As someone who works in the automotive field with executives, suppliers, designers, and engineers, I couldn't agree more. I have been in meetings where grown-ass men that make WAY more than me (probably mid 6-figures + bonuses) are bitching over a $0.10 / part price change due to a last-minute issue with a manufacturing process. I've seen engineers get chewed out for not being able to defy physics to satisfy a designer's "vision". I've overheard a QC manager get into a screaming match with a tooling Rep over machining issues. I've watched a supplier on a Teams meeting back out of multi-million dollar contract because an executive refused to give them a reasonable deadline. The "cheapness" goes all the way to the top and it's killing the entire industry, with the consumers being the ultimate victim.
Its really in our hands as the consumer but people will always be quickly parted with their money. You're the expert so how long would you say it would take of people holding on to their current vehicle or buying used private sale and not giving any new money to the dealers/manufacturers to force them to change their ways. The only way to change anyone is to take their profits away.
So all my suspicions are true - American automakers don't make good cars like Japan does because they CAN'T! And then they (probably) order the engineers to design in even MORE defects after all that! I worked for a large government fleet on the west coast for about 30 years. Most of the fleet of about 1,000 vehicles was American made. And I saw the results of these design and engineering flaws every day. Haven't bought an American car in 40 years.
@@BubblesTheCat1 ah ok, sorry. I'm in the UK and have to deal with all the crazy ideas the French and Germans decide to use. A timing tool can range from £10 to £1000 depending on the engine.
Unfortunately, every word in this video is spot on. I've been driving late 90's early 2000's cars since forever and I absolutely dread retiring my trusty 29yr old SAAB. I don't need 20 fckn touch screens and 1.2L lawnmower engines. I need sturdy physical buttons, analog dials and at a 3.0L engine that'll go at least half a million km's.
@@Tom-f8r8ocompanies don’t understand it doesn’t matter how pretty it is and how much we want new features if it ain’t coming in clutch we will eventually start hating it. But they have enough rats stuck financing a new car every 2-4 years.
to make as much money as possible short term, with a complete disregard for long term sustainability so the already super rich can horde even more money. leading to turning the first world in the third one where the majority of people are no longer wage slaves, but actual slaves. and no this is no exaggeration. just google "you will own nothing and be happy"
The end goal that you will own nothing!! ...and be happy. No homes, no cars, no businesses,... nothing!!! Says the WEF... climate change mandate for 2030
I used to tutor English in Taiwan, and one of my students was an engineer. He worked for a fab that produced printed circuit boards for the automotive industry. He told me that there wouldn't be classic cars from this era the way there was in the past. Modern cars rely heavily on electronics. The substrates in their boards will eventually corrode and there won't be fabs producing obsolete components, so supplies for replacements will dry up. Modern cars will eventually be bricked by their electronics.
Don't know about what happens abroad but cars and bikes over 40 years old have gone through the roof price wise in the UK. No complex electric junk , easy to work on plenty of spairs available and no tax or yearly inspection 🇬🇧🇺🇲👍
The only way to solve this problem would be some sort of government legislation requiring automakers to agree on standardized bulbs, connectors, infotainment systems, and sensor form factors for cars. Think about it this way: It's 2038 and The blind-spot monitor sensor in your 2019 Honda Civic dies. If the government forced automakers to standardize on one blind-spot monitor sensor, I could go to any auto parts store and pick up a new sensor. Then drop it right into the car. Same with the infotainment system or headlights dying. If everything is the same, it's easy for aftermarket companies to make new ones.
This isnt entirely true. It is entriely possible to scan the PCBs and make replicas from old, broken parts. This is how they keep aircraft from 30, 40, 50 years ago in the air. The original companies have long since stopped support, but if you're willing to spend a few hundred thousand, you can make almost anything. I'm sure someone will go through the effort to have a working and driving tesla model s in 50 years time, but daily driving it then would be like daily driving a 1970's ferrari now. That is: theoretically possible, but hideously expensive and unpractical.
Old man here. I saw a similar thing happen to consumer electronics. I worked in repair, and saw "repairable, parts available" turn slowly into "disposable, parts NLA". Cars seem to be on the same trajectory.
Part of that is the scale of manufacturing. At least where I work board repair isn't even considered anymore because the availability of boards is so high it's not worth paying for the repair when the parts are sub $500.
Well you should know this. Parts nowadays are more efficient, smaller, more powerful, last longer. Chances of breaking are far lower. Plus everything is fixable if you have the knowledge.
yep happened probably in 1999. before in the 80s a National VCR would last forever , we had one bought in 1980 that lasted every day to 2000. they were sold steal parts thats why they were heavy . Tvs as well lasted forever. then things like VCR turned to cheap plastic and parts and the cost was so cheap nobody fixed them as the labour cost was equal to buying a new one. Laptops are probably the same to now, you can buy them for 200 USD but the service charge is 50 USD per hour , barely worth fixing as a new model will be a little better anyway for the same cost you paid for it. The best cars were last 90s made in Japan and early 2000. built to last forever
Exact reasons why I’m holding onto my 2002 Lexus ES 300, now with 187k miles. New struts installed 3 years ago along with replacement of OEM starter, exhaust flex pipe and alternator. Just changed my synthetic oil at 5k intervals. Car is durable as a tank and quiet as a vault. Every switch/button still works like new. At 60, this car will outlive me!
Economic wise, things have never been worse. We are living in economic times worse than any depression/recession. 1930: Average income was $4,887, average monthly rent was $18 a month ($216 a year), average home was $6,000, average new car price was $500. This said, yearly rent was 4.4% of your income, a home was 123% of your income, a car was 10% of your income. 1935 (peak Great Depression): Average income was $1,622, average rent was $27 monthly ($324 a year), average home was $3,900, average new car was $850. This said, yearly rent was 20% of your income, a home was 240% of your income, a new car was 52% of your income. 2009 (peak 2008 Recession): Average income was $50,000, average rent was $486 monthly ($5,832 yearly), average new car was $23,276, a home was $272,900. This said, yearly rent was 12% of your income, a new car was 47% of your income, and a house was 546% of your income. 2024 (current time): Average income is $59,000, average monthly rent is $1,700 ($20,400 annually), average new car price is $48,000, average home price is $415,000. This said, yearly rent is 35% of your income, a home is 703% of your income, and a new car is 81% of your income.
@@NOYB1776 The car prices suck but the housing prices are the real killer, something needs to change with the way real estate works or it will just get worse and worse for the average person. Nothing seems to be happening though
@@Vriess123 They’ll gladly give an 18 year old kid $50k of student loan debt with no previous requirements. Meanwhile, they won’t give you a mortgage for a house unless you have a ridiculous amount of income and a bunch of background (credit) checks.
I was a mechanic from about 2000 to 2015. I learned later in my career that i wont ever buy anything new. I bought a 1990 Silverado 15 years ago for 300 bucks and still driving it. Never had a single issue with it that wasn’t related to rust like fuel lines, brake lines etc. i also know that if anything does go wrong with it i can swap out the parts cheap and easy. My heatercore even has a access panel
@@josephfischer3041 yeah its like 4 screws remove the panel and its staring you in the face. Think you might have to remove the glove box too, been a while. Sure beats having to tear apart the entire days.
It seems like the quality of everything is declining. I remember growing up and thinking "yeah we can't afford the same things we used to but at least what little we *can* afford is of higher quality". Now, everything seems to be more expensive AND worse.
That is why buy a car with a factory (not 3rd party) 8-year/120,000 mile extended warranty. When the extended warranty is expired and the car needs major repair that is not covered, time for a new car.
Understand what survivorship BIAS MEANS. Of course that you will receive claims cause you are DOING THAT JOB. It's like doctor saying "people are sick" does that mean that the whole planet is sick????
I dont need that data the facts are staring me in the face I saw this coming 10 yrs ago. So i bought a few early 2000's car stuffed them storage and I will deal with parts when the time comes
As a retired, lifetime tech, trainer, and service manager, you are absolutely spot on. I will also add the aftermarket replacement parts are more likely to be of significantly lower quality than the original. Many times, the new part is defective out of the box. Less than 3 years ago, I replaced the original body bushings on my 08 F250 with 280k-not the easiest job so I bought the more expensive Dorman bushings from a popular online retailer. Several months ago, I started noticing persistent rattling over uneven surfaces and low and behold, the 'new' body bushings are fully collapsed. Yep, 250k miles out of the first set, 30k out of the second set. What do all these aftermarket parts have in common? You guessed it-made in China. It seems Chinese manufacturers simply ignore a part's manufacturing specifications and just make up their own. The brand/sellers don't do any QC on their end to verify the part is made to at least OE specs. They just tell you it is in their ad description. Other than crappy replacement parts, my 08 F250 is solid as a rock. Nothing in a new truck can motivate me to spend $100k on an inferior truck.
The plastic oil pan was the most shocking I knew companies would go cheap but the oil pan? Seriously!!!!!?? that should be illegal I don’t even know how that meets a safety standard that should be a violation in itself
Just like how GM is using 3 cylinders claiming its for "fuel economy" but the Buick 3800 could run circles around it, hit the highway at barely 2k RPMs at 70ish MPH and still get high 20s MPG. were going BACKWARDS
Here in Finland people drive cars that are 15-25 years old.Everything is so expensive, gas and living,taxes and new cars are 2-3x price higher than everywhere else. Now myself am looking cars between 1995-2005 for daily reliable driver
That’s interesting. When I lived in Europe (Germany) I noticed it was uncommon to see a car older than 5 years. It kind of bothered me as I’m a car guy and I love seeing the classics which was very rare in Germany.
A lot of people drive older cars from the 90's-early 00's, but what happens in 20 years when almost all of those cars are gone and we're left with piles of junk as the "older cars".
@@TheUnitedStatesofAmericaUSAmost of German cars are bought for companies with leasing They write-off it as expenses (might call it wrong, not too familiar with it) So it is relevant case for them to buy new car each 5 years and move on
I remember in the late 1960s, VOLVO advertised the 144 with: "Your car has five numbers on the speedometer. Volvo has six." [That's the wording on the advertisement - I didn't want to edit it to make it technically correct] One could get the impression that the people who made your car lack a little confidence."
My 2008 Impala just went to the scrap yard after 17 years of mileage 200k and years repairs . I’m satisfied and happy as I,step into my dear deceased wife’s 2001 Ford wind star with 65 K miles and no major repairs. I have no car payment , the ride of my life, and insurance is cheap. All of this attributed to my mechanic of 20 years. I feel blessed.
1990 to 2010 was Peak Car on planet Earth. Before 1990, cars rusted, and after 2010, the manufacturers perfected planned obsolescence. My 2001 Nissan Sunny (Sentra in South Africa) has been a faultless daily driver for the last 23 years and has absolutely zero rust although I live near the ocean. It's got no anti pollution crap like cats and egr, and no rubbish gimmicks like touch screens and the like. It just fires right up every time I turn the key😁😁👍🏻
I have the same truck but a 98. I love it. 50k miles because it sat around for years after being flat towed behind some old folks motorhome for a few years. All Ive done is maintenance and shocks that wore out from sitting. I love those trucks.
3.0L Vulcan engine. Cast iron block and pushrod. The engine is built like a tank. I have the same engine in my 2006 Ford Taurus. 213,000 miles and still going strong.
My dad keeps pushing me to buy a newer car, so I'm gonna send this to him. Thanks for articulating this all so nicely, Wizard. EDIT: i already own a subaru, and am well aware of which cars are reliable.
Having worked in wholesale car parts distributing center for 3 years i can hands down say - everything CarWizard is saying is true. Parts quality and availability is going down and pretty much not worth bolting on to cars anymore - parts fail in weeks!!! Brand new cars are garbage designed to fail as soon as warranty is over (they usually fail even before - but since they are produced cheaply they will fix them under warranty). MAX PROFIT culture... Shame. Thats why i drive 34 year old Toyota... forever. Kudos to CarWizard for saying this out loud - dem balls! Cheers! :)
@@jeffosim8789 - Too many Neons were "driven hard and put away wet"... Being a cheap economy car, most didn't receive much love, except from enthusiasts. Not to mention that due to their low resale value, they would get totaled out by insurance companies even for relatively minor, repairable damage... Leading to a dearth of surviving cars today.
Neon escort focus aveo rio... All cheap cars bought mainly by people who couldn't afford them and could not maintain them. Many still have 140-175k even with 10-15k oil change interval. Timing belt service? Ya right (except the aveo they were NOT forgiving on belt maintenance) Properly cared for ones would go a long long time. I know of a courier company that just retired their last 2005 Ford focus wagon with 1.9 million (yes. Almost 2 million) miles on the original 2.0 and 5 speed manual. Why did they retire it? No one knew how to drive a stick there. That car was maintained to death. 4500 mile oil changes. 50k transmission fluid changes, if it was due it was done. It was also washed at least 3 times a week.
I was fortunate enough to have a loving, strong grandfather who fought in Europe during WWII and taught me how to work on my home & cars. Thanks to him I never have to find myself in the position of buying a new car or paying through the nose to fix one of my used cars. Thank you Granddad! 🙏
GM tech here, that Chevy Malibu is pure trash. 120K for this gen of Malibu is past the expiration date. The 1.5L engine will eventually suffer from cracked pistons, poor engineering and terrible build quality, this will eventually happen to every GM vehicle that uses this engine. None of the Auto Makers really make bulletproof cars anymore, but GM takes the top spot for garbage.
I worked at a Chevy dealer for for years and we had a 1.5L Equinox as a parts runner. With the 1.5 and regular grade gas, you'd often feel the car pulling a lot of timing. I am not entirely surprised to read that the 1.5 has piston issues. They make a lot of power for 87 octane. When I had the company gas card, I'd fill the car with premium and the car drove like a different machine. I wonder if these cars would suffer from the issues they have if GM had opted to pull boost and add displacement. That would probably cost more money, though!
Not really. Look up the list of vehicles destroyed in Cash for Clunkers, and you'll find that the majority of them were old trucks and SUVs. Only a small percentage of them were coupes or sedans, and they could only be traded in for that program if they were considered gas guzzlers. The reality doesn't line up with what most people imagine when they think of Cash for Clunkers and how many cars were "lost" to it.
Cash for clunkers allowed newer used cars to be exported , even today. Hence reduced older cars. Look at all the small value priced car dealers that disappeared.. the kind my generation and others bought and learned "how to" in high school.
When my grandma passed away I was fortunate enough to buy her car. She had a 2016 Chevy Malibu with 20k miles on it. She had gm cars her whole life, previous car was an 04 impala. The impala was an amazing car for her with little to no issues. Her Malibu that I bought was ALWAYS broke! I liked the looks, I liked the interior, not crazy about the engine but the 1.5 was fine when it ran. I had electrical issues, engine issues, suspension issues, third brake light leaked and ruined the headliner. I sold it with 54k miles on it. We had a kid coming and I just couldn’t trust it anymore. It was sad, the car meant something to me. I wish gm would go back to making there old school gm cars with the 3.8, 3.6, 3.4 engines. A car that was solid and something you could trust.
I always drove GM because my dad worked for them and each one always had some kind of premature failure. I switched to Lexus back in 14 and now own 2 of them. I just love that I only have to do PM's to them and that's it. I also have them serviced at The Car Care Nut's shop in Chicagoland.
This is a true story - I lived it myself. Worked on a research project with a major auto manufacturer and a chemical company. We were at a meeting up in Michigan, and a suit gets in front of the assembled group and asks us all to "Imagine a world where it is impossible for cars to crash. And I don't mean a world where cars don't crash often, or cars don't crash badly. I mean a world where it is physically impossible for cars to crash. Like a driverless car, maybe. How would you design a car differently in that world?" 2/3 of the room is dead silent. The group of people I'm with is all like "well, that's just stupid". The group from the chemical company is dead silent too. But the group from the auto maker gets all jazzed up. One guy from the car manufacturer group jumps up all excited and says "Get rid of the windows. They're too expensive and complicated to design for, and we'd save a ton of money if you don't need them. It's a driverless car, right?" Next guy from auto maker jumps up and says "Get rid of the seatbelts." Another buddy of his goes "No, ditch the airbags! They cost WAY more." This keeps on going for maybe 10-15 minutes. They're down to ditching the crumple zones, cutting the safety factors to the bare minimum, etc.. At one point, I halfheartedly object saying "Who are you going to get to climb into a windowless metal box, get bounced around for an hour while some computer drives this thing, and then hopefully stops and spits you out at the destination you wanted? Nobody! Nobody would ever get into this car!" I got totally ignored. The suit wrapped up that part of the meeting with heap big congratulations for the "great ideas" from the team from the auto maker, because (his words) "The future I described, where it is physically impossible for cars to crash, is only 2 years away thanks to Tesla and Google developing driverless cars" This was more than 5 years ago. But the deranged mentality of the people in the team I mentioned was the important part. It's not that the engineering is the problem. It's a mindset that these people have. The poor quality of modern cars tells you the rest of the story.
@@gambit_toys6554 Yup. I actually argued with the engineer who proposed this. Me: "Wait, if there are no windows, people won't be able to see ANYTHING while they're moving. People get motion sickness, etc. from that. Not to mention that if the driving computer effs-off, people outta know the car is going the wrong way. So are you going to put in some cameras on the outside, with some displays inside, so people can see SOMETHING?" Engineer: "No, no,. no. That would just increase the cost. The point is to save money by removing the windows. Putting displays in would just negate the savings." It didn't matter if you made practical points. The driver and passengers were an afterthought. Weird, too, since these guys weren't execs, and it's not like they were going to see any of the increased profits personally. These people working for the auto maker had their heads screwed on backwards, and there was nothing you could do to get them to see sense.
Just remember the auto manufacturers have been trying to make driverless cars since the 1950s and Although computer technology has came leaps and bounds in the last 30 years to really advanced the driverless experience we still aren't doing a whole lot better from the driverless cars than what GM had in the 1990s. For a few examples, the cars can't negotiate missing painted lines in the roadway, they struggle with glare, they can mistake a t-shirt for a sign and they are not usable in even remotely bad weather... And I don't mean snow on the ground when it's hard for a person to drive but a little precipitation can really confuse a self-driving vehicle. My point is we are not going to have fully autonomous cars that are truly safe for at least 20 or 25 more years and that is with a slew of engineers working on it all over around the world with competing manufacturers. Once we finally get that technology it will start out extremely expensive and only be available on really high-end cars and it may take three or four years after its invented for it to actually hit the market and even then it will take another 15 years for it to trickle down to all the makes and individual models. I mean a Mercedes or a Cadillac we'll get to see the technology long before a Chevrolet or the Toyota and it will have to slowly trickle down. What's even more important, if there is some miracle breakthrough for self-driving vehicles there will be patents on it, so people will have to reverse engineer and change things to make it work for them which also adds a few more years for that company to get the same basic technology. So I guess at the end of the day when you look at it between all the driverless cars on the road and how long it's going to take to make a driverless car a reality then to implement it to make the maximum dollar to pay for the hundreds of millions of dollars of engineering that went into it we are probably realistically 50 to 70 years away from a fully autonomous driving society. I will be 96 years old and 50 years if God lets me make it that long. I am not sure if I want to see that but the one thing I can just about guarantee is it isn't going to happen overnight or in the next four or five years.
Remember five-digit odometers? That's how long the car was expected to last. Then they got really good and lasted a long time. Now they're getting disposable again. The tech and general complexity comes at a price. The price of the rest of the car must be adjusted accordingly.
This is the comment I was looking for. My dad used to buy a car used and then sell it around 80k miles because it was pretty much used up by then. I remember a conversation with an old guy several years back - he owned a shop and had the receipt on the wall for the first new car he ever bought back in the 50s. He was telling me about the maintenance schedule, and I don't remember much of the conversation, but I remember he said you were supposed to do a full engine rebuild at 50k miles. So, yeah, the era of ultra-reliable cars was a blip. Now it's time for the next phase.
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The odometer is one of the first things to break on any car.
My old Mustang has a 5 digit odo, and it has 174, 000 miles on the original engine....used to daily it over 20 years ago....beat it to hell sometimes...still runs like a champ...so theres that
Thank you for bringing this to people’s attention. I have worked in the automotive industry for over 30 years and have never seen anything like it. Brand,foreign,domestic, does not matter. They will all have either a transmission, looking at you Cvt’s, or an engine replacement in the first 100,000 miles…. or 10 miles past.
I remember when I first got into the industry 14 years ago. Everyone was complaining about how the German cars became electrical nightmares, poorly made, plastic everywhere, In/out of the dealership constantly, and so expensive to fix that they were basically mechanically totaled a few years after the warranty ran out. Well, Clarkson said it best. Want to know where the industry is headed? Pay attention to BMW and Mercedes. Now almost every car is the same story. I have a theory that were are going to see the 2020-2023 models being more problematic than the rest because the parts that made those cars were pretty much guaranteed to be rushed out the door without quality checks.
A survey of U.K. fleet managers shows that the BMW3 series is the most reliable new car. Toyota Corolla second and Tesla Model 3 third. If course they have no interest in what the cars will be doing in ten years time when, if still still on the road they will probably have some boy racer driving them and doing DIY maintenance.
@@MrDuncl The pendulum has swinged the other way with BMW. The N-series engines were such a disaster that they made the B-series a lot better. Not perfect mind you, but good. And the discussion about turbo's are a bit overly dramatic, especially in Europe we've had Turbo's in diesels that lasted a lifetime, but the rules for emissions AND fuel economy put an end to that.
alan: No such thing! Exactly how dull are you... Mr. Leno uses the printer to produce parts which are no longer manufactured. Nothing to do with exotic materials. Simply the passage of time!
I drove a Chinese dual sport bike all around mexico central america for 1.5 years. Everyone there has them, and Chinese electric cars too. I bought it used and had problems out of the gate. Serious electrical issue, and the timing chain came one tooth off from the factory. I guess that is why the original owner ditched it. Fixed those two problems and it is still going with the guy I sold it to. I beat the crap out of it too, way overweight with my camping equipment, tools, clothes, and my 200lb butt. Running the air cooled engine hard in the heat on single track mountain trails, slipping the clutch. I usually ride hard enduro/trials, and while it was gutless at an advertised 15hp, it was very reliable after I fixed those two issues.
Look at xiaomi, making better electronics than apple and Samsung for a quarter of the price and now they jus released their ev car, honestly it looks the same as any american car but for a less than half of the price.
If you go to Europe- Eastern and Central, nearly nobody has new cars. Everyone is driving 10-20yrs or older cars. It's all Mercedes, Volvo, BMW, VW, but there are plenty of parts for them there, so they are relatively cheap to maintain. People just can't afford the new cars and many doesn't even want to buy them. They just buy a 20 year old and drive until the wheels fall off and then buys another one. Rinse and repeat, my brother is doing that for many years now. He actually got 2 Mercedeses. both are like 15 or 20yrs old.
Considering a lot of idiots are going after $1K+ a month car payments like its anything remotely close to normal, I'll keep rolling the dice on my old a$$ cars and eat the occasional hefty repair bill. I'll get a 3D Scanner and start printing new plastics out of ASA or similar out of my printer if I have to.
It's cheaper to buy then repair...our shop is slowly getting less business bc nobody can afford a 5k dollar bill but they can afford a 400 dollar payment...
Until it's out of warranty and something on that car breaks. Rinse and repeat. Keeping your old beater is doing a service to the environment, as well as all the other drivers on the road
You're right, they don't care.. And it's the consumers fault because we just keep going out and keep buying them and keep paying whatever price they charge.. We might go online and complain about it on social media to our buddies and family, but we still keep giving them our money.. So they have no incentive to stop selling us junk, do they?
What choice do we have as consumers though? It's not realistic to rely on other forms of transportation for now, unfortunately. Especially if you live in a rural area or between towns.
It's not the fault of the consumer, it's the fault of greedy executives. Stop trying to twist it. They should have some integrity & be decent human beings, just because you can get away with something doesn't mean it's right... Get it straight.
It’s unfortunate because it’s easy to get a car loan. For a small down payment you can have a “new” car. Easier and cheaper up front than buying an older car privately. Yes of course you can find a good buy here and there but people don’t have time for it. Let alone the base level knowledge to keep something old running. Oh and don’t forget about the look of having a new car. Makes you look like you have it goin on lol but in reality not at all.
Before I retired, I worked in a plastics factory making automotive parts. Let me tell you, the things I saw there were appalling. I saw parts that had fallen on the floor and were supposed to be discarded picked up and packed along with the "good" parts. We were supposed to be inspecting and checking parts, well, let me tell you, when you have a machine that is spitting out 64 tiny parts per minute and it is not the only machine you are supposed to be looking after, you do not have time to go over every single part. You sweep them into the box, which may hold up to 10,000 parts, and hope that the sorting department checks them. Which they won't because there is a quota. They open the box, dump the parts onto the table, sweep them back into the box, then seal it up, good to go, because if you take too long going over a box you get penalized. Speed, speed, speed, is the mantra. These are parts that go into your vehicle's computer and electrical systems. Now, every so often, we'd ship a bad batch out which would get caught at Ford or whoever else was one of our clients, and they'd respond with a customer concern, so a notice would be put out to pay closer attention to part number such and such, but it really wasn't taken seriously, because there really was no danger of Ford or anyone else going anywhere else because everyone else was doing the same thing. Not trying to brag on myself, but I caught an awful lot of defective parts that others missed. I know for a fact that first and second shift didn't catch nearly the stuff I caught on third shift, because if something wasn't right, I'd call it to the supervisor's attention, and many times it was obvious that this was a problem that hadn't just started but had been going on for some time.
Everyone are slaves to the rich. They call the shots and the workers (i.e. the poors) do whatever they want, even if what they do ends up screwing other poors.
Several stories: Rural Central Calif parts guy here who grew up in a mom/pop parts store since the late 50's: 1)We had easy access to private Motorcraft, Delco and Mopar warehouses...same OEM quality. Those stores slowly died to where dealership was now the only source for OEM. 2) Our local law enforcement was the County Sheriff who had a policy of not ticketing for expired registration. When the town organized its own police force, they immediately set out to impounding 30-50 cars a day. They towed so many cars that they used the municipal airport to store them. Few people could afford the fines nor could they smog the cars. The city hired a contractor to crush and hauled off most of the cars. These cars were mainly 80's to early 90's. Our parts sales for this era dropped like a rock. They were our bread and butter. One local part store gave up and sold the entire inventory to a machine shop who stored everything in sea/land vans even to this day (more on that later). 3) Ffwd 2024: Nothing is manufactured in this country any more. All the parts come from the far east. There is no warranty obligation/responsibility on the original manufacturer nor shipper. Any bad parts are eaten by the local/regional distributor. Even they distance themselves from warranty by saying their pricing reflects allowance for warranty...so the local warehouse eats it. So now does the mechanic charge the customer for changing the part twice? Diagnosis Dan has made videos demonstrating the lack of quality in parts these days (crank sensor and crash sensor vids). 4) re vintage/legacy/NOS parts. Those sea/land vans I told you about plus other warehouses one may stumble up on are going to be the only source of RELIABLE vintage parts. 5) re Old car reliability: My 92 Camry went 500k before the head gasket blew. My fault as it was weeping for 50k, but I was driving 300 miles daily doing adult care for a family member...no time to fix the car. It overheated right as I came home and I immediately bought a used 2003 Camry for use the following day. By the time I got to looking at the old car, water had filled the cylinder and rusted up the engine. I put in a used one and still drive the car to this day. 61 International...daily driver too. Easy fix, easy to get parts from my vast storage yard. 6) Cash for Clunkers program destroyed a lot of good old(er) iron.
Yea, the bas&$rds, got my 91 jeep 4.0 on the cash for clunkers by making it impossible to pass emissions. It had the same readings: pass, pass, pass then suddenly they (state and Feds)changed the standard, even though it had the exact same readings as all the years it had passed. Violated every foundational principle in law but they did it anyway. Our government is out of control.
Cash for clunkers was an auto bail out. It was criminal, but that's all the fed govt does. If it weren't a bail out, then those cars would've been sold to people that wanted them instead of pouring acid/sand into the crank case.
30-50 impounds a day quota is insane... But yeah, I grew up in the 90's and even I have experienced the decline in aftermarket/replacement parts. It's pretty wild. A lot of things just don't fit right. It's very sketchy to replace many components with ones of questionable quality...
A co worker of mine just bought brand new 2025 Ram. 500 miles in has engine light the dealer can’t figure out. They clear it and comes back on. They literally told him to just drive it with the light on.
As a child my mom bought a brand new caravan. Transmission light refused to turn off. Dealer could not get it off under warranty. She let them stick her with it. Fast forward ten years later she buys a Chrysler Sebring convertable, check engine light is on and dealer could not fix that either. Bothe vehicles lived with lights on under full warranty. She was a single mother so she let them get away with it
@JBK647 Mechanics tend to scam women or desperate people more often than assertive people. Part of it is learned helplessness and part of it is indifference. Most women don't want to learn about car maintenance, and will pay whatever it takes to get the car back on the road.
@@tabbott429I have a 2022 Silverado that sat for months at the dealership the first year I owned it. Eventually that has to replace the whole wiring harness... then the vents on the radiator, now a wheel bearing is going. What crap
I agree that newer cars are far less reliable, and a lot of that has to do with the complication of things added for MPG and emmissions, and all the gadgets that everyone MUST HAVE like power liftgates and tailgates, integrated HVAC, NAV, etc. There is sooo much to break now. The reason part stores cant stock everything is because there are way more brands and models now, and with so many different options it is impossible for a parts store to have everything.
I agree, but recently bought a new Rav4 XSE hybrid. I got it fully loaded with options and accessories. I don't need a liftgate that can be operated by moving your foot, but it was included in an options package. There is a lot of things that can break. Time will tell how my Toyota holds up over the years.
Turbo is #1 complications in today's car. I was a fan of the turbo because of the 90s JDM car, Saab 900 Turbo, and Porsche 911 Turbo but when I realized how much it did kill a reliability and also the exhaust sound. I like Naturally Aspirated the best
@@kenfrank2730 Some other channel showed a modern (2019) Corolla Hybrid with over 450K miles on it and it still works fine with minimal electrical issues (like headlight was out and needed a full module or something to get it working again) They reported engine and rest was totally fine.
@@KaedeAnimation Turbos aren't really the problem. Turbos undersized for the application are. A properly sized turbo will be less stressed and last much longer than a smaller turbo that has to spin much faster and make a lot more boost. I have 2 diesel vehicles that are well over 200k miles with their original turbos. Both Turbos are also variable geometry turbos adding to their complexity, but because they are bigger than modern economy focused turbos they have stood the test of time.
@@DocileDestroyer Well this explain why my mom's Ford Edge Ecoboost 2.0 still running though we did encounter one overheating incident so bad that it need to be tow to the dealership to take a look
In kenya, almost 90% of vehicles are second-hand imports from Japan, UAE,and Singapore. The parts are available and fairly priced. Therefore, keeping an old vehicle can not cost you arm and leg unless otherwise.
One thing people don't talk about is how long new cars are sitting. Some cars on the lot are sitting a year or more. That takes a toll on the components, interior and paint. Cars should be in a garage and drive at least every few days. So the. Sitting for months or even years can cause so many problems.
Even worse, dealers like to shuffle cars around on the lot, which means lots of short engine cycles. Running a brand new engine for 2 minutes every few days is horrible. One nice thing about the supply constraints is that I was able to buy a car basically off the transporter. I had to wait for them to do the dealer prep before I could even test drive it! For all the things to worry about, that is at least one fewer for me.
@@joeyy2207 Yep, That's why whenever I buy a used car if I see it was in a city I scroll past it. 75k miles of city driving is worse than 200k miles of long distance.
2 years ago I found a 2001 Buick Park Avenue from California with 65000 miles, fully loaded. I was still driving my 01 Lesabre, so kept the Park Avenue in the garage until this year when my Lesabre became too rusty. I live in northern Illinois. So I'm going to baby this car for the rest of my life. By the way, it is a great car!
When I use to work in automotive manufacturing, we use to do annual production runs of spare parts for models that were no longer being sold, once a year. When I questioned why? It was because,at least for GM, there had to be a surplus of parts for repairs post sale of the cars. For up to 10 years or more depending on the model. But eventually the parts would stop being made due to the tooling wearing out or because there isn’t a strong enough demand. This was back in 2000, and I was making G Van windshield trim with a tool that was already 25 years old at the time.
As an engineer in plastics I can only say one thing plastic wear out due to UV exposure and the moulds wear out and are not replaced. On top of that if plastics aren't treated correct during processing the final component wears out (fail) even faster. I have a 2006 Toyota Aygo 1.0 (possibly the cheapest made car ever made) with 151.000 miles on the clock. Plastic trim are wrapped and falling of. But other than that everything works and the engine is fine doesn't use oil.
Plastic dries out over time, regardless of UV exposure. It will last longer of course, if kept in a garage, but even still old plastic is brittle. Also, heat drastically effects plastic life, so any plastic in the engine bay is cooked and brittle after time passes
@@YuenanCao I wouldn’t say it dries out. The bonds in molecule chains break down and that reduces the mechanical strength. It turns brittle. Chain degradation is why white ABS turns yellow and acrylic gets brittle. Some materials such as nylon 6.6 and 12 has great heat chemical resistance, the trees don’t grow into the sky and the will eventually fail As the housing for my oil cooler did.
I'm just a self taught garage guy, but I've been doing my own work for 50 years. One thing I do is ignore the long oil change intervals. 5,000 is my limit, or twice a year for cars driven less than 10k a year.
Concur! Synthetic oil itself might not break down for 10,000 miles, but there is a lot of junk suspended in that oil that is gritty and can do a number on an engine over time. In the big picture, oil changes are cheap compared to an engine overhaul or replacement.
One of the nice things about owning a LR Disco 2 is that since parts break so regularly, and almost all the remaining vehicles are in the hands of enthusiasts who do most of the work themselves, there is still a good niche market for the parts.
Planned obsolescence has been around for 50 plus years. Cars in the 60's or 70's were usually in need of major engine work around 100k miles. Rust was also a big problem back then too.
Yeah, I wouldn't say most 70's/80's cars were the best quality. Even earlier 50's/60's cars rarely made it to 100k without serious work being done at significant cost.
everytime the subject of their favorite cars came up, the old guys i worked with in the 90s would talk fondly about their z28, gto, boss 302, etc. when i asked what happened to them, the answer was 'rusted out a few years later' or 'needed a rebuild at 50,000 miles'. now we have cars hit 250,000 miles with little maintenance.
People used to have disposable income to maintain and repair their cars. Dropping the top tax bracket by tens of percentage points has massive consequences.
Still driving a 2005 mustang gt that turned 19 in July and I can’t afford a new car anymore. A decent car is minimum 15 grand now. My car was 12500 in 2014. Now a 10 year old mustang gt is about 25 grand plus.
We bought a 2020 RAV4 XLE AWD back in February of 2020. Here we are almost 5 years later, and it’s at 96,000 miles and only things we’ve done is general maintenance. I’d recommend Toyota over the other brands!
My second car is a Toyota Avalon with 3.5 V6 and it falls apart at 130,000 miles. Almost everything broke besides engine and transmission. I will never buy a Toyota again.
I own a shop in CT and agree with you 100%. I have lost count on how many low mileage blown Honda CVT's I have had come thru my shop. 45k miles is the average. We run the VIN print out the CVT extended warranty info that Honda added on those vehicles and inform them it is covered at the dealer.
What Honda model or gen are you referring to? I'm reading a lot on CivicX and it looks like the CVT is holding up pretty well, very low failure rate below 100,000 miles. Volkswagen DSGs for a example have a much higher rate of failing.
My 96 celica needed a drivers side window regulator. Could not find the part…No longer in production. Thankfully found one in a junkyard. But maintaining older cars is getting harder.
I dread the quality of cars from the last couple decades. Buying new simply delays your headaches until the warranty ends while buying used is like raw-dogging a lady of the night (you never know what you're going to get until after the fact). The 90s tanks are ticking time bomb rust buckets by this point too so we're screwed either way.
My dad restored a 68 Mercedes. He found a lot of parts at junk yards. But he also found brand new parts at the Mercedes dealership. Which didn’t cost much for Mercedes parts.
Im so relieved I found a 2008 Buick lucerne with the 3.8L recently. Only had 70k km one elderly couple owned it and got it for 10grand all in including taxes and safety repairs and I couldn’t be happier. Driven it 9k so far and the only repair I had to do was a door lock actuator which only costed me $150.
@@designstudio8013 The previous owners took care of the car and put an Interstate agm battery. Already went ahead and replaced the fuel pump relay with an OEM low profile version as well so it doesn’t melt.
I’m trying to keep our 2000s vehicles going but the new parts are junk! Dealers have stopped making parts for them so I’m left with aftermarket and half the time the parts just don’t last. All the plastic parts on them are failing like you said. All our vehicles are at the point there failing enough thsts it’s at the point we need to replace them but there’s nothing reliable enough to bother anymore
I think because so many people lease cars now, they don’t care and the manufacturers DEFINITELY build in obsolescence. They are not penalized in any way because their reputation is shot already. True in many areas now - home appliances for example. Dark days…
Bought my 2000 Toyota Echo from the family who bought it new. They passed it down through 2 kids in college, and it still had the OE clutch in it at 406k miles when I bought it. Replaced it at 410k and I've put another 20k on it since then. It burns 2 quarts between oil changes, and besides that runs like a champ and gets 40mpg. This car will be driven until it tells me it's done, and that doesn't appear to be anytime soon.
We bought an 07 Acura MDX new and kept up maintenance. Now 241k and we decided to replace anything wearing out. I’m doing the maintenance and repair. I use TH-cam and get Honda parts over the internet. Recently did the timing belt service, struts and replaced both front lower control arms. The vehicle drives like new and seems like the engine is bulletproof. Much better than the $65k to buy something similar new!
How you treat your car will still determine how long it will be good for. If you rarely bump the RMP's over 4,000-5,000, don't do lots of stop and go driving, consistently keep it clean along with immediately taking care of any rust, perform regular maintenance and stay on top of preventative maintenance - there is a fantastic chance your car is going to last 200,000 miles even if built today. Even the old reliable l cars required lots of maintenance as they got past 10 years old, if you neglected taking care of it the engine or body would be done well before 150,000 miles.
My 2002 Taurus 3.0 has 89,000 miles. As long as I can get parts, and my trusted mechanic doesn't retire, I will keep it going. I can rebuild it for less than I can buy a new car. As a bonus, it has zero electronic crap cluttering the dash and nagging me about my driving.
Good luck I had a 02 Taurus. Constant maintenance and a rust bucket. Junked long time ago. Also a 02 Camry. Kids still use it almost 500 thousand miles.
I had an 2002 Ford Taurus Limited, I loved that car! I'm not sure why I did it, but I sold it, and bought a new 2006 Ford 500 Limited. I still drive it daily, but I'm retired. It now has 166,000 miles on it. I keep it well maintained. Thanks, John.
This is an excellent video! You are spot on, my friend. I'm restoring a '93 Mazda Miata. I've been restoring cars for decades, mostly VWs, Porsches, and various French cars. I can tell that the Miata was one of the last sensibly (for purpose) made cars to come out of factories. It's still straightforward, with original parts that were obviously made to go the distance. Compared to my wife's 2020 Hyundai, the Miata is bulletproof. I dread the day when the first things start to fail (or fall off!) in that Hyundai, and I know that day isn't far off. At 158,000 miles, the Miata's little 1.6 liter is still running super-strong, leaks nothing, and doesn't smoke. My son, who also drives a Hyundai, cannot believe that I am able to simply change some old hoses and belts and otherwise leave the Mazda engine as is. Same with that lovely snickety-snick five-speed Miata trans. My '63 VW Beetle is in another realm of mechanical heaven. Yes, we had to deal with rust, but the cars ran, drove, and did their jobs for decades after their build dates. And, when we had to fix 'em, we could fix 'em....in our garages! Keep your new car junk. My Miata and the Beetle will still be on the road, 30 years from now!
Those engines are bulletproof, that era of Toyota is goated for engines. The early and Mid 00 Toyotas were Toyota's magnum opus IMO. Decent technology, not over engineered and very reliable.
Getting a car fixed at the shop is all but untenable at this point. My local Jeep shop quoted $800 for rear brakes on a 2016 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon. It cost me $55 and 30 minutes of my time using hand tools in my driveway. I'm a seasoned citizen....I don't know how the young ones will be able to maintain this level of thievery.
yea thats the one reason i started working on cars when i was 16 years ago. ive never brought a car to a mechanic for anything besides an alignment in 12 years now
@@Myrune1 saw an estimate on 2012 Jeep Patriot for 2 sway bar links to fix a rattle. It was 400 dollars!! I picked it up to do the links for 150 (40 dollars in parts 1 hour labor tax and shop supplies) both links looked almost new! One nut wasn't tighted all the way. It wouldn't tighten due to damaged threads so I did the one link and charged them 75 bucks. customer said "maybe that's what was replaced last time it was clunking... That was a few months ago. I don't remember" It was the same damn shop that wrote the 400 dollar estimate 2 months later. They will not be returning to that shop ever again.
I agree, I try to Repair most stuff on my vehicles but you need many specialized tools to repair modern cars and if problem is under the hood, takes 1/2 day just to get to the problem, at 77, I am simply to old to deal with that...
@@joshuagibson2520I work in the auto industry. They spend so much money on these useless "spreadsheet engineers" that do nothing all day except collect a paycheck, sit in meetings, and make terrible decisions. Those are the people killing cars and taking any valuable resources away from the things that matter.
The way I see it, there are either people who are going to be driving basic *OLD* cars, like pre 2000's or even before the 90's where most of everything was metal, or people who are forced to buy a new car, because they don't want something old. Essentially, if your wanting something that's only 5 or 10 years old, you might be out of luck. It's going to be either brand new, or 25+ years old.
A bunch of the American car companies got busted in the 80s for being in cahoots and designing cars to fall apart after 3 years/36k miles. It was an attempt to eliminate used cars as a viable market option, which are their biggest competitor. And they still do it today, the only thing that changed is they're sneaky when they do it through intentional over-engineering of expensive. select parts... now the entire car doesn't fall apart, just a few areas that are so expensive in labor and parts to fix that the entire car becomes junk. Their corrupt thinking is what helped shoot Datsun/Nissan, Toyota, and other Japanese cars way ahead.... those cars were dead reliable instead of just dead. I still love old Toyotas
Wizard I started in auto business early 80's and there were some late 60's cars being driven as daily drivers but you didn't see any 1950's cars as daily drivers. We get lots of calls on cars from the 90's and common wear parts like brakes and tuneup are still available. Mid 80's your Chev truck with 50k miles needed timing chain sets and valve jobs. You didn't even think about 100k mil cause the body would rust out.
I work in commercial parts, and the reason we don't have those parts anymore is because there are a ton more newer cars on the road, and the parts stores are only so big. They are packed full with parts, as it is.
@@VTX-Live he said in the video that it took a few days. That's because we order them direct from the vendor or from the distribution center. Most parts stores were built in the 90s because there was a boom. Now, the stores are too small to hold everything.
Thing I don’t like about new cars is the stupid lane assist ‘safety’ features. I drive a new Honda CRV. Alarm goes off every time I approach a white line even if I’m not crossing it. Another think is brakes engage if a pedestrian jay walks in front of my car, even if they’re close by on the median strip and not on the road. I hate these features and they cannot be permanently turned off.
An ironic comment. I started in the car business in 1973, working at a Ford dealership. Not only did we have a complete ( paper )catalog set,but we could order darned near everything mechanical for a 1930's Ford. Hell, we had a lot of stuff on OUR shelves! And the parts were OEM,came from Ford, so they were all genuine goods. This dealership had been around since the late 40's, and we sold a surprising amount of parts for these 35+ year old cars and light trucks. Try that tomorrow? Save the trouble, keep your blood pressure from pegging the needle....
Romantic view of the past. There were TONS of crap cars made in late 90s/early 2000s and I mean an absolute crap load. If you ever actively owned and worked on them you would agree. It was tolerated because you could buy them dirt cheap after 7-8yrs and the parts were reasonable and plentiful.
Yeah, like the Toyota engines making sludge and inviting a class action suit but there were reliable models too which many people have mentioned they are still driving
100%. I had a 2007 Golf R32. 190,000 miles. Did cost me about 3k in repairs. But the engine was absolutely solid. Usual things needed doing. Radiator leaked, bushings etc. But never any major issues. I still think cars from 2010-2018 are still ok. It's the last 4-5 years where I find cars have gone massively downhill. Some 2018 are still terrible, but I have a Skoda superb 2018 and it's not had 1 single issue and 60,000 miles on it.
It is bonkers to me how so many hondas built in the late 2010s/early 2020s have oil dilution issues. Like they spent years fine tuning their engines only to add a turbo and ruined the whole thing.
So true Wizard! I drove the same Malibu for 3 years working for a taxi company back in the 80's. I and another driver leased it 24/7 and other than regular maintenance it was always on the road. Never had any problems with it; it already had 100k+ miles on the clock when I took over. Alas, those days are over forever. Reasonably priced American sedans that would last at least 5 years after you made the last payment. 😢
I agree with what Car Wizard says.. I have a '99 2 door Tahoe w/180K miles that is pretty damn reliable. I did just break down and buy a '24 Silverado ZR2 with the 3.0L diesel and am blown away by the engine. Really happy with it.. getting 24mpg But.. the oil pan design sucks. It will leave a 1/2 quart of oil in the pan when you drain. There is an aftermarket solution, but I should not have to replace the oil pan because GM cheeped out.
100% Can confirm that parts are becoming obsolete. I'm struggling to find parts from the Dealership. Now resorting to eBay. I firmly believe that, as the Car Wizard mentions, 'They want you to buy new cars'
I drive a 1979 Subaru. I can still find the parts or different parts that can be retrofitted but it takes a lot of research. If I can't find the part I get it custom made. Nearly any internal engine part can be custom made for you and shipped to you within a week. Pistons, valves, camshafts, rods, even an entire crankshaft. Can be a little expensive but not anywhere close to a new car. Sometimes you can find parts off another car that can be adapted. Most of my electrical system and ignition parts, cooling system, etc is all parts from different cars. I've rebuilt the engine once, put 200,000 miles on it since then. Have another rebuilt engine in the basement ready to go if I need it. The engines sell for about $300 or so. Figure about $500 to rebuild one with the best parts available. Right now it's still possible to find a lot of the correct parts. But I've done the research and have multiple notebooks full of part numbers, dimensions of parts, and parts with dimensions matching the originals, ready when the parts get discontinued. When I see a rare part come up on eBay I buy it. I have a large stock of spare parts that are hard to find up to and including pistons, rings, valves, and other internal engine components. It's such a simple car I would be able to keep it running even if no original parts are available anymore. And even if I have to pay $800 or even $2000 for custom parts to be made at some point, that's preferable to me over buying a different car. What other car can I get that gets 40-50 mpg and has timing gears, no chain or belt, and a manual transmission. Nothing, doesn't exist. Only 70s and 80s Subarus have all those features together.
I have been a consumer activist for almost 50 years--going back before my first big automotive fight against GM's first diesel, which was in my new "79 Chev pickup. It had two engine rebuilds in the first 24K miles. With that in mind, I say this video is one of the best, most accurate auto industry reviews I have heard in a long time.
Not only are parts disappearing.....but prices are changing monthly instead of yearly....... no more $1,200 chevrolet 350 crate engines.....cheapest chevrolet built 350 is over $6,000
The low quality and complexity of modern cars is what ultimately pushed me to go electric. No worry about turbos, plastic intakes, manifolds, and oil sumps, emissions systems etc. I held onto my old cars as long as I could but as you said, spare parts started to dry up, basically as soon as the warranty period ends they stop producing parts and you're left with inventory.
Tesla do have some plastic coolant lines that run *through* the "penthouse" control box where the inverter, controller and battery management system are; but hopefully those plastic lines hold up OK for owners and make the 30 years that Tesla say their cars are designed to run for!
@@TassieLorenzo yes that is true. Hopefully the lack of vibration and much lower temperatures of the coolant loop compared to an ICE will help with longevity.
What you say is true I think with emissions rules ice vehicles are reaching their end of life, however a lot of issues with modern vehicles are electronic, and electric cars whilst not exposed to the heat of an ice, are exposed to the same age, water, accident damage etc. I suspect that like modern ice vehicles, electric vehicles with screens that control all functions of the car, the literal 10s of modules in modern cars, any one that fails as an electric vehicles gets older could brick them as uneconomic to repair.
This is why I like the older Mercedes Benz diesel cars. built like a tank. I have a 1990 300d turbo that I plan keeping for a long time. 234000 miles and runs like a swiss watch
@@Hellcat71782 I have one too, but I wouldn't want it as my only car because of the parts issue...yes they're cheap and you can get them, but they won't be in stock near where you break down.
My son approached me 2 days ago about a malibu, 2007? Not sure. She was driving and it stopped, a shop diagnosed no fuel pressure. Instead of throwing money at it, she selling it for $1000. I gave him 2 peices of advice, 1. If it's anything but a 3800 V6, walk away. 2. Watch the car wizard on buying a used car...the ones about not running, but "just need this one part" you posted recently. 😅 thanks for the wisdom good sir.
Ive had the 3800...good engine...some leak coolant at the intake...so Ive heard... I also have a 3500 in an Impala with 200, 000+ miles......black oil because I have not changed it since I bought it .thing still runs smooth
The confidence folks have in v6 and 4-cylinder engines is astounding. All to save a sum $$ on gas. Had a 88 k1500 SBC 350 300k+ miles . Blew a spark out of the engine block and still drove home on 7 cylinders. Had a 00 Durango with 200k miles 4.7 V8. All kinds of blow by and milkshake on the oil cap. As long as I kept oil and coolant topped up never ran hot never broke down. Sold it 4years ago. It's still on the road. Moral of the story BUY A NON (DOD,AFM,MDS) V8!!! gosh it's not rocket science
I switched from a 2001 Toyota Corolla, that never needed oil, had warped rings, 250K miles, and battery change every time Pluto did a full orbit. Switched to a 2016 Hyundai Santa Fe sport, immediate problems at 97K miles. I know they are bad overall, but it shouldn’t be
One reason for this is unreasonable fuel efficiency standards. Manufacturers are having to switch out metal components for plastic, and well-engineered parts for flimsy parts in order to reduce weight.
Well I beg to differ that the new fuel efficiency standards require CHEAPER MATERIALS. I have a1994 (yes THIRTY YEAR OLD) Acura Legend with a performance modified engine in it. I do have a six speed manual transmission and on a recent 3,100 mile trip across the U.S. made between 33 and 37 miles per gallon on 91 octane out West (not the normal 93 octane fuel East of central Texas). There isn't much on that car's exterior besides trim pieces that are plastic. The rubber coating for glass surrounding trim is peeling off but not the trims. Let's face it Wizard hit the nail on the head as he mentioned the C.E.O.s MUST MAINTAIN their Mega Million Dollar Bonuses! Maximum profit is the name of the game for "BIG BUSINESS". We the consumer foot that bill. There were high plastic use vehicles of the past (can ANYONE say Saturn) some of which could in the lab make 70 miles per gallon and in the real world were pushing 50 mpg on the highway. You couldn't buy a 4 cylinder Toyota or Honda in the 1980s, 1990s or even early 2000s that didn't get 35 - 40 or HIGHER miles per gallon. The automobile industry is not the only "BIG BUSINESS" conglomerate where you and I are making sure the rich stay rich. That is their goal and truth be told part of the design of capitalism. The concept of making things competitive so that we get the best product at the best price is an illusion that most people are just are not aware about. We may get a competitive price but the products are as the Wizard stated GARBAGE! Manufacturer pride has been all but usurped from the building of quality appliances and homes to disposable electronics and virtually EVERYTHING in between.
I doubt it. I used to be very into racing and let me tell you the amount of stuff you have to pull out of a car to even drop 200lbs. is astonishing and makes the car barely streetable. 200lbs would barely make a dent in fuel mileage. This is just cost savings to increase profits.
@@johnschofield9496 Yeah my wife's Prius has those. It gets worse as the car ages as you can imagine. We're doing about a quart every 500(city driving). You should see how black the bumper gets by the exhaust.
Living in an European country, I found getting parts for a reliable 06 Corolla diesel to be painful. So I bought an OLDER car, a BMW 530d from 2002. An E39. One thing German cars do well here is parts availability even for older cars.
how did i find parts for a 2002 malibu that was never even sold in europe? i think you're just terrible at searching. you don't care, just like the people that make today's cars. it is a virus.
My W123 230CE pillarless coupè Mercedes-Benz has just clocked up 196,000 miles [305,000 kms] and is still running smoothly. Interior almost as-new. Even on a 35C day, it did 450 miles without a hitch. You're spot-on on the quality of older cars. Love your videos! Merry Christmas 🎅 and Happy 2025 from Tony in Warrnambool, Victoria, Australia 🇦🇺 ❤️.
Still driving my 1990 Volvo 740 Turbo and it runs like a top. While I can still purchase a lot of OEM parts from Volvo, I know I am on borrowed time and it will get more and more difficult to find parts.
yeah but goddamn each year new car costs more than previous year, where do we stop?? Also we buy cars not because we like them, vast majority buy cars to get to places or work, basically it's a necessity
It's the by-product of new cars being packed with lots of technology and features. The manufacturers have to cut cost on internal components to make cars affordable.
The amount of people that get hosed on trade ins blows my mind. I have coworkers that will buy a new car for 35k and then 3 or 4 years later trade it in for 15-18k, I'm like wtf you guys are literally losing like 20k in just a couple of years. They think they're getting some great deal too.
They are all doing it now. Even Toyota. They claim the cars only require oil changes every 10k miles and when you ask about transmission fluid changes (because the owners manual says nothing about it) they say it doesn't need it. I had my Rav4s transmission fluid replaced anyways because Toyota is in the business of selling cars NOT making it last.
This is so true. We got a Toyota bz4x as a family car for my new born son. They have plastic trim on the hood and it succumbed to the sun and heat within a year. The plastic got warped and damaged. Toyota denied fixing it due to solar conversion. It's a shame. They have a 60k car with plastic, and they won't cover the cost to fix it. The greed has gotten out of control, we consumers shouldn't have to get fucked anymore, but it's the reality we live in
Very true, way before my time but when you look at the classic cars the engines would grenade before 100,000 miles. The difference being that those oldies were very simple designs that did not cost much and could be repaired by the average Joe. Modern cars are over engineered due to fuel economy standards, emission standards, safety standards (probably the only one I would keep out of the bunch), and of course cost cutting from pure greed. Get rid of the CAFE and EPA crap and modern cars would be a lot better. Of course the corpo greed would need to be addressed too but the best way to fix that is competition. Competition has a hard time forming when the auto industry is such an over regulated mess.
Nonsense. I got 200K out of a '73 Camaro 350 V-8 with a THM 350. Put virtually no money into that car except for 3K oil changes and two year tranny fluid changes. My '79 Datsun 210 racked up over 208K almost trouble-free under the same oil change schedule, with gearbox oil changes every 30K.
@@Ziegfried82 Another boomer complaining about 'hippie eco' standards because you won't be around to see the world when it implodes, so you don't care. Cars are over-engineered, yes, but soccer moms keep demanding more 'features' that complicate design and lend themselves to issues. Also, plastic parts have NOTHING to do with 'EPA regulations'😂. It's just to save money for greedy executives and the stockholders...who are also rich a-holes.
@gnosticnight Exception to the rule. You got lucky. Cars came with a five digit odometer in that era for a reason. Most of us never knew how long Datsuns would actually run for because they rusted out long before they broke down.
@chrishardin4220 My favorite vehicles personally personally specifically 2000-2006. I had a 1996 suburban that was solid as well, but the 04-06 are even better
As someone who works in the automotive field with executives, suppliers, designers, and engineers, I couldn't agree more. I have been in meetings where grown-ass men that make WAY more than me (probably mid 6-figures + bonuses) are bitching over a $0.10 / part price change due to a last-minute issue with a manufacturing process. I've seen engineers get chewed out for not being able to defy physics to satisfy a designer's "vision". I've overheard a QC manager get into a screaming match with a tooling Rep over machining issues. I've watched a supplier on a Teams meeting back out of multi-million dollar contract because an executive refused to give them a reasonable deadline. The "cheapness" goes all the way to the top and it's killing the entire industry, with the consumers being the ultimate victim.
That’s just sad.
I agree with all of your points, but wouldn't you say it STARTS at the top?
Its really in our hands as the consumer but people will always be quickly parted with their money. You're the expert so how long would you say it would take of people holding on to their current vehicle or buying used private sale and not giving any new money to the dealers/manufacturers to force them to change their ways. The only way to change anyone is to take their profits away.
Sounds like a bunch of weak beta males with mommy issues
Amazing how they will sellout just to keep the trophy wifey happy
So all my suspicions are true - American automakers don't make good cars like Japan does because they CAN'T! And then they (probably) order the engineers to design in even MORE defects after all that! I worked for a large government fleet on the west coast for about 30 years. Most of the fleet of about 1,000 vehicles was American made. And I saw the results of these design and engineering flaws every day. Haven't bought an American car in 40 years.
I'm a mechanic and seriously dreading buying a newer car, there's nothing that's remotely reliable anymore. Everything is junk.
Backyard mechanics don’t count.
@@Musicreach101 oh so you own a fully functional workshop to deal with your car then ?
@Musicreach101 You're very wrong. I'm a qualified technician working in a big shop, and I agree 100% with this comment.
@@BubblesTheCat1 ah ok, sorry. I'm in the UK and have to deal with all the crazy ideas the French and Germans decide to use. A timing tool can range from £10 to £1000 depending on the engine.
How about new Toyotas? Are they still living up to their reputation of reliability?
Hey, don’t insult Lego. It’s a much better plastic than what comes in a car.
True!
Lego bricks are indestructible.
A few years and it will be cheaper and more reliable to just build cars from Lego Technic...
High precision molding also, unlike the car parts.
They definitely last longer than the plastic impeller blades inside cheap-ass water-pumps.
My 30 year old Lego are mint condition minus all the teeth marks 😂
Unfortunately, every word in this video is spot on. I've been driving late 90's early 2000's cars since forever and I absolutely dread retiring my trusty 29yr old SAAB. I don't need 20 fckn touch screens and 1.2L lawnmower engines. I need sturdy physical buttons, analog dials and at a 3.0L engine that'll go at least half a million km's.
Late 90s early 2000s cars are the best, both in terms of reliability and styling. I've thought they were cool 15 years ago and still do.
@@potatopotato8360agreed, they definitely look cool. Perfect balance of reliability and tech
I have an old 02' vectra with 520k km's and still going strong
@@Tom-f8r8ocompanies don’t understand it doesn’t matter how pretty it is and how much we want new features if it ain’t coming in clutch we will eventually start hating it. But they have enough rats stuck financing a new car every 2-4 years.
So older cars can't be repaired, nobody can afford new cars, and the ones you can buy are junk. What exactly is the end goal here?
to make as much money as possible short term, with a complete disregard for long term sustainability so the already super rich can horde even more money.
leading to turning the first world in the third one where the majority of people are no longer wage slaves, but actual slaves.
and no this is no exaggeration.
just google "you will own nothing and be happy"
Disposable cars, just like appliances .
The end goal that you will own nothing!! ...and be happy. No homes, no cars, no businesses,... nothing!!! Says the WEF... climate change mandate for 2030
You’ll own nothing and be happy
@@CaesarMonzaro123 And eat ze bugs
I used to tutor English in Taiwan, and one of my students was an engineer. He worked for a fab that produced printed circuit boards for the automotive industry. He told me that there wouldn't be classic cars from this era the way there was in the past. Modern cars rely heavily on electronics. The substrates in their boards will eventually corrode and there won't be fabs producing obsolete components, so supplies for replacements will dry up. Modern cars will eventually be bricked by their electronics.
😂tooth decay 😮 talking truth from the tooth😅
Don't know about what happens abroad but cars and bikes over 40 years old have gone through the roof price wise in the UK. No complex electric junk , easy to work on plenty of spairs available and no tax or yearly inspection 🇬🇧🇺🇲👍
The only way to solve this problem would be some sort of government legislation requiring automakers to agree on standardized bulbs, connectors, infotainment systems, and sensor form factors for cars.
Think about it this way: It's 2038 and The blind-spot monitor sensor in your 2019 Honda Civic dies. If the government forced automakers to standardize on one blind-spot monitor sensor, I could go to any auto parts store and pick up a new sensor. Then drop it right into the car. Same with the infotainment system or headlights dying. If everything is the same, it's easy for aftermarket companies to make new ones.
This isnt entirely true. It is entriely possible to scan the PCBs and make replicas from old, broken parts. This is how they keep aircraft from 30, 40, 50 years ago in the air. The original companies have long since stopped support, but if you're willing to spend a few hundred thousand, you can make almost anything.
I'm sure someone will go through the effort to have a working and driving tesla model s in 50 years time, but daily driving it then would be like daily driving a 1970's ferrari now. That is: theoretically possible, but hideously expensive and unpractical.
@@buzzshavinutts8898 "And that's the tooth!"
Old man here. I saw a similar thing happen to consumer electronics. I worked in repair, and saw "repairable, parts available" turn slowly into "disposable, parts NLA". Cars seem to be on the same trajectory.
Part of that is the scale of manufacturing. At least where I work board repair isn't even considered anymore because the availability of boards is so high it's not worth paying for the repair when the parts are sub $500.
Well you should know this. Parts nowadays are more efficient, smaller, more powerful, last longer. Chances of breaking are far lower. Plus everything is fixable if you have the knowledge.
@@dkdanis1340 there's no fixing a layered PCB cost effectively.
Electronics used to suck, now it’s awesome!
yep happened probably in 1999. before in the 80s a National VCR would last forever , we had one bought in 1980 that lasted every day to 2000. they were sold steal parts thats why they were heavy . Tvs as well lasted forever. then things like VCR turned to cheap plastic and parts and the cost was so cheap nobody fixed them as the labour cost was equal to buying a new one. Laptops are probably the same to now, you can buy them for 200 USD but the service charge is 50 USD per hour , barely worth fixing as a new model will be a little better anyway for the same cost you paid for it. The best cars were last 90s made in Japan and early 2000. built to last forever
Exact reasons why I’m holding onto my 2002 Lexus ES 300, now with 187k miles. New struts installed 3 years ago along with replacement of OEM starter, exhaust flex pipe and alternator. Just changed my synthetic oil at 5k intervals. Car is durable as a tank and quiet as a vault. Every switch/button still works like new. At 60, this car will outlive me!
You're insane going 5k on an oil change, bubba. 3k is the smart interval
@ not for synthetic oil, Guess you missed that
Absolute waste of money. Synthetic is fine @5k intervals.@@ETMIRAGE
@@ETMIRAGE 3k is nothing but misinformed. I get it, why not, but still it's also wasteful.
I'd be more concerned WHERE/HOW you change that oil.
I have a 2002 GS 300 in the drive way. Once a month I get an offer to buy it.
OLD DAYS:
10,000 $ lasts 40 years
NOWADAYS:
40,000 $ lasts 10 years
We have 16 times less for our money...
if you're lucky
Economic wise, things have never been worse. We are living in economic times worse than any depression/recession.
1930: Average income was $4,887, average monthly rent was $18 a month ($216 a year), average home was $6,000, average new car price was $500. This said, yearly rent was 4.4% of your income, a home was 123% of your income, a car was 10% of your income.
1935 (peak Great Depression): Average income was $1,622, average rent was $27 monthly ($324 a year), average home was $3,900, average new car was $850. This said, yearly rent was 20% of your income, a home was 240% of your income, a new car was 52% of your income.
2009 (peak 2008 Recession): Average income was $50,000, average rent was $486 monthly ($5,832 yearly), average new car was $23,276, a home was $272,900. This said, yearly rent was 12% of your income, a new car was 47% of your income, and a house was 546% of your income.
2024 (current time): Average income is $59,000, average monthly rent is $1,700 ($20,400 annually), average new car price is $48,000, average home price is $415,000. This said, yearly rent is 35% of your income, a home is 703% of your income, and a new car is 81% of your income.
@@NOYB1776 The car prices suck but the housing prices are the real killer, something needs to change with the way real estate works or it will just get worse and worse for the average person. Nothing seems to be happening though
@@Vriess123 They’ll gladly give an 18 year old kid $50k of student loan debt with no previous requirements.
Meanwhile, they won’t give you a mortgage for a house unless you have a ridiculous amount of income and a bunch of background (credit) checks.
Used car prices are going to skyrocket 😮
I was a mechanic from about 2000 to 2015. I learned later in my career that i wont ever buy anything new. I bought a 1990 Silverado 15 years ago for 300 bucks and still driving it. Never had a single issue with it that wasn’t related to rust like fuel lines, brake lines etc. i also know that if anything does go wrong with it i can swap out the parts cheap and easy. My heatercore even has a access panel
Maybe when scientists find an anti aging drug that I can take I will try some in my cars gas tank.
Heater core ACCESS PANEL?? where do I sign up???
Yeah I want to know also😊@@trevorparry2287
Wow was it on the Silverado ??😊
@@josephfischer3041 yeah its like 4 screws remove the panel and its staring you in the face. Think you might have to remove the glove box too, been a while. Sure beats having to tear apart the entire days.
As an executive warranty claims administrator, if you saw the data for replacements and claims on 1-5 year old cars, you wouldn’t buy any new cars.
It seems like the quality of everything is declining. I remember growing up and thinking "yeah we can't afford the same things we used to but at least what little we *can* afford is of higher quality". Now, everything seems to be more expensive AND worse.
That is why buy a car with a factory (not 3rd party) 8-year/120,000 mile extended warranty. When the extended warranty is expired and the car needs major repair that is not covered, time for a new car.
Understand what survivorship BIAS MEANS. Of course that you will receive claims cause you are DOING THAT JOB. It's like doctor saying "people are sick" does that mean that the whole planet is sick????
I dont need that data the facts are staring me in the face I saw this coming 10 yrs ago. So i bought a few early 2000's car stuffed them storage and I will deal with parts when the time comes
@@thebitlot…like women. I mean, just kidding…
As a retired, lifetime tech, trainer, and service manager, you are absolutely spot on. I will also add the aftermarket replacement parts are more likely to be of significantly lower quality than the original. Many times, the new part is defective out of the box. Less than 3 years ago, I replaced the original body bushings on my 08 F250 with 280k-not the easiest job so I bought the more expensive Dorman bushings from a popular online retailer. Several months ago, I started noticing persistent rattling over uneven surfaces and low and behold, the 'new' body bushings are fully collapsed. Yep, 250k miles out of the first set, 30k out of the second set. What do all these aftermarket parts have in common? You guessed it-made in China. It seems Chinese manufacturers simply ignore a part's manufacturing specifications and just make up their own. The brand/sellers don't do any QC on their end to verify the part is made to at least OE specs. They just tell you it is in their ad description. Other than crappy replacement parts, my 08 F250 is solid as a rock. Nothing in a new truck can motivate me to spend $100k on an inferior truck.
the quality has been engineered out of todays new cars, wet cam belts, plastic timing chain guides,plastic water pumps,all garbage
plastic oil filter adapters, intakes and radiators are some more examples of car companies saving a buck to shoot reliability in the foot.
The plastic oil pan was the most shocking I knew companies would go cheap but the oil pan? Seriously!!!!!?? that should be illegal I don’t even know how that meets a safety standard that should be a violation in itself
it's scary actuall doing long trips, that water pump can cook itself anytime
All that plastic wrapped around a small overstressed engine with a turbo. What could go wrong with that?
Just like how GM is using 3 cylinders claiming its for "fuel economy" but the Buick 3800 could run circles around it, hit the highway at barely 2k RPMs at 70ish MPH and still get high 20s MPG. were going BACKWARDS
Here in Finland people drive cars that are 15-25 years old.Everything is so expensive, gas and living,taxes and new cars are 2-3x price higher than everywhere else. Now myself am looking cars between 1995-2005 for daily reliable driver
That’s interesting. When I lived in Europe (Germany) I noticed it was uncommon to see a car older than 5 years. It kind of bothered me as I’m a car guy and I love seeing the classics which was very rare in Germany.
@@TheUnitedStatesofAmericaUSA It probably has something to do with annual (?) safety inspections.
A lot of people drive older cars from the 90's-early 00's, but what happens in 20 years when almost all of those cars are gone and we're left with piles of junk as the "older cars".
@@TheUnitedStatesofAmericaUSAmost of German cars are bought for companies with leasing
They write-off it as expenses (might call it wrong, not too familiar with it)
So it is relevant case for them to buy new car each 5 years and move on
Same as in Canada
I remember in the late 1960s, VOLVO advertised the 144 with:
"Your car has five numbers on the speedometer. Volvo has six."
[That's the wording on the advertisement - I didn't want to edit it to make it technically correct]
One could get the impression that the people who made your car lack a little confidence."
Yup.
And their advertising for the Amazon/122 was "drive it like you hate it!"
Wow, don't remember that one, but I believe you!
5 numbers on the speedometer would be a really fast car
That's the odometer.
Don't you mean odometer? The speedometer tells you how fast you're going.
My 2008 Impala just went to the scrap yard after 17 years of mileage 200k and years repairs . I’m satisfied and happy as I,step into my dear deceased wife’s 2001 Ford wind star with 65 K miles and no major repairs. I have no car payment , the ride of my life, and insurance is cheap. All of this attributed to my mechanic of 20 years. I feel blessed.
My 2002 Ford Ranger 3.0 L with 256,000 miles still running strong. My friends new truck has been in the garage more times than I can count.
1990 to 2010 was Peak Car on planet Earth. Before 1990, cars rusted, and after 2010, the manufacturers perfected planned obsolescence. My 2001 Nissan Sunny (Sentra in South Africa) has been a faultless daily driver for the last 23 years and has absolutely zero rust although I live near the ocean. It's got no anti pollution crap like cats and egr, and no rubbish gimmicks like touch screens and the like. It just fires right up every time I turn the key😁😁👍🏻
@@BubblesTheCat1100% correct.
I have the same truck but a 98. I love it. 50k miles because it sat around for years after being flat towed behind some old folks motorhome for a few years. All Ive done is maintenance and shocks that wore out from sitting. I love those trucks.
3.0L Vulcan engine. Cast iron block and pushrod. The engine is built like a tank. I have the same engine in my 2006 Ford Taurus. 213,000 miles and still going strong.
My c240 Benz is just a year younger w 200k+ miles. Reliability has dipped across the industry.
My dad keeps pushing me to buy a newer car, so I'm gonna send this to him. Thanks for articulating this all so nicely, Wizard.
EDIT: i already own a subaru, and am well aware of which cars are reliable.
a NEW Toyota Corolla is still bullet proof, anything Toyota without a turbo and naturally aspirated from Japanese brands are a good bet.
@@rafaelbetancourt3551 Nissan is Japanese and is garbage.
@@rafaelbetancourt3551 sadly have to disagree as Mitsubishi exists
@@GoddessOfMisfortune and nissan garbage c v t transmissions too !!!!!
@@brentkiely657 ironically enough, Nissan's geared autos and manuals are pretty top tier.
Having worked in wholesale car parts distributing center for 3 years i can hands down say - everything CarWizard is saying is true. Parts quality and availability is going down and pretty much not worth bolting on to cars anymore - parts fail in weeks!!! Brand new cars are garbage designed to fail as soon as warranty is over (they usually fail even before - but since they are produced cheaply they will fix them under warranty). MAX PROFIT culture... Shame. Thats why i drive 34 year old Toyota... forever. Kudos to CarWizard for saying this out loud - dem balls! Cheers! :)
Same here.... I'll be continuing to fix and driving my old MoPars and Neons until I DIE. 👍
@@TOOL_MARKSNeons??? There are none on the road they were junk too. That has to be the funniest thing I’ve read all week.
@@jeffosim8789 - Too many Neons were "driven hard and put away wet"... Being a cheap economy car, most didn't receive much love, except from enthusiasts.
Not to mention that due to their low resale value, they would get totaled out by insurance companies even for relatively minor, repairable damage... Leading to a dearth of surviving cars today.
@@jeffosim8789 I wasnt around when they were new but they rusted out really quickly I remember as a kid
Neon escort focus aveo rio...
All cheap cars bought mainly by people who couldn't afford them and could not maintain them. Many still have 140-175k even with 10-15k oil change interval. Timing belt service? Ya right (except the aveo they were NOT forgiving on belt maintenance)
Properly cared for ones would go a long long time. I know of a courier company that just retired their last 2005 Ford focus wagon with 1.9 million (yes. Almost 2 million) miles on the original 2.0 and 5 speed manual.
Why did they retire it? No one knew how to drive a stick there.
That car was maintained to death. 4500 mile oil changes. 50k transmission fluid changes, if it was due it was done. It was also washed at least 3 times a week.
I was fortunate enough to have a loving, strong grandfather who fought in Europe during WWII and taught me how to work on my home & cars. Thanks to him I never have to find myself in the position of buying a new car or paying through the nose to fix one of my used cars. Thank you Granddad! 🙏
GM tech here, that Chevy Malibu is pure trash.
120K for this gen of Malibu is past the expiration date.
The 1.5L engine will eventually suffer from cracked pistons, poor engineering and terrible build quality, this will eventually happen to every GM vehicle that uses this engine.
None of the Auto Makers really make bulletproof cars anymore, but GM takes the top spot for garbage.
What's your opinion on the 8th gen malibus 2013-2015
All GM is trash
@@petrosaguilar8916 I totally agree
GM actually stands for Garbage motors.
I worked at a Chevy dealer for for years and we had a 1.5L Equinox as a parts runner. With the 1.5 and regular grade gas, you'd often feel the car pulling a lot of timing. I am not entirely surprised to read that the 1.5 has piston issues. They make a lot of power for 87 octane. When I had the company gas card, I'd fill the car with premium and the car drove like a different machine. I wonder if these cars would suffer from the issues they have if GM had opted to pull boost and add displacement. That would probably cost more money, though!
I look under my 67 galaxie 500, and I'm mesmerized by the simplicity and strength built into it. Fewer parts means less to go wrong.
Hopefully, you don't get caught in a bad accident with it.
My dad always said that too!
I have a 1983 soviet Jeep called Uaz 469 it last 4 ever
Cars of that era rusted within a few years. They didn’t bother putting a 6th digit on the odometer because cars were used up at 100k miles.
Cash for clunkers is another reason we lost so many fairly good used cars.
Not really. Look up the list of vehicles destroyed in Cash for Clunkers, and you'll find that the majority of them were old trucks and SUVs. Only a small percentage of them were coupes or sedans, and they could only be traded in for that program if they were considered gas guzzlers. The reality doesn't line up with what most people imagine when they think of Cash for Clunkers and how many cars were "lost" to it.
15 years ago, come on,
@@tomcat630 those Buicks wizard is always talking about are 15-20 years old.
Good point. Another genius government program.
Cash for clunkers allowed newer used cars to be exported , even today. Hence reduced older cars.
Look at all the small value priced car dealers that disappeared.. the kind my generation and others bought and learned "how to" in high school.
As most SUVs can't be off-roaded, they're basically minivans with more doors. I will never think otherwise.
" I will never think otherwise." and you never need to as you're correct.
I got a buddy with a v8 4Runner who will tell you otherwise…
When my grandma passed away I was fortunate enough to buy her car. She had a 2016 Chevy Malibu with 20k miles on it. She had gm cars her whole life, previous car was an 04 impala. The impala was an amazing car for her with little to no issues. Her Malibu that I bought was ALWAYS broke! I liked the looks, I liked the interior, not crazy about the engine but the 1.5 was fine when it ran. I had electrical issues, engine issues, suspension issues, third brake light leaked and ruined the headliner. I sold it with 54k miles on it. We had a kid coming and I just couldn’t trust it anymore. It was sad, the car meant something to me. I wish gm would go back to making there old school gm cars with the 3.8, 3.6, 3.4 engines. A car that was solid and something you could trust.
I always drove GM because my dad worked for them and each one always had some kind of premature failure. I switched to Lexus back in 14 and now own 2 of them. I just love that I only have to do PM's to them and that's it. I also have them serviced at The Car Care Nut's shop in Chicagoland.
This is a true story - I lived it myself.
Worked on a research project with a major auto manufacturer and a chemical company. We were at a meeting up in Michigan, and a suit gets in front of the assembled group and asks us all to "Imagine a world where it is impossible for cars to crash. And I don't mean a world where cars don't crash often, or cars don't crash badly. I mean a world where it is physically impossible for cars to crash. Like a driverless car, maybe. How would you design a car differently in that world?"
2/3 of the room is dead silent. The group of people I'm with is all like "well, that's just stupid". The group from the chemical company is dead silent too. But the group from the auto maker gets all jazzed up.
One guy from the car manufacturer group jumps up all excited and says "Get rid of the windows. They're too expensive and complicated to design for, and we'd save a ton of money if you don't need them. It's a driverless car, right?"
Next guy from auto maker jumps up and says "Get rid of the seatbelts." Another buddy of his goes "No, ditch the airbags! They cost WAY more."
This keeps on going for maybe 10-15 minutes. They're down to ditching the crumple zones, cutting the safety factors to the bare minimum, etc.. At one point, I halfheartedly object saying "Who are you going to get to climb into a windowless metal box, get bounced around for an hour while some computer drives this thing, and then hopefully stops and spits you out at the destination you wanted? Nobody! Nobody would ever get into this car!" I got totally ignored.
The suit wrapped up that part of the meeting with heap big congratulations for the "great ideas" from the team from the auto maker, because (his words) "The future I described, where it is physically impossible for cars to crash, is only 2 years away thanks to Tesla and Google developing driverless cars"
This was more than 5 years ago. But the deranged mentality of the people in the team I mentioned was the important part. It's not that the engineering is the problem. It's a mindset that these people have. The poor quality of modern cars tells you the rest of the story.
Their bad ideas will drive them out of business.
basically riding a POD in darkness, you'll never see the outside environment again. equivalent to laying in the bottom of a slave ship. a true slave.
😂😂😂
@@gambit_toys6554 Yup.
I actually argued with the engineer who proposed this.
Me: "Wait, if there are no windows, people won't be able to see ANYTHING while they're moving. People get motion sickness, etc. from that. Not to mention that if the driving computer effs-off, people outta know the car is going the wrong way. So are you going to put in some cameras on the outside, with some displays inside, so people can see SOMETHING?"
Engineer: "No, no,. no. That would just increase the cost. The point is to save money by removing the windows. Putting displays in would just negate the savings."
It didn't matter if you made practical points. The driver and passengers were an afterthought. Weird, too, since these guys weren't execs, and it's not like they were going to see any of the increased profits personally. These people working for the auto maker had their heads screwed on backwards, and there was nothing you could do to get them to see sense.
Just remember the auto manufacturers have been trying to make driverless cars since the 1950s and Although computer technology has came leaps and bounds in the last 30 years to really advanced the driverless experience we still aren't doing a whole lot better from the driverless cars than what GM had in the 1990s. For a few examples, the cars can't negotiate missing painted lines in the roadway, they struggle with glare, they can mistake a t-shirt for a sign and they are not usable in even remotely bad weather... And I don't mean snow on the ground when it's hard for a person to drive but a little precipitation can really confuse a self-driving vehicle.
My point is we are not going to have fully autonomous cars that are truly safe for at least 20 or 25 more years and that is with a slew of engineers working on it all over around the world with competing manufacturers. Once we finally get that technology it will start out extremely expensive and only be available on really high-end cars and it may take three or four years after its invented for it to actually hit the market and even then it will take another 15 years for it to trickle down to all the makes and individual models. I mean a Mercedes or a Cadillac we'll get to see the technology long before a Chevrolet or the Toyota and it will have to slowly trickle down. What's even more important, if there is some miracle breakthrough for self-driving vehicles there will be patents on it, so people will have to reverse engineer and change things to make it work for them which also adds a few more years for that company to get the same basic technology. So I guess at the end of the day when you look at it between all the driverless cars on the road and how long it's going to take to make a driverless car a reality then to implement it to make the maximum dollar to pay for the hundreds of millions of dollars of engineering that went into it we are probably realistically 50 to 70 years away from a fully autonomous driving society. I will be 96 years old and 50 years if God lets me make it that long. I am not sure if I want to see that but the one thing I can just about guarantee is it isn't going to happen overnight or in the next four or five years.
Remember five-digit odometers? That's how long the car was expected to last. Then they got really good and lasted a long time. Now they're getting disposable again.
The tech and general complexity comes at a price. The price of the rest of the car must be adjusted accordingly.
This is the comment I was looking for. My dad used to buy a car used and then sell it around 80k miles because it was pretty much used up by then. I remember a conversation with an old guy several years back - he owned a shop and had the receipt on the wall for the first new car he ever bought back in the 50s. He was telling me about the maintenance schedule, and I don't remember much of the conversation, but I remember he said you were supposed to do a full engine rebuild at 50k miles. So, yeah, the era of ultra-reliable cars was a blip. Now it's time for the next phase.
The odometer is one of the first things to break on any car.
I remember 5-digit odometers, and my parents thinking 70K was an old car! Maybe we just got spoiled in the 90s and 2000s!
My truck has a 100,000 mile odometer. 36 years old and it's about to roll over for the 4th confirmed time. Still on original drivetrain.
My old Mustang has a 5 digit odo, and it has 174, 000 miles on the original engine....used to daily it over 20 years ago....beat it to hell sometimes...still runs like a champ...so theres that
Thank you for bringing this to people’s attention. I have worked in the automotive industry for over 30 years and have never seen anything like it. Brand,foreign,domestic, does not matter. They will all have either a transmission, looking at you Cvt’s, or an engine replacement in the first 100,000 miles…. or 10 miles past.
I remember when I first got into the industry 14 years ago. Everyone was complaining about how the German cars became electrical nightmares, poorly made, plastic everywhere, In/out of the dealership constantly, and so expensive to fix that they were basically mechanically totaled a few years after the warranty ran out. Well, Clarkson said it best. Want to know where the industry is headed? Pay attention to BMW and Mercedes. Now almost every car is the same story.
I have a theory that were are going to see the 2020-2023 models being more problematic than the rest because the parts that made those cars were pretty much guaranteed to be rushed out the door without quality checks.
Yet people want jobs and job growth. It has to come from somewhere.
A survey of U.K. fleet managers shows that the BMW3 series is the most reliable new car. Toyota Corolla second and Tesla Model 3 third. If course they have no interest in what the cars will be doing in ten years time when, if still still on the road they will probably have some boy racer driving them and doing DIY maintenance.
It’s called job security! 😝
@@MrDuncl The pendulum has swinged the other way with BMW. The N-series engines were such a disaster that they made the B-series a lot better. Not perfect mind you, but good. And the discussion about turbo's are a bit overly dramatic, especially in Europe we've had Turbo's in diesels that lasted a lifetime, but the rules for emissions AND fuel economy put an end to that.
Jeremy Clarkson also said the Germans are the only ones who really know how to build a car.
Jay Leno bought a 3D laser scanner and a 3D printer because some of the parts for his cars are made of unobtainium.
Isn't that illegal? Ask any lunatic liberal if isn't.
😂😂😂😂😂 also cantfinditearium
@@zoomanx9661 Sounds radioactive
@@AlanWebb-oh4sy it’s made of nuclear waste and donkey 💩
alan: No such thing! Exactly how dull are you... Mr. Leno uses the printer to produce parts which are no longer manufactured. Nothing to do with exotic materials. Simply the passage of time!
Might as well let the Chinese in. If I can't buy a car that lasts more than 100,000 miles, at least I can pay half as much for it.
That's what they are afraid of, you can buy these cars for 5grand new. Thenrest if it is.bulkshit corporate takes for profit and branding.
Agreed. If it's all junk let us buy the cheapest junk.
China is starting to make some really nice cars actually
I drove a Chinese dual sport bike all around mexico central america for 1.5 years. Everyone there has them, and Chinese electric cars too.
I bought it used and had problems out of the gate. Serious electrical issue, and the timing chain came one tooth off from the factory. I guess that is why the original owner ditched it.
Fixed those two problems and it is still going with the guy I sold it to. I beat the crap out of it too, way overweight with my camping equipment, tools, clothes, and my 200lb butt. Running the air cooled engine hard in the heat on single track mountain trails, slipping the clutch.
I usually ride hard enduro/trials, and while it was gutless at an advertised 15hp, it was very reliable after I fixed those two issues.
Look at xiaomi, making better electronics than apple and Samsung for a quarter of the price and now they jus released their ev car, honestly it looks the same as any american car but for a less than half of the price.
If you go to Europe- Eastern and Central, nearly nobody has new cars. Everyone is driving 10-20yrs or older cars. It's all Mercedes, Volvo, BMW, VW, but there are plenty of parts for them there, so they are relatively cheap to maintain. People just can't afford the new cars and many doesn't even want to buy them. They just buy a 20 year old and drive until the wheels fall off and then buys another one. Rinse and repeat, my brother is doing that for many years now. He actually got 2 Mercedeses. both are like 15 or 20yrs old.
Considering a lot of idiots are going after $1K+ a month car payments like its anything remotely close to normal, I'll keep rolling the dice on my old a$$ cars and eat the occasional hefty repair bill. I'll get a 3D Scanner and start printing new plastics out of ASA or similar out of my printer if I have to.
Lol yeah that 3d printed junk will last 😂
@@keithbellair9508 What other option is there if no one is making the parts?
@@Compact-Disc_700mb buy a new car tightwad
@@keithbellair9508 Thats not going to last either. why waste 40,000 USD or something on a pile of trash new car.
I have gotten a lot of mileage out of zip ties and a plastic welder. 3D printer - that's living the highlife. LOL
It's cheaper to buy then repair...our shop is slowly getting less business bc nobody can afford a 5k dollar bill but they can afford a 400 dollar payment...
Until it's out of warranty and something on that car breaks. Rinse and repeat. Keeping your old beater is doing a service to the environment, as well as all the other drivers on the road
You can get a lease for that, but your not getting a payment that low unless your putting 25k down
@slipknotron1626 cars r throwaway now. Any dealership will take a whole trade in for a down-payment.
@@w.e.s. oh right it's a joke, I used to love cars but there all garbage now.....
Average payment is well over 400$. With 20k down they might pay 400 on the average car.
You're right, they don't care.. And it's the consumers fault because we just keep going out and keep buying them and keep paying whatever price they charge.. We might go online and complain about it on social media to our buddies and family, but we still keep giving them our money.. So they have no incentive to stop selling us junk, do they?
What choice do we have as consumers though? It's not realistic to rely on other forms of transportation for now, unfortunately. Especially if you live in a rural area or between towns.
Nissan is suffering from lack of quality. They used to build great cars. I give them maybe 2 more years before they are gone.
@@janinem9794 Buy older cars, not new ones. That’s about your only choice. And learn to work on them yourself.
It's not the fault of the consumer, it's the fault of greedy executives. Stop trying to twist it. They should have some integrity & be decent human beings, just because you can get away with something doesn't mean it's right... Get it straight.
It’s unfortunate because it’s easy to get a car loan. For a small down payment you can have a “new” car. Easier and cheaper up front than buying an older car privately. Yes of course you can find a good buy here and there but people don’t have time for it. Let alone the base level knowledge to keep something old running. Oh and don’t forget about the look of having a new car. Makes you look like you have it goin on lol but in reality not at all.
Before I retired, I worked in a plastics factory making automotive parts. Let me tell you, the things I saw there were appalling. I saw parts that had fallen on the floor and were supposed to be discarded picked up and packed along with the "good" parts. We were supposed to be inspecting and checking parts, well, let me tell you, when you have a machine that is spitting out 64 tiny parts per minute and it is not the only machine you are supposed to be looking after, you do not have time to go over every single part. You sweep them into the box, which may hold up to 10,000 parts, and hope that the sorting department checks them. Which they won't because there is a quota. They open the box, dump the parts onto the table, sweep them back into the box, then seal it up, good to go, because if you take too long going over a box you get penalized. Speed, speed, speed, is the mantra. These are parts that go into your vehicle's computer and electrical systems. Now, every so often, we'd ship a bad batch out which would get caught at Ford or whoever else was one of our clients, and they'd respond with a customer concern, so a notice would be put out to pay closer attention to part number such and such, but it really wasn't taken seriously, because there really was no danger of Ford or anyone else going anywhere else because everyone else was doing the same thing. Not trying to brag on myself, but I caught an awful lot of defective parts that others missed. I know for a fact that first and second shift didn't catch nearly the stuff I caught on third shift, because if something wasn't right, I'd call it to the supervisor's attention, and many times it was obvious that this was a problem that hadn't just started but had been going on for some time.
Everyone are slaves to the rich. They call the shots and the workers (i.e. the poors) do whatever they want, even if what they do ends up screwing other poors.
Several stories: Rural Central Calif parts guy here who grew up in a mom/pop parts store since the late 50's:
1)We had easy access to private Motorcraft, Delco and Mopar warehouses...same OEM quality. Those stores slowly died to where dealership was now the only source for OEM.
2) Our local law enforcement was the County Sheriff who had a policy of not ticketing for expired registration. When the town organized its own police force, they immediately set out to impounding 30-50 cars a day. They towed so many cars that they used the municipal airport to store them. Few people could afford the fines nor could they smog the cars. The city hired a contractor to crush and hauled off most of the cars. These cars were mainly 80's to early 90's. Our parts sales for this era dropped like a rock. They were our bread and butter. One local part store gave up and sold the entire inventory to a machine shop who stored everything in sea/land vans even to this day (more on that later).
3) Ffwd 2024: Nothing is manufactured in this country any more. All the parts come from the far east. There is no warranty obligation/responsibility on the original manufacturer nor shipper. Any bad parts are eaten by the local/regional distributor. Even they distance themselves from warranty by saying their pricing reflects allowance for warranty...so the local warehouse eats it. So now does the mechanic charge the customer for changing the part twice? Diagnosis Dan has made videos demonstrating the lack of quality in parts these days (crank sensor and crash sensor vids).
4) re vintage/legacy/NOS parts. Those sea/land vans I told you about plus other warehouses one may stumble up on are going to be the only source of RELIABLE vintage parts.
5) re Old car reliability: My 92 Camry went 500k before the head gasket blew. My fault as it was weeping for 50k, but I was driving 300 miles daily doing adult care for a family member...no time to fix the car. It overheated right as I came home and I immediately bought a used 2003 Camry for use the following day. By the time I got to looking at the old car, water had filled the cylinder and rusted up the engine. I put in a used one and still drive the car to this day. 61 International...daily driver too. Easy fix, easy to get parts from my vast storage yard.
6) Cash for Clunkers program destroyed a lot of good old(er) iron.
Yea, the bas&$rds, got my 91 jeep 4.0 on the cash for clunkers by making it impossible to pass emissions. It had the same readings: pass, pass, pass then suddenly they (state and Feds)changed the standard, even though it had the exact same readings as all the years it had passed. Violated every foundational principle in law but they did it anyway. Our government is out of control.
Democrats hate ICE. Vote accordingly.
Cash for clunkers was an auto bail out. It was criminal, but that's all the fed govt does. If it weren't a bail out, then those cars would've been sold to people that wanted them instead of pouring acid/sand into the crank case.
That program was a CRIME
30-50 impounds a day quota is insane... But yeah, I grew up in the 90's and even I have experienced the decline in aftermarket/replacement parts. It's pretty wild. A lot of things just don't fit right. It's very sketchy to replace many components with ones of questionable quality...
A co worker of mine just bought brand new 2025 Ram. 500 miles in has engine light the dealer can’t figure out. They clear it and comes back on. They literally told him to just drive it with the light on.
As a child my mom bought a brand new caravan. Transmission light refused to turn off. Dealer could not get it off under warranty. She let them stick her with it.
Fast forward ten years later she buys a Chrysler Sebring convertable, check engine light is on and dealer could not fix that either. Bothe vehicles lived with lights on under full warranty. She was a single mother so she let them get away with it
@@thatman4752 Single mother- Is that relevant?
@JBK647
Mechanics tend to scam women or desperate people more often than assertive people. Part of it is learned helplessness and part of it is indifference. Most women don't want to learn about car maintenance, and will pay whatever it takes to get the car back on the road.
Buying any newer Chrysler product is the first mistake. They always have electrical problems.
@@tabbott429I have a 2022 Silverado that sat for months at the dealership the first year I owned it. Eventually that has to replace the whole wiring harness... then the vents on the radiator, now a wheel bearing is going. What crap
I agree that newer cars are far less reliable, and a lot of that has to do with the complication of things added for MPG and emmissions, and all the gadgets that everyone MUST HAVE like power liftgates and tailgates, integrated HVAC, NAV, etc. There is sooo much to break now.
The reason part stores cant stock everything is because there are way more brands and models now, and with so many different options it is impossible for a parts store to have everything.
I agree, but recently bought a new Rav4 XSE hybrid. I got it fully loaded with options and accessories. I don't need a liftgate that can be operated by moving your foot, but it was included in an options package. There is a lot of things that can break. Time will tell how my Toyota holds up over the years.
Turbo is #1 complications in today's car. I was a fan of the turbo because of the 90s JDM car, Saab 900 Turbo, and Porsche 911 Turbo but when I realized how much it did kill a reliability and also the exhaust sound. I like Naturally Aspirated the best
@@kenfrank2730
Some other channel showed a modern (2019) Corolla Hybrid with over 450K miles on it and it still works fine with minimal electrical issues (like headlight was out and needed a full module or something to get it working again)
They reported engine and rest was totally fine.
@@KaedeAnimation Turbos aren't really the problem. Turbos undersized for the application are. A properly sized turbo will be less stressed and last much longer than a smaller turbo that has to spin much faster and make a lot more boost. I have 2 diesel vehicles that are well over 200k miles with their original turbos. Both Turbos are also variable geometry turbos adding to their complexity, but because they are bigger than modern economy focused turbos they have stood the test of time.
@@DocileDestroyer Well this explain why my mom's Ford Edge Ecoboost 2.0 still running though we did encounter one overheating incident so bad that it need to be tow to the dealership to take a look
In kenya, almost 90% of vehicles are second-hand imports from Japan, UAE,and Singapore. The parts are available and fairly priced. Therefore, keeping an old vehicle can not cost you arm and leg unless otherwise.
One thing people don't talk about is how long new cars are sitting. Some cars on the lot are sitting a year or more. That takes a toll on the components, interior and paint. Cars should be in a garage and drive at least every few days. So the. Sitting for months or even years can cause so many problems.
Even worse, dealers like to shuffle cars around on the lot, which means lots of short engine cycles. Running a brand new engine for 2 minutes every few days is horrible. One nice thing about the supply constraints is that I was able to buy a car basically off the transporter. I had to wait for them to do the dealer prep before I could even test drive it! For all the things to worry about, that is at least one fewer for me.
@@joeyy2207 Yep, That's why whenever I buy a used car if I see it was in a city I scroll past it. 75k miles of city driving is worse than 200k miles of long distance.
@@firingallcylinders2949 That depends. Driving at a single RPM on the highway for long periods can also be detrimental
Try 2-3 years.
Lot rot!
2 years ago I found a 2001 Buick Park Avenue from California with 65000 miles, fully loaded. I was still driving my 01 Lesabre, so kept the Park Avenue in the garage until this year when my Lesabre became too rusty. I live in northern Illinois. So I'm going to baby this car for the rest of my life. By the way, it is a great car!
Use a good undercoating on it every year to survive the salt.
@@muziklvr7776💯 %! Check out fluid film or similar products
Or keep a winter beater and preserve the park ave
You made a good decision. These H bodies rust horribly but aside from that they will serve you very well.
Spray the underside with Fluid Film every year it creeps into all the nooks and crannies and it will last forever
When I use to work in automotive manufacturing, we use to do annual production runs of spare parts for models that were no longer being sold, once a year. When I questioned why? It was because,at least for GM, there had to be a surplus of parts for repairs post sale of the cars. For up to 10 years or more depending on the model. But eventually the parts would stop being made due to the tooling wearing out or because there isn’t a strong enough demand. This was back in 2000, and I was making G Van windshield trim with a tool that was already 25 years old at the time.
My '71 Dodge Dart is still going strong... Fuel pump did crack a couple years ago. New Carter unit for $13.26, 2 bolts, and off to work I went.
This all goes back to something my dad said decades ago: "Cars are only made for one thing - to get your money. Transportation is secondary."
my dad used to say,"your hand is never out of your pocket",God rest him.
Very true
@@front2427LOL what😂
@@MidnightPolaris800 Eh?
As an engineer in plastics I can only say one thing plastic wear out due to UV exposure and the moulds wear out and are not replaced.
On top of that if plastics aren't treated correct during processing the final component wears out (fail) even faster.
I have a 2006 Toyota Aygo 1.0 (possibly the cheapest made car ever made) with 151.000 miles on the clock. Plastic trim are wrapped and falling of. But other than that everything works and the engine is fine doesn't use oil.
Right, but think of all the jobs this makes. Car breaks down, employees a mechanic, which is more tax revenue for the state.
Plastic dries out over time, regardless of UV exposure. It will last longer of course, if kept in a garage, but even still old plastic is brittle. Also, heat drastically effects plastic life, so any plastic in the engine bay is cooked and brittle after time passes
@@kayremoob9579 but what if no parts are avail anymore? When the accumulating repair costs exceed the value by far? It's not a healthy balance anymore
@@YuenanCao I wouldn’t say it dries out. The bonds in molecule chains break down and that reduces the mechanical strength. It turns brittle.
Chain degradation is why white ABS turns yellow and acrylic gets brittle.
Some materials such as nylon 6.6 and 12 has great heat chemical resistance, the trees don’t grow into the sky and the will eventually fail As the housing for my oil cooler did.
@@rayyacht4342 No parts avail? Even better! Keeps a sales person employed to sell you a brand new car!
I'm just a self taught garage guy, but I've been doing my own work for 50 years. One thing I do is ignore the long oil change intervals. 5,000 is my limit, or twice a year for cars driven less than 10k a year.
Concur! Synthetic oil itself might not break down for 10,000 miles, but there is a lot of junk suspended in that oil that is gritty and can do a number on an engine over time. In the big picture, oil changes are cheap compared to an engine overhaul or replacement.
My dad was a mechanic at a VW dealership. He changed the oil on his car every month.
@@bngr_bngrHe probably got the oil and filters for free
@@logicthought25those filters have a rupture fetish.
@@bngr_bngr I'm all for frequent changes but there's no reason to be wasteful
Scion brand was amazing. Easy buy, easy to customize if needed, reliable and cheap parts easy to find.
One of the nice things about owning a LR Disco 2 is that since parts break so regularly, and almost all the remaining vehicles are in the hands of enthusiasts who do most of the work themselves, there is still a good niche market for the parts.
I still want a Disco or a P38. I’ve been stuck on M112/113 engined Mercedes for the past 15 years. I’d like an old LR on the side though
Ive got a D 1 300 TDI diesel as a sunday truck `96 year runs like new I live in Australia, so no rust
Planned obsolescence has been around for 50 plus years. Cars in the 60's or 70's were usually in need of major engine work around 100k miles. Rust was also a big problem back then too.
Yeah, I wouldn't say most 70's/80's cars were the best quality. Even earlier 50's/60's cars rarely made it to 100k without serious work being done at significant cost.
everytime the subject of their favorite cars came up, the old guys i worked with in the 90s would talk fondly about their z28, gto, boss 302, etc. when i asked what happened to them, the answer was 'rusted out a few years later' or 'needed a rebuild at 50,000 miles'. now we have cars hit 250,000 miles with little maintenance.
Chevy Vega and Dodge Cornets and trucks were real rust buckets.
People used to have disposable income to maintain and repair their cars.
Dropping the top tax bracket by tens of percentage points has massive consequences.
Agreed. Nostalgia and selective memory. Bullet proof cars of the past is pure horseshit.
Still driving a 2005 mustang gt that turned 19 in July and I can’t afford a new car anymore. A decent car is minimum 15 grand now. My car was 12500 in 2014. Now a 10 year old mustang gt is about 25 grand plus.
We bought a 2020 RAV4 XLE AWD back in February of 2020. Here we are almost 5 years later, and it’s at 96,000 miles and only things we’ve done is general maintenance. I’d recommend Toyota over the other brands!
Honda is the same.
The RAV4 is the 3rd BEST SELLING vehicle in the US!!!
My second car is a Toyota Avalon with 3.5 V6 and it falls apart at 130,000 miles. Almost everything broke besides engine and transmission. I will never buy a Toyota again.
That's not a Rav4 it's a carbon copy of every SUV on the road
I got a 2010 rav 4 cylinder 204 k miles now , just needa do my timing chain (which I can do myself) then I’m good for another 200k miles 😂
I own a shop in CT and agree with you 100%. I have lost count on how many low mileage blown Honda CVT's I have had come thru my shop. 45k miles is the average. We run the VIN print out the CVT extended warranty info that Honda added on those vehicles and inform them it is covered at the dealer.
I'd bet money they never did the 30k service.
What Honda model or gen are you referring to? I'm reading a lot on CivicX and it looks like the CVT is holding up pretty well, very low failure rate below 100,000 miles. Volkswagen DSGs for a example have a much higher rate of failing.
Thank you for telling people the truth about new cars. Public awareness of greedy corporations is definitely a step in the right direction.
My 96 celica needed a drivers side window regulator. Could not find the part…No longer in production. Thankfully found one in a junkyard. But maintaining older cars is getting harder.
I dread the quality of cars from the last couple decades. Buying new simply delays your headaches until the warranty ends while buying used is like raw-dogging a lady of the night (you never know what you're going to get until after the fact). The 90s tanks are ticking time bomb rust buckets by this point too so we're screwed either way.
My dad restored a 68 Mercedes. He found a lot of parts at junk yards. But he also found brand new parts at the Mercedes dealership. Which didn’t cost much for Mercedes parts.
BMW parts are not always as expensive as one might think. I’ve been pleasantly surprised a few times.
Mercedes is good for producing parts for old cars. I’m still driving an 03 S430 daily
Mercedes, until the early 2000s, made every single part for every car they ever made.....
Mercedes actually do a fantastic job with making parts for classic cars. You can buy parts for a 1970s S-Class from the dealer
Im so relieved I found a 2008 Buick lucerne with the 3.8L recently. Only had 70k km one elderly couple owned it and got it for 10grand all in including taxes and safety repairs and I couldn’t be happier. Driven it 9k so far and the only repair I had to do was a door lock actuator which only costed me $150.
Make sure the battery under the seat is vented
@@designstudio8013 The previous owners took care of the car and put an Interstate agm battery. Already went ahead and replaced the fuel pump relay with an OEM low profile version as well so it doesn’t melt.
I’m trying to keep our 2000s vehicles going but the new parts are junk! Dealers have stopped making parts for them so I’m left with aftermarket and half the time the parts just don’t last. All the plastic parts on them are failing like you said. All our vehicles are at the point there failing enough thsts it’s at the point we need to replace them but there’s nothing reliable enough to bother anymore
I think because so many people lease cars now, they don’t care and the manufacturers DEFINITELY build in obsolescence. They are not penalized in any way because their reputation is shot already. True in many areas now - home appliances for example. Dark days…
MOST people like the perpetual monthly payment for a new car!!!
Bought my 2000 Toyota Echo from the family who bought it new. They passed it down through 2 kids in college, and it still had the OE clutch in it at 406k miles when I bought it. Replaced it at 410k and I've put another 20k on it since then. It burns 2 quarts between oil changes, and besides that runs like a champ and gets 40mpg. This car will be driven until it tells me it's done, and that doesn't appear to be anytime soon.
Those were great cars! Mine run fine by keeping the MAF sensor clean and using Toyota OEM oxygen sensors. Sold it running perfectly years ago.
I mean if it's burning 2qts of oil , that's not a great sign lol
We bought an 07 Acura MDX new and kept up maintenance. Now 241k and we decided to replace anything wearing out. I’m doing the maintenance and repair. I use TH-cam and get Honda parts over the internet. Recently did the timing belt service, struts and replaced both front lower control arms. The vehicle drives like new and seems like the engine is bulletproof. Much better than the $65k to buy something similar new!
Those are great cars
J35 SOHCs are still a good engine, you just need to disable VCM as that is a terrible idea.
How you treat your car will still determine how long it will be good for. If you rarely bump the RMP's over 4,000-5,000, don't do lots of stop and go driving, consistently keep it clean along with immediately taking care of any rust, perform regular maintenance and stay on top of preventative maintenance - there is a fantastic chance your car is going to last 200,000 miles even if built today. Even the old reliable l cars required lots of maintenance as they got past 10 years old, if you neglected taking care of it the engine or body would be done well before 150,000 miles.
My 2002 Taurus 3.0 has 89,000 miles. As long as I can get parts, and my trusted mechanic doesn't retire, I will keep it going. I can rebuild it for less than I can buy a new car. As a bonus, it has zero electronic crap cluttering the dash and nagging me about my driving.
Good luck I had a 02 Taurus. Constant maintenance and a rust bucket. Junked long time ago. Also a 02 Camry. Kids still use it almost 500 thousand miles.
Had 1990s one, that's when i stopped buying Ford anything ever.
Change the coolant and transmission fluid regularly. Those were problematic areas in those cars.
Research what commonly fails and get some spares at the yard
I had an 2002 Ford Taurus Limited, I loved that car!
I'm not sure why I did it, but I sold it, and bought a new 2006 Ford 500 Limited. I still drive it daily, but I'm retired. It now has 166,000 miles on it. I keep it well maintained. Thanks, John.
This is an excellent video! You are spot on, my friend. I'm restoring a '93 Mazda Miata. I've been restoring cars for decades, mostly VWs, Porsches, and various French cars. I can tell that the Miata was one of the last sensibly (for purpose) made cars to come out of factories. It's still straightforward, with original parts that were obviously made to go the distance. Compared to my wife's 2020 Hyundai, the Miata is bulletproof. I dread the day when the first things start to fail (or fall off!) in that Hyundai, and I know that day isn't far off. At 158,000 miles, the Miata's little 1.6 liter is still running super-strong, leaks nothing, and doesn't smoke. My son, who also drives a Hyundai, cannot believe that I am able to simply change some old hoses and belts and otherwise leave the Mazda engine as is. Same with that lovely snickety-snick five-speed Miata trans. My '63 VW Beetle is in another realm of mechanical heaven. Yes, we had to deal with rust, but the cars ran, drove, and did their jobs for decades after their build dates. And, when we had to fix 'em, we could fix 'em....in our garages! Keep your new car junk. My Miata and the Beetle will still be on the road, 30 years from now!
Ford makes a great product.
I just bought a 2005 Toyota Avalon Limited for 3300 with 150,000 miles and it drives beautifully and I plan on keeping it for good.
OMG you're lucky. My dream car.
You found a needle in a haystack. Great job.
I know a lady that is going to part with her 2007 avalon to get into an suv. Told her I will outbid anyone for it lol
She is a beauty. Your grandchildren will be driving that car Built like a tank
Those engines are bulletproof, that era of Toyota is goated for engines. The early and Mid 00 Toyotas were Toyota's magnum opus IMO. Decent technology, not over engineered and very reliable.
That “…I don’t know” around 11:10 KILLED me dude oh man. Excellent delivery, Mr. Wizard. Always a pleasure.
Getting a car fixed at the shop is all but untenable at this point. My local Jeep shop quoted $800 for rear brakes on a 2016 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon. It cost me $55 and 30 minutes of my time using hand tools in my driveway. I'm a seasoned citizen....I don't know how the young ones will be able to maintain this level of thievery.
It's simple, we never had the money for a car newer than 2012 anyway!
yea thats the one reason i started working on cars when i was 16 years ago. ive never brought a car to a mechanic for anything besides an alignment in 12 years now
@@Myrune1 saw an estimate on 2012 Jeep Patriot for 2 sway bar links to fix a rattle. It was 400 dollars!!
I picked it up to do the links for 150 (40 dollars in parts 1 hour labor tax and shop supplies) both links looked almost new! One nut wasn't tighted all the way. It wouldn't tighten due to damaged threads so I did the one link and charged them 75 bucks.
customer said "maybe that's what was replaced last time it was clunking... That was a few months ago. I don't remember"
It was the same damn shop that wrote the 400 dollar estimate 2 months later.
They will not be returning to that shop ever again.
@@patriotgarage that's what we see here also. Sadly, all of the dealers are owned by one company in this town.
I agree, I try to Repair most stuff on my vehicles but you need many specialized tools to repair modern cars and if problem is under the hood, takes 1/2 day just to get to the problem, at 77, I am simply to old to deal with that...
You are so right!!! Using plastic makes the car lighter to save gas. Profit is king! Car companies will also make more on finance.
Cafe fuel standards. It's also to blame.
Good quality plastic in the right places is not a bad idea as it doesn't rust. But cheap plastic doesn't hold up.
Those beta male executives have to sellout in order to get laid
@@joshuagibson2520I work in the auto industry. They spend so much money on these useless "spreadsheet engineers" that do nothing all day except collect a paycheck, sit in meetings, and make terrible decisions. Those are the people killing cars and taking any valuable resources away from the things that matter.
The way I see it, there are either people who are going to be driving basic *OLD* cars, like pre 2000's or even before the 90's where most of everything was metal, or people who are forced to buy a new car, because they don't want something old. Essentially, if your wanting something that's only 5 or 10 years old, you might be out of luck. It's going to be either brand new, or 25+ years old.
Wrong: it’s an engineered rug pull to eliminate individual vehicle ownership.
15 minute “smart cities”
You’ll own nothing and be happy
i completely agree with you, as a 96 Camry aficionado
A bunch of the American car companies got busted in the 80s for being in cahoots and designing cars to fall apart after 3 years/36k miles. It was an attempt to eliminate used cars as a viable market option, which are their biggest competitor. And they still do it today, the only thing that changed is they're sneaky when they do it through intentional over-engineering of expensive. select parts... now the entire car doesn't fall apart, just a few areas that are so expensive in labor and parts to fix that the entire car becomes junk. Their corrupt thinking is what helped shoot Datsun/Nissan, Toyota, and other Japanese cars way ahead.... those cars were dead reliable instead of just dead. I still love old Toyotas
having been around during the era of 70-80s cars those cars were horrendous, especially regarding rust.
yep K car and other garbage trying to take Toyota's business.
Wizard I started in auto business early 80's and there were some late 60's cars being driven as daily drivers but you didn't see any 1950's cars as daily drivers. We get lots of calls on cars from the 90's and common wear parts like brakes and tuneup are still available. Mid 80's your Chev truck with 50k miles needed timing chain sets and valve jobs. You didn't even think about 100k mil cause the body would rust out.
I work in commercial parts, and the reason we don't have those parts anymore is because there are a ton more newer cars on the road, and the parts stores are only so big. They are packed full with parts, as it is.
So it's less of a quantity issue and more of a time until delivery issue?
@@VTX-Live he said in the video that it took a few days. That's because we order them direct from the vendor or from the distribution center. Most parts stores were built in the 90s because there was a boom. Now, the stores are too small to hold everything.
@@MaycJr that makes sense. Good to know it's not as dire as he made it sound.
@@VTX-LiveI work at a bmw dealership and bmw has discontinued many parts for older bmws
Thing I don’t like about new cars is the stupid lane assist ‘safety’ features. I drive a new Honda CRV. Alarm goes off every time I approach a white line even if I’m not crossing it. Another think is brakes engage if a pedestrian jay walks in front of my car, even if they’re close by on the median strip and not on the road. I hate these features and they cannot be permanently turned off.
An ironic comment. I started in the car business in 1973, working at a Ford dealership. Not only did we have a complete ( paper )catalog set,but we could order darned near everything mechanical for a 1930's Ford. Hell, we had a lot of stuff on OUR shelves!
And the parts were OEM,came from Ford, so they were all genuine goods. This dealership had been around since the late 40's, and we sold a surprising amount of parts for these 35+ year old cars and light trucks.
Try that tomorrow? Save the trouble, keep your blood pressure from pegging the needle....
They have made cars too complicated for one thing ! you have to be a electrical engineer.
I think more people need to start driving older cars so the demand is higher therefore parts are more available.
Romantic view of the past. There were TONS of crap cars made in late 90s/early 2000s and I mean an absolute crap load. If you ever actively owned and worked on them you would agree. It was tolerated because you could buy them dirt cheap after 7-8yrs and the parts were reasonable and plentiful.
Those crap cars were a lot cheaper to fix though
Those crap cars were American and Korean....
Yeah, like the Toyota engines making sludge and inviting a class action suit but there were reliable models too which many people have mentioned they are still driving
Just say the name. Chrysler
It's was Chrysler/Dodge/Jeep and lots of GM products...and Ford so the Americans
We need to stop buying new cars and keep fixing the late 2009 or early 2010 cars. Don’t waste your money.
100%. I had a 2007 Golf R32. 190,000 miles. Did cost me about 3k in repairs. But the engine was absolutely solid. Usual things needed doing. Radiator leaked, bushings etc. But never any major issues. I still think cars from 2010-2018 are still ok. It's the last 4-5 years where I find cars have gone massively downhill. Some 2018 are still terrible, but I have a Skoda superb 2018 and it's not had 1 single issue and 60,000 miles on it.
I've a 2011 Toyota Camry LE. (The one with the GOOD piston rings, 2ARFE engine.)
It is bonkers to me how so many hondas built in the late 2010s/early 2020s have oil dilution issues. Like they spent years fine tuning their engines only to add a turbo and ruined the whole thing.
But like he said, parts are becoming unavailable.
@@mickleman52you an blame cafe fuel standards. About the only way to comply is a 1.0 liter turbo charged engine.
1995-2005 is the sweet spot for Toyotas, give ot take a year or two on either end. This was the era when legendary Toyota durability was cemented.
So true Wizard! I drove the same Malibu for 3 years working for a taxi company back in the 80's. I and another driver leased it 24/7 and other than regular maintenance it was always on the road. Never had any problems with it; it already had 100k+ miles on the clock when I took over. Alas, those days are over forever. Reasonably priced American sedans that would last at least 5 years after you made the last payment. 😢
Except for Cadillac; NO traditional Detroit Two manufacturer even offers sedans anymore. Stellantis is an import company like Toyota, BMW, etc
@@piercehawke8021 Malibu for two more week's.
I agree with what Car Wizard says.. I have a '99 2 door Tahoe w/180K miles that is pretty damn reliable.
I did just break down and buy a '24 Silverado ZR2 with the 3.0L diesel and am blown away by the engine.
Really happy with it.. getting 24mpg
But.. the oil pan design sucks. It will leave a 1/2 quart of oil in the pan when you drain.
There is an aftermarket solution, but I should not have to replace the oil pan because GM cheeped out.
Those engines will be a time bomb long term. Half a quart of oil is the least of your worries, many cars are that way.
@@daniels2761 The 3.0L diesels will last longer than ANY of the engines coming from Toyota.. talk about bombs!
100% Can confirm that parts are becoming obsolete. I'm struggling to find parts from the Dealership. Now resorting to eBay. I firmly believe that, as the Car Wizard mentions, 'They want you to buy new cars'
You think auto stores have room to store parts for every car on the road since 1990?
@@MaycJrthey likely have a warehouse somewhere, yes
I drive a 1979 Subaru. I can still find the parts or different parts that can be retrofitted but it takes a lot of research. If I can't find the part I get it custom made. Nearly any internal engine part can be custom made for you and shipped to you within a week. Pistons, valves, camshafts, rods, even an entire crankshaft. Can be a little expensive but not anywhere close to a new car. Sometimes you can find parts off another car that can be adapted. Most of my electrical system and ignition parts, cooling system, etc is all parts from different cars. I've rebuilt the engine once, put 200,000 miles on it since then. Have another rebuilt engine in the basement ready to go if I need it. The engines sell for about $300 or so. Figure about $500 to rebuild one with the best parts available.
Right now it's still possible to find a lot of the correct parts. But I've done the research and have multiple notebooks full of part numbers, dimensions of parts, and parts with dimensions matching the originals, ready when the parts get discontinued. When I see a rare part come up on eBay I buy it. I have a large stock of spare parts that are hard to find up to and including pistons, rings, valves, and other internal engine components. It's such a simple car I would be able to keep it running even if no original parts are available anymore. And even if I have to pay $800 or even $2000 for custom parts to be made at some point, that's preferable to me over buying a different car. What other car can I get that gets 40-50 mpg and has timing gears, no chain or belt, and a manual transmission. Nothing, doesn't exist. Only 70s and 80s Subarus have all those features together.
@dappergent9422 Ultimately they don't want you to own a car.
@@My_Old_YT_Account😂😂😂 And do you think that warehouse is free?
I have been a consumer activist for almost 50 years--going back before my first big automotive fight against GM's first diesel, which was in my new "79 Chev pickup. It had two engine rebuilds in the first 24K miles. With that in mind, I say this video is one of the best, most accurate auto industry reviews I have heard in a long time.
In Australia the cat convertor alone is $2k, and my god we have laws around lifetime warranties, companies wouldn't get away with limiting it to 100k
Out of all the regulations the catalytic converter is the only thing I would keep. It's expensive but it dramatically reduces air pollution.
Not only are parts disappearing.....but prices are changing monthly instead of yearly.......
no more $1,200 chevrolet 350 crate engines.....cheapest chevrolet built 350 is over $6,000
The low quality and complexity of modern cars is what ultimately pushed me to go electric. No worry about turbos, plastic intakes, manifolds, and oil sumps, emissions systems etc. I held onto my old cars as long as I could but as you said, spare parts started to dry up, basically as soon as the warranty period ends they stop producing parts and you're left with inventory.
Tesla do have some plastic coolant lines that run *through* the "penthouse" control box where the inverter, controller and battery management system are; but hopefully those plastic lines hold up OK for owners and make the 30 years that Tesla say their cars are designed to run for!
@@TassieLorenzo yes that is true. Hopefully the lack of vibration and much lower temperatures of the coolant loop compared to an ICE will help with longevity.
What you say is true I think with emissions rules ice vehicles are reaching their end of life, however a lot of issues with modern vehicles are electronic, and electric cars whilst not exposed to the heat of an ice, are exposed to the same age, water, accident damage etc. I suspect that like modern ice vehicles, electric vehicles with screens that control all functions of the car, the literal 10s of modules in modern cars, any one that fails as an electric vehicles gets older could brick them as uneconomic to repair.
This is why I like the older Mercedes Benz diesel cars. built like a tank. I have a 1990 300d turbo that I plan keeping for a long time. 234000 miles and runs like a swiss watch
Better have Deep Pockets if something does Fail...
My 1991 350 SDL had 550k miles when i sold it. It still ran great , tires and brakes & oil are all i ever did
Good luck finding parts today, especially if stranded somewhere remote - those are hobby cars.
@@randybeard6040why? I have a 1982 240D. Everything’s super cheap and easy to find parts. 145,000 miles
@@Hellcat71782 I have one too, but I wouldn't want it as my only car because of the parts issue...yes they're cheap and you can get them, but they won't be in stock near where you break down.
My son approached me 2 days ago about a malibu, 2007? Not sure. She was driving and it stopped, a shop diagnosed no fuel pressure. Instead of throwing money at it, she selling it for $1000. I gave him 2 peices of advice, 1. If it's anything but a 3800 V6, walk away. 2. Watch the car wizard on buying a used car...the ones about not running, but "just need this one part" you posted recently. 😅 thanks for the wisdom good sir.
I'm a Ford and Dodge guy, BUT those 3800 GM V6 engines are very stout. I wouldn't mind a Buick from the mid 2000's with a 3800 engine.
wizard was wrong there are no malibus with a 3800
Ive had the 3800...good engine...some leak coolant at the intake...so Ive heard... I also have a 3500 in an Impala with 200, 000+ miles......black oil because I have not changed it since I bought it .thing still runs smooth
The 2007 Malibu has the 3.5 V6 WITH drive by wire, look for something else.
The confidence folks have in v6 and 4-cylinder engines is astounding. All to save a sum $$ on gas. Had a 88 k1500 SBC 350 300k+ miles . Blew a spark out of the engine block and still drove home on 7 cylinders. Had a 00 Durango with 200k miles 4.7 V8. All kinds of blow by and milkshake on the oil cap. As long as I kept oil and coolant topped up never ran hot never broke down. Sold it 4years ago. It's still on the road. Moral of the story BUY A NON (DOD,AFM,MDS) V8!!! gosh it's not rocket science
i instantly thought of BMW's plastic water pumps that shatter and destroy the engine lol
I switched from a 2001 Toyota Corolla, that never needed oil, had warped rings, 250K miles, and battery change every time Pluto did a full orbit. Switched to a 2016 Hyundai Santa Fe sport, immediate problems at 97K miles. I know they are bad overall, but it shouldn’t be
Glad I have a 31 year old Toyota pickup as a backup for my newer car.
2001 Toyota Camry and 1984 Toyota truck for me. Both have been in the family since new.
I have a 1999 S 10. Love it. Bought new for 9950$ still on the road daily. Synthetic oil changed a 3000 miles.
One reason for this is unreasonable fuel efficiency standards. Manufacturers are having to switch out metal components for plastic, and well-engineered parts for flimsy parts in order to reduce weight.
Well I beg to differ that the new fuel efficiency standards require CHEAPER MATERIALS. I have a1994 (yes THIRTY YEAR OLD) Acura Legend with a performance modified engine in it. I do have a six speed manual transmission and on a recent 3,100 mile trip across the U.S. made between 33 and 37 miles per gallon on 91 octane out West (not the normal 93 octane fuel East of central Texas). There isn't much on that car's exterior besides trim pieces that are plastic. The rubber coating for glass surrounding trim is peeling off but not the trims. Let's face it Wizard hit the nail on the head as he mentioned the C.E.O.s MUST MAINTAIN their Mega Million Dollar Bonuses! Maximum profit is the name of the game for "BIG BUSINESS". We the consumer foot that bill. There were high plastic use vehicles of the past (can ANYONE say Saturn) some of which could in the lab make 70 miles per gallon and in the real world were pushing 50 mpg on the highway. You couldn't buy a 4 cylinder Toyota or Honda in the 1980s, 1990s or even early 2000s that didn't get 35 - 40 or HIGHER miles per gallon. The automobile industry is not the only "BIG BUSINESS" conglomerate where you and I are making sure the rich stay rich. That is their goal and truth be told part of the design of capitalism. The concept of making things competitive so that we get the best product at the best price is an illusion that most people are just are not aware about. We may get a competitive price but the products are as the Wizard stated GARBAGE! Manufacturer pride has been all but usurped from the building of quality appliances and homes to disposable electronics and virtually EVERYTHING in between.
I doubt it. I used to be very into racing and let me tell you the amount of stuff you have to pull out of a car to even drop 200lbs. is astonishing and makes the car barely streetable. 200lbs would barely make a dent in fuel mileage. This is just cost savings to increase profits.
and low pressure piston rings to save friction. Because of this even new cars get 1000 miles on a quart of oil. So very sad !
@@johnschofield9496 Yeah my wife's Prius has those. It gets worse as the car ages as you can imagine. We're doing about a quart every 500(city driving). You should see how black the bumper gets by the exhaust.
nah, good quality metals will be lighter than plastic in many structural cases
Living in an European country, I found getting parts for a reliable 06 Corolla diesel to be painful.
So I bought an OLDER car, a BMW 530d from 2002. An E39.
One thing German cars do well here is parts availability even for older cars.
I sold my Volvo and bought a BMW for the same reason
how did i find parts for a 2002 malibu that was never even sold in europe? i think you're just terrible at searching. you don't care, just like the people that make today's cars. it is a virus.
@@danielkiss7003Right now i have a 2001 n/a 2.4l volvo s60. Super reliable and cheap to maintain, but my next car will be a BMW
Here in Australia it's the other way around. Parts for a Toyota are cheap and parts for most European cars are expensive.
My W123 230CE pillarless coupè Mercedes-Benz has just clocked up 196,000 miles [305,000 kms] and is still running smoothly. Interior almost as-new. Even on a 35C day, it did 450 miles without a hitch. You're spot-on on the quality of older cars. Love your videos! Merry Christmas 🎅 and Happy 2025 from Tony in Warrnambool, Victoria, Australia 🇦🇺 ❤️.
Still driving my 1990 Volvo 740 Turbo and it runs like a top. While I can still purchase a lot of OEM parts from Volvo, I know I am on borrowed time and it will get more and more difficult to find parts.
You mean it sits in one spot & just spins?
@@indolentcheese The only thing that sits in one spot and spins is the nice snail under the hood that has a measly 120,000 KM on it.
👍👍👍
Yes I have a 92 Tercel and just found out they aren't keeping 90's cars in the U-Pick yards anymore !
One of the few manufacturers that still has great support in terms of parts. Aftermarket is great too! FCPEuro, IPD, RockAuto.
Surely overcomplexity is another huge negative. Ten thousand parts, ten thousand things to go wrong.
Planned obsolescence. People will pay the higher cost of a new car that costs the company way less to build, because they can get away with it.
yeah but goddamn each year new car costs more than previous year, where do we stop?? Also we buy cars not because we like them, vast majority buy cars to get to places or work, basically it's a necessity
It's the by-product of new cars being packed with lots of technology and features. The manufacturers have to cut cost on internal components to make cars affordable.
The amount of people that get hosed on trade ins blows my mind. I have coworkers that will buy a new car for 35k and then 3 or 4 years later trade it in for 15-18k, I'm like wtf you guys are literally losing like 20k in just a couple of years. They think they're getting some great deal too.
They are all doing it now. Even Toyota. They claim the cars only require oil changes every 10k miles and when you ask about transmission fluid changes (because the owners manual says nothing about it) they say it doesn't need it. I had my Rav4s transmission fluid replaced anyways because Toyota is in the business of selling cars NOT making it last.
Planned obsolescence only works for businesses if the consumer doesn't care about longevity enough to be willing to pay for it.
This is so true. We got a Toyota bz4x as a family car for my new born son.
They have plastic trim on the hood and it succumbed to the sun and heat within a year. The plastic got warped and damaged. Toyota denied fixing it due to solar conversion. It's a shame. They have a 60k car with plastic, and they won't cover the cost to fix it. The greed has gotten out of control, we consumers shouldn't have to get fucked anymore, but it's the reality we live in
It’s come full circle. 50-60 years ago cars were done by 75,000 miles.
Very true, way before my time but when you look at the classic cars the engines would grenade before 100,000 miles. The difference being that those oldies were very simple designs that did not cost much and could be repaired by the average Joe. Modern cars are over engineered due to fuel economy standards, emission standards, safety standards (probably the only one I would keep out of the bunch), and of course cost cutting from pure greed. Get rid of the CAFE and EPA crap and modern cars would be a lot better. Of course the corpo greed would need to be addressed too but the best way to fix that is competition. Competition has a hard time forming when the auto industry is such an over regulated mess.
Nonsense. I got 200K out of a '73 Camaro 350 V-8 with a THM 350. Put virtually no money into that car except for 3K oil changes and two year tranny fluid changes. My '79 Datsun 210 racked up over 208K almost trouble-free under the same oil change schedule, with gearbox oil changes every 30K.
that is propaganda, those cars could easily go millions of miles by replacing parts easily yourself
@@Ziegfried82 Another boomer complaining about 'hippie eco' standards because you won't be around to see the world when it implodes, so you don't care. Cars are over-engineered, yes, but soccer moms keep demanding more 'features' that complicate design and lend themselves to issues. Also, plastic parts have NOTHING to do with 'EPA regulations'😂. It's just to save money for greedy executives and the stockholders...who are also rich a-holes.
@gnosticnight
Exception to the rule. You got lucky.
Cars came with a five digit odometer in that era for a reason.
Most of us never knew how long Datsuns would actually run for because they rusted out long before they broke down.
I have a 2003 GMC YUKON. 5.3 motor It's got 224,000 on her and she is still running great
My 2002 z71 silverado just hit 276k still runs strong
The GM trucks up till probably 2019 (I’m sure a debate will ensue) were outstanding. Can’t beat em, especially the NBS and NNBS.
Same but mine is 04, 260k
Sorry I put the miles down wrong it's 246,000
@chrishardin4220 My favorite vehicles personally personally specifically 2000-2006.
I had a 1996 suburban that was solid as well, but the 04-06 are even better