100k miles. let the nickel, and diming begin. :P

[Darkwing_Duck]

Got the worst luck with cars I tell yah, once they hit 100k miles, they start falling apart piece by piece. LOL
First power steering pump fails, then cam sencor drive fails, now a wheel bearing. yeesh! what`s next?
Car`s only been in the shop once a week for the last 3 weeks :P
remind me to NEVER buy another American made NEW car. XD

[Akrion]

remind me to NEVER buy another American made NEW car. XD

At 100,000 miles it's not going to matter very much who made the car. xD

[Dhalin]

At 100,000 miles it's not going to matter very much who made the car. xD

I remember when cars would last 150-200k if they were taken care of.

Heck, I'm driving an '00 Bonneville right now that has 170k on it. It has had a few problems since I bought it, but nothing TOO costly/major.

I had a '93 Bonneville that was simply awesome until some impatient 19 year old girl decided to drive too fast in the winter and cause a wreck... not a freaking thing wrong with the car, 'cept for some minor transmission work was going to need done soon. It had... I forget, I think it was pushing 160k too.

[Romirez]

At 100,000 miles it's not going to matter very much who made the car. xD

I BEG TO DIFFER. my Toyota, 200,000 miles on the body, engine rebuild 90,000 miles ago. still runs like brand new. it starts up in 2 cranks every single time, never fails to start, even in 10 degree weather.

1988 Toyota Pickup, 4x4 22RE engine, 5 speed. HIGHLY RECCOMMEND ONE. they last FOR-EV-ER.


cars that don't last past 100,000 miles were junk to begin with.

Got the worst luck with cars I tell yah, once they hit 100k miles, they start falling apart piece by piece. LOL
First power steering pump fails, then cam sencor drive fails, now a wheel bearing. yeesh! what`s next?
Car`s only been in the shop once a week for the last 3 weeks :P
remind me to NEVER buy another American made NEW car. XD

buy a Toyota truck from the years 1980 - 1995. trust me. AND DON'T GET ONE WITH THE 3.0 LITER V6. THOSE ARE CRAP. you WANT the 22RE 4 cylinder engine. it's slow as crap, but it lasts longer then any engine out there.

[Dhalin]

4-cyl?

Meh, never going back to one of those. I like doing more than 40mph up a hill, lol. Especially in a _truck_.

That said, the GM 3.x liter 6-cyl engines are said to be pretty good, like I said, I'm currently running one at 176 and it too cranks up. Sometimes it takes 3 but it'll start like a charm in cold weather too.

And it certainly does more than 40mph uphill.

[Darkwing_Duck]

omg yeah my Taurus is a 3.0 liter V6 LOL no wonder!! it`s had ignition issure from the start. Recently did an entire ignition overhaul on it. replaced battery, alternator, starter, spark plugs, and wires, and coil pack. Even after all that it still takes like 4 to 6 cranks to start her when cold. :P
Yeah deffinately going Toyota with my next car. Been trying to talk my uncle into selling his old Tecoma? it`s a pickup, think late 1990`s. So should be good. He baught an SUV cuz he needed the seating room
Steering clear of anything GM. after I saw the factory workers getting drunk, and high on the job? O.o Totaly avoiding that company from now on XD
Shoulda kept my old Taurus 2001. never had a problem with it. only parts I ever had to replace were tires, brakes, struts, and normal wear, and tear stuffs. that car had over 200k, and the engine ran like new XD

[Finkledbody]

*Facepalm*

Any fool that thinks toyota is better then chevy, honda is better then toyota, VW is better then everything, Audis last forever, chevys are greater than dodge.

This is going to come across as rude, impolite, and just generally unwanted... But you all are fools, absolutely ignorant if ya really think ones better then the other..

No car is made by a single manufacturer and has been this way for well over 25 years. That honda you own? Guess what, its 10% nissan, 10% chevy, 10% honda, 10% toyota, 10% VW, 10% etc. etc. etc.

Any car out there is going to treat you as well as you treat it, and every car comes with defects. Have any of you ever worked at a manufactoring plant making any parts for a car? Sensors, ball bearings, door handles, brakes, pads, power steering line, the horn, nuts, bolts, screws, hoses, batterys, even the raw elements that go into making any of these parts...? Guess what? Every part on every car is pieced together using parts from all across the world. Toyota buys parts from chevy.. and chevy buys parts from toyota.

Toyotas, hondas, audis? Yeah all those foreign cars you all love the most and say they are the best? They are nearly 75% pure american made cars now with pure american parts in em. They are made and assembled here right in America.

Chevy? Ya might think "oh those are all outsourced and not even made in America anymore!" Wrong again. Made in America, cananda and mexico and shipped back to the states to be assembled. Again, thats the same with toyota, honda, subaru, kia, hyundai. The list goes on and on.

Treating ur car right; its going to treat you right.
If ya think think one car is crap just because it came from America is on the extreme end of ignorance... is the car from the 80's or 90's Its 20-30 years old now! Is your car from 2000? its 12 years old now! If ya talk to any automotive professional they will tell you the average life expectancy of a car is 7-8 years with mileage not being the main factor as to why its life is over. Cars degrade over time and they don't need to be driven for it to happen.

Also most automotive professionals would agree that cars that were made in the 80's are pieces of junk, all of em.. they were all designed and made to be as cheap as possible, and to get them out of the manufactoring plants NOW! So I agree, those were all junk, waste of money, and no matter what ya did, they would treat you poorly. But lets forget about all of that cause the only good that came out of the 80's was the music

If anyone wants their car to last a bit longer, go to the shop a bit less, and use a bit less fuel?! Heres an easy list of things to keep in mind: Stop riding ur breaks.. Don't park in grass.. Don't leave ur car in the sun.. Don't drive it like ya stole it.. Dont' let ur kids use ur car, they will abuse it.. Dont' start ur car and immediatly put it in gear and go, cars need time to warm up even in the summer.. regular oil changes are well known but what is not done as well regularly: tranny, clutch, coolant, brake, and differential flushes are also important and helpful in extending the life of your vehicle. Wheel bearings tend to crap out when people take corners quickly, however, in time inclimate weather plays a toll on them as well, so they will need replacing anyways. Power steering, lol, they tend to let go when parking in lots.. Cutting your wheel all the way to the left or right is very hard on the pump.. If you often times park in lots and hear the whining and grinding sound while ur wheel is cut hard to the left or right, yeah, thats ur power steering pump crying for it to turn the wheel away from the lock a little bit Do alot of stop and go traffic? Cars hate that

Oh I could go on and on but we all know no ones reading anymore anyways.
lol /rant over for me

Edit: Doh! Forgot the Good Luck to the original poster!
Cars are expensive, and hard to take care of when the mechanics are generally taken the driver for a ride .
Darned mechanics!

[Steelclaw]

omg yeah my Taurus is a 3.0 liter V6 LOL no wonder!! it`s had ignition issure from the start. Recently did an entire ignition overhaul on it. replaced battery, alternator, starter, spark plugs, and wires, and coil pack. Even after all that it still takes like 4 to 6 cranks to start her when cold. :P

Geez. What were you trying to fix? A surplus of money in your bank account?

For cars with distributorless ignition or SEFI, you can expect to hold the key in "start" for 2-3 seconds. There's a signal that the computer gets every one or two crankshaft rotations. The computer uses that signal to start the plug and injector firing sequence. They're certainly not like the older engines with carburetors, where you can stomp the gas once and tap the starter.

Shoulda kept my old Taurus 2001. never had a problem with it. only parts I ever had to replace were tires, brakes, struts, and normal wear, and tear stuffs. that car had over 200k, and the engine ran like new XD

I had a 2nd gen Taurus and had much the same experience, except for two design flaws:
1) The stock 1-2 shift servo (a piston) in the transmission was made of aluminum and known to crack, leaving drivers with 1st gear only. Mine cracked and was replaced with a nice steel one for about $1200.

2) The ignition module was mounted on the distributor -- a bad place for electronics. These modules are known to frequently go bad on a regular basis. After observing some misfires and erratic timing, I replaced mine and remote-mounted it in a cooler place. If you have a used 2nd gen Taurus and see an ignition module bolted to a big heatsink by the battery, that might have been mine.

Those issues aside, the engine itself (Vulcan) was a pretty solid design, albeit somewhat anemic compared to modern V6 engines. If you happen to come across an older Ford with one of these, and the engine doesn't show signs of poor maintenance, the engine will probably run as long as you want it to. (The rest of the drivetrain is another matter >.>.)


Keep in mind that unless you can get a reliable replacement for really cheap, it's often more cost effective to keep fixing an older car, even if you are dropping a few hundred on repairs each year.

Should you start looking around, when choosing a replacement, remember that everyone has their good runs and bad ones. Just do your homework to find out what specific models and years to avoid, then out of your handful of real candidates, pick the one with the lowest maintenance and repair cost. That super-reliable car that requires oil made from distilled unicorn tears? Yeah. Forget about it.

[Akrion]

I BEG TO DIFFER. my Toyota, 200,000 miles on the body, engine rebuild 90,000 miles ago. still runs like brand new. it starts up in 2 cranks every single time, never fails to start, even in 10 degree weather.

Alright, and I had a '92 Blazer that was pushing 260k miles with no engine rebuild before I sold it. What's your point? What I originally said still stands, honestly even more-so with your example. Cars of all types push past 100k miles, it's far more about people who take care of their vehicles at that point than it is about who made the vehicle.

[Dhalin]

The main thing about this thread that I really agree with, is the part about Maintenance and proper driving/parking habits.

Some people can't help living in areas with regular inclement weather, but you CAN help your driving habits.

Driving over the speed limit regularly is one of those things that never does a car good. There's a reason why the "55MPH" area on a speedometer has a different-colored line and it has little to do with Speed Limits (many states have speed limits of 65-70 MPH).

The reason is, is that studies have shown that a car at an even cruise will be the most efficient between 50 and 60 MPH -- go slower than that and you're wasting gas. Go faster than that and you're spending too much gas to keep your speed up, AND, putting unnecessary wear on your transmission. Every automatic car I've ever driven has a little "sweet spot" where it kicks into an even cruising gear right around 55MPH on the flat. Try to go to 60-65 and it has to shift into a higher gear and add 500-1k RPM. Drop below 55 and it shifts into a lower gear and adds 500-1k RPM.

Also, the people who like to turn hard, as mentioned above. That's very hard on tires, and also affects the steering system. Also, hard turns while parking was mentioned and I agree with that too -- that groaning sound from your steering pump is it trying to tell you its in pain to let up on the steering a little.

And then there are people who squeal wheel. Flooring your car from <10MPH is the single worst thing you can do to your car. All of that torque strains the transmission and the drive system, not to mention it causes an RPM spike (which puts extra wear on your engine). The squealing also wears your tires down, too.

And then there's drifting. Nothing to ruin your break pads, rotors, and tires quite like throwing the car into a fishtailing while mashing on the parking brake, not to mention putting strain against the whole frame of the car as weight shifts around wildly inside the car, and not to mention you get the same torque strain when you suddenly floor the accelerator pedal after abruptly slamming on the brakes.

Yeah, I couldn't possibly see why some peoples' cars don't last to 100k miles....

/sarcasm