How old is too old for a vehicle to be reliable?

[Whimsey]

I'm driving my bought new 1996 Ford Contour with the 4 cylinder Zetec and 5 speed manual tranny. I had other vehicles with it over time so it wasn't driven daily. The odometer broke years ago so I'm guessing it has around 180,000 miles, probably more. It runs great other than some creaks and groans. I'd have no problem driving it to Key West from NJ, did it many times already and would do it again. Simple car, not a lot of electronic gadgets to fail.

 

[John105]

I'm driving my bought new 1996 Ford Contour with the 4 cylinder Zetec and 5 speed manual tranny. I had other vehicles with it over time so it wasn't driven daily. The odometer broke years ago so I'm guessing it has around 180,000 miles, probably more. It runs great other than some creaks and groans. I'd have no problem driving it to Key West from NJ, did it many times already and would do it again. Simple car, not a lot of electronic gadgets to fail.

Great to hear a ‘96’is on the road. My ‘98 Maxima was done in by emissions problems in 2016. Rust would have done it in a few years later (which was frustrating as at the time as I’d see maximas with no rust—maybe they came from other parts of the country).

 

[wlk]

Pulled my 23' travel trailer out to South Dakota from Pennsylvania 2 yrs ago with my 93 C1500 ~135k at the time. This year we took our 04' Expedition 200k and the trailer over to Illinois, then up to Minnesota and finally West to North Dakota both trips right around 5k miles. Trust them both as DD for my wife or I, right now the Exp is my DD. My wife's 05 Honda Element ~ 222k is her DD. But they have issues from time to time but that's why we have 3, as one is always a backup. I would hop in and drive across country with anyone of them.

 

[Gyro Gearloose]

Mine seem to get a batch of minor failures at 6 years then its good for another 6. Around year 12 it all starts up again but with bigger costlier problems By year 14 its just one thing after another and I’m basically buying a new old car one part or one system at a time and I start planning to move it along.

 

[clinebarger]

this is my kind of Olds. A friend had one with the 455 in college, handed down from his folks

Not saying it did or didn't have a 455, But I hear 455 too much when it comes to Vista Cruisers. The Olds 350 was the base engine for the A-body Cutlass & Vista Cruiser....I'm sure most came with the base engine.

The C/B-Body Olds 98 & Custom Cruiser had 455's as the base engine.

 

[grampi]

Terrible question. It completely depends on the make and model. Some vehicles are too old when they're new...my Corolla is almost 20 years old now with 435K miles and is still a dependable ride...

 

[zray1]

no one answer to the OP’s question. Previous owners maintenance and other vehicle care are what matters most, not the age.

Case in point: six years ago I bought a used Jaguar XKR for my daily driver. It’s now 22 years old. Not a car with a particularly good reliability record. Let’s face it, it’s a bad record.

But I searched for a car with all the known reliability issues already fixed by previous owners. And no rust either except a few light spots on the exhaust manifolds.

So far I’ve put 65,000 miles on it, with the vehicle totaling now over 184,000 miles. Many cross country trips as well as the weekly day trips to nearby states.

The only part I purchased beyond the usual consumables was a $90 cooling fan for the CPU. Can’t get much more reliable than that.

My take is there are real bargains out there if one takes the time to judge each car individually. Trust what you see over what you hear from others.

Z

 

[flinter]

If we're talking a daily driver I would say 10-12 years and maybe 80k miles. If I know the history of the vehicle I'm ok over that but buying something on the used market I need to be reliable for another 5-8 years? I'll stick with those numbers.

A modern car becomes unreliable at 80K miles???

 

[Kurtatron]

I have a 1991 Toyota Previa as a secondary seldom used vehicle. It has 201k miles and hasn’t let me down yet. I’ve owned it for 9 years.

I think I could daily drive it, but the gas mileage is terrible and the AC is too weak for summer. I use it as a work vehicle mostly.

I think older Honda and Toyota (maybe Nissan) 90s cars could be even more reliable than new cars. I mean if I could have a 91 Toyota Camry with 10 miles or a 2021 Toyota Camry with 10 miles, I’d choose the 91 simply for longevity.

 

[Jimmy_Russells]

A modern car becomes unreliable at 80K miles???

No. That's the max mileage I would consider buying if I planned to keep the vehicle another 5-8 years as a daily driver.

 

[IndyIan]

I'm driving my bought new 1996 Ford Contour with the 4 cylinder Zetec and 5 speed manual tranny. I had other vehicles with it over time so it wasn't driven daily. The odometer broke years ago so I'm guessing it has around 180,000 miles, probably more. It runs great other than some creaks and groans. I'd have no problem driving it to Key West from NJ, did it many times already and would do it again. Simple car, not a lot of electronic gadgets to fail.

I saw a Contour last weekend, looked pretty good really. Most of them are long gone around here.

 

[Ignatius]

I have a Model T for a daily driver.

 

[Chris142]

Our fj has 201k on it. We did a 1000 mile trip in it a few weeks ago. Didn't have any problems. My 87 f250 was out trip vehicle before we bought the fj. It's been to the grand canyon,bodie etc.

Did lose an alternator on a trip which I was able to swap out in an orileys parking lot

 

[willbur]

I have had good experience with older vehicle's reliability.

I have 4 Honda Odyssey's: two 2006's, and two 2007's.
The vehicles are very reliable. I maintain them very meticulously.

I estimate I'll be able to get parts for them for another 12 years, after which time, the parts availability will dry up.
I really like that generation Odyssey's luxury (8 soft leather seats), sunroom, Navigation screen, DVD screen for the 2nd and and 3rd row), etc. and these used car prices for these vehicles are low ($4k to $6k) as opposed to $50k for a similarly equipped new one.

I visit the odyclub forum daily, and became knowledgeable on all the issues these van's are likely to have.
At the advise of that forum, I do a 3.3 quart drain/fill of the transmission fluid every 15k miles, as the consensus is if you do that, your transmission will last 300k+ miles in these Odysseys.
I change the oil every 4k/6 months with a full synthetic oil, as these J35 engines with VCM enabled get very hot on the front 3 cylinder heads and can cook the oil.
My vehicles have standard tension piston rings (not low tension piston rings like the newer ones), and they use no oil between oil changes. They don't leak oil at all either. My driveway cement has zero stains.

So my advise to you is visit the forums for the vehicle you are interested in, learn about all the common issues, make a list of them, and then decide if you want to find one with lower miles and in excellent condition.

There are always vehicles where the grand parents are getting too old to drive, and the children are trying to sell the vehicles
(Ex: The 40,000 mile 2011 Toyota Corollas which you see on Craiglist a few times a month).
Be patient, wait for the perfect one to come onto Craigslist, and then be ready to act fast with money in hand and buy the same day
as the cream puffs get sold very fast.

How do the front cylinders get hot when they can pump air during VCM operation?

 

[John105]

Thanks to this thread, 1970’ish Olds Vista Cruisers are turning up in my YouTube feed. Not too shabby! Seems Olds enthusiasts have a love for that wagon. Don’t see the same on the Buick side. I’m realizing this is why we got the Enclave. Not sure if the other models (Chevy GMC Saturn) got the glass roof over the rear.

Sport mirrors?!

 

[SaberOne]

Well, if a vehicle is anything like me, I would say 70-years old.

 

[Kira]

The Oldsmobile Vista Cruiser above has a 350 in it. Is that a SBC? Is it an OSB?
I know the audio isn't high tech but the engine sounds like rattly garbage.

 

[supton]

The Oldsmobile Vista Cruiser above has a 350 in it. Is that a SBC? Is it an OSB?
I know the audio isn't high tech but the engine sounds like rattly garbage.

Olds had their own 350, as did Buick and Pontiac. Different designs. Oddly enough, Chevy and Olds each had their own 307, yet, as the 80's wound down, somehow the Olds 307 got to soldier on, alongside the Chevy 305. Why I don't know. Like the Caprice wagon got Olds 307's and Caprice sedans had Chevy 305's? something like that.

Not sure if that vid has a cam in the motor, but certainly it has a "loud" exhaust. Any rattle might be from the temperature, what with snow on the ground.

 

[SaberOne]

Don't use anything that started in the Iaccoca era as your metric. Don't use anything Chrysler at all....View attachment 166638

I remember those hideous K-cars, and I still get nauseated when I think about them. That period was perhaps the lowest point in American car manufacturing.

 

[John105]

Olds had their own 350, as did Buick and Pontiac. Different designs. Oddly enough, Chevy and Olds each had their own 307, yet, as the 80's wound down, somehow the Olds 307 got to soldier on, alongside the Chevy 305. Why I don't know. Like the Caprice wagon got Olds 307's and Caprice sedans had Chevy 305's? something like that.

Not sure if that vid has a cam in the motor, but certainly it has a "loud" exhaust. Any rattle might be from the temperature, what with snow on the ground.

A 350 would not have an exhaust outlet on the left, and not duals, correct?

Wonder what % had 350, 400, 455. One would think 350 was very common.