the w123 series of used mercedes diesels, sold new in 1977-85. Easily go 300K+ miles with only routine oil changes. Sometimes they shift funny, or the suspension starts to do funny things, but nothing that any 20+ year old car will do when it has 150K + miles.
You just dont see these cars going to the junkyard with less than 200K. ANd their bodies will rust out before the drivetrain ever wears out.
I have 228K miles, I get 30 mpg, and have never had an issue. Starts up and runs like brand new. The money Ive put into the car has never been because it wouldnt start, because it was unreliable, etc., it was always for something that I wanted to do so I could keep the car looking good, handling good, etc for many years to go.
Plus, with these cars, you know people bought them and took care of them. Cheapo toyotas and hondas are well built cars, but people are buying a cheap car, and a lot of times maintain it that way. I know how the maintenance schedule pricing structure works at the toyota dealer; my father has a 94 previa (another excellent vehicle, bought it new in 94, now has 175k and has never needed anything but routine maintenance, tires and brake pads). If you couldnt aford a better car, chances are you cant afford the maintenance schedule. And in reality, I think car longevity is similar to oil changes: more or less any car can go to 80k miles, similar to any oil going 3k mile OCIs. Its the maintenance schedule (and oil quality, etc in the parallel) that determines how much longer you'll go without expensive issue.
But those w123 mercedes diesels are about the best thing youll find. An engineering marvel when you consider the luxury of this 20+ year old car, the simplicity of it, the ease of working on it, etc. No other cars have a shot when you consider length of future use with a $3000 car; you simply wont find another $3000 car that you can surely drive another 2-300K miles. Send $5000 and youll have a top notch condition CA, FL, AZ, etc. car that quite often look to only be a couple years old in terms of the paint, finish, etc.
JMH
P.S. Your alternator could break, and you could still drive. No issues from spark plugs, wires, ignition coils or distributors, etc. I knew a guy that drove halfway across the country to get home (in daylight hours of course, he didnt have headlights) after his alternator went south.
[ July 23, 2004, 06:49 AM: Message edited by: JHZR2 ]