Have you taken a look at a car reliability ranking lately? Brands such as Toyota, Lexus, Mazda, and Honda tend to be at the top of the list, displacing prestigious brands such as Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Buick, and Chevrolet. However, Japanese brands have also had their moments of crisis. These five models were riddled with problems and, truth be told, their owners would have preferred them to have stayed in the land of the rising sun:
Toyota Camry, Sienna & Solara (1MZ-FE)
You probably didn’t expect to find not one, but three Toyotas at the top of an article about unreliable cars. But the truth is that even Toyota allows itself the luxury of making mistakes from time to time.
These three vehicles shared the 1MZ-FE V6 engine in the late 1990s. Due to a design flaw in the engine’s cooling circulation and a restrictive Positive Crankcase Ventilation (PCV) system, the cylinder heads ran hotter than intended.
What happened next was a terrible domino effect. The oil overheated and lost its properties, turning into sludge. If the owner did not replace it regularly, the sludge clogged the oil pump and the engine lost its lubrication. The result of all this was a completely seized engine. Toyota had to repair and replace thousands of affected cars after customers filed a class action lawsuit against the Japanese brand.
Mazda RX-8
This is definitely one of those cars that petrolheads never want to include on a list of unreliable cars. But unfortunately, the RX-8’s Renesis engine became famous for ruining its owners.
No, we’re not talking about bringing home a second paycheck to quench your thirst for Mazda’s latest Wankel-engined sports car. This rotary engine consumes oil by design. Owners of this Mazda also know what it’s like to rack up loyalty points at their trusted gas station. But wait, we haven’t talked about the downsides of this Mazda yet. And those are the rotor seals. They wear out, the engine loses compression, stalls, damages the catalytic converter… Now you understand why we say it’s a money pit, right?
But wait, we’re not done yet. This whole process happens every 80,000 miles or so, at which point you’ll have to rebuild the engine. If you want one, you can always swap it out and replace the rotary engine with an LS. If you do, keep it a secret between you and your mechanic. We don’t like traitors.
Nissan Altima, Sentra & Versa
One of the solutions that vehicle manufacturers use to reduce emissions is to use continuously variable transmissions (CVTs). Between 2012 and 2019, Nissan used transmissions from its subsidiary JATCO. However, some customers reported major problems with slippage, overheating, and breakage in vehicles such as the Altima, Sentra, and Versa.
The positive side of this story is that Nissan extended the warranty on the affected models. This is not surprising, as many vehicles failed before reaching 60,000 miles.
Honda CRX Del Sol
Can a vehicle based on the Honda Civic be bad? Absolutely not. However, this convertible (technically speaking, it’s a targa-style body) had many minor flaws, which prevented it from being an excellent sports car.
This vehicle had a serious problem with leaks. The rubber gaskets and roof seals did not do their job. Water leaked in and rust eventually appeared. In addition, the drainage channels tended to clog easily.
On the other hand, the roof mechanism caused many problems. Fortunately, only the manual roof version of the CRX Del Sol made it to North America, so few people ended up dealing with the TransTop system. Finally, the front brake discs tended to warp. The engine, however, was usually its strong point, as is customary with Honda.
Toyota Paseo
Good design… and little else. The Paseo was launched as a sporty, economical vehicle. But the reality is that it was based on the Toyota Tercel, one of the Japanese brand’s cheapest models.
The Paseo came factory-equipped with an 84 HP engine, which was far too underpowered for its size. Having to rev it high brought out its weak point: oil consumption. And all this, if you managed to reach your destination, as it was also famous for its radiator leaks. In short, the world would not have lost anything if Toyota had decided not to launch the Paseo.