Cars Mechanics Hate (And a few they love...)

Came across this article this morning listing ten cars that mechanics hate (because they're too reliable) and I definitely agree.  It seriously astounds me that, after 30 years of American car makers' lax attention to quality and reliability, there is anyone left who still says "Buy American"... but they're still out there.

I remember when there were still Ford Tempos and Mercury Topazes all over the place.  Those were great days for mechanics - they were guaranteed not to start on the coldest days, they consumed brakes and front end parts like I consume coffee, their alternators even caught fire.  Good times.  In the early-to-mid '90s I worked at a large shop with six Class A techs, and if one of them had worked exclusively on the Tempo/Topazes, he would have been the best paid tech in the shop.  Alas, the Tempo/Topaz was replaced by the Contour/Mystique and then the Focus, which were European designs and a whole lot better in every way.  (Even though we only get the latest Focus platform as the Mazda 3...)

Today no particular car has replaced the Tempo as Mechanic's Sweetheart, but the Cavalier/Sunfire is up there.  They're cheap to buy, they were the best-seller here in Canada for years, and like the Tempo, they fail in very predictable ways, which is great for a mechanic:  It takes very little time to diagnose, and he's done so many that he can do the repair in WAY under book time.  It's great doing brakes on one, the customer always leaves happy and you can catch a nap in the middle.

The irony of it is that, a lot of the time, I can't tell friends and family NOT to buy a car that I know so well due to its consistency of failure, since when it DOES fail I can fix it up easily and cheaply, whereas if they bought something odd and tough like a Subaru I'd be spending time looking up procedures because they're reliable enough that I'm unfamiliar with them!

Please feel free to email me if you have any questions, or comment below!