All of these vehicles were independently inspected and appraised by professional car buyers who are trained to detect mechanical and structural issues, which can be overlooked or unreported by the owners in other industry studies, and are recorded by those who have no owner bias.
These first cars will have manual controls for the test drivers to override the cars’ autonomous driving systems, as required by current California law. But Google plans to build the bulk of the cars as fully autonomous — no steering wheel, no gas or brake pedal.
They differ from the Google self-driving car project and experiments by other automakers on completely autopiloted cars. In the Nissan models drivers will remain in control, using the technology to aid the vehicle’s operations, according to Ghosn.
New? Used? It doesn’t matter. Over time, quality always manages to reveal itself. The tough part for you is that most automotive publications will only test the new stuff, and most quality studies are only focused on first owners and short-term results.
Honda Accord: The Accord carries a stiff price premium in today’s used car market due in large part due to its reputation for reliability. Yet, the flies in the ointment are automatic transmissions for their older six-cylinder models. Honda recalled over a million vehicles way back in 2004. However, there are reports that transmission issues for those recall vehicles still persist, and our survey shows that this issue remains chronic enough to make the Honda Accord just below average in terms of long-term reliability.
Honda Odyssey: Until recently the Honda Odyssey was the gold standard in the minivan market. Not anymore. From 1999 thru 2006 the Honda Odyssey experienced very high transmission rate failures, and despite earlier attempts to fix the problem, we’re finding that the problems are chronic for these model years. The Odyseey is now the worst-performing Honda-built vehicle in our study.