My experience with vehicles over the last 40 years

[mrvmax]

Thoughts on vehicles I have owned over the last 40 years.
I have owned 32 vehicles (as far as I can recall) over the last 40 years, 13 of those were bought new from the dealer. I have owned motorcycles, cars, trucks and SUV’s. I have owned Kawasaki, Suzuki, Yamaha, Buick, GMC, Nissan, Honda, Subaru, Mercury, Toyota, Saturn, MG, Ford and Lexus. Maybe more, I probably forgot some.

My 2007 Honda Accord SE V6 was the best so far with only a battery change in 100k miles. At 100k I took it to the dealer for timing belt and water pump. It came back from the dealer with an oil leak and I got mad and sold it to a friend. His daughter drove it for 15k and it developed a valve cover leak. He decided to change the spark plugs and found #1 plug stripped. Looking back it was the dealer that did it. I replaced the plugs twice on that car in the 100k I owned it (not that it needed it but I like ot do that stuff) and I am 100 certain the threads were good. He said the valve train was super clean, I stated using synthetic at 1000 miles and changed the oil and filter very 3k on it. The V6 felt like it had plenty of power for any situation, passing at 70 mph was no issue.

Subaru’s were the worst with problems with 3 out of 4 brand new ones I bought.

The Lexus drove the best, the Grand Marquis was a close second in ride quality. My 4Runners will most likely take the place of most reliable but I need to get another 50-60k on them to compare. I was disappointed in the 21 Tacoma TRD Off Road I bought new. The auto transmission would search constantly for the right gear and it just felt small compared to my 19 4Runner. So, I traded it for the 23 4Runner.

I miss my OBS Powerstrokes, I wish I would have kept my 96 F350 four door long bed. I bought that used when there was no ultra low sulfur diesel and diesel was $1 a gallon. It got a consistent 17 mpg as long as I kept it under 65. I could drive it pedal to the floor or baby it and as long as it was under 65 the mileage was the same. I backed into a Corolla into a parking lot, pushed up the Corolla onto the sidewalk and could not even feel it. I heard what sounded like an aluminum can crushing and looked back to see I had hit it. One time it developed a leak on a plug on the back of the head on the passenger side. I guess International used that for something that Ford did not need. They red loctite those at the factory and it is a beas to get out. No room for a wrench between it and the firewall. I got it and sure enough the o-ring was bad. Oil pours out of those when there is a leak. FYI an IDI starter will not work on these. Oreilly gave me the wrong one and it ate the teeth off the flex plate. They paid for that repair.

Auto prices have gotten outrageous, if you are buying new, research and buy the best you can and keep it. Selling it every few years is throwing away money. I have thrown a lot away over the years. If you want a new truck, wait until later this year to buy. I think oil prices will spike and gas will too. If that happened there will be deals on new and used trucks, nobody will want them for a while and every dealer will be trying to dump them.

I may buy one more new car before I die, right now I am considering a hybrid Corolla for retirement. I will keep my two 4Runners and have that to travel in and run errands. I would buy a Tesla but I am unsure of how long Tesla will be around.

My last used purchase may be a motorcycle or classic car when i retire. I may pick up a used truck if gas prices skyrocket. I would like an older Dodge or Ford with the V10 or maybe even an Excursion with the V10. If I can find a good used one with under 150k on it.

So what have you owned? What was best and what was worst? Which one kept you alive in accidents? I have never been in an accident so I cannot tell you that out of what i have owned. What would you buy again?

 

[Capt W]

Interesting breakdown with a similar ownership timeline, as I am 56 and bought my first car at 16. I've owned 43 cars over that span (mostly cheaper cars in my youth), but have significantly mellowed with regard to car purchases over the past few decades and am wholly committed to keeping what I have for the foreseeable future. My last two new car purchases were in 2009 and 2014 (a Charger R/T and Town & Country, respectively), both of which were cash deals. We still have the Charger with 44K miles and we passed the T&C to a family member.

While there were far too many to detail here, the best vehicle I ever owned was a base model 4-cylinder 2005 Caravan I bought new while TDY in San Antonio. It stickered for a hair over $20K, but was featured during a President's Day sale for $13,995. We kept that van for just over 20 years and 265K miles with nothing more than regular maintenance. Aside from a few early warranty claims, I performed every bit of maintenance myself, including three timing belt/water pump jobs. We raised all three of our kids with that van as the primary hauler; they were quite upset when we finally sold it for $1500.

Being stationed in the St. Louis area for 7+ years took a real toll on the rockers, causing four very large rust holes. After years of looking for a viable replacement, I finally found a base model 2007 van (also a 4-cylinder) in San Jose last fall. As luck would have it, the van was very close to our oldest son's duty station, so we flew out and drove it home. It's an 80K-miler one owner for which we gave $4600. No rot and low miles means it'll be in the stable for a long, long while.

My daily driver is an '86 Daytona I found in Virginia while TDY. It was a neglected non-runner that cost me more to ship than the meager purchase price. It was a 44K-mile one-owner that quickly became a good runner (new timing belt and logic module). Over the past 15 years I used Rock Auto parts to refresh virtually everything on the car, to include ice-cold A/C. I could drive it across the country today with no concerns.

I'm obviously well past the point of caring what others think. I'll keep driving my old stuff with their negligible insurance premiums while saving my money. The ability to repair and maintain my own fleet is obviously a key factor in this strategy.

Over such a long time period, we all have a car or two we wish we hadn't sold (in retrospect). For me, the first was a 1972 Malibu "Heavy Chevy," orange with a 307 and three-speed manual (on the tree). It was very cool in how plain it was, except for the color and decals. The other was a 1987 Taurus MT-5 sedan. Slow as molasses, but did OK with the 5-speed and was just a super comfortable car that got impressive gas mileage for the size of the car. There were others, but these are the ones I'd really like back.

At 56, a new car is not in the equation. If the need arises, I can rebuild what I have. And living back in TX means rot isn't an issue.

And like any other car nut, there are a few models I'm always seeking: a first-gen ('84-'86) Chrysler minivan (wood grain and stick-shift preferred) and an early-80s Camaro or Firebird with the Iron Duke 4-cylinder (these were so underpowered and dumb that I have to have one...if that makes sense).

Nice topic!

 

[Pew]

Almost a car a year, that's crazy. I'm on my third car in 16 years of driving, an Evo, mk3 focus, and now the cx5; only buying them when something catastrophic happens and repairing costs way more than the value of the car (blown engine in Evo x2 and focus.). Four cars if including my mom's minivan when I started driving lol. Five if including my sister's fusion I used for three months after the focus blew it's engine.

What I would choose again, when including today's cost of gas and such would be the focus. Three spark plugs and simple to work with since drivetrain parts are majorally mk1 focus. I still like the features of the cx5 but seeing how gas prices are I miss having 40mpg. I miss having a sedan and will probably go back once this cx5 dies.

 

[Capt W]

Just a different world these days. In the 80s and 90s, $500-$1000 cars were a dime-a-dozen.

 

[supton]

I'm almost 50 and I've owned 8 cars. 3 more if I add in the ones the wife had while married. I'm feeling behind...

I managed to own a VW for 11 years / 300k. I kinda miss it but I was also plugging rust holes on it--I should have kept it, but it would be gone by now. I do miss the 99 Camry that my daughter flipped & walked away from, that car was bought cheaply and then run cheaply; probably my best vehicle of the lot.

 

[Allaned]

I'm different as a keeper of cars longer. In 44 years, I've bought 6 new ones and still have the last one I bought in 2017, I did buy a few used ones for my children as needed.

But I am not a big driver. My commute to work was 6 miles. We made maybe one or two long distance trips/year (those would be 700 miles one way). I see people putting 150,000 miles on a vehicle in a few years: must be long commutes or using the vehicle needed for work. I was never in that category.

 

[Zee09]

I have lived the OPs life but with a bit more cars...my only vice....