Average US vehicle age now 12.5 years
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My Jag X-Type is 21 years old. The F-Type is 6. The 2011 F150 is 12 and the 2009 is 14, the 2018 F150 is 5.
Ok stop it with the PHOBIA crap! Today everyone that doesn't like what someone else says, accuses them of being ****-Phobic. It's just another form of hate-speech and it's time that people started calling out the "Phobia" shouting bullies.
That said, you're right a new car today is "better" than a car built in 2005. But only because a 2005 year model car is 18 years older! If I could get one I would take a one year old 2005 car over the same model car built 2022/2023 every time. In the first place, a 2005 car was much cheaper than 2023 model cars, even allowing for inflation. Also reliability by itself isn't a accuarate measure of how good a car is; it's also about many other issues such as the complexity of the car and the ability of the owner being to troubleshoot and repair it themselves. Also the availability of service information and of repair parts. Anyone that's read this forum has heard of people that can't get critically needed parts such as Cali approved catalytic convertors for over 2 years! Add in the fact, that many drivers HATE the flat screen computer driven controls and all of the on-board Nanny systems and other obnoxious "features" such as the Kill-The-engine-at-every-stoplight.
In terms of just getting around though? I haven't driven a lot of new compact cars, but a 2022 KIA Forte I rented was fine, surprisingly loud tire noise(17" wheels),not great at absorbing small sharp bumps, and numb electric steering. A bit less engine and wind noise than my Focus, but nothing that really makes me want to upgrade? Mileage hasn't improved a whole lot since 2005, safety has though which is something.
I think a newer manual turbo Civic would be fun to drive, but not worth it to me at current prices at least. A mid teens manual Focus would be pretty good too, but its really a 2010 design.
Certainly not all 2005 cars are good candidates to run forever, but some are pretty comfortable and simple, and should go quite a while without feeling like a penalty box or costing more in repairs than new car payments.
Covid was the reason, the world economy closed down for over a year.
With that said, vehicles have much longer maintenance free lifespans than they used to. Thanks to engineering and lubrication advancements.
Let's not forget the population is aging and now work from home jobs. My wife worked in a local satellite office in our previous small town, they switch her to work from home which she has been doing for darn close to a decade now I think. She has now an old 2012 Mazda 3 that still runs like new and only 85,000 miles on it that would have been replaced by now, yet work from home the car just sits there. I try once a week but sometimes it's 2 weeks to run the car on a long shopping trip for the day.
She will short trip it once in a while but most likely barely enough.
With that said, vehicles have much longer maintenance free lifespans than they used to. Thanks to engineering and lubrication advancements.
Let's not forget the population is aging and now work from home jobs. My wife worked in a local satellite office in our previous small town, they switch her to work from home which she has been doing for darn close to a decade now I think. She has now an old 2012 Mazda 3 that still runs like new and only 85,000 miles on it that would have been replaced by now, yet work from home the car just sits there. I try once a week but sometimes it's 2 weeks to run the car on a long shopping trip for the day.
She will short trip it once in a while but most likely barely enough.
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Yeah I agree with you. Certain cars in the mid-00's are in a sweet spot where they're not underpowered or unreliable, and the tech is easily upgraded to be as modern as you'd like.
A 2005 Corolla with an Apple CarPlay head unit isn't much different from a brand new one.
Some new cars are genuine downgrades. Nothing VW currently makes compares to my Touareg in terms of build quality or capability.
Agreed. My '03 Passat and '08 Lexus have just about everything or more than my '18 Sportwagen and Atlas sans tech head unit for AA/ACP. The ESC isn't as sophisticated.
It seems my average is causing a blight on my BITOG social credit score.
Hence - WTB - something 2004 or older. Any condition, except rust belt stuff, I can't deal with that
Hence - WTB - something 2004 or older. Any condition, except rust belt stuff, I can't deal with that
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Instructions unclear. Is it acceptable to purchase a low-mileage 1968 Porsche 911 (British racing green) to increase average age of fleet? Asking for a friend.
They said the same thing about power steering, ABS, fuel injection, air conditioning the list goes on....every time a feature is added. Yea-power windows and air conditioning were not terribly reliably when they were first introduced-but now they are.
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Respectfully and good naturedly, I disagree. I have 3 GM vehicles with the Legendary 3800. AC, Power windows, Power steering, Cruise control, Power heated Leather seats, ABS, Driver Info Center with engine parameters in real time, (aftermarket) stereos, and the icing on the cake is the (Legendary) 3800. Non-GDI, non-VVT, non turbocharged, made Ward's 10 best engines of all time https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buick_V6_engine
https://www.autoevolution.com/news/...rformance figures,best V6 engines ever built.
Not one ounce of plastic anywhere in the engine and no one has ever heard of a 3800 "needing" a timing chain. There is a facebook page on Lesabres and I've seen odometer pictures of 3-4-5-600K. My opinion is no "modern" engine matches its reliability and ease of service/maintenance. GM quit making them so as not to manufacture themselves out of business. They simply do not die if taken care of.
You are now free to "sell me" on how great the "newer cars" are; but it would behoove you to wait until they are in their late teen years to prove themselves worthy.
Guess that last sentence is a bit of sarcasm or oxymoronic.
Jackson_Slugger
$50 Site Donor 2022
And in the 50's all you had to do was yank wires behind the dash to hot wire a car-your point is? And turbos are not unreliable-by any stretch. Do the math on how many F150s were sold since 2009 with the 3.5 Eco-boost
Mercedes has been using Turbos since the late 80's. Those diesel Mercedes were indestructible. I mean really....
The arguments against new cars and new tech are nonsensical on here.
Plastic engine parts doesn't translate in to less reliable. And yea we disagree.Respectfully and good naturedly, I disagree. I have 3 GM vehicles with the Legendary 3800. AC, Power windows, Power steering, Cruise control, Power heated Leather seats, ABS, Driver Info Center with engine parameters in real time, (aftermarket) stereos, and the icing on the cake is the (Legendary) 3800. Non-GDI, non-VVT, non turbocharged, made Ward's 10 best engines of all time https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buick_V6_engine
https://www.autoevolution.com/news/...rformance figures,best V6 engines ever built.
Not one ounce of plastic anywhere in the engine and no one has ever heard of a 3800 "needing" a timing chain. There is a facebook page on Lesabres and I've seen odometer pictures of 3-4-5-600K. My opinion is no "modern" engine matches its reliability and ease of service/maintenance. GM quit making them so as not to manufacture themselves out of business. They simply do not die if taken care of.
You are now free to "sell me" on how great the "newer cars" are; but it would behoove you to wait until they are in their late teen years to prove themselves worthy.
https://4wheeldriveguide.com/how-many-miles-can-you-put-on-a-3-5-ecoboost/
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