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It's the owners' egos that don't last 300,000 miles.
And when cars start causing troubles, people don't want to spend $110 per hour for a base labor rate at a dealership. They want a trouble free driving experience and no worries that they're going to make it back home.
All vehicles will last a long time if properly taken care of.
Quote:
Originally Posted by unit731
Eric Schaal is a journalist. NOT a car person.
But apparently - many like to opine on what cars last a long time.
All vehicles will last a long time if properly taken care of. Such as oil undercoating up North in salt country.
And yes, some engines and some transmissions are poorly designed and do fail prematurely.
But how many Joe and Janes do any research into engines and transmission before purchasing a new or used car?
"All vehicles will last a long time if properly taken care of". Thanks for your response. I would like to add reading the owners manual and following manufacturers maintenance guidelines is an important starting point.
It's the owners' egos that don't last 300,000 miles.
And when cars start causing troubles, people don't want to spend $110 per hour for a base labor rate at a dealership. They want a trouble free driving experience and no worries that they're going to make it back home.
There is no law stating you gotta go to a dealer. Plenty of good independent mechanics out there. And there is always DIY. And doing a occasional repair is cheaper than buying a new car. For the most part you can get a AAA tow for a cheap membership of about 80 a year. Most repairs will NEVER amount to the money you spend on buying a new car. And a lot of people conveniently interchange maintenance or wear items with repairs.
Having to do brakes tires and shocks after driving 100,000 miles doesn’t mean your car needs to be replaced.
For my use I would be out of warranty on a new car for the bumper to bumper in the first year as I again went back to driving a minimum of 35,000 a year. So in one year I can kiss a bumper to bumper good bye and a basic powertrain within 2.5 years. For that money I can buy PLENTY of good running cars cash drive the crap out of them for two years literally bpdoingdoing nothing more than basic maintenance and when they blow up dump it buy another. And I’ll still be money ahead considering that there are p,entry of low ,ole well maintained cars to be had relatively cheap. You just gotta be ready to jump on it when the deal comes across your nose.
A new car for me would be financially stupid with the miles I drive
I have free towing with my insurance co. and I have old cars. I have had two absolute nightmare experiences with breakdowns and tow companies. I'm getting to old, I don't want anymore.
You can count on it happening at night and a cold rainy night is even better. The very best tow experience is still you can't go where you wanted and do what you wanted. The very best tow experience is still a 45 minute wait for them to show up.
Not less reliable to me. Still closing in on 300,000 miles.. I had to disagree with the your statement (cast-iron engine block (2.0L I4 Beta), more-reliable than 2005 Toyota Corolla by shocking comparison.) I still have the 2004 corolla at 245,000 miles and it has no signs of old age. Maybe it is the way I drive, conservatively with 3,000 mile oil changes. Anyway same drive train same transmission, same clutch in my corolla.
Cast-iron is always superior than aluminum, regardless if it has a Toyota name or not. Law and physics.... You cannot change our science book.
Toyota is only all about marketing, not actual technicals. They have excellent reliability for short-term, but not so great reliability for very long-term, 24/7 commercial-use drivers, and with over 500,000 miles, due to aluminum material self-destructing from aging and melting from heat.
All vehicles can last for up to 1 million mile max, doesn't matter what make. 245,000 miles is nothing, actually. If you bought a 2004 Hyundai Elantra instead of Toyota Corolla, you will still get the same 245,000 miles trouble-free. Next...
Humans don't always have the time to test and drive every car makers in the world to see for themselves. That's why you are writing this response.
It's the owners' egos that don't last 300,000 miles.
And when cars start causing troubles, people don't want to spend $110 per hour for a base labor rate at a dealership. They want a trouble free driving experience and no worries that they're going to make it back home.
That and it's not worth it. The little stuff if you're paying a shop usually makes them barely worth it before something major like the engine or transmission goes. Then you're looking at 2-5k on a car that's not worth more than that. It's not like dropping a new engine will suddenly make all the other small things suddenly stop breaking intermittently.
If you're doing your own wrenching it's more doable. I've put in a rebuilt transmission, couple new clutches, and other ancillary stuff but when it came time for a rebuilt motor I just never got around to it. Shops all wanted around $1,200 for an R&R, rebuilt motor was about $2,500 or a junkyard special for $1,000. I kept it on the backburner as a potential project but it wasn't something I was that interested in doing. The car just wasn't reliable enough to do daily driver duty anymore. Picked up a used Accord from a family member for what the rebuild would have cost and got a good five years out of it with very few issues. That met untimely death by teenagers. That was replaced by a Mazda3 for 7 1/2 years and it was just getting up there. Other than an AC compressor it was reliable but it was getting up there. At shop rates motor mounts ($150), fuel pump ($1,400), suspension work ($400) was probably worth fixing. Sold it to someone who had more interest in turning a wrench than I did. Good car for someone who does want to do the wrenching, probably had another 100-150k in it but cars that age/mileage just do start having smaller things need replacement and they add up at shop rates. Labors what kills it although parts for the Mazda3 were surprisingly expensive themselves.
Took a 200 mile drive yesterday after changing the in-tank fuel filter.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Malloric
That and it's not worth it. The little stuff if you're paying a shop usually makes them barely worth it before something major like the engine or transmission goes. Then you're looking at 2-5k on a car that's not worth more than that. It's not like dropping a new engine will suddenly make all the other small things suddenly stop breaking intermittently.
If you're doing your own wrenching it's more doable. I've put in a rebuilt transmission, couple new clutches, and other ancillary stuff but when it came time for a rebuilt motor I just never got around to it. Shops all wanted around $1,200 for an R&R, rebuilt motor was about $2,500 or a junkyard special for $1,000. I kept it on the backburner as a potential project but it wasn't something I was that interested in doing. The car just wasn't reliable enough to do daily driver duty anymore. Picked up a used Accord from a family member for what the rebuild would have cost and got a good five years out of it with very few issues. That met untimely death by teenagers. That was replaced by a Mazda3 for 7 1/2 years and it was just getting up there. Other than an AC compressor it was reliable but it was getting up there. At shop rates motor mounts ($150), fuel pump ($1,400), suspension work ($400) was probably worth fixing. Sold it to someone who had more interest in turning a wrench than I did. Good car for someone who does want to do the wrenching, probably had another 100-150k in it but cars that age/mileage just do start having smaller things need replacement and they add up at shop rates. Labors what kills it although parts for the Mazda3 were surprisingly expensive themselves.
Interesting Quote on the fuel pump. $1400 how about $10 for a fuel filter. Just changed in tank fuel filter on my car yesterday. I posted some close-up pictures of the old dirty fuel filter (in a another tread I have up about two video's on fuel pump removal tank drop vs trunk or back seat access.) If I was doing a checklist for a 300,000 mile car a fuel filter change would be on it.
Took a 200 mile test drive yesterday after my fuel filter change. The car has a lot more pep. Here is the link to the dirty fuel filter pictures I took and posted that came out of my car. The pictures are on page 2 of this thread about fuel filters in the link below.
Almost any car could probably run 1/2 million or more miles if all it did was go down the highway at 65 mph all day like a big truck does. But in reality almost nobody drives a car that many miles per year because there is rarely a reason to do so. The rest of the car is junk long before the motor is from abuse and neglect. Cars are throwaway objects to most people that don't need to last forever. But theoretically they could if properly cared for.
Location: We_tside PNW (Columbia Gorge) / CO / SA TX / Thailand
34,691 posts, read 58,004,579 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by UrbanAdventurer
Almost any car could probably run 1/2 million or more miles if all it did was go down the highway at 65 mph all day like a big truck does. But in reality almost nobody drives a car that many miles per year because there is rarely a reason to do so. The rest of the car is junk long before the motor is from abuse and neglect. Cars are throwaway objects to most people that don't need to last forever. But theoretically they could if properly cared for.
No the plastic components... they will age out (UV and heat)
You want a car to LAST? Buy something pre -1950's
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All vehicles will last a long time if properly taken care of.
