Originally Posted by
WhiteRabbit
A couple I'm good friends with has one vehicle pretty much in the the shop all the time. At first I couldn't figure out how they were so rough on them, but after a while I figured it out.
1) They tend to put off routine maintenance as much as possible
2) They ignore small problems until they become big problems
3) They buy the cheapest used cars they can find, rather than the highest quality they can afford.
Personally, I've had mixed experiences with my vehicles, but much better with "foreign":
A 2WD Ford Ranger, needed a new clutch at 40k due to a manufacturing defect, dropped its driveshaft at 80k due to a bad carrier bearing. I sold it after that, but noticed a recall for the driveshaft issue six month later.
A 2WD Toyota SR5 pickup, bought it at 40k, cruise control cable broke at 120k, replaced the clutch at 150k, sold it at 200k after the electrical was fritzed in a hailstorm the shattered all of the glass and melted into the dash.
A Toyota Matrix - Bought new, now has 50k on it. The AC compressor broke at 40k, but was under warranty. So far so good.
I hate to say it, but in my experiences Toyota, Honda, Nissans are the way to go. I currently have a 92 Nissan Stanza take I bought for $700 (im in school, what can I say
)a year and a half ago and it has close to 197,000 miles on it. The only thing I have done to the car mechanically wise is I have to buy a new battery today for it bacause the battery has went bad from not using the car much these past 6 months.
I have owned Fords and Chevys and this is the oldest (except a '51 Plymounth), junkiest car I have owned and so far it has given me the least amount of trouble. Same with my girlfriends Nissan Altima that she has put over 150,000 miles on in 4 year. With no trouble what so ever, except for damage we did in our "drinking days"