10 Cars that Refuse to Die

Kiplinger ^ | 7-2010 | Kiplinger

[CORedneck]

Cannot forget the Toyota pickup truck ! I own one with 194,000 miles ! It is 20 years old now and still keeps on going and don’t plan to get rid of it anytime soon !

[tanknetter]

My 1998 with 150,000 on it is doing the death rattle from the catalytic converter.

I think part of my noise problem is piston-slap. Apparently (I'm a lurker out at naxja.org) for the 96s they lined the cylinder walls with teflon, which instead of fixing the issue only exacerbated it.

My cat probably didn't need to be replaced. I got a little over a grand into trial/error fixes when the engine noises started. Went from a broken fan clutch ($400 fix that didn't solve the problem), then to the cat/exhaust ($600 fix that didn't solve the problem), then was told I had a cracked exhaust manifold (price tag was $1000, which resulted in my taking it to get a second opinion), then was told (by a series of mechanics at the second opinion place) that I had a broken manifold gasket ($3 part, $700 labor), a broken transmission (didn't get a price on that), and then either a failing rod bearing and/or main engine bearing (new engine: $4000).

At that point I went for a THIRD opinion. To my Mom's mechanic for the previous 20 years. Who told me NOT to try to drive it up to him (five states away), but that if I was just using it for local travel and could tolerate the noise (and the looks I got for the noise) to run it until whatever it was broke.

Best advice of the lot. Given to me in 2003 with 74k on the odometer. Now 2011 with <120k and it still runs. AND after a hard turn a few months back the noise (which has increased over the years suddenly spiked ... then went away almost entirely. Go figure.

[woodbutcher1963]

I also had two 2.4 liter Volvo’s. The 1976 I called the TANK because it was green and very heavy. It was stolen from the place that was replacing the clutch @ 150K miles.
Then I bought a 1982 that somebody rear ended and the insurance company totaled it , even though it still ran great.

I then bought my first Toyota pickup truck(1988). I sold that at 120K miles. It’s 4 liter engine still ran great. I am now driving a 1999 Toyota V6 pickup. I am up to 99K miles. It is still like new.

[DeFault User]

he recently sold it for 1200 as the floor boards were rusting out. Engine still purring.

A friend in college had a '58 Mercedes diesel which had over 500k on it. It was a nice roomy sedan with all the pickup and speed of a VW Bug but it had served him well for years. Somewhat inebriated he called me one night to come pick him up. Seems as he put the clutch down, the floorboard fell out of the car. Floorboards are evidently a major fault with Mercedes. ;o)

[flowerplough]

“10 Cars That Refuse To Run
Our contribution would be: Volvo turbo station wagon, Volvo turbo sedan, VW Jetta, and Toyota minivan.”

Our ‘01 Jetta w/ 2.0 two valve treats us so well we bought another, a ‘08 2.5. And a Toyota van gave you trouble!?

[sleddogs]

Wrong after years of Olds 98’s I got my wife a 2003 Crown Victoria out of MO. She loves it.

I like her driving good safe cars. The last Olds was rear ended this past winter by a garbage truck on I-80 in Clevland. There were 3 ladies in the car and all walked away. Olds was totaled in the back & front.

[jennings2004]

1990 Olds Cutlass—great car, wish I had never gotten rid of it
1997 Astro van—still runs like a top w/~278,000 miles on it
2004 Toyota Camry—runs better every day...150,000 miles..made a big difference when I put the new Michelin tires on it...they are the best tires I have ever purchased

[right way right]

Don’t ever buy a Cadillac with a northstar engine.

Notorious headgasket problems because of design flaw with the headbolts. It’ll cost you 5k to get it fixed.

Cad engineers should walk into the ocean and drown themselves.

Also, stay away from 6.0 ford diesels unless you like smoke and spending money.

[sleddogs]

And it is definitely a muscle car with the Police Interceptor P71 package.

[woodbutcher1963]

I think the Toyota pickup is not listed because the 1980’s models beds all rusted out along the seem on the side of the bed. I owned a 1988. At a lot of the car shows they have the best Toyota home made bed contests/awards.
Then from 1995-2005 they had the recall on the frame rusting out. I presently own a 1999. I have had both sides of the frame repaired. However, Toyota bought most of these back at Kelly Blue Book full retail x 1.5. I have my letter in my safe stating they will buy mine(I am the original owner) within 12 years of the original sale @ KBB full retail x 1.50.

Also, don’t forget the Toyota Tacoma is The Official Vehicle of the Taliban.

[IYAS9YAS]

AND after a hard turn a few months back the noise (which has increased over the years suddenly spiked ... then went away almost entirely. Go figure.

Well, with your description of the belly pan, maybe it was a chunk of it caught somewhere rattling, and it finally fell out with the hard turn.

I'm going to have to dive into the front-end, I hit a bump yesterday on my commute (same bump every day) and the whole front-end shimmied and it felt like a tire was just bouncing - maybe just the shocks finally going (or maybe I knocked a wheel-weight off, but it didn't really do much except when driving over the bumps), but for about $150 and my time under the front-end, I can replace all the rubber bushings, another $80 for decent shocks, and then to the alignment shop. The stock rubber is basically shot, and I don't want to waste time/money on the alignment without replacing the bushings first.

[Free Vulcan]

Nothing about Buicks? I got a 1997 Buick Park Avenue with over 200K and gets 35+ miles to the gallon on the highway. Like one guy I know said: Buicks don’t get broke in good till 250K miles.

His went over 500K before it dropped. Most of the time the body falls apart around the engine and transmission, which is basically what happened to my Buick Century, my last car. I think it had 215K before I had to give it up and it ran wonderful till the day I sent it to the scrap yard.

[IYAS9YAS]

Whoops, sorry, that wasn’t your belly-pan, that was jwalsh07.

[Wierzbowski]

My 1998 with 150,000 on it is doing the death rattle from the catalytic converter. I'm thinking new exhaust

My wife's 98 Cherokee got the cat rattle at about 150,000 miles as well. I bought a new Magnaflow cat on e-bay for about $80 and had it installed by a local exhaust shop. Cost me about $150 all told.

The guy at the shop told me that the baffles inside the cat wear thin over time and will break off and rattle around inside the cat. Just replace the cat and you should be fine.

[databoss]

82 Benz td runs forever...325k....can run on French fry oil....30 mpg

[afraidfortherepublic]

We still have one of our 1994 Chrysler LHSs and drive it weekly. It has about 225k miles on it and a couple of rust holes in the left rear quarter panel. It has never been garaged and stayed outdoors through all those Wisconsin winters. We sold the other LHS when we replaced it with a 2003 Cadillac.

I loved those Chrysler LHSs. They are/were nearly as well appointed as a Caddy. The leather seats were better. We maintained them well, and did not give up on them through several transmission and AC replacements. The one we still have uses no oil and still gets the same gas mileage it did when it was new. I just don't trust it on a long trip.

We recently bought another Cadillac (we have to have front whell drive) -- a 2008 with only 18,000 miles on it. The poor old Chrysler will be donated to charity, but I hate to see it go.

I swear that if I could find another one with low, low mileage on it, I'd buy it. I still think that it was one of the prettiest cars on the road.

[chesley]

I love my Jeep, beart up as it is. I’ll be sorry when we have to junk it

[SoCal Pubbie]

My brother owned a Fiat 500 back in the early sixties. In fact he had two of them.

At the same time.

[afraidfortherepublic]

Better pictre:

[The Sons of Liberty]

)Ford Crown Victoria/Mercury Marquis 1992 - 2011

These shouldn't be counted because they are only driven a couple of times a week by super-senior citizens, and NEVER more than 35-40 MPH.