Sorry for the delay-- was doing holiday dinner with the family!
As for my vehicles, the following are what I currently own. I'll give the backstories on each of them as they fit nicely with the philosophy you laid out in your OP:
-- 2 x 2017 Mitsubishi Mirages that are the daily drivers for the wife and me. Both CVT, so have the highest MPG of any non-hybrid sold in the U.S. The Mirage has technology and simplicity at about the level of Japanese econoboxes of the '80s and '90s and the reliability/ease of repair of Mirages really reflects that fact.
Specifically wanted 2017 models as an upgrade occurred after the 2014/15 models (that was desirable), but in 2018 the dashboard screen became standard (which was undesirable to me). Bought them both in 2023-- with diligent searching over a 500 mi radius, I found one with 15K original miles, and another with 7.5K original miles. Bought 'em both! Paid ~12K for each, which is a bit high, but given the mileage, condition, and the fact that I wanted 2017's specifically, I ponied up and got them.
The shortened block size that comes from omitting a cylinder (these are 3-cylinder cars) allows for a surprising amount of space in the engine bay. This makes everything (even on the front and back of the engine) very easy to get to without removing much of anything.
The Jatco CVT7 is very reliable in this car (it was designed for applications up to 150 hp, the Mirage has 78 hp), is very easy to remove, and surprisingly simple to tear down and rebuild. When the time comes, I'll do that myself.
These cars are well-documented to go 180-200K miles with little maintenance and few repairs, and even after that even the major repairs are pretty easy and straightforward. As I said, I plan to have these cars the rest of my life and will repair as needed rather than ever replace.
-- 2002 Ford F-150 XL, regular cab, 4x4, 4.2L V6, 5-sp manual. Old-school, pushrod V-6, manual transfer case. This is the one vehicle I bought new (cheap, left-over stock at the dealer since it was such a stripper). Not a single option on it other than 3.55 rear end (which was no-cost). Very spartan (e.g., rubber floor coverings) but dead reliable, and dead simple. It's never broken down on me in over 20 years.
I have a small hay operation and use it regularly for hay hauling. Here it is, loaded at payload limit (which it sees on a regular basis):
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--2009 Dodge Grand Caravan C/V, 3.3L V6, 41TE auto. I like vans for non-farm types of hauling, and this is about the smallest vehicle that will carry 4x8 sheets flat. It's a cargo version, so everything is super-simplified compared to the passenger versions. E.g., no rear seat climate control and single zone front climate control (rear and front dual climate control systems are notoriously buggy on these vehicles) and virtually no tech amenities.
The 3.3l pushrod V6 is as simple and old school as the Ford V6, and the similarly old school 4sp auto is pretty reliable as most of the bugs had been worked out by 2009.
Because this is a 5th gen GC, the engine bay is large (designed to handle the OHC V6s that were coming in 2011) but the old pushrod V6 that carried over for the first three years of this generation is very compact. That means that there is a surprising amount of open space, making repair work (even on the back cylinders) very easy if you get the 3.3L.
As an example, in
this video, these guys change both head gaskets in a gen5 3.3L in a parking lot. Note that at 9:40 in the video, the say it took 45 minutes to get both heads off, and almost nothing else (e.g., PS pump, alternator, etc.) needed to be removed to do the job. Note that removing the rear head was no more difficult than the front-- impressive!
This type of information is what convinced me to look for a low mileage, gen5, 3.3L (i.e., 2008-2010) DGC C/V. In 2022, I found one with 46,000 original miles on it. It was an absolutely pristine time capsule, owned from new by the FBI in Arlington VA, and perfectly maintained. Not a spec of rust on the undercarriage-- looked like it had just rolled off the assembly line. Got it for $13K, and will own it the rest of my life, as with the others will be repairing any problems that come up rather than ever replacing it.
Here it is the day I got it home:
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--2 x 1985 Corvettes, L98 Gen I SBC. Bought both used in 2011. Both are two-tone bronze and are only 12 numbers apart on their VINs. They would have been within sight of each other as they went down the assembly line!
Didn't intend to buy two, but I found one that was all original, well-maintained and had 56,000 miles on it. Made a bit of a low-ball offer, the seller said they'd think about it, but didn't hear back for over a week. As I was waiting, I found the other one-- perfect condition Z51 with only 29,000 miles on it. Made the same low-ball offer as the first, the seller accepted immediately, and I brought her home.
The next day, the first seller responded that they would accept my offer. I was in the middle of typing a "sorry, you snooze you loose-- I already bought one!" type of email, then it dawned on me-- it's a great price on a great car, why not treat myself to both? So, I did! Paid $7K for each. Not a killer-good price, but well below what the sellers were asking. I specifically wanted 1985s, so, as I did with the Mirages, I ponied up and got 'em.
Why 1985s? Well, that gets to the heart of your OP. I am a totally captured member of what is known as the "1985 cult" in Corvette communities. Members of this cult are totally taken by the fact that 1985 was a very special, one-off year for Corvettes as they did not have any of the features of modernity such as: ABS, auto climate control, VATS, electronic transmission, pre-cats, air bags, or even a center high brake light! Tech-wise, it was very similar to any Chevy V8 car in the 1970's, and parts are fairly reasonable (cost and availability) as there is huge parts overlap with the 1985 Impala. The 1985 Corvettes are known for being simple and reliable.
So, all Corvettes before 1985 lacked those new-fangled technologies-- what makes the 1985 special? Beyond the last year to have forged (rather than cast) pistons and a stock 2050 rpm torque converter (pre-EPA requirement and a perfect match for the TPI intake), it has port injection-- the one nod to modernity that actually has performance benefit, is more reliable than a carb, and in many ways no more complicated to troubleshoot in the rare instance it has a problem.
1985's are the only model year of Corvette that has this combination of port injection and no other modern features, and that's what us cult members love about them. I have two, I love to drive them, they're easy to work on and, like the others, I'll own them the rest of my life! Here's a pic of one, taken the day I got it home (the other looks identical, so no need to show it):
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So, there you go-- every vehicle I own was a carefully selected model (and low-mileage used examples were purchased after an extensive search) specifically chosen to get all the simplicity and reliability that you nicely summed up in your OP.
Note that the effort I put into acquiring these vehicles and the long-term plans I have for keeping them are specifically why I have been active on this forum learning about oils/filters and have been fairly picky about which I'll use.
Given my new retirement financial situation and the strong desire to keep all these vehicles running for several more decades, I need to find the best oil change materials possible at the best prices I can get.
Thanks again
@Alex_V for your OP-- as you can see, I really understood where you were coming from with it!
