Compared to say the 80 ' s most vehicle manufacturers are capable of making great cars . It ' s mostly the little annoyances that set them apart . From a maintenance stand point I found I did the most warranty work on dodge product . A lot of it electrical and then shit ton of wheel bearings for some reason . I also rebuilt quite a few dodge rear ends but that was usually driver error . Reputation is kind of built on word of mouth though , experience you ' ve had , family and friends , things you read about . So if one car has a bunch of little shit go wrong and the other is fine , one will gain a better reputation than the other . You are right , I don ' t hear much about the HEMI engines . I only know one guy who has ever had one , which is 8 months old so there shouldn ' t be a problem . Most dodge trucks I had to work on ran cummins diesel engines . As for the transmissions , dodge told us we weren ' t allowed to rebuild them under warranty , if there was a problem with them we had to put them on a pallet and ship them to Japan because it was cheaper for them this was in 2007 .