The reality is no one wants "a reliable car". Reliability does not sell. No one wants advice on buying a reliable car.

What 99.9% buyers want is someone to tell them they car they *want* for a whole host of other reasons is the best possible buy and the one they should go for, Do not just think this is "young" buyers either - it applies to everyone.

If decent, boring and reliable sold Nissan would have conquered the market with the Almera. They didn't - it was a massive flop so much so they left the segment.

VAG cars are terrible - loads of fundamental design faults they never admit to and put right. The result: largest manufacturer in Europe, huge profits and very good residuals.

The problem is that too many people, including many designers and execs in the motor, think that reliable cars and ones that are stylish, good handling/reasonably quick (but comfortable), decently equipped at a reasonable price are mutually exclusive.

I don't believe that is the case, as (I know I'm biased as I own one) Mazda generally (not with their diesels - they have some way to go there) have demonstrated in the last decade. Other Far Eastern makes are more hit and miss on that score, often delivering on all but them except the decent driving experience (partly as many cater to [whether they do so deliberately or not] retired people who may not want anything more than a solid A to B car). For the petrol-engined cars, I think Mazdas are a good compromise, not perfect, but good, especially for those people like me who have high expectations for reliability (especially over the long term).

In my view, too many European manufacturers spend too high a percentage of their development budgets on the look of their cars (including marketing) - it may be that many people (as you've said) get suckered into buying them as a result, but events such as dieselgate and major ongoing reliability and after-sales issues (which are being more widely reported in the media as a result of dieselgate) is starting, albeit slowly, to change people's minds.

Yes - I have 'minimum standards' for the looks (inside and out) of cars when I'm looking to buy, but all that does is make me delay my buying decision if nothing I like is available, rather than push me into something great looking but (in my opinion) poorly engineered and/or with poor after-sales support. This is a case in point at present - I was looking for a new car to replace my 11yo Mazda3, but wasn't sure what to get, so initially delayed buying - no problem as (with a little TLC/£££ every now and then) my car will hopefully keep going for a while. Glad I did, as I decided to jack in my career after getting fed up, so money's a bit tight for the next while while I decide what to do.

All too often, people don't do their homework when looking to purchase a car, which still amazes me, considering, other than buying a home, its the next largest purchase (including ongoing costs) people are ever likely to make. Seeing how many people choose heart solely over head, I'm not really surprised how we as a nation get ourselves into so much trouble financially these days - we spend and worry about the consequences later on when the proverbial hits the fan.

The problem is that its good for some people to learn a painful lesson by failing, but all too often others think (when they read about such things) that they are too smart enough for that sort of thing to happen to them. I just get fed up repeating the same advice (as SLO76 patiently does a lot) again and again, only for the next person to ask exactly the same questions again (wanting validation for their daft choice rather than actual advice) without bothering to look up similar advice from before and reviews.

Sorry for the rant - it is a Friday.

Edited by Engineer Andy on 07/04/2017 at 12:59