I mentioned this to someone and now I need to find proof. About a year or two ago I distinctly recall reading an article either at Edmunds or maybe a major Newspaper which cited some reliability statistics for new cars. I believe the stats were based on an industry metric used by new car dealership service departments. Had something to do with the number and type of repairs performed by the service department on new vehicles. Maybe some of the dealer guys here will know what I'm talking about.

Anyway, Ford actually reported a lower percentage of these incidents than Nissan, indicating (at least statistically) that Fords are more reliable than Nissans. Most reliable was Toyota (by far) followed by Honda, then Ford, then Nissan.

Any idea what this measurement is and where I can find it?

It kills me to hear someone say "Fords are junk and Nissans are bulletproof" when they're way off. Shows you the power of marketing.

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08 W251 R350
97 W210 E320
91 W124 300E
86 W126 560SEL
85 W126 380SE Silver
85 W126 380SE Cranberry
79 W123 250
78 W123 280E
75 W114 280

I agree, Nissan has been catching the glow effect from the likes of Toyota, Honda and Subaru for years. Its another japanese brand so it must be reliable.

It has been my understanding that Ford and Nissan are together in alot of things- or at least they used to be. Ford and Nissan had a joint venture with the older Nissan Quest minivan.... the Ford version was the Mercury Villager. I know that even the Nissan version used ALOT of Ford parts. My aunt had one. Needless to say, it was a junker. She bought it brand new in 1995. Granted, it rode and drove like a car and had plenty of power, smooth transmission, good driving positions, but had alot of problems with lights, radio, engine knock, brakes, blower motors, etc.


Older Nissans were no question superior to Ford. They declined in the late 90s. My father has a 88' Nissan truck that he bought off of my uncle- who bought it new. It has 256K on ALL original parts, save for brakes and starter. Thats it.