with no track record because a very common story is a refresh fixing a design flaw in an first revision