Considering a small SUV

It was a point I made to show why I like Japanese vehicles. They're inexpensive to maintain, and they last a long time. I realize the German vehicles are more driver friendly, but that quality isn't high on my priority list. Reliability is number one, with cost of maintenance being number two. German vehicles simply don't make the cut with these two priorities...
Agree to disagree. I hope your cars last as long as you hope.
 
I doubt ANY of those vehicles have anywhere near 400K miles...
FWIW, there are tons of late 80s/early 90s Volvo redblocks with 300-500k miles and still running around just fine.
There are plenty of Mercedes from the late 70s to late 80s, especially the diesels running around with 500k miles.
On both, you can still order parts at the dealership and prices are very reasonable. I say that from personal experience.
Toyotas or Hondas of those eras were nowhere near as durable or reliable as the Volvos and the MBs.

Toyotas imo hit peak reliability/simplicity in late 2000s / mid 2010s. Every Corolla generation has gone downhill imo since the 9th gen. Camry hit its peaks with the 4th gen and the 7th gen. The current set of hybrids cost too much money, the 8 spds are questionable especially on the V6s and the 3.4TTs are proving to be a debacle.

Sometimes you might get a perfect combo of being reasonably priced, more entertaining to drive than an appliance and is super reliable I.e 2012-14 Jettas and Passats with the 2.5l engine and 09G trans. But just because it’s a VW/European car, people make blanket negative statements. If you look on RockAuto and compare prices of consumables with those of a 9th gen Corolla, you’ll notice that the price differences are really insignificant for most things.
 
Not really. MTBF is a scatter plot around a distribution. You got lucky. So did I. Maintenance won't fix imperfect metallurgy or some other defect.
Then apparently my Corolla didn't have any imperfect metallurgy or any other defects...when it comes to vehicle longevity, luck has nothing to do with it...
 
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A couple of observation after looking at used vehicles for 1 month....it appears people don't take care of their vehicles anymore. Nasty interiors, exteriors all beat up, it makes me cringe to think about their maintenance habits. Every vehicle I've looked at so far looks like it was just gassed up and driven. Nothing else. My 2nd observation; dealers want way too much $$$ for these POS vehicles...
Japanese vehicles in the used market are almost always upside down because of the “superior longevity” perception. It’s a tough choice out there.
 
Just to give the topic a result, I ended up buying a 2014 Rav yesterday. It's a Limited with 151K miles. Purchased from a Toyota dealership. One owner, no accidents, full maintenance history report. Looks almost new, and drives new. I was also able to have my mechanic inspect it. No fault codes, except for a TPMS sensor error, which dealer agreed to fix. It could be one, or all four bad sensors. He raised it up on the rack and the bottom of this vehicle looked like it just rolled off of the assembly line. Not a spec of rust, or even dirt anywhere. There was also no sign of any seepage from the engine or transmission, and all four tires are so new, they still have the injection mold nubbies...price was a bit more than my original plan, but I figured it's worth it, considering I plan on driving this vehicle another 10+ years...I'm guessing this vehicle came from somewhere other than OH, where they don't salt the roads. There's no way the bottom of any 12 year old OH car could look this good...
 
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Just to give the topic a result, I ended up buying a 2014 Rav yesterday. It's a Limited with 151K miles. Purchased from a Toyota dealership. One owner, no accidents, full maintenance history report. Looks almost new, and drives new. I was also able to have my mechanic inspect it. No fault codes, except for a TPMS sensor error, which dealer agreed to fix. It could be one, or all four bad sensors. He raised it up on the rack and the bottom of this vehicle looked like it just rolled off of the assembly line. Not a spec of rust, or even dirt anywhere. There was also no sign of any seepage from the engine or transmission, and all four tires are so new, they still have the injection mold nubbies...price was a bit more than my original plan, but I figured it's worth it, considering I plan on driving this vehicle another 10+ years...I'm guessing this vehicle came from somewhere other than OH, where they don't salt the roads. There's no way the bottom of any 12 year old OH car could look this good...
Congratulations. Sounds like a keeper. Try and do the yearly fluid films / surface shield treatments and it should last you a long time.
 
Take that number and multiply it by a million and that is the number for Jeep and German cars.
Wow, you're still thinking about me? you just can't let it go that other vehicles besides Toyota/Honda can last. I have almost a million miles between all my vehicles.
 
Wow, you're still thinking about me? you just can't let it go that other vehicles besides Toyota/Honda can last. I have almost a million miles between all my vehicles.
That isn't what this topic is about. It's about how much the maintenance required would cost, and would it be worth it, to make those vehicles last....cost per mile is much lower with Japanese vehicles....
 
That isn't what this topic is about. It's about how much the maintenance required would cost, and would it be worth it, to make those vehicles last....cost per mile is much lower with Japanese vehicles....
Cost per pound lentils win, but steak is still better! That other guy turned into projecting his financial insecurities on others, I never made any judgements there.
 
Cost per pound lentils win, but steak is still better! That other guy turned into projecting his financial insecurities on others, I never made any judgements there.
Sometimes I wonder which topic you're replying to. I don't even know what this one means :unsure:
 
That isn't what this topic is about. It's about how much the maintenance required would cost, and would it be worth it, to make those vehicles last....cost per mile is much lower with Japanese vehicles....
It all depends on maintenance. I haven't seen anything that makes me prefer a Japanese car over a domestic or European. The only one I really liked was the Subaru Forester, which has a decent amount of room for tall people. They have their issues, though. I sat in a Toyota Rav 4 and it didn't have any room in it; it would be miserable for me to drive that every day no matter the perceived reliability. My wife has a 2018 Jeep that has been almost perfect and zero out of pocket repairs. Just one issue under warranty. Just maintain your car and it should do fine.
 
That isn't what this topic is about. It's about how much the maintenance required would cost, and would it be worth it, to make those vehicles last....cost per mile is much lower with Japanese vehicles....
I am in find out phase of this. Maintenance on our 2018 VW Tiguan with 214k is not anymore expensive than our Honda/Acura which are a few years older but less mileage (140k-170k).
 
I am in find out phase of this. Maintenance on our 2018 VW Tiguan with 214k is not anymore expensive than our Honda/Acura which are a few years older but less mileage (140k-170k).
Same with our GL450. The only thing that is expensive to replace is the suspension, because it’s all air. Otherwise, parts are the same for it as it’s been for any vehicle I’ve owned. People said the same thing about the Navigator when I bought it, but they say it from a place of ignorance, not realizing it’s a fancy Expedition and shares almost all of the same parts.
 
I agree, but for some people the automotive holy grail is a car that can be driven for hundreds of thousands of miles with minimum upkeep costs. As for me -as I've said before- if I was faced with the prospect of driving the same car for 300k or 400k miles I would cut to the chase, find the nearest 20-30 story building and take a swan dive off of the roof.
Extreme example but drove home the point ha! I could never drive the same car for that many miles, especially if it was a boring appliance. Life’s too short.
 
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