Curious... What are you basing 100K on?
There is not a lot of real world data because the cars are relatively new, but battery degredation seems to be 5% per 100K miles.
Thanks in advance!
What Do You Think About Long-Term (20+ Years) Ownership Potential Of Modern Cars?
- Thread starter Msmith68w
- Start date
There is not a lot of real world data because the cars are relatively new, but battery degredation seems to be 5% per 100K miles.
Thanks in advance!
I'm honestly partial to older cars, but the time will come when I will need to buy something new. It's already getting to a point where a lot of manufacturers are discontinuing parts for a lot of older models.
While technology has certainly come a long way, cars are becoming harder work on with everything crammed tightly together under the hood. Not to say all older cars are much easier to work on, just try replacing an EGR valve on a Nissan 300ZX for instance, or a PCV valve on an early 90s Mitsubishi Montero. But when that's taken a step further, where you have to "unmarry" an old part and "marry" a new one using a high end scan tool, the cost of special tools and the extra time it takes isn't exactly appealing. Couple that with so many new parts these days being garbage right out the box, OE or aftermarket, and that certainly creates a problem. With a lot of automakers pushing "lifetime" this and "lifetime" that, it's almost as if you're just having the replace the entire car once the warranty expires. The term "disposable" doesn't really sit all that well with me.
While technology has certainly come a long way, cars are becoming harder work on with everything crammed tightly together under the hood. Not to say all older cars are much easier to work on, just try replacing an EGR valve on a Nissan 300ZX for instance, or a PCV valve on an early 90s Mitsubishi Montero. But when that's taken a step further, where you have to "unmarry" an old part and "marry" a new one using a high end scan tool, the cost of special tools and the extra time it takes isn't exactly appealing. Couple that with so many new parts these days being garbage right out the box, OE or aftermarket, and that certainly creates a problem. With a lot of automakers pushing "lifetime" this and "lifetime" that, it's almost as if you're just having the replace the entire car once the warranty expires. The term "disposable" doesn't really sit all that well with me.
Hindsight is a big word when attempting to keep an old car on the road. When the engine and transmission issues start, you find yourself wishing you'd just spent the money (and found the storage space) to buy a long block and extra transmission when they were available, so that you don't have to go down the rebuilding road when one / both takes a dump. But it's hard to think about that stuff when the car is new, because you never know if you're going to keep it or not. I'd love to get my hands on a factory fresh engine for my '85 Laser. It runs fine, but it's got 150,000 miles on it. I'm on borrowed time, and a crate engine sure would be nice to have right about now. As far as keeping the rest of the car roadworthy, you have to cross your fingers and get on RockAuto, or the like. Sometimes you can depend on the local shops to help you out with obscure stuff that the OEM has long since stopped selling. My local Pep Boys actually found both rear calipers for my Fiero sitting in their Dallas warehouse, gathering dust. It can be done, but it's a lot of legwork sometimes. It's kind of sad that they're making new cars so difficult to diagnose and work on. Weekends spent fixing the car is becoming a lost pasttime.
Batteries deteriorate with age as well as use and charge/discharge cycles. It's unlikely a lithium-ion battery pack will last 20 years. (I personally would not buy an electric car.)
If you plan on keeping a car 20 years and are anywhere near the rust belt you need to be proactive about it and use anti rust products underneath. Yes, they’ve made a lot of progress at the factory but a good way to check things is to get under your vehicle and see what’s happening. If you see any rust on your brake lines it would be a good idea to spray them every year with a rust inhibitor. Here’s is a shot of 16 year old brake lines in an area with occasional brine use on the highway.
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If your car didn’t sell at least 500k worldwide of that model and generation, take a pass. If the car is fun/cool/great/sentimental I recommend you buy two of them and expect one of the two will be inoperable 2 months of the year total as you hunt for parts.
Emphasis on "anywhere near" because yeah car's typically don't rust in the DC area, but that's mostly because most people here don't keep cars long enough for the relatively low amount of rust we get here to accumulate enough become an issue. Try driving a car here for 25-30 years on salted roads and don't do anything to rustproof it and see what happens. I had holes in my 25 year old beater when I got rid of it in 2020. Nowhere near as bad as what you see in the rust belt, but annoying and some of it was in the strut towers.
The biggest problem is you can’t swap electronic parts from one car to another. A cooler gauge cluster from a car isn’t plug and play anymore, as it needs to be programmed to the car. So, things that are required to make a car operate going dark could be the end of the car, even if it is a desert cherry with lotsa good parts.
I have a '93 Tercel that's reached 364,000km - we've had it off the road for a few months and now I'm losing access to storage so I think it might be time to sell it off (or even give it away). I wish I could keep it forever, as it's so easy and cheap to fix. Having said that, I've noticed parts are starting to become more scarce - I had to replace the distributor and found that they don't make them anymore and the only other options are garbage remans or used from the junkyard. I suppose if the wrong part quit it might be the end. It's also hard to find tires in the Tercel size nowadays.
It's time for a timing belt again and there are a few oil leaks to fix - I'd like to see it keep going so if I'm going to get rid of it I'll probably do those and find someone who needs cheap transportation.
Moving onwards, our 2005 CR-V is about to turn over 300,000km and is still in great shape so we'll see if we can get it to 400K! I am not sure I could do the work on newer stuff......
It's time for a timing belt again and there are a few oil leaks to fix - I'd like to see it keep going so if I'm going to get rid of it I'll probably do those and find someone who needs cheap transportation.
Moving onwards, our 2005 CR-V is about to turn over 300,000km and is still in great shape so we'll see if we can get it to 400K! I am not sure I could do the work on newer stuff......
This.
Old cars become "unrepairable" due to rust, and parts being obsolete. Newer cars seem more resistant to corrosion, but their lifecycle is now determined not only by parts availability, but software limitations as well. We all know how that goes with modern electronics. Enthusiast cars likely have a better chance of sticking around longer, due to owners seeking out solutions to keep them running (obtaining software programs, and offering module rebuilding services) but for your average everyday grocery getter that probably won't be the case.
