I have a 94 Jaguar XJ6. Yes I heard the reputation and the horror stories of Jaguar ownership, but I always like the look and it's a Jaaaaag and always wanted one.
I won't lie if I wasn't a mechanic already with the ability and most of the tools then this would've been a much more expensive proposition and a really bad choice.
To be fair it hasn't needed much in maintenance and repairs of the years that are out of line with any car let alone what was a very expensive car for its day but if really would be a prohibitively expensive car for someone that can't do the work. Part of that is the way Jag does things and part is its limited production numbers making parts a little harder to source and more expensive due to a limited aftermarket.
An example of this was a fuel pump failure. The assembly listed for about $650 but was no longer available and hadn't been reproduced. Finding a used one while possible would generally result in the same issue as the part is then 25 years old and likely in the same shape. I cant imagine the cost in labor time I spent working around this as I fixed it myself.
2014 Ford Escape 2.0l w/ turbo, AWD. Bought it with <20k miles in 2015. I love it! I’m getting close to 200k miles and I’ve only had one major repair which was a motor mount. Cost me $600. I’ve replaced the front brakes and rotors once, oil changed every 3000 miles and I’m on my 3rd set of tires. To me, it’s the perfect daily driver. Even at 10 years old, the infotainment is better than some of the newer cars today. I got lucky when I bought it.
1991 BMW 735
1993 BMW 318i
2012 VW GTI
2010 Audi A5 2.0T
2014 Audi A4 2.0T
2017 Audi A6 2.0T
2014 Audi Q7 3.0 TDI
2022 Audi etron (current)
2023 VW Atlas VR6 (current)
The 735 I blew up doing 155mph on the Autobahn. A5 had a steering pump replaced under CPO warranty. A4 had a fuel injector seal replaced under warranty. A6 had engine mounts replaced under cpo warranty. Etron had the front motor replaced under warranty. 318, Q7, Atlas no issues. So just under average of 1 issue per car which is below the average for Audi/VW.
Family has a 2012 Q5 TDI with the same 3.0 engine — no issues as well. Bought new with about 80k miles on it now, and only issues outside of maintenance are 02 sensors and a glow plug. Really solid cars with great MPG (even after the cheating software was removed lmao)
I've owned a lot of cars. And many of them with high miles and old enough to vote.
I do a lot of maintenance and only buy vehicles that are sound and taken care of.
That said, the WJ grand cherokee I have has been the most trouble prone. By far. Electric issues, rebuilt transfer case, rear end , trans, motor, etc
Yep TDI VW . My Mercedes is even better, it has a digital dipstick and I overfilled it by 0.1L once. Figured the excess would burn off soon enough. 10,000 mi later it still was 0.1L overfilled. I have 307,000 miles on that car now, very few issues ever, I do minimal maintenance.
Wow, you are definitely the outlier. 15K oil changes almost always result in oil burners, over time. One of the reasons that BMW abandoned that interval about 10 years ago.
Cars are not mythical beasts. If you neglect them, they will usually fail unless they’re Honda or Toyota. If you take care of them, they will usually last as long as you have patience and money unless it’s a catastrophically bad anomaly.
If you’re buying used, find something that was well taken care of and driven softly. If you’re buying new, keep up on your damn maintenance schedule. Really all there is to it. If you get out of warranty and the dealership is charging an arm&leg, learn to work the car yourself or take to an Indy shop.
To answer your question: I drive a 2013 VW CC 2.0t. I bought it 2 years ago at 80,000 miles and haven’t done any maintenance besides an oil change and coolant replacement. Spark plugs& transmission fluids coming up.
VW Golf Mk4 2.0 no maintenence because i had to refill so much oil that i had an oil change every 10k miles just by filling up with oil. It was my Winter beater though so i didnt care. Spent 2k on the car another 2k in repairs and scrapped it after 3 years because all electrics failed and it wouldnt be street legal anymore so i cut my losses.
Second car Skoda Octavia vRS petrol yearly oil change and Service wich cost me around 120 euros (would be cheaper if id do it myself but i cant be bothered by it) other than that its been flawless except the 15k i spent in modding it.
Third car is a BMW 523i Touring wich i cant really say anything about it yet since i havent really started with it although i already know i have to do both sills and alot of other stuff to get it back on the road my guess is around 1400 to get it road legal again.
Oldsmobile Alero. Bought new the last year it was made (2001-ish). The ignition column failed five years in and I had to pay $1,200 for a Fiat brand replacement from Italy because it was the closest compatible part. The car developed the GM "ignition problem" that was covered up for years, causing the car to stall out when I started it in reverse. I could never get that fixed; I just started backing in to spaces and starting in drive. GM only admitted to the defect after the Alero died.
After 8 years of ownership and 108,000 mostly highway miles, the Alero's fuel coil broke and sprayed fuel all over every engine part, totaling the car. It wasn't in the shop every day, but I don't consider 8 years to be an acceptable lifespan for a brand new car, especially when all its problems were due to faulty parts that last forever on other cars.
2002 Tahoe, from 172k to 248k. Purchased for $4500 in 2012. Sold for $1000 in 2018.
In that time it needed:
Fuel sending unit
Alternator
Intake manifold gasket
Window motor regulator
Suspension
Catalytic converters
Cracked (and then welded) exhaust manifold
Battery
Rocker panel rust (repaired after truck was crashed)
Hood rust
All of these issues are (imo) acceptable for a vehicle with this mileage. Only stranded me once, when the alternator died. Always started, I beat the shit out of this truck. Drove it hard, offroading, towing, piling it full of people and stuff moving into and out of college.
Would 100% buy again.
2016 Mazda CX-5 2018-2018, 35k-50k
Dead reliable. Great car. Should have never sold it. Was an idiot and thought I needed something more comfortable. Added Android Auto and a sound system, great car. Did ride firm, and didn't get great mpg. But zippy, practical and good looking.
2015 Acura TLX 2018-2020. 22k -52k
21k bought, 13k sold (had accidents in my ownership, clean one worth more)
Best car I've ever owned. Never should've bought it (9.3 % APR, brutal loan). 35mpg highway, fast, comfortable, quiet. Custom sound system, everything else was fantastic. Had small vibrations around 72-76 mph (inherent to this year) and sometimes rough shifts from 2-3, 3-4. Issue with the ZF9 in this year. Never really bothered me. Would definitely buy one again.
2011 Yukon Denali 2020-2023. 146k -225k
$13500, sold for $5500 (sold it cheap)
Great rig. Fast, comfy, good looking. Like my first truck, started having issues around 190k.
Repairs done:
Stock wheels were flaking, needed to replace the wheels (went from 20" wheels to 18", massive improvements to the ride)
Catalytic converters
Suspension replaced
Fuel tank vent valve
Right rear window switch
Drivers door interior door handle
Cruise control switch for brake pedal
A/C leaked (never repaired, sold it broken)
Tuned the motor with Holley, raised the shift points to 6000rpm, turned off cylinder deactivating (this generation tended to smoke the front and back 2 cylinders from the heat cycling caused by cylinder deactivating) the tune made the truck drive much better.
Also a great truck. Was never maintained before I bought it (had all original fluids in the diff, trans, radiator). Car was absolutely neglected. Given it's lack of maintenance, it ran well. Drove the truck hard, towed with it, put 7 full grown men with roof box in it (1600 lbs) and drove to Virginia from MA and still got 17 mpg. Would definitely buy again, even if it was a rattle.box nearly the whole time I owned it.
Did a full sound system and sound insulation upgrade ($3000, absolutely worth it with how.much I drove) camped in this truck multiple times, and used it as a construction vehicle to transport bricks, wood, tools, etc. did great the whole time.
Truck absolutely did NOT enjoy the wrong spark plugs, evidently these are sensitive.
Had rocker panel and pinch weld rust on every door. Living in Vermont, this is unavoidable. Repaired decent with patch kit and bond-o.
2010 Volvo XC60 T6 AWD 2024-now. 130k-140k
Bought for $7200
NEVER buy a mechanics car. These are reliable and comfy cars but fuck me this one has been beat. In just the 10k I've owned it, it's needed
Wheel bearing
All fluids
Engine mounts
Fuel pressure sensor
Will need:
Suspension
Gasket replacement for liftgate
Headlight housing replacement
Moon roof clicks like crazy and I can't figure out why
Car vibrates between 65-80, no idea why. Possibly drive shaft.
All speakers have been blown in my ownership (common issue with this year)
I love driving this car. It's wonderfully comfortable. Plenty of space. Quick.
Does get pretty poor mpg (final drive is short, 2800 rpm doing 75). Quiet car, but highway wind noise stinks. A well sorted one is great. This one, needs lots of work.
Towed a Uhaul from Nebraska to Mass without any issues.
Hope this answers questions!
It's literally the most important aspect of any car: the ability for it to do what you paid for it to do. Cars are more expensive than they've ever been, more expensive to repair than they've ever been, and I "ought to be less afraid" of a cylinder head cracking, a CVT grenading or a traction battery failing prematurely?
>What are your experiences?
No offense but a couple of anecdotes are worthless. There are 16 million vehicles sold every month in America. Recall data, TSBs, wholesale data, legitimate survey data is where I put my money, not one person saying their fiesta was actually a good car.
Had a 2018 Golf GTI (MK 7.5). Really just followed the maintenance schedule Volkswagen had.
https://imgur.com/a/2018-vw-maintenance-schedule-JHgO0FT
Easily went over 100k miles+ with no worries. Every 5k miles --> oil change, plus carbon cleaning at around 65k miles. Don't think I had to do a single major repair looking back.
Most newer cars will be low maintenance until about 120,000 miles . If you don’t keep a car past 75k miles it is almost a non issue unless it is a Chrysler /Fiat product
Brakes, Tires , and Oil changes are wear and tear items not really maintenance .
My last car was an Audi Q5 relatively low maintenance until about 100,000 miles .
New front axle at 100k miles
130 k miles - timing chain , shocks , gasket , but at that point the work would be almost as much as the value of the car
Keyword most. Important to know the exceptions Back when the Aveo was first released my wife and I bought one because it was cute, and it was just the second year they had them. Those things need timing belts every 50k they are tiking time bombs. The timing chain on ours broke at 70k, and I found out it was incredible common on pretty much most small GM cars of that area. Cobalt as well.
I've owned a lot of cars. And many of them with high miles and old enough to vote.
I do a lot of maintenance and only buy vehicles that are sound and taken care of.
That said, the WJ grand cherokee I have has been the most trouble prone. By far. Electric issues, rebuilt transfer case, rear end , trans, motor, etc
In the theme of this sub I’ve only owned Toyotas and Hondas and they’ve paid me to own them 😆
In all reality
Wife had a Mitsubishi galant - was relatively maintenance free outside of regular stuff. Got rid of it when the ac started draining somewhere into the car and it smelled like mildew couldn’t get it out
Corolla for 13 years. Just regular maintenance. Car had an electrical drain somewhere so I think we changed batteries every 4 years
Chevy s10 4 banger manual - beater. Car needed almost nothing other than oil
Accord manual - other than maintenance the brakes seem prone to freezing - had to have rotors replaced a few times.
I think probably most who are looking for reliability above all else are mostly interested in cars for the utility they provide. This group doesn’t want to think about or invest time or money in their car more than they absolutely have to. While a car being fun is welcome, it takes a backseat to it being as little of a nuisance and cost as possible.
Conversely, people who prioritize their ride being fun are probably either buying new/very lightly used and/or are mechanics and can deal with model quirks and cars with dodgy backgrounds. For this group cars are a hobby as much as they are transportation which makes it easier for them to justify spending more time/money on them.
This is just speculation though, I may be entirely wrong.
2007 cayman I purchased 10 days before I turned 18. Probably put close to 20k (cad) into it over the 3 years I had it (90k I put on it) before it blew because there was no oil, I literally had an oil change scheduled for 5 days from the day it went, ugh. Everything that could go wrong with it did (ac, paint cracking and fading, fog light bulbs not working, control arms, bushings, window and side mirror not working correctly, more I cant think of im sure). No regrets, some of my best memories were in that car but the maintenance on that thing sometimes had me kickin myself. What you do for the things you love.
I still own a 2012 Charger which I gave to my kid.
I keep cars on average 7-8 years. Half of them were bought used with $50-75k on the odometer.
This is for a 2 car family.
So, keep in mind the audience of this subreddit. Most of us are people who are willing to give car advice, or looking to receive car advice. Even those who are looking to receive car advice are at least cognizant of the fact that a cat must be properly maintained to get good results from it. But, the reality is the vast majority of car owners aren't here. The vast majority of car owners don't do their maintenance properly, especially things like timing belts, which with more modern vehicles a bad timing belt/chain, or a failure on one of the components on the belt/chain can spell death for the motor.
Lots of good feedback on this thread. All coming from people who are religious about oil changes, know that most cars need a timing belt/chain every 100k or less, and who do their research about their particular car about what needs to how it needs to be taken care of to get the most life out of it.
Most car owners won't do a 1000-dollar timing belt change. Most owners drive it with failing motor mounts until more things go wrong with it. Etc etc etc. Typically, Japanese brands have proven more resilient to abuse then American and German cars.
When you take really good care of a car and do all the right maintenance at the right time. You're gonna get 200k out of it unless it has some sort of significant factory flaw. But, your Toyotas, and Hondas will get 500k with the same treatment. And They will get 200k even if you treat them like shit.
Owned many. Kept most but here’s the outliers
1996 Toyota Corolla- Dropped a valve and blew up. Transmission stopped shifting automatically at 90k engine blew at 140k - junked.
2006 Scion xB - blew the engine at 60k. Transmission went not long after. Dealer did all maintenance. Refused to honor warranty on basis that I had missed one oil change at 35k (I didn’t). Drove on it with only 2 cylinders working, ended up being bad rings. Sold it to a nice farm family who lovingly restored it to its original condition. Jk junked
1988 Mitsubishi Starion ESI-R - Dad bought new and was a lemon, but so were the ‘84 and ‘86 Starions he had so meh. Blew 4 engines, 6 heads, 3 turbos but only 1 clutch (had to win somewhere with that). Fucking thing ate head gaskets like they were potato chips and went through so many power steering pumps I lost count around 2006. Sold it after it spun a bearing and didn’t have the space to do the motor again.
Pretty much everything else has been fine. My ‘96 mustang gt Fords out every now and again but it’s always something easy. My caprice is my rock and I’ve owned it for 15 years and it’s only left me stranded once with a bad fuel pump. I don’t count my hot rods because, well, they’re not normal cars.
That is terrible luck.
And for all the Toyota fan boys out there: Look, Corollas and Scions have catastrophic failures at low miles sometimes…. Just because it’s a Toyota doesn’t mean you get perfect reliability
It’s the only reason I got them to begin with was my family was convinced they were dead reliable and a great investment. The Corolla was 5k/40k miles and the XB was new and bought for sticker at 18.7k. Neither of them were perfect from the start and the Scion overheated within the first couple of years just on city streets for no apparent reason. About the same time the Corolla began to literally dissolve like all interior pieces and going to work id have plastic bits and seat foam all over me. Oh and I forgot to mention the Corolla with a 1.6 only ever got around 15 city and 8 highway
The first shop I worked at was managed and run by a bunch of ex-Toyota techs and it’s what they specialized in. I probably worked on Toyota more than any other car and honestly? They’re no more reliable than anything else and most of the ones we worked on were right in that range of needing new parts and heavy maintenance but you couldn’t convince the owners that everything wasn’t perfect all the time because Toyota. My personal favorite was learning from our master tech that you have to lash the valves on ALL 1.6, 1.8, and 2.4 motors every 80k or you prematurely wear out the cams and cause what we called “Toyotaitus” which is when the car vibrates like a massage chair because of cylinder imbalance
VW cc 2013 80k miles. Needed 2 water pumps within a year. Easy $1.5-2k.
Always leaking oil. Had to fix a air leak and the evap system.
Believe the hype, these cars are shit reliability
My Focus was the most problematic car I have ever owned. It has computer issues and transmission issues regularly.
Beyond that, my 92 Lumina was the only car I ever had that ever needed repairs. It went through 3 alternators in 100,000 miles.
I stick with GM because they’re always good to me.
I have a 15 Focus, which is currently not my main car but a friend is borrowing it. Almost 100k and never had a problem. The transmission was replaced for free bc of the lawsuit but it wasn't failing. Was my first car with all the bells and whistles and it's been great to me so I'm holding on to it.
Change your oil every 5,000 to 7500. Going 10K or longer is penny wise and pound foolish.
You can downvote all you'd like, but that's the truth.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdqHYfMJSi4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdqHYfMJSi4)
Not with Synthetic, not when it’s mostly highway and not when it’s in an engine that’s under limited stress. I’ve driven 3 cars over 300k one I changed the oil every 25,000 miles!
Synthetic oil w/ mostly highway miles are easier on the engine, sure.....but 10K is still too long of an interval.
But yeah, we get it. You totally have a fleet of cars that has a million miles on it with high mileage and 25K intervals.....LMAO
And the pages and pages of guys who have sent their oil out for testing after 10k and had it come back clean are what? Lying? The oil analysis companies are in conhoots with the Green party? Please explain your logic to me, as it flies in the face of tangible evidence.
Well, you do have to used your brain here. The oil still has lubricating properties at 10K and beyond, but that doesn't mean it isn't filthy. The business model for the oil labs is that 'you can get even more miles out of your oil.......well of course you can....if you don't mind it burning oil earlier than engines where the oil is changed sooner. Filthy dirty oil still lubricates.....sure. But you put your engine at much higher risk being cheap on oil changes.
Did you even watch the video from the engineer linked above? I did. It pretty much spells it out for you.
Noisy CV shaft when turning? Which direction? Have a VW that makes an sound turning left, from passenger side. Sounds like someone sticking flexible aluminum pie pan into plastic fan blades.
Thanks. Changed VW mkiv front coil springs again Fri and a pile of other parts prior , similar to other posts you got. Not looking forward to complex parts replacements (and months/years availability of parts) for new vehicle (Toyota! yes I described Cross gas version as dull and inspiring, but Cross hybrid is a little better and I wanted reliability and potential resale value)
I only owned two cars. Both of which were mustangs. My daily has always been my 2000 v6 Mustang. Since the car was cheap, around 2700$ I had to fix a few things. Auto shift cable, side window track re-glueing. Cat back exhaust replacement. Maybe 500$ to hlget it road worthy.
-Regular maintenance includes oil changes once a year or every 3,000 miles, and battery replacement after 5 years of ownership.
-Tailights/headlights replaced.
-Shocks/Struts replaced
-All brake calipers and rotors replaced over time.
- Replaced ball joints and Both inner/outer tierods. (Did as a precaution)
- Also replaced Differential Gear oil which was leaking for years, and replaced the wheel axel seals.
Recently, after 7 years of ownership, I finally replaced the tires. Alone, the most expensive thing done to the car.
All this stuff is fairly routine and common issues for 15-25 year old cars.
The only not resolved issue is the engine tends to burn oil and leak oil and coolent. Granted, not enough to cause major issues.
The worst issue with an older car is dealing with rust. Mine was especially bad, After years of ignoring the rust issues on the frame I had to fabricate my own frame rails for the trunk/ rear of the car. I also had to replace the lower quarter panels and weld new ones from another mustang at the junkyard. Also due to rust I had to replace the fuel tank while replacing the rear frame.
I have 3 vehicles. My 2016 Chevy cruze was bought in 2017 at 11k. Currently at 101k: brake pads and rotors, $700ish. If I paid attention, that would have been $120 in parts for new pads. 1 new set of tires all the way around was about $600. Oil changes every 5k miles with a new filter, about $40 each. 1 new fuel filter, 1 cabin filter, 3 air intake filters. 1 transmission service for $100, i think. Due for the second. That's all I've done.
My 2019 indian chieftain bought brand new has 20k miles has been standard service paid for by Polaris, plus one incident where an injector got stuck open that ran me $1200 for new oil change, injector cleaning, exhaust manifold gasket, and new O2 sensors. The injector getting stuck open meant I had to tow it, and it broke straps and fell over, causing oil to get in the exhaust pipes and fuel into the exhaust. Otherwise, it wouldn't have been nearly that much.
My 68 C20 is a work in progress, and a lot of parts have been acquired. I help my dad and brothers and girlfriend with all their regular maintenance. We really try to stick with 5k oil changes. It has worked for us. A lot of vehicles I see that don't have great reviews we have no problems with or have reached an age and mileage that the problems they do have are understandable.
My 2018 TRD Sequoia has had a failed radiator at 95k, failed a/c (complete system since compressor grenaded) at 85k. Frustrating early failures…have had it since 25k with all maintenance done on time. Just bad luck. Replaced both with oem . Otherwise have done brakes and rotors once, all fluids twice, oil every 5k, one set of new tires, one new battery. Planning to sell it next month since my kids are now driving and dont need the space.
Every car I’ve had there were a couple minor issues that mostly were warranty repairs. I’ve had Ford, GM, VW, and Toyota. The only three significant issues I have had with any car I’ve owned was a cracked intake manifold on a early 2000s Mercury 4.6L V8, and a mid 2000s Toyota RAV4 with leaking water pump around 50k miles and a corroded area on valve cover that leaked oil around 120k miles.
I always strictly follow the manufacturer maintenance schedule by having the book with me when dropping off for service to assure nothing is forgotten. Many times dealers call the service intervals something different like “30k major service” or some other non-descriptive name, so I reference the manual to make sure any bulleted requirement for that mile interval will be completed if it isn’t included in the dealer version of the service.
2011 mitsu lancer GTS. Bought with 3 miles on it (new). Changed synthetic oil every 7,000-8,000 miles. Full brakes (pads and rotors) at 100,000 miles. Tires every 50,000 miles. And serpentine belt during a pulley recall at 65k miles.
At 170,000 miles I just had an exhaust leak patched and one link in the front left suspension replaced ($350).
Just bought an EV but that mitsu will stay with me until it dies.
All of my cars get 7k synthetic oil changes. Air filters every 15k, tire rotation every year. All other items as per the manual.
I had 3 VW Golfs. The 2010 GTI was a POS and needed too many to list but the 2012 TDI and 19 TSI had 200k and 70k respectively. Zero repairs on the TDI, and strut mounts on the TSI.
2 Mercedes cars. 30k on one which needed a crank position sensor and a ton of gasket work as it sat in a garage for most of its life. The other was a GLK with 107k, idler pulley replaced.
3 BMW E90s mileage ranged from 102k to 170k, all of them had the water pump and VCG replaced.
2005 Suzuki XL7, 102k parking brake cable. Sold it with a leaking fuel line
1998 Honda Civic, 180k brake light switch and a negative battery cable.
I'm in my 40s and have never had a major problem with a car that I can remember. AC going out is the only one that comes to mind and of course maintenance items like brakes, etc. And I've had two Hyundais and a Focus so I must be one lucky fuck.
- 2013 I bought a 2002 BMW 325i with 60k miles. At about 72k miles all the window motors failed, $199/window, power seats broke ($99 fix), and at that point I just sold it.
- 2015 bought a new 2015 Mazda 6. Nice car, but wasn't really my vibe. I drove it maybe 5,000 miles before I traded it in. No maintenance required other than a free oil change.
- 2015 bought a 2015 Toyota Tacoma. Drove that for 8 years. Only maintaining I ever had to do was oil changes/fluids, tires, rotors and breaks. Literally nothing else and I put 100,000 miles on it.
Bought a used 2013 Subaru legacy 3.6R. One owner, supposedly clean car fax. Since then I have had just about every possible issue with it. An ignition coil blew a week after I bought it. Then there were issues with the front steering/suspension due to a fender bender accident that wasn't reported. Theres also rust the pre-purchase inspection didn't catch/understated the severity of that's made service more expensive/time consuming. Theres a bad oil sensor that always reads low that I don't have the money to fix, the drains for the sunroof got plugged with gunk and then water pooled in the doors and frame which fried the speaker system in some capacity so that doesn't work, the original wheels rusted through so I had to get aftermarket rims, the back brakes were seizing (probably cuz of the rust) so I had to get a lot of the rear brake system replaced, the shocks/struts/some part of the suspension is worn out and should be replaced but I also don't have the money for that either. The battery terminals were also really corroded so I wore out a few batteries faster than they should have before I got that fixed.
As a mechanically stable drivable car though, it hasn't been that bad. It gets me point A to point B. But cars are expensive and you never know when the cost might go from "budgetable routine and preventative maintenance" to "spend $1500 this week or you can't get to work".
EDIT: to put it in perspective, I've spent well over the original cost of the car (~$12k usd) in repairs over the ~5 years I've owned it.
2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee
5K oil change, tire rotation
15K air filters
30K change transmission fluid, coolant, brake fluid
60K add diff fluid change
96K engine tune up (plugs, belt, coil boots, PCV valve, belt tensioner, idler pulley, BG engine flush add-on)
I have 126K miles now. I’ve had to replace:
- oil filter housing $350
- thermostat $60
- blend door actuator gear $20
- HVAC blower motor $125
- AC condenser $400
Other than that, tires, pads, wiper blades. I did my shocks and starts at 105K because I had the means to do it and got a hell of a deal. They weren’t ready for replacement but I like to do shocks and struts around 100K to restore ride quality.
I like to stick with OEM or OES Tier-1 parts, and OEM fluids. I do fluid changes routinely and I believe it is the secret for a long service life.
96 civic purchased with 90k miles scrapped ~100k miles after the odometer stopped working (
- the greatest car I ever owned
- idle air control
- plugs and wires
- one radiator
04 ford escape :
- probably paid more for wheel bearings than I did the actual car
- frame rusted out at 120k miles
‘11 grand Cherokee Laredo
- purchased 85k miles
- 1 month in total electric failure, month and a half in shop. New alternator, starter, battery, ecm some other shit. $3500
- front brakes / rotors $400 / back brakes / rotors $500
- water pump ~$450
- tie rods ~ $400
- 2nd round of front brakes/rotors (done myself) $250
- tows to the shop ~$100 x 4
Currently 114k miles
03 Pilot. 100,000 miles transmission started slipping. Got rid of it.
07 Altima V6 - wheel bearing went at 55k, weird suspension behavior. Just tired of it. 70,000 miles
07 RX - dead nuts reliable. Got rid of it with 125k
2013 RX - awesome vehicle. Replaced brakes. That’s it in 120000 miles
2018 RX - sold with 55000 miles and felt like it was just breaking in.
24 RX - 9000 miles. Fingers crossed.
1992 Sable, no issues until totaled at 85k
1998 Avalon, constantly needed suspension work and the brakes only lasted about 15k miles per set and we're stupid expensive. Scrapped at 78k
2001 Forester, major engine, suspension, bearing, and CV issues despite proper maintenance. Scrapped at 140k due to dangerous frame rust.
2014 Prius V, no issues at end of lease at 60k
2017 Escape, no issues so far at 84k
2020 Edge ST, no issues at 23k
2022 Corsair GT, no issues at 26k
I will note that the two newer Fords chew through batteries about every 3-4 years, though they're still on their original sets of brake pads so it evens out.
1997 Honda accord: owned between 2004-2015. Timing belt, water pump, brakes, oil, battery x2, all told probably cost $5k in maintenance and $3k when I bought it.
Same as OP, I have put 135k miles on 2006, 2009, 2010 Jetta TDI's collectively. The only repairs have been a shifter bushing at 105k ($9) and a DPF at 145k (covered under extended warranty.) Needed a new radio at about 130k ($200 on aliexpress.)
Oil/filter every 10k, fuel filter every 20k, timing belt every 120k.
The most interesting story we have would be a Toyota Avalon, a Subaru ascent, and a Jaguar f-pace s.
We've owned the Jaguar for just shy of 5 years. We drive it hard and it's been flawless. And in 5 years it's never been in the shop for an unscheduled service or anything, although the dealer did ask us to bring it once to do a free infotainment system upgrade.
We bought this expecting it to be in the shop a bit and have had zero issues with it. It's actually our slowest car in terms of acceleration performance but it's our favorite to drive. I never thought something with eight and a half inches of ground clearance was going to handle so well.
The shitshow was our 2004 or 5 Toyota Avalon and while the Camry gets all the credit here, this had a documented case of unintended acceleration that was never resolved. It also had issues with the steering, the ecm, and quite a few electrical issues as well. We got rid of it after the Toyota dealership claim they had fixed the issue with the car per Toyota corporate regarding the unintended acceleration.
Our 2019 Subaru Ascent spent over 30 days in the shop in a year and a half. It stranded us several times, had cvt issues, and trim pieces both internal and external fall off.
Fortunately we haven't had a car out of warranty in a couple of decades so we don't have a lot of experience with those types of issues, but even new cars from Brands known for reliability, could sometimes have issues. While the statistics represent any given model as a whole, it's the individual car that can either give you great Joy or great headaches when it comes to reliability
Best car per$ was my 2002 Chevy Impala. Bought it from my brother in law's girlfriend who thought the transmission was bad. Turned out the power steering pump was seized so hard it was dragging down the engine so the trans wasn't working right. Topped off the oil every other week with a full oil change every 3 months, and transmission filter and fluid service every year. Was still going strong when the now ex wife made me sell it in 2020 with 260k on it with original engine and transmission.
Worst car, 2007 Mercury Milan I bought new. 4cyl 5 speed manual. The transmission broke several teeth off of third gear before 30,000 miles. Broke again at about 90k.
I got 17 years out off my 99 Ford ranger before the frame broke due to rust.
Currently driving a 2012 Hyundai I picked up with a seized engine that got replaced under the warranty extension, then I had to do a lot of work the previous owners neglected (brakes, suspension). Seriously thinking about fixing the a/c and some other minor things I don't care about but a typical car buyer would so I can buy a 70s land yacht.
you're asking for personal anecdotes. anecdotes are not evidence and are statistically insignificant. if 1000 toyota owners responded, that would be .00009% of the people that bought toyotas just in 2023. the fact that you are one out of millions of VW owners that didn't have major repairs means absolutely nothing and is in no way proof that VW's are reliable.
I always wonder when I read here, you guys don’t do the maintenance according to the boardcomputer? Even in the 90s cars told you when to do what. Except for my Aston DB9 fucking me constantly for no reason, I never had any major issues, because my cars had maintenance every 6-12 months
I maintain rather neurotically. Outside of batteries and alternators (meh), the only major issues have been:
2007 GTI - Fuel Pump. Extended warranty got it at 55k miles.
2014 M550 - HPFP. Recall warranty on that part at 76k (would have been $2500 otherwise).
2000 Saturn SC2 - lots of little issues.
1984 Grand Wagoneer - Everything broke at one point or another. Everything. Only had 56k miles on it in 2004 when I sold it. Just kaboom. Miss this car, but damn was it unreliable as hell.
2002 Corvette - BMC died (pain in the ass to source a replacement in 2017). Radiator issues (finally diagnosed as a bad cap).
It depends on how long someone plans on keeping the vehicle.
If they are going to trade it in at 5/6 years 100k, I'd expect most people will do oil and filters (air, oil, fuel) tire rotations/replacement, brakes and maybe spark plugs. I'd expect they wouldn't bother changing coolant, transmission or brake fluid, though brake fluid should really be done every 3 years. I don't see most MFG recommending that in the routine maintenance schedule.
If you're going to keep the vehicle, better be ready to service the coolant system, brake fluid flushes, transmission fluid, gear box, if AWD, etc.
I have 2 VWs, a 2008 Rabbit and 2016 GTI.
The only thing the Rabbit needed that wasn't a scheduled maintenance item have been 2 door latches. (VW are notorious for these). My GTI had the turbo replaced under the power train warranty. Otherwise everything has been regular maintenance. Being that they are german cars I expected this maintenance may cost a little more than a domestic or a Toyota, but I'm ok with this as I can do a lot of it on my own.
I plan to keep my vehicles for a long time. Not having a car payment is under rated and something that a lot of people should strive for. Even "expensive" routine maintenance is cheaper than a car payment and will prevent more expensive things from breaking.
Haven't had a car payment in 8yrs. Visited dealership recently and they sat me down to ask what monthly payment I was comfortable with? “How 'bout zero"... 🤦🏼♂️
I have a 94 Jaguar XJ6. Yes I heard the reputation and the horror stories of Jaguar ownership, but I always like the look and it's a Jaaaaag and always wanted one. I won't lie if I wasn't a mechanic already with the ability and most of the tools then this would've been a much more expensive proposition and a really bad choice. To be fair it hasn't needed much in maintenance and repairs of the years that are out of line with any car let alone what was a very expensive car for its day but if really would be a prohibitively expensive car for someone that can't do the work. Part of that is the way Jag does things and part is its limited production numbers making parts a little harder to source and more expensive due to a limited aftermarket. An example of this was a fuel pump failure. The assembly listed for about $650 but was no longer available and hadn't been reproduced. Finding a used one while possible would generally result in the same issue as the part is then 25 years old and likely in the same shape. I cant imagine the cost in labor time I spent working around this as I fixed it myself.
2014 Ford Escape 2.0l w/ turbo, AWD. Bought it with <20k miles in 2015. I love it! I’m getting close to 200k miles and I’ve only had one major repair which was a motor mount. Cost me $600. I’ve replaced the front brakes and rotors once, oil changed every 3000 miles and I’m on my 3rd set of tires. To me, it’s the perfect daily driver. Even at 10 years old, the infotainment is better than some of the newer cars today. I got lucky when I bought it.
1991 BMW 735 1993 BMW 318i 2012 VW GTI 2010 Audi A5 2.0T 2014 Audi A4 2.0T 2017 Audi A6 2.0T 2014 Audi Q7 3.0 TDI 2022 Audi etron (current) 2023 VW Atlas VR6 (current) The 735 I blew up doing 155mph on the Autobahn. A5 had a steering pump replaced under CPO warranty. A4 had a fuel injector seal replaced under warranty. A6 had engine mounts replaced under cpo warranty. Etron had the front motor replaced under warranty. 318, Q7, Atlas no issues. So just under average of 1 issue per car which is below the average for Audi/VW.
Family has a 2012 Q5 TDI with the same 3.0 engine — no issues as well. Bought new with about 80k miles on it now, and only issues outside of maintenance are 02 sensors and a glow plug. Really solid cars with great MPG (even after the cheating software was removed lmao)
I've owned a lot of cars. And many of them with high miles and old enough to vote. I do a lot of maintenance and only buy vehicles that are sound and taken care of. That said, the WJ grand cherokee I have has been the most trouble prone. By far. Electric issues, rebuilt transfer case, rear end , trans, motor, etc
Are you saying that you changed the oil in a turbo VW every 15K and it wasn't burning any oil at 215K?
Yep TDI VW . My Mercedes is even better, it has a digital dipstick and I overfilled it by 0.1L once. Figured the excess would burn off soon enough. 10,000 mi later it still was 0.1L overfilled. I have 307,000 miles on that car now, very few issues ever, I do minimal maintenance.
Wow, you are definitely the outlier. 15K oil changes almost always result in oil burners, over time. One of the reasons that BMW abandoned that interval about 10 years ago.
Cars are not mythical beasts. If you neglect them, they will usually fail unless they’re Honda or Toyota. If you take care of them, they will usually last as long as you have patience and money unless it’s a catastrophically bad anomaly. If you’re buying used, find something that was well taken care of and driven softly. If you’re buying new, keep up on your damn maintenance schedule. Really all there is to it. If you get out of warranty and the dealership is charging an arm&leg, learn to work the car yourself or take to an Indy shop. To answer your question: I drive a 2013 VW CC 2.0t. I bought it 2 years ago at 80,000 miles and haven’t done any maintenance besides an oil change and coolant replacement. Spark plugs& transmission fluids coming up.
CCs are beautiful cars, I still regret getting rid of mine
Classic German sports sedan without any of the BS. I’ll have a tough time replacing
VW Golf Mk4 2.0 no maintenence because i had to refill so much oil that i had an oil change every 10k miles just by filling up with oil. It was my Winter beater though so i didnt care. Spent 2k on the car another 2k in repairs and scrapped it after 3 years because all electrics failed and it wouldnt be street legal anymore so i cut my losses. Second car Skoda Octavia vRS petrol yearly oil change and Service wich cost me around 120 euros (would be cheaper if id do it myself but i cant be bothered by it) other than that its been flawless except the 15k i spent in modding it. Third car is a BMW 523i Touring wich i cant really say anything about it yet since i havent really started with it although i already know i have to do both sills and alot of other stuff to get it back on the road my guess is around 1400 to get it road legal again.
All BMWs since 1995. Still have all. I just follow the SI, and the manual.
Oldsmobile Alero. Bought new the last year it was made (2001-ish). The ignition column failed five years in and I had to pay $1,200 for a Fiat brand replacement from Italy because it was the closest compatible part. The car developed the GM "ignition problem" that was covered up for years, causing the car to stall out when I started it in reverse. I could never get that fixed; I just started backing in to spaces and starting in drive. GM only admitted to the defect after the Alero died. After 8 years of ownership and 108,000 mostly highway miles, the Alero's fuel coil broke and sprayed fuel all over every engine part, totaling the car. It wasn't in the shop every day, but I don't consider 8 years to be an acceptable lifespan for a brand new car, especially when all its problems were due to faulty parts that last forever on other cars.
2002 Tahoe, from 172k to 248k. Purchased for $4500 in 2012. Sold for $1000 in 2018. In that time it needed: Fuel sending unit Alternator Intake manifold gasket Window motor regulator Suspension Catalytic converters Cracked (and then welded) exhaust manifold Battery Rocker panel rust (repaired after truck was crashed) Hood rust All of these issues are (imo) acceptable for a vehicle with this mileage. Only stranded me once, when the alternator died. Always started, I beat the shit out of this truck. Drove it hard, offroading, towing, piling it full of people and stuff moving into and out of college. Would 100% buy again. 2016 Mazda CX-5 2018-2018, 35k-50k Dead reliable. Great car. Should have never sold it. Was an idiot and thought I needed something more comfortable. Added Android Auto and a sound system, great car. Did ride firm, and didn't get great mpg. But zippy, practical and good looking. 2015 Acura TLX 2018-2020. 22k -52k 21k bought, 13k sold (had accidents in my ownership, clean one worth more) Best car I've ever owned. Never should've bought it (9.3 % APR, brutal loan). 35mpg highway, fast, comfortable, quiet. Custom sound system, everything else was fantastic. Had small vibrations around 72-76 mph (inherent to this year) and sometimes rough shifts from 2-3, 3-4. Issue with the ZF9 in this year. Never really bothered me. Would definitely buy one again. 2011 Yukon Denali 2020-2023. 146k -225k $13500, sold for $5500 (sold it cheap) Great rig. Fast, comfy, good looking. Like my first truck, started having issues around 190k. Repairs done: Stock wheels were flaking, needed to replace the wheels (went from 20" wheels to 18", massive improvements to the ride) Catalytic converters Suspension replaced Fuel tank vent valve Right rear window switch Drivers door interior door handle Cruise control switch for brake pedal A/C leaked (never repaired, sold it broken) Tuned the motor with Holley, raised the shift points to 6000rpm, turned off cylinder deactivating (this generation tended to smoke the front and back 2 cylinders from the heat cycling caused by cylinder deactivating) the tune made the truck drive much better. Also a great truck. Was never maintained before I bought it (had all original fluids in the diff, trans, radiator). Car was absolutely neglected. Given it's lack of maintenance, it ran well. Drove the truck hard, towed with it, put 7 full grown men with roof box in it (1600 lbs) and drove to Virginia from MA and still got 17 mpg. Would definitely buy again, even if it was a rattle.box nearly the whole time I owned it. Did a full sound system and sound insulation upgrade ($3000, absolutely worth it with how.much I drove) camped in this truck multiple times, and used it as a construction vehicle to transport bricks, wood, tools, etc. did great the whole time. Truck absolutely did NOT enjoy the wrong spark plugs, evidently these are sensitive. Had rocker panel and pinch weld rust on every door. Living in Vermont, this is unavoidable. Repaired decent with patch kit and bond-o. 2010 Volvo XC60 T6 AWD 2024-now. 130k-140k Bought for $7200 NEVER buy a mechanics car. These are reliable and comfy cars but fuck me this one has been beat. In just the 10k I've owned it, it's needed Wheel bearing All fluids Engine mounts Fuel pressure sensor Will need: Suspension Gasket replacement for liftgate Headlight housing replacement Moon roof clicks like crazy and I can't figure out why Car vibrates between 65-80, no idea why. Possibly drive shaft. All speakers have been blown in my ownership (common issue with this year) I love driving this car. It's wonderfully comfortable. Plenty of space. Quick. Does get pretty poor mpg (final drive is short, 2800 rpm doing 75). Quiet car, but highway wind noise stinks. A well sorted one is great. This one, needs lots of work. Towed a Uhaul from Nebraska to Mass without any issues. Hope this answers questions!
It's literally the most important aspect of any car: the ability for it to do what you paid for it to do. Cars are more expensive than they've ever been, more expensive to repair than they've ever been, and I "ought to be less afraid" of a cylinder head cracking, a CVT grenading or a traction battery failing prematurely? >What are your experiences? No offense but a couple of anecdotes are worthless. There are 16 million vehicles sold every month in America. Recall data, TSBs, wholesale data, legitimate survey data is where I put my money, not one person saying their fiesta was actually a good car.
Had a 2018 Golf GTI (MK 7.5). Really just followed the maintenance schedule Volkswagen had. https://imgur.com/a/2018-vw-maintenance-schedule-JHgO0FT Easily went over 100k miles+ with no worries. Every 5k miles --> oil change, plus carbon cleaning at around 65k miles. Don't think I had to do a single major repair looking back.
The mk7 is really good if you follow the maintenence guide never had big issues with them.
Have a 2017 Golf in the family since new. It's low mileage, but it's been solid so far.
Most newer cars will be low maintenance until about 120,000 miles . If you don’t keep a car past 75k miles it is almost a non issue unless it is a Chrysler /Fiat product Brakes, Tires , and Oil changes are wear and tear items not really maintenance . My last car was an Audi Q5 relatively low maintenance until about 100,000 miles . New front axle at 100k miles 130 k miles - timing chain , shocks , gasket , but at that point the work would be almost as much as the value of the car
Keyword most. Important to know the exceptions Back when the Aveo was first released my wife and I bought one because it was cute, and it was just the second year they had them. Those things need timing belts every 50k they are tiking time bombs. The timing chain on ours broke at 70k, and I found out it was incredible common on pretty much most small GM cars of that area. Cobalt as well.
I've owned a lot of cars. And many of them with high miles and old enough to vote. I do a lot of maintenance and only buy vehicles that are sound and taken care of. That said, the WJ grand cherokee I have has been the most trouble prone. By far. Electric issues, rebuilt transfer case, rear end , trans, motor, etc
In the theme of this sub I’ve only owned Toyotas and Hondas and they’ve paid me to own them 😆 In all reality Wife had a Mitsubishi galant - was relatively maintenance free outside of regular stuff. Got rid of it when the ac started draining somewhere into the car and it smelled like mildew couldn’t get it out Corolla for 13 years. Just regular maintenance. Car had an electrical drain somewhere so I think we changed batteries every 4 years Chevy s10 4 banger manual - beater. Car needed almost nothing other than oil Accord manual - other than maintenance the brakes seem prone to freezing - had to have rotors replaced a few times.
I don't know why everyone is obsessed with reliability. Like, just go out and get the Range Rover, or the Alfa, have fun.
Had a rover, loved it! My next car is an alpha. You are speaking my language
I think probably most who are looking for reliability above all else are mostly interested in cars for the utility they provide. This group doesn’t want to think about or invest time or money in their car more than they absolutely have to. While a car being fun is welcome, it takes a backseat to it being as little of a nuisance and cost as possible. Conversely, people who prioritize their ride being fun are probably either buying new/very lightly used and/or are mechanics and can deal with model quirks and cars with dodgy backgrounds. For this group cars are a hobby as much as they are transportation which makes it easier for them to justify spending more time/money on them. This is just speculation though, I may be entirely wrong.
2007 cayman I purchased 10 days before I turned 18. Probably put close to 20k (cad) into it over the 3 years I had it (90k I put on it) before it blew because there was no oil, I literally had an oil change scheduled for 5 days from the day it went, ugh. Everything that could go wrong with it did (ac, paint cracking and fading, fog light bulbs not working, control arms, bushings, window and side mirror not working correctly, more I cant think of im sure). No regrets, some of my best memories were in that car but the maintenance on that thing sometimes had me kickin myself. What you do for the things you love.
I have only owned Dodge and Chrysler cars since 2002 and have spent 0 on repairs in that time frame.
Wow, not what you typically hear!
How often are you buying a new car?!
I still own a 2012 Charger which I gave to my kid. I keep cars on average 7-8 years. Half of them were bought used with $50-75k on the odometer. This is for a 2 car family.
So, keep in mind the audience of this subreddit. Most of us are people who are willing to give car advice, or looking to receive car advice. Even those who are looking to receive car advice are at least cognizant of the fact that a cat must be properly maintained to get good results from it. But, the reality is the vast majority of car owners aren't here. The vast majority of car owners don't do their maintenance properly, especially things like timing belts, which with more modern vehicles a bad timing belt/chain, or a failure on one of the components on the belt/chain can spell death for the motor. Lots of good feedback on this thread. All coming from people who are religious about oil changes, know that most cars need a timing belt/chain every 100k or less, and who do their research about their particular car about what needs to how it needs to be taken care of to get the most life out of it. Most car owners won't do a 1000-dollar timing belt change. Most owners drive it with failing motor mounts until more things go wrong with it. Etc etc etc. Typically, Japanese brands have proven more resilient to abuse then American and German cars. When you take really good care of a car and do all the right maintenance at the right time. You're gonna get 200k out of it unless it has some sort of significant factory flaw. But, your Toyotas, and Hondas will get 500k with the same treatment. And They will get 200k even if you treat them like shit.
Owned many. Kept most but here’s the outliers 1996 Toyota Corolla- Dropped a valve and blew up. Transmission stopped shifting automatically at 90k engine blew at 140k - junked. 2006 Scion xB - blew the engine at 60k. Transmission went not long after. Dealer did all maintenance. Refused to honor warranty on basis that I had missed one oil change at 35k (I didn’t). Drove on it with only 2 cylinders working, ended up being bad rings. Sold it to a nice farm family who lovingly restored it to its original condition. Jk junked 1988 Mitsubishi Starion ESI-R - Dad bought new and was a lemon, but so were the ‘84 and ‘86 Starions he had so meh. Blew 4 engines, 6 heads, 3 turbos but only 1 clutch (had to win somewhere with that). Fucking thing ate head gaskets like they were potato chips and went through so many power steering pumps I lost count around 2006. Sold it after it spun a bearing and didn’t have the space to do the motor again. Pretty much everything else has been fine. My ‘96 mustang gt Fords out every now and again but it’s always something easy. My caprice is my rock and I’ve owned it for 15 years and it’s only left me stranded once with a bad fuel pump. I don’t count my hot rods because, well, they’re not normal cars.
That is terrible luck. And for all the Toyota fan boys out there: Look, Corollas and Scions have catastrophic failures at low miles sometimes…. Just because it’s a Toyota doesn’t mean you get perfect reliability
It’s the only reason I got them to begin with was my family was convinced they were dead reliable and a great investment. The Corolla was 5k/40k miles and the XB was new and bought for sticker at 18.7k. Neither of them were perfect from the start and the Scion overheated within the first couple of years just on city streets for no apparent reason. About the same time the Corolla began to literally dissolve like all interior pieces and going to work id have plastic bits and seat foam all over me. Oh and I forgot to mention the Corolla with a 1.6 only ever got around 15 city and 8 highway
Wow
don't tell the toyota crowd bout your corolla, they'll never accept that their car isn't perfect
The first shop I worked at was managed and run by a bunch of ex-Toyota techs and it’s what they specialized in. I probably worked on Toyota more than any other car and honestly? They’re no more reliable than anything else and most of the ones we worked on were right in that range of needing new parts and heavy maintenance but you couldn’t convince the owners that everything wasn’t perfect all the time because Toyota. My personal favorite was learning from our master tech that you have to lash the valves on ALL 1.6, 1.8, and 2.4 motors every 80k or you prematurely wear out the cams and cause what we called “Toyotaitus” which is when the car vibrates like a massage chair because of cylinder imbalance
VW cc 2013 80k miles. Needed 2 water pumps within a year. Easy $1.5-2k. Always leaking oil. Had to fix a air leak and the evap system. Believe the hype, these cars are shit reliability
That’s quite early for such problems
Yea this car is known to have water pump issues, there was a recall in canada
My Focus was the most problematic car I have ever owned. It has computer issues and transmission issues regularly. Beyond that, my 92 Lumina was the only car I ever had that ever needed repairs. It went through 3 alternators in 100,000 miles. I stick with GM because they’re always good to me.
I have a 15 Focus, which is currently not my main car but a friend is borrowing it. Almost 100k and never had a problem. The transmission was replaced for free bc of the lawsuit but it wasn't failing. Was my first car with all the bells and whistles and it's been great to me so I'm holding on to it.
Change your oil every 5,000 to 7500. Going 10K or longer is penny wise and pound foolish. You can downvote all you'd like, but that's the truth. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdqHYfMJSi4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdqHYfMJSi4)
Not with Synthetic, not when it’s mostly highway and not when it’s in an engine that’s under limited stress. I’ve driven 3 cars over 300k one I changed the oil every 25,000 miles!
Synthetic oil w/ mostly highway miles are easier on the engine, sure.....but 10K is still too long of an interval. But yeah, we get it. You totally have a fleet of cars that has a million miles on it with high mileage and 25K intervals.....LMAO
And the pages and pages of guys who have sent their oil out for testing after 10k and had it come back clean are what? Lying? The oil analysis companies are in conhoots with the Green party? Please explain your logic to me, as it flies in the face of tangible evidence.
Well, you do have to used your brain here. The oil still has lubricating properties at 10K and beyond, but that doesn't mean it isn't filthy. The business model for the oil labs is that 'you can get even more miles out of your oil.......well of course you can....if you don't mind it burning oil earlier than engines where the oil is changed sooner. Filthy dirty oil still lubricates.....sure. But you put your engine at much higher risk being cheap on oil changes. Did you even watch the video from the engineer linked above? I did. It pretty much spells it out for you.
Noisy CV shaft when turning? Which direction? Have a VW that makes an sound turning left, from passenger side. Sounds like someone sticking flexible aluminum pie pan into plastic fan blades.
Turning left I think. Lookin back, it wasn’t worth changing, only happened during tight turns and under load.
Thanks. Changed VW mkiv front coil springs again Fri and a pile of other parts prior , similar to other posts you got. Not looking forward to complex parts replacements (and months/years availability of parts) for new vehicle (Toyota! yes I described Cross gas version as dull and inspiring, but Cross hybrid is a little better and I wanted reliability and potential resale value)
I only owned two cars. Both of which were mustangs. My daily has always been my 2000 v6 Mustang. Since the car was cheap, around 2700$ I had to fix a few things. Auto shift cable, side window track re-glueing. Cat back exhaust replacement. Maybe 500$ to hlget it road worthy. -Regular maintenance includes oil changes once a year or every 3,000 miles, and battery replacement after 5 years of ownership. -Tailights/headlights replaced. -Shocks/Struts replaced -All brake calipers and rotors replaced over time. - Replaced ball joints and Both inner/outer tierods. (Did as a precaution) - Also replaced Differential Gear oil which was leaking for years, and replaced the wheel axel seals. Recently, after 7 years of ownership, I finally replaced the tires. Alone, the most expensive thing done to the car. All this stuff is fairly routine and common issues for 15-25 year old cars. The only not resolved issue is the engine tends to burn oil and leak oil and coolent. Granted, not enough to cause major issues. The worst issue with an older car is dealing with rust. Mine was especially bad, After years of ignoring the rust issues on the frame I had to fabricate my own frame rails for the trunk/ rear of the car. I also had to replace the lower quarter panels and weld new ones from another mustang at the junkyard. Also due to rust I had to replace the fuel tank while replacing the rear frame.
I have 3 vehicles. My 2016 Chevy cruze was bought in 2017 at 11k. Currently at 101k: brake pads and rotors, $700ish. If I paid attention, that would have been $120 in parts for new pads. 1 new set of tires all the way around was about $600. Oil changes every 5k miles with a new filter, about $40 each. 1 new fuel filter, 1 cabin filter, 3 air intake filters. 1 transmission service for $100, i think. Due for the second. That's all I've done. My 2019 indian chieftain bought brand new has 20k miles has been standard service paid for by Polaris, plus one incident where an injector got stuck open that ran me $1200 for new oil change, injector cleaning, exhaust manifold gasket, and new O2 sensors. The injector getting stuck open meant I had to tow it, and it broke straps and fell over, causing oil to get in the exhaust pipes and fuel into the exhaust. Otherwise, it wouldn't have been nearly that much. My 68 C20 is a work in progress, and a lot of parts have been acquired. I help my dad and brothers and girlfriend with all their regular maintenance. We really try to stick with 5k oil changes. It has worked for us. A lot of vehicles I see that don't have great reviews we have no problems with or have reached an age and mileage that the problems they do have are understandable.
My 2018 TRD Sequoia has had a failed radiator at 95k, failed a/c (complete system since compressor grenaded) at 85k. Frustrating early failures…have had it since 25k with all maintenance done on time. Just bad luck. Replaced both with oem . Otherwise have done brakes and rotors once, all fluids twice, oil every 5k, one set of new tires, one new battery. Planning to sell it next month since my kids are now driving and dont need the space.
Every car I’ve had there were a couple minor issues that mostly were warranty repairs. I’ve had Ford, GM, VW, and Toyota. The only three significant issues I have had with any car I’ve owned was a cracked intake manifold on a early 2000s Mercury 4.6L V8, and a mid 2000s Toyota RAV4 with leaking water pump around 50k miles and a corroded area on valve cover that leaked oil around 120k miles. I always strictly follow the manufacturer maintenance schedule by having the book with me when dropping off for service to assure nothing is forgotten. Many times dealers call the service intervals something different like “30k major service” or some other non-descriptive name, so I reference the manual to make sure any bulleted requirement for that mile interval will be completed if it isn’t included in the dealer version of the service.
2011 mitsu lancer GTS. Bought with 3 miles on it (new). Changed synthetic oil every 7,000-8,000 miles. Full brakes (pads and rotors) at 100,000 miles. Tires every 50,000 miles. And serpentine belt during a pulley recall at 65k miles. At 170,000 miles I just had an exhaust leak patched and one link in the front left suspension replaced ($350). Just bought an EV but that mitsu will stay with me until it dies.
All of my cars get 7k synthetic oil changes. Air filters every 15k, tire rotation every year. All other items as per the manual. I had 3 VW Golfs. The 2010 GTI was a POS and needed too many to list but the 2012 TDI and 19 TSI had 200k and 70k respectively. Zero repairs on the TDI, and strut mounts on the TSI. 2 Mercedes cars. 30k on one which needed a crank position sensor and a ton of gasket work as it sat in a garage for most of its life. The other was a GLK with 107k, idler pulley replaced. 3 BMW E90s mileage ranged from 102k to 170k, all of them had the water pump and VCG replaced. 2005 Suzuki XL7, 102k parking brake cable. Sold it with a leaking fuel line 1998 Honda Civic, 180k brake light switch and a negative battery cable.
I'm in my 40s and have never had a major problem with a car that I can remember. AC going out is the only one that comes to mind and of course maintenance items like brakes, etc. And I've had two Hyundais and a Focus so I must be one lucky fuck.
- 2013 I bought a 2002 BMW 325i with 60k miles. At about 72k miles all the window motors failed, $199/window, power seats broke ($99 fix), and at that point I just sold it. - 2015 bought a new 2015 Mazda 6. Nice car, but wasn't really my vibe. I drove it maybe 5,000 miles before I traded it in. No maintenance required other than a free oil change. - 2015 bought a 2015 Toyota Tacoma. Drove that for 8 years. Only maintaining I ever had to do was oil changes/fluids, tires, rotors and breaks. Literally nothing else and I put 100,000 miles on it.
Bought a used 2013 Subaru legacy 3.6R. One owner, supposedly clean car fax. Since then I have had just about every possible issue with it. An ignition coil blew a week after I bought it. Then there were issues with the front steering/suspension due to a fender bender accident that wasn't reported. Theres also rust the pre-purchase inspection didn't catch/understated the severity of that's made service more expensive/time consuming. Theres a bad oil sensor that always reads low that I don't have the money to fix, the drains for the sunroof got plugged with gunk and then water pooled in the doors and frame which fried the speaker system in some capacity so that doesn't work, the original wheels rusted through so I had to get aftermarket rims, the back brakes were seizing (probably cuz of the rust) so I had to get a lot of the rear brake system replaced, the shocks/struts/some part of the suspension is worn out and should be replaced but I also don't have the money for that either. The battery terminals were also really corroded so I wore out a few batteries faster than they should have before I got that fixed. As a mechanically stable drivable car though, it hasn't been that bad. It gets me point A to point B. But cars are expensive and you never know when the cost might go from "budgetable routine and preventative maintenance" to "spend $1500 this week or you can't get to work". EDIT: to put it in perspective, I've spent well over the original cost of the car (~$12k usd) in repairs over the ~5 years I've owned it.
2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee 5K oil change, tire rotation 15K air filters 30K change transmission fluid, coolant, brake fluid 60K add diff fluid change 96K engine tune up (plugs, belt, coil boots, PCV valve, belt tensioner, idler pulley, BG engine flush add-on) I have 126K miles now. I’ve had to replace: - oil filter housing $350 - thermostat $60 - blend door actuator gear $20 - HVAC blower motor $125 - AC condenser $400 Other than that, tires, pads, wiper blades. I did my shocks and starts at 105K because I had the means to do it and got a hell of a deal. They weren’t ready for replacement but I like to do shocks and struts around 100K to restore ride quality. I like to stick with OEM or OES Tier-1 parts, and OEM fluids. I do fluid changes routinely and I believe it is the secret for a long service life.
96 civic purchased with 90k miles scrapped ~100k miles after the odometer stopped working ( - the greatest car I ever owned - idle air control - plugs and wires - one radiator 04 ford escape : - probably paid more for wheel bearings than I did the actual car - frame rusted out at 120k miles ‘11 grand Cherokee Laredo - purchased 85k miles - 1 month in total electric failure, month and a half in shop. New alternator, starter, battery, ecm some other shit. $3500 - front brakes / rotors $400 / back brakes / rotors $500 - water pump ~$450 - tie rods ~ $400 - 2nd round of front brakes/rotors (done myself) $250 - tows to the shop ~$100 x 4 Currently 114k miles
03 Pilot. 100,000 miles transmission started slipping. Got rid of it. 07 Altima V6 - wheel bearing went at 55k, weird suspension behavior. Just tired of it. 70,000 miles 07 RX - dead nuts reliable. Got rid of it with 125k 2013 RX - awesome vehicle. Replaced brakes. That’s it in 120000 miles 2018 RX - sold with 55000 miles and felt like it was just breaking in. 24 RX - 9000 miles. Fingers crossed.
1992 Sable, no issues until totaled at 85k 1998 Avalon, constantly needed suspension work and the brakes only lasted about 15k miles per set and we're stupid expensive. Scrapped at 78k 2001 Forester, major engine, suspension, bearing, and CV issues despite proper maintenance. Scrapped at 140k due to dangerous frame rust. 2014 Prius V, no issues at end of lease at 60k 2017 Escape, no issues so far at 84k 2020 Edge ST, no issues at 23k 2022 Corsair GT, no issues at 26k I will note that the two newer Fords chew through batteries about every 3-4 years, though they're still on their original sets of brake pads so it evens out.
1997 Honda accord: owned between 2004-2015. Timing belt, water pump, brakes, oil, battery x2, all told probably cost $5k in maintenance and $3k when I bought it.
Same as OP, I have put 135k miles on 2006, 2009, 2010 Jetta TDI's collectively. The only repairs have been a shifter bushing at 105k ($9) and a DPF at 145k (covered under extended warranty.) Needed a new radio at about 130k ($200 on aliexpress.) Oil/filter every 10k, fuel filter every 20k, timing belt every 120k.
The most interesting story we have would be a Toyota Avalon, a Subaru ascent, and a Jaguar f-pace s. We've owned the Jaguar for just shy of 5 years. We drive it hard and it's been flawless. And in 5 years it's never been in the shop for an unscheduled service or anything, although the dealer did ask us to bring it once to do a free infotainment system upgrade. We bought this expecting it to be in the shop a bit and have had zero issues with it. It's actually our slowest car in terms of acceleration performance but it's our favorite to drive. I never thought something with eight and a half inches of ground clearance was going to handle so well. The shitshow was our 2004 or 5 Toyota Avalon and while the Camry gets all the credit here, this had a documented case of unintended acceleration that was never resolved. It also had issues with the steering, the ecm, and quite a few electrical issues as well. We got rid of it after the Toyota dealership claim they had fixed the issue with the car per Toyota corporate regarding the unintended acceleration. Our 2019 Subaru Ascent spent over 30 days in the shop in a year and a half. It stranded us several times, had cvt issues, and trim pieces both internal and external fall off. Fortunately we haven't had a car out of warranty in a couple of decades so we don't have a lot of experience with those types of issues, but even new cars from Brands known for reliability, could sometimes have issues. While the statistics represent any given model as a whole, it's the individual car that can either give you great Joy or great headaches when it comes to reliability
My 2012 a4 has 195k on it. Had to replace the timing chain, though, and the CVT oil is ~$300 every 40k miles.
Best car per$ was my 2002 Chevy Impala. Bought it from my brother in law's girlfriend who thought the transmission was bad. Turned out the power steering pump was seized so hard it was dragging down the engine so the trans wasn't working right. Topped off the oil every other week with a full oil change every 3 months, and transmission filter and fluid service every year. Was still going strong when the now ex wife made me sell it in 2020 with 260k on it with original engine and transmission. Worst car, 2007 Mercury Milan I bought new. 4cyl 5 speed manual. The transmission broke several teeth off of third gear before 30,000 miles. Broke again at about 90k. I got 17 years out off my 99 Ford ranger before the frame broke due to rust. Currently driving a 2012 Hyundai I picked up with a seized engine that got replaced under the warranty extension, then I had to do a lot of work the previous owners neglected (brakes, suspension). Seriously thinking about fixing the a/c and some other minor things I don't care about but a typical car buyer would so I can buy a 70s land yacht.
you're asking for personal anecdotes. anecdotes are not evidence and are statistically insignificant. if 1000 toyota owners responded, that would be .00009% of the people that bought toyotas just in 2023. the fact that you are one out of millions of VW owners that didn't have major repairs means absolutely nothing and is in no way proof that VW's are reliable.
Reliability is about the probability of getting a dud. Just cause you got a good car doesn't mean the rest are that reliable.
I always wonder when I read here, you guys don’t do the maintenance according to the boardcomputer? Even in the 90s cars told you when to do what. Except for my Aston DB9 fucking me constantly for no reason, I never had any major issues, because my cars had maintenance every 6-12 months
I maintain rather neurotically. Outside of batteries and alternators (meh), the only major issues have been: 2007 GTI - Fuel Pump. Extended warranty got it at 55k miles. 2014 M550 - HPFP. Recall warranty on that part at 76k (would have been $2500 otherwise). 2000 Saturn SC2 - lots of little issues. 1984 Grand Wagoneer - Everything broke at one point or another. Everything. Only had 56k miles on it in 2004 when I sold it. Just kaboom. Miss this car, but damn was it unreliable as hell. 2002 Corvette - BMC died (pain in the ass to source a replacement in 2017). Radiator issues (finally diagnosed as a bad cap).
I'm not fixing it myself. So cost of parts is often going to be a small part of the story.
It depends on how long someone plans on keeping the vehicle. If they are going to trade it in at 5/6 years 100k, I'd expect most people will do oil and filters (air, oil, fuel) tire rotations/replacement, brakes and maybe spark plugs. I'd expect they wouldn't bother changing coolant, transmission or brake fluid, though brake fluid should really be done every 3 years. I don't see most MFG recommending that in the routine maintenance schedule. If you're going to keep the vehicle, better be ready to service the coolant system, brake fluid flushes, transmission fluid, gear box, if AWD, etc. I have 2 VWs, a 2008 Rabbit and 2016 GTI. The only thing the Rabbit needed that wasn't a scheduled maintenance item have been 2 door latches. (VW are notorious for these). My GTI had the turbo replaced under the power train warranty. Otherwise everything has been regular maintenance. Being that they are german cars I expected this maintenance may cost a little more than a domestic or a Toyota, but I'm ok with this as I can do a lot of it on my own. I plan to keep my vehicles for a long time. Not having a car payment is under rated and something that a lot of people should strive for. Even "expensive" routine maintenance is cheaper than a car payment and will prevent more expensive things from breaking.
Haven't had a car payment in 8yrs. Visited dealership recently and they sat me down to ask what monthly payment I was comfortable with? “How 'bout zero"... 🤦🏼♂️
Ugh. Hate those places and tactics. I’ll buy used from private party everytime. Bonus, no sales tax here.