Cars

• Which used Porsche to buy, by generation
  Eighteen generations of seven Porsches, scored on recalls against cars of the same age. The answer is not the newest one, and the cleanest record on the list is a trap.
• Takata, from the complaint side
  The largest recall in automotive history is usually described in units. Here it is in what owners actually filed: 29 nameplates, 14 makes, one decade.
• The fault that didn't exist before 2011
  Backup cameras were mandated to stop people reversing over children. They worked. They also created a complaint category that did not previously exist, and it peaked the year the mandate did.
• When one fault is the whole story
  Most cars accumulate complaints about everything. A few draw them about one thing, so overwhelmingly that the rest of the car disappears.
• The year to buy, for 24 cars people actually buy
  Every one of these models has a first year flagged for unusual complaints, and a later year with none. Same car, same showroom, different risk.
• Don't buy the first model year: we checked 263 of them
  The advice is old and everyone repeats it. The raw complaint numbers appear to prove it, and that appearance is a trap. Here is what survives a control.