1LoudLS
Dedicated LVC Member
my two LS have been very reliable... the 1st gen never had a problem (other than people running red lights and backing up with trailer hitches putting it into the body shop where they killed a few coils and cats...)
as for the 2nd gen, it has had the normal worn out suspension work that you would expect from any car with over 150k miles, a battery (normal maintenance) and then it has had coil and VCG problems that were covered by the dealership, and then later another set of coils and the standard LS cooling system overhaul, but thats it. never once has it left me stranded or in need of a tow truck!
simple, A: they have many many more parts and typically have much more complicated systems, the more stuff there is, the more stuff can break... for example of course a simple chevy push rod motor is going to be more reliable and a lot cheaper to repair if it does fail, verses a super high tech twin cam with variable valve timing and cam phasers or twin turbo systems with 5 times the amount of sensors and 10 times more moving parts... or a simple heating and cooling system with a single heater control valve and cable or vacuum actuated doors and stuff vs a dual or tri zone automatic climate control systems that handle everything for you
B: luxury cars also tend to be the companies test brands with the latest and greatest technology, a lot of the stuff is brand new and no one knows what the weak link is going to be or what changes they may need to make over the years by the time the systems become cheap enough to put on the other vehicles for example Cadillac first debuted their magneride in some of their case over a decade ago and made it better and better and now it is standard or optional in many Chevy, Buick and of course Cadillac models
as for the 2nd gen, it has had the normal worn out suspension work that you would expect from any car with over 150k miles, a battery (normal maintenance) and then it has had coil and VCG problems that were covered by the dealership, and then later another set of coils and the standard LS cooling system overhaul, but thats it. never once has it left me stranded or in need of a tow truck!
So why are the cheap cars more dependable then the expensive, luxury ones?
simple, A: they have many many more parts and typically have much more complicated systems, the more stuff there is, the more stuff can break... for example of course a simple chevy push rod motor is going to be more reliable and a lot cheaper to repair if it does fail, verses a super high tech twin cam with variable valve timing and cam phasers or twin turbo systems with 5 times the amount of sensors and 10 times more moving parts... or a simple heating and cooling system with a single heater control valve and cable or vacuum actuated doors and stuff vs a dual or tri zone automatic climate control systems that handle everything for you
B: luxury cars also tend to be the companies test brands with the latest and greatest technology, a lot of the stuff is brand new and no one knows what the weak link is going to be or what changes they may need to make over the years by the time the systems become cheap enough to put on the other vehicles for example Cadillac first debuted their magneride in some of their case over a decade ago and made it better and better and now it is standard or optional in many Chevy, Buick and of course Cadillac models