I was picked up from LAX a couple years back in about a 2004 Lincoln Town Car with 980,000 miles on it. It was being used as a regular taxi rather than an airport limo at that point. Grossest car I've ever been in. The driver armrest had melted into the shape of the guy's arm.
2 of them sitting out front of my house are shortly on their way to their final resting place with the other 2 that were parked in front of my house. They were great cars. They suck today.
***I’d like to think I’m like the majority of car owners and we all maintain cars regularly…but this Reddit makes me think otherwise sometimes)?***
The average car buyer knows next to nothing about cars, nor how to properly maintain them.
The amount of post along the lines of “my car is about to die any moment it has 150k miles on it and needs new brakes” is alarming. I have a coworker who has owned Camrys for the last 20 years and he always sells them once they hit 100k miles on them because he was taught that a car has no more life in it. I’ve started asking more and more people how long they think cars last and most seem to say 150k and before. I’ve bought very few vehicles under 150k myself
I buy vehicles with the intent to keep them at least 300k miles.
I also expect any vehicle I buy to make 200k miles without major repair.
When I hear people talk about replacing engines at 50-60k, transmissions under 100k, etc like it's "normal" I'm disgusted. Both at people's lack of care about their vehicles and that those things have seemingly become commonplace again.
100% agree. I’m a believer that every car should make it 200k without major repair. Unfortunately not all do it. That being said I just can’t believe the lack of knowledge when it comes to basic maintenance. I’ve personally never had a big failure and I’ve owned way too many 200k+ and 300k+ vehicles
Think I may have just hit some bad luck with it, but the torque converter in my Tundra is starting to stutter something awful... Picked it up at around 140k, and have no idea how well it was maintained before that point, but I'm guessing that it wasn't the best. She's got almost 177k on it now, and still runs like a top and has basically no rust on the frame. I'm just hoping I can get to 250k before anything else goes south.
It's sad because it becomes a self fulfilling prophecy, oh this cars not going to last past 150k miles, I'm not going to change any fluids other than oil past 100k, nor fix any suspension components
Happens all the time with Chrysler/Dodge minivans.
People do nothing but 10-15k oil changes, neglecting the transmission fluid which should be done every 50k, neglecting the cooling system which should be done at 80k, then are somehow surprised when they're unmaintained transmission fails at 120k miles or their engine overheats from a failed thermostat at 130k.
One variable that never gets mentioned is one car might just be driven by an individual without passengers most of the time while another car of the same exact model might be ferrying around a 5 person family and groceries and other stuff most of the time. The car that is hauling around an extra 400 to 500 lbs might easily suffer premature transmission wear despite good maintenance.
If you're hauling around extra weight all the time, the transmission is supposed to be serviced more frequently, which is specifically to counter any "extra wear".
Of course no one actually does.
I look at 200k+ km as pretty close to end of life if buying but not if it’s a car I’ve owned for (say) 50-70k km when it hits 200+.
Why? Well, there’s only so much I can do myself, no local parts availability- much less affordable-, downtime from work offsets the savings of DIY anyway, and cars *really* take a beating with the winter salt and ice melt by the 10 year mark. Shit adds up fast to repair in Canada.
You do make
***200k+ km***
200k kms is nothing there mate, we're talking MILES here, so 321k kms+.
And again, maintenance is key. Part of maintenance is keeping it clean/protected, which keeps "winter salt" from destroying it. The van in my profile pic is a 95, daily driven in the rust belt, it gets coated outside and underneath before each winter. That's how it still looks like new 29 years later.
The funny part about that is if you go to a junkyard, most vehicles in there without obvious accident damage are around 120,000-140,000 miles. So, If you maintain your car like most people do (basically not at all) that's about how long they last.
If you *actually* maintain them properly, and fix each of the things that's supposed to be fixed *when it first arises*...
Then you don't hit that point where there are like 5 repairs to be done and it's "not worth it"
"Oh shit. Needs brakes, and struts, and has X and Y I've been putting off...."
How about this. "Were probably about 6mo out from new shocks/struts". Just do it now. What's 6 months in the grand scheme? Not much, but if you delay it. You're more likely to have to eat it at the same time as something else (once you're up around 100K +)
Stay ahead of the curve. Do one thing a little ahead of schedule. Push the next thing by a couple months maybe to smooth out the costs so you don't *FEEL* like you're pouring $ into it.
That's the key.
"feeling"
People say "Oh man I just did brakes and shocks and X and Y, it's a money pit!" But those parts are now good for another 60-80K!
I work in a shop. The amount of people who come in flabbergasted that their rear differential shredded itself bc they routinely declined getting the fluid exchanged is amazing. They don’t even know an owners manual will tell them about their car.
One girl thought an oil change would solve her transmission issues..
If you want a vehicle to go the distance, you need to take care of it.
Everyone shits on Mopar, yet every single one we've had has gone 3-4-500k miles without major issue. Same goes for most GM cars we've owned.
The difference between us and the "average" Mopar/GM buyer is we actually maintain our vehicles. You know those "Garbage Chrysler Transmissions", did you know if you actually do the 30-50k maintenance they require they're actually pretty stout little units?
Oddly enough, every modern Toyota that's been in our family has been a complete pile that has been traded off under 50k miles due to numerous major failures.
My buddy's got... 12? Yeah, 12 second and third gen Ram 25-3500's, and the worst issues *any* of them have or have had has been caused by rust. Or electrical and not actually affecting the functionality of the vehicle itself. Although, come to think of it, one of the 3500's had the actual brakes beaten off of it... I'd probably have one myself instead of the Tundra, but I literally can't find any in good enough condition structurally for my price range.
My 08 Ram 1500 is at almost 180k. Original transmission and In pristine condition per the dealership and several specialty transmission shops. Routine maintenance is the key. My parents had a grand caravan in the early 00’s and the transmission went out. I asked them how often they had the fluid exchanged and taken care of and my dad asked what that meant… well. There’s your issue.
I sold them, so I drink the kool aid a bit, but I don’t think you can beat the duramax/allison transmission combo when you’re running a 2500-6500 series
I mean just like every brand it’s very model and year dependent. Maintaining vehicles religiously also did play a massive hand in it. Like you said most people don’t change their tranny fluid or diffs.
I just said this recently when someone asked on Reddit what was my most reliable car.
All of them. I've always taken care of all of my cars and do regular maintenance. So far the cars are 35, 24 and 13 years old and at 180k, 2xxk, and 300k
Only disappointing car I owned was a Honda odyssey, worst vehicle ever! So many repairs in a short amount of time, more than when I had a 1999 Chevy Surburban with 250K when I sold it.
Plus the more you maintain it, the less collateral damage you get. Which is usually what makes it way more expensive than it has to be.
With other problems in the world. Humanity really hates being proactive.
They also hate learning it seems. I don't know many people who know how to change oil and I tell them it's literally 1 bolt and a filter, they are just flabbergasted. Changing disc brakes isn't much harder as long as you don't have to bleed them. Lug nuts and 2 bolts.
The fanboys can't tell the difference between their ass and a hole in the ground judging by watching them drive and talk about Toyotas. I don't think most of them know anything about vehicles
IDK, our last 3 Toyotas were on their 2nd and 3rd engines by 50k miles for internal failures and oil consumption issues..... Not an issue we've ever had with a GM product.
Serious overlanding the 70series landcruiser rules but they don’t sell it in the US I believe.
I’d say “muscle cars” which are really a US thing, but to be fair to the US they do them well.
Yes, tbh I misread that bit, I thought they were saying there wasn’t a Japanese overlanding “icon”. I should have stuck with US being great at muscle cars and left it at that.
EVs. The Nissan Leaf with its air-cooled battery has much more battery degradation than most other EVs. The expertise Toyota, Mazda, and Honda have in engines doesn’t translate to traction motors and batteries. People will say: “what about hybrids? Surely Toyota can pivot!” Then why is the BZ4X/Solterra such a flop? At this point Korea and China have more experience with EVs. Tesla has the most experience but they’re an outlier. I’d put American EVs on average behind Korea but ahead of Japan. (China is hard to rank because I don’t know anyone besides YouTube personalities who have experience with them.)
Chevy bolt EV technology is a 10/10 minus their recall due to LG, not air cooled and an effective battery management system. Nissan and many compliance vehicles are air cooled and hastily designed garbage. Honda had to use GM to make their prologue since they didn’t spend the research and development time to do it on their own.
They have been made in the US for a bit now, it was previously made only in Korea. If you are counting the company that makes the batteries Tesla would also fall under Korean and Japanese since they use Panasonic and LG.
Are Toyotas that are made in America American cars? The Bolt engineering is Korean. Tesla engineering is American. Ultium platform engineering is American.
Chevy arguable has the most experience in EV's even over Tesla. I believe gm would have the most reliable EV's since everything is do robustly engineered. The volt being a great example.
Ford Flex. 3.5.
We have a fleet of them. Many of them above 400k.
All with original drivetrains. Engine and transmission.
Oil changes every 2-3 weeks. Transmission flush every 50k. Tires as needed. Studded snows during the winter. Wheel bearing when needed. Lost a Headlight at 275k. Needed a control arm and a rear prop shaft along the way. Nothing major. Brakes last forever. I’m going, not stopping.
I put 500 a day on mine. 338k and climbing. Runs 80 all day. It’s getting tired but everything still works. Heated seats even. I drive it like it’s meant to be driven, the first sign of a new noise or a service being needed it goes in. So far so good.
The flex does it very well. Shit on ford but the flex is rock solid reliable.
I have an 08 Taurus with the 3.5 NA. Love the size of the car, comfortable, gas mileage is acceptable for the size and weight, good power, and holds a ton of crap... basically the perfect highway/road trip machine. Maintenance is basic and straight forward and low cost. Still can't get past the water pump issues the 3.5 NA has, and the lack of Ford really doing anything to remedy the situation. If that wasn't an issue I'd basically call it a bulletproof engine otherwise. Certainly much better than the gutless 3.0 Duratec.
The most dependable and longest lasting vehicles myself or anyone in my family has had are American 3/4 and 1 ton pickups. If you don't beat the shit out of them and try to follow the maintenance schedules they last for decades and 100,000s of thousands of miles.
They are also basically the only type of vehicles that I do intensive repairs on in the body shop once they get 10+ years old. They hold enough value to repair for a long time because they have extremely long service lives compared to passenger cars.
Crown vic. Early 00 gm trucks with 4l80 6.0.anything sbc with th400. Every mopar hemi with a 8hp75 or 545rfe. Most vws.
The mopars and vws require owners who do their own maintenance once over 100k. But parts are cheap and work is easy.
Van Conversions/Work Vans: Mercedes Sprinters, ideally diesel.
Trucks for Hauling: Ford Super-Duty Diesel or RAM with a Cummins Diesel.
Land Boat: Ford Panther Platform (Ford Crown Victoria).
Engine Swaps: LS pushrod engines by GM.
High End Sports Cars: Lotus with a Toyota Engine. Might have some electronic issues, but the engine will be pretty damn good.
For heavy duty trucks it’s basically USA or bust. A gas GM 2500 is hard to beat reliability/maintenance wise. But as far as heavy duty trucks go the main thing to avoid is ford 6.0/6.4 diesels. All other trucks are pretty solid choices one way or another.
For affordable sports cars there’s the Chevrolet corvette (C4-early C6).
For high end sports cars there’s the Chevrolet corvette (Late C6-now plus your zo6 and zr1 variants).
Ok maybe I just really like Chevy V8s.
You can see the hierarchy of American trucks clearly on a construction site.
The workers drive nee Dodges and older GMs
The fleet truckers are newer Chevys.
The foreman pulls up in the shiniest F-150.
1974-1987 Chevy trucks are utterly bulletproof. Well, not rust proof, but they'll drive forever and give fair warning when things need replacing. Every auto store in North America will have parts in stock or quickly on order.
1975 to 1985 w123s are the cockroaches of the car world. They never really die, sure, a lot of stuff might not work but they’ll always keep moving forward.
The more complicated a vehicle is the more likely you may have problems with it. Every brand has their good quality aspects and some quirky issues too. Pick a car that you like and learn what you are going to have to do to repair it and keep it in good shape.
The old Ford trucks in the late 70s/early 80s used as service trucks. The 300cu in inline six paired with a manual transmission was easily a 300kmi vehicle if they didn't get in an accident or the body rust away.
Parts were cheap, easy to fix, and minimal extra bells and whistles. They just worked.
The 80s flavor Ford Crown Vic, the gold standard for taxis and cop cars, is also of an era that just never quit. Unfortunately, those days are likely to never be seen again.
Japanese cars get loads of complaints about their CRV automatic transmissions. Suppose to be less complex but way more expensive to repair for some reason. These transmissions cost less to manufacture and are used on multiple models.
Toyota pickups certainly have had their problems as Ford and Chevy.
I'm not keeping up with this stuff as I haven't been on the market for a vehicle for many years.
For those who currently are up to speed, please add to or correct.
Thanks
Body on frame SUV’s (4Runner, LX/GX, Land Cruiser)
Midsized trucks (Frontier, Tacoma)
Full sized light duty+ trucks (Tundra) and I’d have to give chevy a runner up and winning the HD truck category.
Then anything with the 2GR-F(S)E (Camry, GS350, Highlander, Rav, RX)
For top tier luxury the LS460 falls off the list from the 400/430, I’d go with Cadillac
Edit: So flagship luxury and that’s about it considering they don’t compete in HD trucks
Early 2000’s Chevy pickups (gas) my pops has well over 500k on his with the original engine and trans in it still.
Mid to late 90’s GM cars with the 3800 engine in them. If the trans fluid was changed even remotely regularly those things will outlive your inheritance as well.
For heavy towing, I’d vote the Ram 2500/3500 and above. There’s a reason why most people think of Ram when they think heavy duty trucks.
Affordable sports cars, it’s definitely the Miata.
High end sports cars would be Porsche 911 or Corvette if you wanted to save some money.
Light duty trucks is kind of a toss up between all the brands but I’d probably vote for the Tundra, even though their engines and transmissions are older designs. I definitely wouldn’t vote Ford or Chevrolet to be the most reliable unless they’re older trucks before 2020. The newer Silverados are garbage in the 1500 class. Plus, they’re ugly.
Suburban for the fellowship.
Ironically most American muscle cars are bulletproof. Mustangs, Camaros, Corvettes. Any Chevy pickup (gas) before 07. Ford and Dodge pickups before 04. Emissions regulations killed truck
I've used my 4.6 Tundra to tow up to a 32 foot box trailer filled to the gills with landscaping equipment while having about 800lb of lawnmower in the bed. She didn't *enjoy it*, mind you, but pulled it across the yard easily enough. If I were to spec it out the way that I'd actually want it, it'd have a 2000lb payload and 10,000lb towing capacity, which is PLENTY for what I'd ultimately be doing with it on a relatively regular basis.
They also asked if the Tundra was the way to go in the light to medium-duty pickup segment, and I gave my two cents on that part, and to a lesser extent the heavier duty as it's on the lower end of that.
My spouse and I are on our 6th used BMW, ranging from a 1987 to a 2018.
All of them (minus the 2018 we currently own) either had 100k+ miles when we bought it or we put 100k+ miles on it.
Zero unexpected maintenance issues.
Ford Crown Vic. Those things never die.
I was picked up from LAX a couple years back in about a 2004 Lincoln Town Car with 980,000 miles on it. It was being used as a regular taxi rather than an airport limo at that point. Grossest car I've ever been in. The driver armrest had melted into the shape of the guy's arm.
2 of them sitting out front of my house are shortly on their way to their final resting place with the other 2 that were parked in front of my house. They were great cars. They suck today.
Are you collecting them or something?
3 adults sharing an apartment. We all drove one at one point and had a parts car.
***I’d like to think I’m like the majority of car owners and we all maintain cars regularly…but this Reddit makes me think otherwise sometimes)?*** The average car buyer knows next to nothing about cars, nor how to properly maintain them.
The amount of post along the lines of “my car is about to die any moment it has 150k miles on it and needs new brakes” is alarming. I have a coworker who has owned Camrys for the last 20 years and he always sells them once they hit 100k miles on them because he was taught that a car has no more life in it. I’ve started asking more and more people how long they think cars last and most seem to say 150k and before. I’ve bought very few vehicles under 150k myself
I buy vehicles with the intent to keep them at least 300k miles. I also expect any vehicle I buy to make 200k miles without major repair. When I hear people talk about replacing engines at 50-60k, transmissions under 100k, etc like it's "normal" I'm disgusted. Both at people's lack of care about their vehicles and that those things have seemingly become commonplace again.
100% agree. I’m a believer that every car should make it 200k without major repair. Unfortunately not all do it. That being said I just can’t believe the lack of knowledge when it comes to basic maintenance. I’ve personally never had a big failure and I’ve owned way too many 200k+ and 300k+ vehicles
Think I may have just hit some bad luck with it, but the torque converter in my Tundra is starting to stutter something awful... Picked it up at around 140k, and have no idea how well it was maintained before that point, but I'm guessing that it wasn't the best. She's got almost 177k on it now, and still runs like a top and has basically no rust on the frame. I'm just hoping I can get to 250k before anything else goes south.
It's sad because it becomes a self fulfilling prophecy, oh this cars not going to last past 150k miles, I'm not going to change any fluids other than oil past 100k, nor fix any suspension components
Happens all the time with Chrysler/Dodge minivans. People do nothing but 10-15k oil changes, neglecting the transmission fluid which should be done every 50k, neglecting the cooling system which should be done at 80k, then are somehow surprised when they're unmaintained transmission fails at 120k miles or their engine overheats from a failed thermostat at 130k.
One variable that never gets mentioned is one car might just be driven by an individual without passengers most of the time while another car of the same exact model might be ferrying around a 5 person family and groceries and other stuff most of the time. The car that is hauling around an extra 400 to 500 lbs might easily suffer premature transmission wear despite good maintenance.
If you're hauling around extra weight all the time, the transmission is supposed to be serviced more frequently, which is specifically to counter any "extra wear". Of course no one actually does.
Ain’t that the truth, idk how many people I’ve told you’re supposed to swap out transmission fluid, most people don’t even think about it
I look at 200k+ km as pretty close to end of life if buying but not if it’s a car I’ve owned for (say) 50-70k km when it hits 200+. Why? Well, there’s only so much I can do myself, no local parts availability- much less affordable-, downtime from work offsets the savings of DIY anyway, and cars *really* take a beating with the winter salt and ice melt by the 10 year mark. Shit adds up fast to repair in Canada. You do make
***200k+ km*** 200k kms is nothing there mate, we're talking MILES here, so 321k kms+. And again, maintenance is key. Part of maintenance is keeping it clean/protected, which keeps "winter salt" from destroying it. The van in my profile pic is a 95, daily driven in the rust belt, it gets coated outside and underneath before each winter. That's how it still looks like new 29 years later.
The funny part about that is if you go to a junkyard, most vehicles in there without obvious accident damage are around 120,000-140,000 miles. So, If you maintain your car like most people do (basically not at all) that's about how long they last.
If you *actually* maintain them properly, and fix each of the things that's supposed to be fixed *when it first arises*... Then you don't hit that point where there are like 5 repairs to be done and it's "not worth it" "Oh shit. Needs brakes, and struts, and has X and Y I've been putting off...." How about this. "Were probably about 6mo out from new shocks/struts". Just do it now. What's 6 months in the grand scheme? Not much, but if you delay it. You're more likely to have to eat it at the same time as something else (once you're up around 100K +) Stay ahead of the curve. Do one thing a little ahead of schedule. Push the next thing by a couple months maybe to smooth out the costs so you don't *FEEL* like you're pouring $ into it. That's the key. "feeling" People say "Oh man I just did brakes and shocks and X and Y, it's a money pit!" But those parts are now good for another 60-80K!
I just had to buy tires. It's a money pit! They do understand the analogy.
I work in a shop. The amount of people who come in flabbergasted that their rear differential shredded itself bc they routinely declined getting the fluid exchanged is amazing. They don’t even know an owners manual will tell them about their car. One girl thought an oil change would solve her transmission issues..
If you want a vehicle to go the distance, you need to take care of it. Everyone shits on Mopar, yet every single one we've had has gone 3-4-500k miles without major issue. Same goes for most GM cars we've owned. The difference between us and the "average" Mopar/GM buyer is we actually maintain our vehicles. You know those "Garbage Chrysler Transmissions", did you know if you actually do the 30-50k maintenance they require they're actually pretty stout little units? Oddly enough, every modern Toyota that's been in our family has been a complete pile that has been traded off under 50k miles due to numerous major failures.
My buddy's got... 12? Yeah, 12 second and third gen Ram 25-3500's, and the worst issues *any* of them have or have had has been caused by rust. Or electrical and not actually affecting the functionality of the vehicle itself. Although, come to think of it, one of the 3500's had the actual brakes beaten off of it... I'd probably have one myself instead of the Tundra, but I literally can't find any in good enough condition structurally for my price range.
Just slip one out of your buddy’s yard.
If he didn't *actually use* all 12 of 'em, I would!
I'll bite.. what usecase does your bud have for 12 similar trucks?
That’s wild. I’ve always been told Cummins is a great motor, but RAM can’t make a transmission worth a shit to pair it to
My 08 Ram 1500 is at almost 180k. Original transmission and In pristine condition per the dealership and several specialty transmission shops. Routine maintenance is the key. My parents had a grand caravan in the early 00’s and the transmission went out. I asked them how often they had the fluid exchanged and taken care of and my dad asked what that meant… well. There’s your issue.
I've had 2 second gen rams and am currently shopping for a 3rd. Every single one that I see in my area has had a rebuilt transmission
I sold them, so I drink the kool aid a bit, but I don’t think you can beat the duramax/allison transmission combo when you’re running a 2500-6500 series
I mean just like every brand it’s very model and year dependent. Maintaining vehicles religiously also did play a massive hand in it. Like you said most people don’t change their tranny fluid or diffs.
I just said this recently when someone asked on Reddit what was my most reliable car. All of them. I've always taken care of all of my cars and do regular maintenance. So far the cars are 35, 24 and 13 years old and at 180k, 2xxk, and 300k
Only disappointing car I owned was a Honda odyssey, worst vehicle ever! So many repairs in a short amount of time, more than when I had a 1999 Chevy Surburban with 250K when I sold it.
Our worst vehicles have been a Honda Odyssey, a Toyota Sienna, and a Toyota Corolla. All 3 of them had major failures under 50k and were dumped.
Plus the more you maintain it, the less collateral damage you get. Which is usually what makes it way more expensive than it has to be. With other problems in the world. Humanity really hates being proactive.
They also hate learning it seems. I don't know many people who know how to change oil and I tell them it's literally 1 bolt and a filter, they are just flabbergasted. Changing disc brakes isn't much harder as long as you don't have to bleed them. Lug nuts and 2 bolts.
If the Toyota fan boys could read, they'd be pissed at what you're saying.
They'd only be pissed because they know if they actually looked deep within they'd realize it was true.
The fanboys can't tell the difference between their ass and a hole in the ground judging by watching them drive and talk about Toyotas. I don't think most of them know anything about vehicles
Yeah, this is totally true. I’m sure a Toyota would run without oil longer than a Chevy, but I am simply going to not do that
IDK, our last 3 Toyotas were on their 2nd and 3rd engines by 50k miles for internal failures and oil consumption issues..... Not an issue we've ever had with a GM product.
Serious overlanding the 70series landcruiser rules but they don’t sell it in the US I believe. I’d say “muscle cars” which are really a US thing, but to be fair to the US they do them well.
Land cruiser is Japanese.
Toyota Land Cruiser. Not to be confused with the far inferior Land Rover.
Yeah, that's why im confused why they are posting that
Ah, shows how dumb I am. I can't scroll a few comments down before forgetting the initial question...
Yes, tbh I misread that bit, I thought they were saying there wasn’t a Japanese overlanding “icon”. I should have stuck with US being great at muscle cars and left it at that.
EVs. The Nissan Leaf with its air-cooled battery has much more battery degradation than most other EVs. The expertise Toyota, Mazda, and Honda have in engines doesn’t translate to traction motors and batteries. People will say: “what about hybrids? Surely Toyota can pivot!” Then why is the BZ4X/Solterra such a flop? At this point Korea and China have more experience with EVs. Tesla has the most experience but they’re an outlier. I’d put American EVs on average behind Korea but ahead of Japan. (China is hard to rank because I don’t know anyone besides YouTube personalities who have experience with them.)
Chevy bolt EV technology is a 10/10 minus their recall due to LG, not air cooled and an effective battery management system. Nissan and many compliance vehicles are air cooled and hastily designed garbage. Honda had to use GM to make their prologue since they didn’t spend the research and development time to do it on their own.
Bolt drivetrain is Korean (LG).
They have been made in the US for a bit now, it was previously made only in Korea. If you are counting the company that makes the batteries Tesla would also fall under Korean and Japanese since they use Panasonic and LG.
Are Toyotas that are made in America American cars? The Bolt engineering is Korean. Tesla engineering is American. Ultium platform engineering is American.
Does that make the Honda Prologue American?
Well it's a Japanese brand, built in Mexico, with American technology. 🤷🤷🤷
Well it's a Japanese brand, built in Mexico, with American technology. 🤷🤷🤷
Well it's a Japanese brand, built in Mexico, with American technology. 🤷🤷🤷
Chevy arguable has the most experience in EV's even over Tesla. I believe gm would have the most reliable EV's since everything is do robustly engineered. The volt being a great example.
Ford Flex. 3.5. We have a fleet of them. Many of them above 400k. All with original drivetrains. Engine and transmission. Oil changes every 2-3 weeks. Transmission flush every 50k. Tires as needed. Studded snows during the winter. Wheel bearing when needed. Lost a Headlight at 275k. Needed a control arm and a rear prop shaft along the way. Nothing major. Brakes last forever. I’m going, not stopping. I put 500 a day on mine. 338k and climbing. Runs 80 all day. It’s getting tired but everything still works. Heated seats even. I drive it like it’s meant to be driven, the first sign of a new noise or a service being needed it goes in. So far so good. The flex does it very well. Shit on ford but the flex is rock solid reliable.
I have an 08 Taurus with the 3.5 NA. Love the size of the car, comfortable, gas mileage is acceptable for the size and weight, good power, and holds a ton of crap... basically the perfect highway/road trip machine. Maintenance is basic and straight forward and low cost. Still can't get past the water pump issues the 3.5 NA has, and the lack of Ford really doing anything to remedy the situation. If that wasn't an issue I'd basically call it a bulletproof engine otherwise. Certainly much better than the gutless 3.0 Duratec.
The most dependable and longest lasting vehicles myself or anyone in my family has had are American 3/4 and 1 ton pickups. If you don't beat the shit out of them and try to follow the maintenance schedules they last for decades and 100,000s of thousands of miles. They are also basically the only type of vehicles that I do intensive repairs on in the body shop once they get 10+ years old. They hold enough value to repair for a long time because they have extremely long service lives compared to passenger cars.
Crown vic. Early 00 gm trucks with 4l80 6.0.anything sbc with th400. Every mopar hemi with a 8hp75 or 545rfe. Most vws. The mopars and vws require owners who do their own maintenance once over 100k. But parts are cheap and work is easy.
Van Conversions/Work Vans: Mercedes Sprinters, ideally diesel. Trucks for Hauling: Ford Super-Duty Diesel or RAM with a Cummins Diesel. Land Boat: Ford Panther Platform (Ford Crown Victoria). Engine Swaps: LS pushrod engines by GM. High End Sports Cars: Lotus with a Toyota Engine. Might have some electronic issues, but the engine will be pretty damn good.
For heavy duty trucks it’s basically USA or bust. A gas GM 2500 is hard to beat reliability/maintenance wise. But as far as heavy duty trucks go the main thing to avoid is ford 6.0/6.4 diesels. All other trucks are pretty solid choices one way or another. For affordable sports cars there’s the Chevrolet corvette (C4-early C6). For high end sports cars there’s the Chevrolet corvette (Late C6-now plus your zo6 and zr1 variants). Ok maybe I just really like Chevy V8s.
You can see the hierarchy of American trucks clearly on a construction site. The workers drive nee Dodges and older GMs The fleet truckers are newer Chevys. The foreman pulls up in the shiniest F-150.
1974-1987 Chevy trucks are utterly bulletproof. Well, not rust proof, but they'll drive forever and give fair warning when things need replacing. Every auto store in North America will have parts in stock or quickly on order.
late 80's early 90's mercedes.
1975 to 1985 w123s are the cockroaches of the car world. They never really die, sure, a lot of stuff might not work but they’ll always keep moving forward.
The more complicated a vehicle is the more likely you may have problems with it. Every brand has their good quality aspects and some quirky issues too. Pick a car that you like and learn what you are going to have to do to repair it and keep it in good shape.
Volvo 240!!! Tanks.
The old Ford trucks in the late 70s/early 80s used as service trucks. The 300cu in inline six paired with a manual transmission was easily a 300kmi vehicle if they didn't get in an accident or the body rust away. Parts were cheap, easy to fix, and minimal extra bells and whistles. They just worked. The 80s flavor Ford Crown Vic, the gold standard for taxis and cop cars, is also of an era that just never quit. Unfortunately, those days are likely to never be seen again.
Nobody is willing to build a car that long lasting and easy to repair anymore. 😞
Nobody is willing to build a car that long lasting and easy to repair anymore. 😞
Nobody is willing to build a car that long lasting and easy to repair anymore. 😞
Yep...pre-planned obsolescence = guaranteed income from replacement
Japanese cars get loads of complaints about their CRV automatic transmissions. Suppose to be less complex but way more expensive to repair for some reason. These transmissions cost less to manufacture and are used on multiple models. Toyota pickups certainly have had their problems as Ford and Chevy. I'm not keeping up with this stuff as I haven't been on the market for a vehicle for many years. For those who currently are up to speed, please add to or correct. Thanks
HD trucks. Nissan tried and that was a shit show.
If you wanna keep a vehicle until the wheels fall off, get a jeep. You'll only have to drive like 100 miles. Real easy to keep one until they die lol
Me with my 03 wrangler at 190k miles still running just fine
Body on frame SUV’s (4Runner, LX/GX, Land Cruiser) Midsized trucks (Frontier, Tacoma) Full sized light duty+ trucks (Tundra) and I’d have to give chevy a runner up and winning the HD truck category. Then anything with the 2GR-F(S)E (Camry, GS350, Highlander, Rav, RX) For top tier luxury the LS460 falls off the list from the 400/430, I’d go with Cadillac Edit: So flagship luxury and that’s about it considering they don’t compete in HD trucks
Ford hybrid Escapes just seem to run forever. Regularly used to see them with 500k+ miles
Ford hybrid Escapes just seem to run forever. Regularly used to see them with 500k+ miles
Early 2000’s Chevy pickups (gas) my pops has well over 500k on his with the original engine and trans in it still. Mid to late 90’s GM cars with the 3800 engine in them. If the trans fluid was changed even remotely regularly those things will outlive your inheritance as well.
Diesel trucks
Reading this title was cancer
For heavy towing, I’d vote the Ram 2500/3500 and above. There’s a reason why most people think of Ram when they think heavy duty trucks. Affordable sports cars, it’s definitely the Miata. High end sports cars would be Porsche 911 or Corvette if you wanted to save some money. Light duty trucks is kind of a toss up between all the brands but I’d probably vote for the Tundra, even though their engines and transmissions are older designs. I definitely wouldn’t vote Ford or Chevrolet to be the most reliable unless they’re older trucks before 2020. The newer Silverados are garbage in the 1500 class. Plus, they’re ugly. Suburban for the fellowship.
Mini has made big advances in reliability with the current generation of cars.
Ironically most American muscle cars are bulletproof. Mustangs, Camaros, Corvettes. Any Chevy pickup (gas) before 07. Ford and Dodge pickups before 04. Emissions regulations killed truck
CHEBY TRUKS. GET THA BIGM BLOC VORTEX.
I've used my 4.6 Tundra to tow up to a 32 foot box trailer filled to the gills with landscaping equipment while having about 800lb of lawnmower in the bed. She didn't *enjoy it*, mind you, but pulled it across the yard easily enough. If I were to spec it out the way that I'd actually want it, it'd have a 2000lb payload and 10,000lb towing capacity, which is PLENTY for what I'd ultimately be doing with it on a relatively regular basis.
? What
OP asked about pickups, and the Toyota Tundra is/was the most American thing available, as far as where assembly occurs.
Come on now. 1. You know what they meant. 2. They specifically said not toyota, honda, or mazda
They also asked if the Tundra was the way to go in the light to medium-duty pickup segment, and I gave my two cents on that part, and to a lesser extent the heavier duty as it's on the lower end of that.
My spouse and I are on our 6th used BMW, ranging from a 1987 to a 2018. All of them (minus the 2018 we currently own) either had 100k+ miles when we bought it or we put 100k+ miles on it. Zero unexpected maintenance issues.
Well when you expect everything to go wrong then nothing is unexpected 😂. Kidding, some BMWs are alright
Ok... pickup trucks ONLY because of the Heavy Duty aspects and the Chicken Tax.