Still own an old car you bought new?

[Falcon_LS]

Just wondering how many people still hold onto vehicles they bought brand new, and what their ownership experiences have been like over the years.

I bought my 2000 Montero in late October 1999, and it's still going strong. Haven't had any major repairs, until I decided to go overboard with the infamous oil burning issue at 177,000 miles in September '09.

Decided to take the cylinder heads off and replace the valves, guides, head gasket, etc. whilst I was at it, but went with aftermarket valves and guides (Beck/Arnley), which resulted in problems later on. The guy at the machine shop told me to hang onto my OE valves, and said my guides didn't require replacement. But I went with them anyway.

In January, I had problems with the engine stalling, poor performance, and lower compression in all cylinders (especially #3), which adding oil did not solve. So off came the cylinder heads for the second time, and some of the valves were actually burnt. The guides also had excessive wear with just over 20,000 miles on them, and had to be replaced. Sorted this out 6,000 miles ago in June (at 198,000 miles) and she's been running beautifully ever since. Only other thing I did was replace the passenger side exhaust manifold, as it has a hairline crack.

As far as body work is concerned, it's been involved in two accidents. The rear bumper had to be replaced in May 2002 after I got rear ended, and the right rear fender needed repair when some idiot drove into it at a supermarket parking lot (hit and run). I also had the hood painted because of chips in the paintwork.

Everything else is all original and it's only seen routine maintenance. It might not be much to look at, and the driving experience might not be anything to brag about, but build quality is really up there and it's one reliable truck. I think this pretty much goes for all 1990s trucks.

 

[fdcg27]

We bought our Aerostar new, and had it for thirteen years and one month, and 176K.
I did very little to it over the years other than normal maintenance.
We have owned the '99 Accord from new, and it has also needed little more than normal maintenance in 133K.
I think buying new, giving it decent care, and keeping it a long time is the most economical way to have a reliable vehicle for many years and miles.

 

[David S.]

My wife and I are still driving a 1993 Saturn SL2 5-speed we bought on 14 Nov 1992. As of this posting we've had this car a little over 18 years and driven it about 191K.

The driver's door winder regulator began failing when the car was maybe 10 years old - replaced it myself. The AC compressor failed when the car was maybe 15 years old - got it plus other AC parts replaced, converted from R12 to R134a, AC worked for a month and then failed again (and remains out of commission). The headliner began sagging - I replaced it using headliner fabric from JoAnne Fabrics and 3M spray adhesive from Home Depot. Other than that just normal maintenance.

Lots of parts on the car are still original such as timing chain, clutch, starter, belt tensioner, idler pulley, etc. Thank heavens the air bag is still original too.

No door dings, dents, or visible rust. When I wash and wax the car it still shines like it did when it was new. We're still getting close to 40 MPG and the insurance is dirt cheap.

My only regret is when we bought the car that I didn't pay the dealership $100 to upgrade to a leather wrapped steering wheel. Years later I bought one and had trouble because a PepBoys employee told me to buy and use a gear puller to remove the steering wheel which promptly cracked the steering wheel right where one of the two threaded holes for a steering wheel puller would attach, so I couldn't use a steering wheel puller at that point (the correct tool I should have been sold and used in the first place). So I spent hours with a Dremel getting the old steering wheel off before installing the replacement steering wheel. Oh, and now I have a steering wheel puller tool set in my tool collection!

 

[Pablo]

IF I buy a car NEW, I drive it into the ground.

Weird thing, I don't consider my 1996 Volvo "old", but apparently since you used 1999 in your example, my 850 qualifies.

This car has had the usual Volvo khrap go bad, but the basic drive train has been excellent - one reason I had them find me a rare MT. I'm just gonna keep up the basic maintenance until something expensive or my mind snaps.

 

[01rangerxl]

My parents buy new and keep some vehicles a long time. They bought a 1986 Ranger new and kept it for 13 years. It looked a little rough due to no clearcoat and minimal cleaning, but it still ran and drove great. It never needed anything but an ignition switch and regular maintenance. It was sold because my sister needed a car and didn't want to drive the manual transmission truck. It stayed on the road a while afterwards (saw it again around 2005), and may still be running today for all I know.

They also bought a 1993 Nissan Quest van new in 1992. My parents wanted a Ford minivan, but they wanted front wheel drive and something more car-like than the Aerostar. A Quest was the closest they could get at the time. It was a nice van...Maxima running gear and lots of Ford influence. It was trouble free for a while, even after being rear ended at 35 MPH by a Jeep Grand Cherokee (the van drove away, the Jeep didn't). Once it got to about 9-10 years old, it started needing a lot of little things like motor mounts and sensors. Nothing major at all though. The only things I hated about it were the stupid automatic front seat belts, and the rear A/C broke just out of warranty and the dealer wanted $800 to fix it. I think it had about 135K miles when my parents traded it in on the truck that I own now.

 

[refaller]

I agree with Pablo. I don't consider my 2000 CRV with 140,000 miles old. It has been the car I have had the longest (I am not that old though). Every now and then I get the new car itch, but I think I am going to cry when I get rid of it. I hate crying so I will just keep it. Hard to beat having a reliable car that costs nothing. I do keep the oil and transmission fluid changed regularly, but little else. Plus, I am fairly abusive in hauling things. Little things keeps kicking and I get about 23mpgs average.

ref

 

[mongo161]

Still driving my 4Runner. This vehicle has been the best that I've owned in my life and I've had quite a few since the early 1970's. Bought it new at the dealership and it has never let me down. Low maintenance and dependable. I've got nothing but praise for Toyota and the 4Runner.

I had a 1987 Grand Marquis LS prior to the 4Runner. Great engine but the rest was total garbage. I was always replacing something on that car. I rode it into the ground and moved on.

 

[Burt]

My windstar is chugging along at 160k. Has been a totally acceptable car despite its reputation. No problems with head gasket or transmission. Flushed the AT fuild every 30-40k. Major expenses were intake gasket at 50k, about three engine management gismos at 136k and recently a fuel pump. We don't drive it much as a second car, but do enjoy its lumbering ride and utility. Trying to decide if I should do some preventive maintenance like replace the water pump, alternator or power steering pump. If I do it myself in the cool winter its cheaper than having it fail during the beastly hot summer and paying someone else to do.

 

[Bama]

Bought the Camry new in May of 1990. Approaching 269K miles and 21yrs. The wife & kids had it for the first 10 years/100K, I've been driving it to work & back since January of 2000. It has mostly just needed the usual wear/maintenance stuff, tires, brakes, batteries, mufflers, timing belts, water pumps. I replaced the radiator a couple years ago after smelling coolant and seeing a small leak at the seam of the upper tank. I've had to replace a half-shaft a couple of times after a torn cv boot, and it is on its third alternator. While I was in the hospital awhile last summer, my wife took it & had a bad compressor seal replaced and had the a/c system converted to 134A/recharged. I think I am about to replace the distributor, it is the original. I had it off the car a couple of weeks ago replacing the external shaft o-ring to see if that would stop/slow an oil leak from the distributor. While I had it off, I noticed some cracks in the coil(no symptoms yet), and oil inside the distributor indicating that the internal distributor shaft bearing seal is bad. There's a rebuild kit available with new bearing, internal shaft seal, o-ring, and cap gasket, but it involves pressing/drilling out the pin that holds the drive fork to the shaft. From what I've read, this pin is what has caused some folks who went this route grief. After looking at the cost of the rebuild kit along with new cap/wires/rotor and coil, it's getting pretty close to what a whole new distributor can be had for online and a new unit would make for a lot simpler push/pull replacement. Putting it all down here at once, it seems like a lot of stuff, but I think it all could reasonably be considered normal wear and tear. It's funny, but I think the last set of tires I put on this past fall exceeded the book-value of the car. Luckily I still like it, it drives good and is comfortable, like an old pair of well broken-in shoes. I really, really want to make 300K miles with it, and at this point I've got a kind of morbid curiosity to see just how long I can go with it. All in all I'd have to say that this car has been better to me than I have been to it.

 

[opus1]

All of 'em....

Seriously, my family buys new and hangs on to the vehicle until it's not drivable for whatever reason. On average, we get rid of our vehicles between 11 and 15 years of age.

My first car was my Mom's '75 Impala, which she didn't need after Dad bought her the '86 Caprice. I'm counting that car since I was still living with them at the time, so it was the same household. It was stolen and stripped for parts, so the insurance co. totaled it at 13 years of age. I replaced it with a '79 Impala that I bought used, drove until '89, gave it to my sister when I bought my '89 S-15 Jimmy, then she gave it back to me and I drove it for another year or so. Dad held on to his '80 AMc Concord until '93 when he bought the Ranger, which I still have. I kept the Jimmy until 2001, Mom Kept the Caprice until 2001, and so on.

It's tough to not trade in every couple of years. Right now, I wouldn't mind having a Honda Element, Mitsubishi Outlander Sport, Kia Soul, or Chevy HHR. But I can't/won't add to the fleet and am not ready to get rid of anything right now since I'm not "done" with them yet...

 

[powayroger]

First of all, I tend to own my vehicles till they have at least 150,000 miles on them. Common for me to hit 200,000 before I sell them.

Currently I have 3 vehicles that I bought new-

01 Chevy 2wd Silverado with 94,000 miles on it (Mileage is low due to in not being my commute vehicle any more). Great vehicle. Very minor work. Had a transmission seal replaced less than 1000 miles ago, and that has been it. Taken it on the back roads of Death Valley and the eastern sierras (Along with the back roads of Southern Califonia. It’ll be a sad day when I get rid of this.

08 Honda Civic with 44,000 miles on it. It’s my commuter vehicle. From 500’ to 4300’ daily. 81 miles a day on mountain roads. Great vehicle, other than having to get the driver’s seat replaced 3 times so far (Fighting with Honda right now about that. 3 fixes under 18 months makes it a lemon. I want Honda, not to buy it back, as the lemon law states, but to give me a 150,000mile/10 year warranty). Mileage is still low so no major problems have shown up. If it stays that way, I’ll have this vehicle for a long time.

99 Ford Contour with 90,000 miles with plans on buying a replacement vehicle in 2011 (Assuming I still have a job). Because of Ford’s unwillingness to stand behind a recall (Safety defect-The dash warps up, interfering with visibility and how the defroster works), it’ll be a cold day in [censored] before I buy another Ford. Ford believes that one recall over this issue is enough, but it was apparent within 1 month of the new dash, that Ford had not fix the manufacturing flaw in this dash. Ford doesn’t care, so screw them and I will bad mouth Ford for this as much as I can and wherever I can. I want people to know that Ford does not stand behind their product. Other than that, if we didn’t have this dash issue would I buy this vehicle again? Probably not. Had the timing chain break at 55,000. Dealer was very surprised about that.

 

[parimento1]

1997 Toyota Avalon 180K miles. Almost everything under the hood and suspension has been replaced aside from the engine. It has been in more minor accidents than I can remember, but none were serious, so I fixed and continue to drive it daily.

 

[N3OO]

Just sold my 1980 FORD LTD SW full sized 8 passenger ....bought new with price of $9663 ....351 W with 5speed overdrive and variable venturi carb gave great gas mileage. Garage kept since new, oil changed every 3k....mint condx , no touch up or repaint or putty.....show room new @ 131k miles true highway. Beautiful light pine color. Needed nutt'n front to back , top to bottom.
Taken up too much room in garage so put it on Craigslist asking $2500....sold it for $2k.
BOB in PA

 

[Burt]

Originally Posted By: N3OO
Just sold my 1980 FORD LTD SW full sized 8 passenger ....bought new with price of $9663 ....351 W with 5speed overdrive and variable venturi carb gave great gas mileage. BOB in PA


5 speed automatic in 1980? I think not.

 

[N3OO]

Originally Posted By: Burt
Originally Posted By: N3OO
Just sold my 1980 FORD LTD SW full sized 8 passenger ....bought new with price of $9663 ....351 W with 5speed overdrive and variable venturi carb gave great gas mileage. BOB in PA


5 speed automatic in 1980? I think not.


Bingo....4 speed ....me bad.

 

[GMBoy]

My first car ever was a 1978 Jeep CJ7, which I bought used and rusted. Fully restored 2x and I still have it today. My first NEW car bought just out of high school was a 1987 Buick Grand National - which I still have today with just under 50k miles on her. I still have my first new Corvette, a 1994 LT-1 in Admiral Blue. I tend to keep cars, too. Aggravates my wife LOL!

 

[DavidZ28]

1998 S10 ext cab ZQ8 susp pkg. 142K mi on it. Special ordered May '98 GM went on strike that summer and didn't know if it was going to be a '98 or '99 model, or going to be built at all. It did get built and I took delivery late Aug '98. Have run through the gamut of typical GM replacement items. Fuel pump, A/C comp, water pump, intake gaskets, radiator, alternator. Has been on a steady diet of Mobil 1 since 10K with strict oci's every 5K. Plan on keeping it to at least 200K.

 

[eljefino]

In 1995 I was a carless college student and got a ride from Mass to Maine in a buddy's new Saturn SW2 so I could work my summer job.

Fast forward, my Grandma died, cars were shuffled within the family, I got a car, graduated, moved here, job, wife, house, kids, and a remarkably similar saturn daily driver, and a bunch more for repair/amusement/flipping.

Said buddy hits 275k on his car (and original clutch) and asks who my mechanic is. I tell him I have to look at him in the mirror. Then I put the clutch in for him. Full circle!

 

[Ausfahrt]

This website is devoted to those of us that want to take care of our vehicles so that they last a long time. But this thread is only two pages long after nearly a month. If this had been a thread about whether castroline is better than mobizoil it would have been 10+ pages!

So this begs the question: Why do we obsess over taking care of our vehicles for the long term when we generally only keep them for the short term?

 

[AuthorEditor]

bigdreama I think a lot of us buy used, so we didn't chime in.

I got a ride home from a mechanic I use and he said he buys new and drives the car almost into the ground. Gets rid of it when he can still get a big of trade in on the next new car. He sees it all in his shop and he just doesn't trust buying someone's used car. His current ride is a Honda Civic.