Cars last longer than they used to. When I was a kid it was considered good if you got 100,000 miles out of a car. People expect and get at least twice that now.
That’s very true about cars lasting much longer these days. With electronic fuel control it is easy and reasonably cheap to keep an old car running well, and by using synthetic oil, it will have good compression well past 200K.
And cars are unaffordable.
Cars are also loaded up with technology that is either required by the government or by influential safety ratings. For example, the government requires tire pressure monitors (people are thought to be too irresponsible to check their tire pressure). All this stuff costs money.
My GMC 2004 Yukon has 216,000 miles on it.
If you can afford the money pit maintenance cost to much electronic garbage the fails at a high rate of speed it’s much more cheaper to buy a restored car with up grades it last as long and cheaper.
After market parts are far more superior to OME parts remember all new cars parts are made by the lowest bidder.
Don’t know your age, but when I was a kid, we expected that & much more out of a car that was maintained.
I have a 1979 Buick—bought used in August 1981 with 55,000 miles on it. Now has 218,000 +++ Don’t drive every day-—but no problems. Can still get parts-—and repairs are not difficult.
Bought a 1976 1 ton dually Chevy truck in April of 1984 with 90,000 miles on it. IT now has over 348,000, and I still use it, towing horse trailer.
I have no intention of buying anything else.
NO ONE was earning the normal amount of $$$$$—so who is going to buy a ‘new car’???
Yup, that’s what was going to say. Cars would either rust out or be blowing tons of blue smoke or both at 100k. Now they can go up to 300k and even beyond. Our 2001 F150 has 274k and still runs and drives good. I’m just starting to have to work on it. Needs new coil packs as three have gone bad. Needs shocks. Just replaced some suspension/steering parts and got an alignment.
I don’t think we’ve bought a vehicle with less than 100k in 15 years. We’re poor and I can fix them so we buy what some people would consider to be junkers.
I was out in my field planting a persimmon tree and a guy stopped and offered to buy my truck. The truck is a 1993 Ford Ranger with 257,000 miles on it. I told him no.