Posted on 02/18/2021 10:16:27 AM PST by Red Badger
I have always owned Japanese cars. My first car was a 1973 Toyota Celica, (I loved that car). My current car is a Toyota Rav4 with over 220,000 miles and still going strong, I have never had any major problems with any of my vehicles, but of course I take great care with keeping up with the maintenance.
Yup.It’s pretty simple to keep up with the oil changes, tire rotation, brake pads, etc. Toyotas just last. When I lived in Germany I had a BMW and then a Saab, both were fast and cool, but maintenance-heavy. No more of that.
Everyone is different, but I chose to spend the least amount as possible on vehicles. I have 3 kids to put through college. And though we could easily afford a “luxury” car, I’ll always look for 3 to 5 year-old Toyotas!
Yea, 3/4s of the time there is nothing wrong with the vehicle just some stupid sensor that is malfunctioning. It costs twice as much to replace the sensor that it would have to fix the car.
The place where we buy our hay from still uses a 1940’s Oliver to rake hay and pull haywagons. Green, red wheels and yellow grille.
Whatever Chevy put in the original manufacture. I know exactly why the battery lasted so long. It is located all the way back under the trunk base. Normally it is not visible unless I lift the trunk platform which is a large plastic item. It is the heat from the engine which kills batteries.
In my other car, a small Korean made car under Chevy name Spark, I have glued on insulation sheets around the battery which is located near the engine, to help extend battery life.
Still driving my 2003 Honda Accord.
I bought a 2020 Kia Soul. Apart from the fact that it’s the coolest-looking thing on the road, it’s been totally reliable. I love to drive it.
I always specify synthetic oil for a oil change since the car was new. Zero engine problems. At age 80 I do not bother changing oil myself. The dealer charges $56 (incl tax) for synthetic oil change and they wash my car.
good for you! It feels good to not have a car payment (for me anyway) since 1997!
I will bet you dollar to donuts, since I began buying new American made cars in 1964, My total money spent on cars is way less than yours. I never had a major repair on any of the cars. but then again I have a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from Univ of Iowa, and I always diagnose any issue before taking the car to the dealership. American cars rust less than Japanese cars. And if you can diagnose the problems, they are cheaper to repair. When I heard how much it cost my cousin to replace the alternator on his Japanese cars, I was shocked.
NEVER EVER tell the mechanic to look at your car and diagnose the problem. More often than not, they will inflate the seriousness of issue. There are excellent manuals out there to diagnose car problems. After I diagnose the problem myself, I will tell the order taker exactly what I want repaired.
My 2011 HHR has never had a single issue and it still runs like new. Talk to me when your Kia is 9 years old.
I might be all wet but Toyota has committed to making more EVs each year. That Toyota sinks more research dollars into EVs. Honda makes all sizes of gasoline engines. From lawnmower engines on up. Honda makes diesel engines and diesel automobile. Their research dollars go into perfecting internal combustion engines. To make them More fuel efficient and less polluting.
So last summer I bought a low mileage 2016 Honda car with great MPG. The last thing I want to drive is a plug in EV.
Though hybrids make sense because they use braking to charge the battery. Few hybrids *also* plug into grid A/C, though some do. So hybrids make sense if you live where you will be doing lots of stop and go driving. Such as big cities here and Japan. I hear Japan’s highways are always clogged near the cities. So they invented the hybrid, also to cut down on air pollution from idling gasoline engines. SMART! In heavy stop and go traffic the gasoline engine in a Prius off. The electric motor takes over and is going on and off as you inch along.
China is committed to plug in EVs because it has vast coal reserves
Burn coal>>>> to power EVs
We/USA have vast petroleum reserves to frack>>>> to make gasoline and diesel >>>> to power our vehicles
Neighbor has a 2019 Tesla. It’s been sounding the horn every day for the past couple of weeks, day and night, every 30 minutes or so for about 30 seconds each time. I told him, “Dude, break out your laptop and run a diagnostic on it, maybe it’s crying because it’s cold, put a blanket over it or something...”
He says “they” are trying to fix it online. (wtf?)
Synthetic is okay in the HHR where I mentioned the screens, it's the high-mileage oil that has some additives in it that block those little screens. I change the oil on all my vehicles and use synthetic in them. I can buy high quality filters and Mobil 1 for less than anyone around me can give me a basic oil change (it might cost me the price of the filter over the cost of WM's basic service).
Good for you. They are well built.
Anybody have any experience with a Kia Soul. I drove a secondhand 2007 Hyundai Elantra for 13 years before my 2020 Soul. It had almost 200,000 miles on it with no real problems until the transmission started to slip. I hope my Soul is as good a car as that Elantra. My experience with Hyundai was much better than Honda. All I did was replace brakes and exhaust pipes on those things. Every winter, the Civic’s locks froze. My 1979 Civic was a rust bucket. I only owned it for three years when the rocker panels and floor boards started to rust through. In cold, wet weather it stalled repeatedly.
Wonderful. Thanks for telling me. I fell in love with Olivers 70 years ago.
I want to ask you a question about oil changes. The computer on my Chevy Spark dwindles down oil life remaining too fast in my opinion. When it is down to 0% oil life left according to the car’s computer, I look at the oil dipstick and the oil looks clear and without any carbon and without any burnt oil smell. That was my method in the old days before we had computers telling us when to change the oil. Now that my 3 year-36K miles warranty is expired, my question is, am I doing the wrong thing by postponing oil change?
Tesla resale value must be low as the new owner will have to pay $7,000 to $10,000 for a new battery pack. Plus the design inside and out is boring.
Replacing batteries on any EV car is expensive! I never had to replace engines in my cars since 1964. In Chicago my round trip commute was 70 miles each work day, and my cars would reach 200,000 miles in a hurry.
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