How true is it that you should avoid 1st year cars due to unknown problems?
I have always heard that you should avoid the first year cars (new model or major redesign) because they have the most problems. Is this true or a wive's tale?
I was thinking about buying the 2016 Honda Civic, which underwent a major redesign, but I'm glad I didn't because they forgot to install some bolt in the engine which causes fires.
Why are you asking if it's true, and then immediately giving an example of it being true?
Depends on who's making it. A first year Maserati is probably an OK bet. Something more budget friendly is more likely to give you trouble.
It is not uncommon for first year cars to have more problems than a 2nd year car. If you buy late in the model year then there's some history to help make a decision on your choice.
As an example: A few years ago Honda (who builds a very good car) redesigned the Civic. It has so many problem they had to immediately do a redesign to fix everyone.
To say always is wrong but sometimes with new tech on some cars the first buyers do get used as guinea pigs to test them.
Yes, in many cases when a new vehicle is released, the people who buy them are kind of like beta testers. They find issues that the manufacturer missed. Vehicles are complex machines with numerous systems that must work in harmony with each other. I wouldn't consider a redesigned model of a tried and true existing vehicle to be risky, though.
I think that may have been true 20 years ago but the whole process of building cars has changed since then. Cars are much more reliable today and the engineering behind them has improved by leaps and bounds.
Recalls happen to every manufacturer on the planet. That isn't something unique to first year vehicles.
Honda has been good for so long and they would fix any recall so I probably wouldn't consider that very likely.
But, I would never buy a brand new car either
It's certainly not always true but it's a rule I personally subscribe to because I've experienced it not only with cars but with other types of products as well. It's not always a case of the first model having problems but that, in the rush to get it to market, they have to leave out features and improvements to make their schedule. Then, the next model has all those left-out features.
Some years ago… Maybe, but generally cars are pretty much technically 'sorted' pre sale.
One bad example that comes to mind was the first BMW Mini's that were rushed into production with hundreds of inbuilt problems prompting recalls and modification by dealers.
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