Whatever you do, don't ask any mechanic about car problems or "reliability". They have a very narrow focus, they only comment on stuff they experience. But any other mechanic will only tell you about what they experience, usually no 2 mechanics agree on much of anything, and frequently they say different things on different days ! And mechanics never keep long-term digital records of anything !

Never look for reliability data or comments on any online forum. Do you know any of the respondents ? Do you know "Scotty" ? No, they're strangers, having their own bias, self-serving interests like kick-backs, and opinions that differ with anyone else. Taking the advice or comments of any stranger is, at best, foolish.

There are data accumulation web sites, like the Carcomplaints site. But in recording any data, there are known problems, such as getting the data to begin with. Who sends data, what is the data composed of, there can be a lot of data parameters to review. And what about getting current data. Do you want to know what went wrong with a 56 Ford ? Or on one of the new showroom cars you are thinking about buying ? New car data is withheld from data services for several reasons, but the bottom line is, almost every data service is at least 3 years behind new vehicle reliability data. So take the web page data information with a grain of salt, because it likely doesn't represent the same vehicle you have interest in.

I'm putting a lot of words on this comment, and the gods of this web page get angry at lengthy factual responses, so in ending, I can only say try to get objective data from any source and take everything as hearsay. Ultimately, you must decide what you want to believe and if it can help make a decision.

Finding reliability data is .... unreliable.

There is no answer to this question. You would need a functioning crystal ball to determine reliability of new models. And if you happen to have one, give it to me and I'll be more than happy to answer your question in exchange for keeping it.

Hy!

'Serial issues' of any new model/generation, engine, transmission... get revealed during usage. Manufacturers collect those data from shops and make perfections in production. Last few years of a generation are generally the most perfected.

How often a certain car breaks down and what are costs of repairs in certain period of its life, that tells how reliable it is.

Any good and honest mechanic who deals with various cars, can tell you that data.

This web site's data seems to correspond with what I hear Scotty say, Consumer Reports, etc. Note that  it has recalls and Technical Service Bulletins as well

https://www.carcomplaints.com/

You might get a better answer if you stated what country or part of the  world.

Manufacturers often use engine's and transmission's and carry them over. So, it could be predictable. Also, car's are based on platforms that have lot's of similarities. Like the Honda CR-V and Honda Civic, they both have identical issues because of the same platform. There are places like Consumer Reports that do subscriber surveys but Scotty is a good reliability data source:)