Just thinking the other day, about different boom and bust cycles in the car world and thinking back to quality control. Did fewer vehicles and more attention to each vehicle mean better built cars? or did the advent of modern techniques and technologies promise a better built car? when was the breakpoint for efficient assembly vs value engineering? or was there one? in short...what was the most well built car ever?
rules:
serialized production run of 1500 units or greater only. no hand built one offs or super low volume exotics built by hand in NASA grade cleanrooms.
well built =/= screwed together with care. it means a vehicle that was built with quality, well engineered components to be long lasting and is uniform in assembly. another way to look at it would be which vehicle could you take 2 different examples of and compare them at high mileage and say that they are experiencing the same levels of wear and fitment and low rates of common failure.
A good example would be My land cruiser. its at the peak of the Japanese bubble economy and built strong and over-engineered to an insane degree...but...its built like crap next to my gx which has tighter tolerances, better techniques and a far more robust and advanced electrical system.
The gx may not be built as tough, but the UZ engine is a better made engine than the fz and the body is built to a way higher standard.
So which is the better built? hard to say.
I would give the nod to the GX on account of it being made better with little given up for toughness...they are still plenty durable after all. Best made? probably not. its not its little problems including high tech problems other simpler cars wouldn’t have.
So whats your vote...whats the most well made car ever?