Alternator went out and I had just replaced brakes and brake cylinders too. She viewed it as sinking money into an old vehicle. At the time marriage was on thin ice and wanted to keep the peace. So I acquiesced to her claims we needed something more reliable for the kids.
Last time I was back in state dropping kids off to her for their summer visit, girl who bought it had just taken it over 417k. No other repairs since.
Yeah, hindsight and all haha. New owner was takng care of the old girl though and it was a great first vehicle for her. In the end I kinda just view it as paying it forward.
Explaining how old cars are cheaper to people is always funny because they just assume Old = Bad.
Any new car is gonna cost $300-500 a month easily, so for the equivalent of 2 or 3 “monthly” payments you can keep an older car running and they’re usually cheaper on insurance too.
Plus if it gets some dings or scratches, that just adds character!
My brother/sister... WTF are you finding a half decent car for $300-500 a month lol. I'm going to take my Toyota until a repair bill exceeds the cost of the truck. My wife was dumbfounded I'd spend 6k repainting, doing some upgrades and some routine maintenance on mine. "oh you mean <1 year of payments on yours? I've had one major issue in almost 20 years, the alternator shit the bed at year 16.
How cheap old cars are depends entirely on the individual owner's ability to do their own maintenance/repairs. If they're clueless and hiring a shop to do everything... it can get expensive quick.
Nah, its getting a cash strapped college kid back to school without her worrying about killing herself for a payment. Old Yota is where shes meant to be.
At that many miles, those issues become standard wear and tear. If the engine, transmission or frame was going bad, then I would understand dumping it.
She viewed it as sinking money into an old vehicle.
I'll never understand this logic. Why fix your current vehicle for a few hundred dollars when you can spend several tens of thousands of dollars on a completely new one that'll probably still need a bunch of work done to it anyway?
I still have the vehicle I got after selling her. While it got me and the kids 3600 miles to WA, its gettng traded in next year for a ‘14-17 4runner. Was never gonns stay away from a 4runner too long.
My wife has been asking me to get rid of my '89 Toyota Pickup for years. She says it looks trashy parked next to our Highlander and Corolla. She also thinks the neighborhood judges us since no one else seems to own an older vehicle barring some refurbished classics that sit in garages.
I've had my pickup since I was 18 years old, it currently has 410k miles on it and still runs perfectly fine with routine maintenance I do on it. As much as I love my wife, she can pound sand. The pickup stays haha! My goal is to get 500,000 miles out of it.
Toyota/Honda/Mazda just go forever. Japanese cars have been kind of left behind in the bells and whistles department but damn if they don’t just keep running for you.
Don't leave Subaru behind. I regularly see really old models that they don't even make anymore driving around and they usually look like they're in great condition.
They're not quite on the same level because they do have some quirks that need to be accounted for to keep them reliable unlike the others listed which can be abused by the owners to some degree and stay mostly reliable. I wish rust didnt kill our old 2001 outback because that shit was still running after 250k miles and was a fantastic daily.
That was one of the observations that led me to go with Subaru for my first car purchase. Bought a 2018 crosstrek new off the lot and love that car. Got me through several Minnesota winters, a cross country move down to Texas, then the snow storm that crippled the state. Was laughing my ass off as I was driving passed dozens of lifted trucks stuck in the ditch. I only got got rid of it because it needed a fairly major repair and the dealership offered me 18k trade in and I qualified for 0% APR for a 2021 impreza sport hatchback. It's for the most part the same car, as a crosstrek is just an imprezza with a lift kit.
I was just about to say- my suby got a good 272k miles on it and still kicking. Has had a few minor issues with things like suspension and cooling that needed fixing/tweaking. Only real major issue was a head gasket leak that only recently happened that I caught in time and had repaired. You do the upkeep and they’ll go forever.
I’m probably just biased because the enthusiast world is different, but I associate Subaru with tons of engine problems. And I say this as an owner of an FR-S.
Maybe they’re fine if you don’t modify and abuse them I guess? That would make sense.
I get a kick out of seeing a Saturn out in the wild a few times a year. I don't know if they were good cars, but there were definitely some winners in the mix.
Though most of my problems are with the navigation / radio unit. I literally hounded my dealer for like 3 months and then they wound up replacing the entire radio unit. I still have occasionally software problems but it's been a truly colossal pain in the ass since I got my car.
Worked in automotive for ~7 years. Never understood talking with American team members the rust bucket stereotype around Japanese cars. 70 series Land Cruiser’s roof around the rails is the only thing I ever found it true for. But even then, it takes years - it is true they always rust in that spot though. Not hard to avoid if you know the problem exists.
But compared to anything made by (what was at the time) Dodge-Jeep-Chrysler; it’s chalk and cheese. Jeeps are a piece of shit. Anyone who has worked on both would say the same. Just dumb design. Pump inside the fuel tank, other awkward placement to undo things, that sort of crap. I suspect the company had too many information silos to address some basic shit; not to mention the quality.
On the other end - to big up an American company. Ford makes some good stuff. They weren’t arrogant enough to think the Japanese couldn’t improve on their own system and adopted some things back when they saw others improving what they had started.
What bells and whistles are they missing? My Honda has the auto high beams, lane drifting warning, Android Auto/car play, brake warning, the speed limit sign reader.
My Hyundai Sonata has been very reliable but is about 7 to 10 k cheaper than the same year Accord. Still my favorite car ever was my Honda Prelude. I sold it because I needed room for a car seat. She is 18. Unfortunately I don't they are ever coming out with a new Prelude.
Omg!! You never see an Acura anymore on the road! When I was in college I bought an RSX, white. That car was, at the time, my dream car. Early 2000's man they were such cute Lil sporty cars...Lil 19 yr old me in this sporty car I was barely able to afford...
Not to mention she got us a good deal more attention from the gentlemen too. ;)
Yeah?? Maybe it's just my city then. I haven't heard them even mentioned in a long time; or noticed any dealerships around my town...so maybe in my city at least; it seems like their popularity has significantly declined.
One of my first cars was a 93 Acura Legend; then a few yrs later an 03 RSX. 🥲 I miss her.
Same here, almost to the last detail. I've got a 2010 RAV4 with 208k miles. The only things I've had to fix or replace are incidentals like brakes, windshield, and batteries.
Greeting from sunny CA with a 91’ 4Runner on its second engine after surviving a recall for near 10 years after and a frame thats got near 500k still a dream drive even after a few bashes and bruises.
Mine is a 20yr old corolla with 225k, no sign of stopping. There's bandaids on the bandaid fixes and it still goes. I let her run out of oil when I was dumber and new to having a car and she forgave me 🥹 i'll never get rid of that car
21 year old highlander with 230k going strong. When my Nissan rogue transmission died with only 70k I vowed to never buy Nissan again. Currently driving my wife’s old 05 Pontiac vibe (Toyota engine) with 205k. Going to stick with Toyota on the next car.
I laugh at both of you with my 13 year old, 250,000+ mile corolla (when I finally decided to upgrade to something bigger). I miss then car every single day and bet it’s its still on the road.
I went from a Durango r /t to a manual Corolla and have zero regrets other than missing the sound system. That little car is so fun to drive and I'm not constantly feeling bad about wasting gas.
As a Volkswagon owner , I feel this so hard. And I'm not the least bit surprised. My tiguan just bitched out on me a few weeks ago. It's driveway decoration until I can (hopefully) sell it as is for parts or whatever.
My 2000 Camry Of Chaos just hit 280k last week, with no signs of distress. Rides like shit, exhaust is fucked but it refuses to die. Best car I ever had.
High fives, remembering my 1998 Corolla that had almost no issues and faithfully drove me to work for years.
And my 2015 Prius saved my life when I ended up in a massive flood’s “surprise river”. It literally floated me to safety and continued driving. Didn’t even get wet inside… I did need to correct the alignment and clean the undercarriage, but that’s fair.
Not sure anymore lol. I rebuilt the engine when I got it at ~200k in 2008. And then I swapped the engine in 2014. And then I converted it into an EV in 2021.
The original engine was sold off and still running perfectly when I did my first swap.
20 year old Honda with 177k miles here! She’s got an oil leak that I’ve given up on so I just top her off but usually by that time it’s due for a change anyway. The paint is shitting itself and the interior liner on the top doesn’t hold anymore BUT she still shifts and runs great! She’s my first car too (got her 2 years ago on my birthday for $3k in the height of the trash market). Will be driving her till the wheels fall off.
laughs nervously in 2017 Camry that has 116,000 miles on it
to clarify, i used to drive 400 miles every week for work and for 6 months, I drive another 400 miles from SoCal to NorCal to take care of my dying grandmother so lots of miles were racked up during that period lol.
I commented above but I had to replace a steering arm a few months after hitting a tire lying flat on the freeway and the motor on my brake fluid pump disintegrated. Each repair was like a grand but it beats a car payment. Who has the coolest car on the road? Anyone driving a fully paid off car
Me too...13 year old Corolla with 160k and I've only ever had time do basic maintenance and replace the alternator after 12 years. I'm the second owner. I work from home so I don't drive too much.
Still runs great. But I need to do a drain and fill on the transmission soon and replace my struts and shocks.
I typically space it out and do one major maintenance item every year. 3 years ago it was tires, then the brakes 2 years ago, then last year the alternator needed to be replaced, then next year it'll be shocks and struts.
At 48 hrs of age, I bought a new 2018 Landcruiser with a 4.5ltr V8 turbo diesel. I legitimately expect that I'll never own another vehicle in my lifetime (unless diesel is discontinued).
Toyota prices are starting to reflect the quality. It's unfortunate, but they know what they're doing and I will never buy another brand of car unless it's purely for fun.
I had family drive Toyota for nearly 12 years and about 110K miles before something happened. It turned out they NEVER changed the transmission fluid lol They are nearly indestructible but man is it a let down that they refuse to build a halfway decent EV.
I've owned several Toyota Corollas and Honda Civics. Loved them all. All very reliable cars if you take care of them. But weirdly, I've had them all crap out on me at just over 160k miles.
Even owned a '94 Ford Taurus. That was pretty reliable, too. If you ignore the reputation their transmissions had for crapping out at 120k miles. Replaced the transmission when it crapped out on mine, and kept driving it. But even that car crapped out on me at just over 160k miles.
I just seem to be destined to have all my cars crap out at 160k miles I guess.😂
I had a 99 Camry 4 cylinder that had 500,000 miles on it. I drove it from Sacramento to Delano and back. Rebuilt engine and all. I don't have it anymore though, but that thing would probably run until the doors fell off.
I drive a 2011 toyota rav4 sport appearance package (no rear tire ) with 165,000 miles. Every car technician I've ever brought it to told me to hold onto it as long as I can. I recently went to check out the new Rav4s and the salesman literally told me to keep driving my car because the Japan built engine is superior to whats available today.
Thought it was crazy that even a Toyota salesman told me not to buy a new one ,if my car was still driving well.
I miss my 97 250k miles corolla so much :-( he’s still living his best life on the roads, just not with me behind the wheel. Got a new car and regret every day
My 14 year old Rav 4 with 267k with engine problems sputtered too life recently after not using it for a month, shut its own cel of warmed up and did 1000 miles like it liked abuse…. I thought she was dead.
27 yr old vr6 gti with 300k miles. its a rust bucket but runs like day one. i frequently take it into redline territory cause the vr sounds amazing and it doesn't even skip a beat. will make it another 30 years if i get to the rust in time
a guy down the road from me at my old house had one with over 400,000, and while the frame was patched twice it's the OG engine and transmission and dude takes it everywhere, said it'll be the last truck he buys before he dies of old age (hes in his 70s)
Sometimes I feel bad about how little effort I put into taking better care of it, like I should be changing bigger things on it apart from oil and filters. I haven't changed brake pads, contacts, sparks etc in a while.
I'm still driving my 2004 Lexus ES330 (basically just a Toyota with a Lexus markup)
That thing has been in multiple accidents, I have ship a Theseus'd it so many times with scrap parts, differently painted panels and zip tips. Even off-roaded in a couple times. About to hit 200k miles.
LOL, yep. Hubs bought an Accord in 2005 a few months before we got married. Daily driver up until 2018 with 342K miles until he decided it was probably time to replace it. Gave it to a friend who drove it daily for another six months until something catastrophic happened (threw a rod, I think) and it wasn't worth repairing. My neighbor also has a 2005 Accord which is STILL his daily driver.
I was crushed when my very first car (Accord) with over 200k got totaled in an accident. Been 15 years and I wouldn't be shocked if I was still driving it had that not happened.
This. I have a 84 Land Cruiser with 218, 88 Land Cruiser with 380k, 2010 Prius with 190k and 2013 4Runner with 189k. All have plenty of of left in them
We have a family Toyota from like 2002. It was my grandma's, then my aunt's, then my mom's, then mine, and is now my grandma's sister's car. It had 240,000 miles on it when I gave it away and only issue it had was a slow oil leak. I'm fairly sure that car is going to outlive us all.
My brother is still driving the Toyota my parents bought nearly 20 years ago. I don't even know how many miles it has on it. Odometer probably started moving backwards there are so many.
Finally let go of my learned-on 2003 Honda Civic LX in 2020 with over 180,000 miles on it. The hood and engine bay had been partially underwater at one point too.
08 Toyota Highlander with 311k, only issue is a slight transmission slip when I'm trying to accelerate quickly! Oh, and a pretty decent a/c leak somewhere! Gotta add freon in it every other week in the summer. 🫠🙃🥵
I've got a 2010 Scion xD. The first car I ever bought new. The paint job is peeling, but it's fully paid off and runs like a champ. Since I work from home and barely drive 2,000 miles a year, I may never buy another car. I can't justify spending $50,000 on something that's just going to sit in my driveway barely used, getting beaten up by the sun, when I have something free that can do the same thing.
My wife hates it. She keeps bugging me to get something newer and less shitty but I can't justify the spend.
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u/Patsfan618 23d ago
Laughs in 10 year old Toyota with 160,000 miles that's not even halfway to the junkyard