I have a work truck issued by my company, but my personal dailys are
2005 Chevy Trail Blazer. with like 140k on it, factory engine, Water pump and starter have been replaced.
2004 Ford F150 4x4. With a small lift and slightly oversized tires. I bought it for like 4k from my wife's car lot about 6 years ago, maybe 2 years ago, it developed a pretty nasty knock. I spent about 7K replacing the engine with a new one with warranty.

The body, suspension, interior and electronics are good on both with only minor blemishes or minor issues.
Both are operate as they should and are dependable.

I figure unless they get wrecked, I can put a new engine or transmission in either for way less that I'd spend finding a replacement vehicle and gambling on its reliability. I don't race, hot rod, do burn outs, neutral drops or any other destructive bs to my vehicles and I maintain them well, so they should last awhile.

IF I were to replace either of them, I don't see anything on the market that I'd want to replace them with.  Especially, not with what a car pmnt, taxes and ins would cost...  Both of these have been paid of for 4 or 5 years now.  I've grown fond of no payments on them.

I have used a classic car as a daily; the short answer is: no. The maintenance is easier to do yourself, but there's a lot of it. Those classics aren't in as good a shape as you think they are. You buy a car from the 60s now and it's going to be a mess one way or another.

There are middle solutions, but not for some. This region is known as the "rust belt" for a damned good reason. I have a 10 year old Michigan car that has more rust than my ~50 year old Texas car did when I had the bodywork done on it. Shit inside my house and garage rusts, and it isn't being sprayed with brine for 1/3 of the year.


If you want a legit, easier/cheaper-to-maintain DD without the dumb tech, find a rust free model of an older car that isn't a collectible. Buy a 20 year old Trailblazer with an I6 or something from the 90s with TBI fuel system.

I DD an 05 CRV if I’m not in my work truck. 260k on it and I’ll keep driving it until the wheels fall off. We keep my wife in a nicer newer car so the kids are safe. Current wife’s ride is a 2020 Subaru Ascent.

My fleet is a 98 accord 5 speed manual with 255k miles, still runs and drives great. Easy to throw the dogs in to take to the park or vet, use it to get around town to my various customers and I take the mileage for tax purposes. Vehicle literally costs me pennies on the dollar to drive/maintain.

Wife drives a 2002 Acura TL type S with 125K that I put a new transmission in at 100k, still runs and drives great.

3rd/extra vehicle is a 2002 Ford F150 XLT 2wd 5 speed manual with 51k miles that only gets driven a few times a week and mainly does truck stuff.

Will be buying a 2020-2021 Lexus GX 460 in the next year and probably finally retire my 98 accord. GX's might be "new" but they are based off old tech, will be an easy vehicle for me to maintain.

Wife and I are just laughing at all this vehicle shit going on over the last few years. Super high prices, lots of new vehicle issues, parts on back order to even get your new vehicle back on the road.

All because people want the newest shiny thing with big screens when the reality is none of that is even required to get you to point A to point B.

If you have tons of money or can work a vehicle into a business expense more power to you but the average person spending $700-$1000 a month on a car note just for one vehicle (not including gas and insurance) is absolute madness.

It can be a viable strategy if you're looking for reduced operating costs.  Highly dependent on your choice of car and what maintenance you can do yourself.  

Last year I was looking for a toy car, wound up getting a 90s mr2.  Swapped in a new toyota engine, replaced the shocks and brakes, and I have a mechanically new car that gets good mileage and drives like a 6 year old camry(where the engine came from).  
Total cost added up to about $11k (that includes the car) and a few weekends of work.  I drive it 80% of the time and a huge side benefit is that it keeps a lot of miles off my 6 year old honda.  The wife frequently drives my 6 year old honda when she takes a kid to an out-of-town event rather than her 2023 4runner(which saves a lot of money in gas and keeps miles off her $$$ truck).  
haven't tried to calculate the savings, but it is significant.  

Family of 4.  3 drivers with the "new" car a 2017 Pilot.  The other 2 are 2011 grand caravan and Chevy 1500.  

Got the Chevy when my 99 f150 with 250,000+ miles gave up the ghost with a major wiring harness failure.  I could have got it back up and running but it needed some work soon.  Clutch, throw out bearings, front and rear main seals, instrument cluster replaced, multifunctional turn signal wiper control replaced, ac compressor failed 3 years before and I just bypassed it, engine was consuming a quart of oil every 3000 miles.  Lots of other things I'm forgetting.   I did all the maintenance and repairs since I got it in 2000 except the clutch slave cylinder while 600 miles from home and one ball joint I needed fixed so I could go to a funeral after work.  

2011 Dodge Grandcaravan was the family car and now the kids drive it to school and activities.  250,000+ miles.  I do all maintenance and repairs on it.  It has had all the typical failures the 3.6 pentastars are known for.  Both power sliding doors don't work and I'm not currently in the mood to repair the electrical wiring and one door motor.

2011 Silverado has 128,000 miles.  It had 55,000 miles on it 4 years ago. I put 30,000 on it first year I had it then changed jobs.  Worst repair so far is a rear axle seal and bearing replacement.

Every vehicle gets oil change along with filter when the reminder comes on showing 10% left.  I use full synthetic that meets OEM specs.  Whenever I work on brakes I flush the brake system with new fluid.  Change engine coolant as recommended.  I change transmission oil and filters about twice as often as recommended depending on oil discoloration.  The Honda seems to require a change more often to maintain a smooth shift.  I change rear differential and transfer case oil on a severe duty cycle.  

I just changed the power steering fluid it the 2011 vehicles last week.  It took almost a gallon of new fluid to get both cars running clear fluid.  All vehicles got engine and transmission oil changed along with engine and cabin air filters.  I also use a needle to push grease into all the sealed for life steering components.  Checked coolant levels and brake wear.  

As long as repairs are cheaper and less frequent than a car payment I will keep the cars we have.  The biggest problem with cars from 97 and up is the prolific use of plastic parts on the engine and in the HVAC system.  10-20+ years of heat and oils cause them to break and crack.  2$ HVAC blend doors fail and you have to remove the whole dash to replace it.  Same work for a heater core or evap core.  I wish OEM kept the access doors into the HVAC plenums.

How about something from the '90s or '00s?
They have modern technology without all the useless bells, whistles, coon tails, and mud flaps.
My wife's '11 Mazda 6 seemed to hit that sweet spot,

My daily driver vehicle is 20 years old with 354,000 miles on it. It got a new transmission at 288k and the GM 3800 V6 runs forever. The newest vehicle I own is a 2010. My backup daily driver is an '07 Ford Crown Victoria P71, ex-OKCPD patrol car with 220k on it. Crown vics are built like tanks.

I prefer older idk about 60s and 70s older.

I daily a 1997, my other vehicles are 1996, 2002, and 2004. Yeah some repairs come up here and there but equals our way less than a car payment. Plus I just prefer that era of vehicles.

Late 90's to 2010 generally speaking seems to be the sweet spot giving off the responses here for those of us that don't live in areas where rust is an issue.

Tech where it counts and not where it becomes a detriment, still decent safety ratings, not overly complicated and can be fixed by a weekend mechanic or won't break the bank if you pay someone to fix.

Agreed. Beginning with '95-'96 models, the OBDII standard made the electronic & drivetrain issues much easier to diagnose, and the electronics had evolved enough to be reliable and make the cars run very well. around 2010 (a little sooner on higher-end cars), they got too complex with all the bullshit gadgets and every system in the vehicle having a module.


I'm not "anti-technology" for not wanting a goddam iPad in the middle of my dash. I just want my car to do car stuff.

buy the 1987 toyota van.

live in said 1987 toyota van down by the river.

stockpile extra NLA toyota OEM parts, spare 1987 toyota vans for parts vans, and harbour freight Icon metric tools (just as gud).

???

profit.

@Scalped

I think this is where I'm landing on all of this too.

Own a 97 Laredo and a 08 Malibu, aside from gas and insurance they cost me nothing per month. When one does go down, I have the other and the repairs even if major are far less than  monthly payments.  As a bonus, no repo men showing up when the banks start calling in soon.

My wife has a 2015 Miata with manual transmission; it's fun to drive. I'm 6'1 and it fits me okay.

I just bought a used car from a little old lady. 2020 Cx9 turbo AWD for $10,000. Hell of a good deal

Well, playing devil's advocate here...
I have had, and still do have, some of the fords from those transitional years.  For the 302/5.0, in 95, they had the OBD1 computer where you could diagnose it with the various key on/off engine on/off tests and it spits out a series of codes you look up in the book.  Then in 96, they switched to the OBD2 interface for the computer.  It was still very rudimentary by today's standards.  Some scan tools cannot even display correct O2 sensor values from the thing.  My 96 F150 with the 5.0 occasionally throws codes for "unexpected amount of air" or some bullshit related to the air pump and emissions crap.  I ignore it and the code goes away on its own.

Contrast that to a V8 with a carb, no cats, no air pump, no EGR, no sensors.  Well, I did put an O2 sensor bung in the exhaust to help tune the carb.  Timing light, vacuum gauge, and if you're feeling fancy, an AFR gauge and you can diagnose that bad boy.

Look at all the lawnmowers, weed whackers, generators, etc out there running that don't require EFI or a computer.  Turns out, if you dont load the engine down with all sorts of emissions bullshit, they are fairly simple and cheap to keep running.  Between a basic motor with a carb or something from the OBD1 or OBD2 era, I say the carb'd one is by far the easier one to maintain.

That transition period I would stay away from. The next generation models that were built from the ground up with obd2 is where it's at.

That's why I said (generally speaking) late 90s not the mid 90s as most manufacturers had their next generation models built from the ground up obd2 by then.

I daily drive a 1994 Accord with 350ishK on it now.  It's easy to work on, gets decent gas mileage, and parts are cheap.   Rarely needs any repairs, although I have the evaporator core pulled now as the original core leaked and AC is a must where I live.

I have an 83 GMC, and two 85 Jeep CJ's.   They work fine for around town/farm use, cost next to nothing to own.

Dad has a 95 GMC with 70Kish miles, a 2008 Honda Odyssey with 90ishK that I'm driving now until I get my Accord back together, an 85 CJ8 with 5K on it (seriously) and mom has a 2019 Pilot.

Wife has a 2019 GX460.   Kid has my wife's old 2011 Mazda 6 with about 200K on it.  

Everything except my two CJ7's was bought new by my family, so I know the maint history of all of these vehicles (because I've done it all)  One of my CJ7s I bought with 29K on it in 1993, the other was bought with 86K in 2002.

Other than the Pilot and the GX, all of these vehicles are simple, easy to work on, and parts are pretty cheap.  

I don't want anything newer.   The complication of new vehicles has taken an exponential curve towards overcomplication.  Yes, newer stuff gets better MPG, has more HP, neat gadgets.

But everything I have will get me from point A to point B, with little problems, and IF there are problems, I can fix 90% of them myself.   If I have to pay someone else to do something, the cost will be peanuts compared to the cost of working on modern vehicles.

.gov regulations have made new vehicles unattractive to me.

I think you are 100% right.  It doesn't have to be from the 60s.  Even something from the 80s would work well.

I don't think I will ever buy a new car again.

90-something percent of those lawn mowers, weed whackers, generators, etc run less that 30 or so hours a year. Those that do more are in commercial use, and are often done by the time they hit 2,000 hours.

Also, most of those are used almost exclusively in temps above 60 degrees or so, which simplifies some of the AFR and timing type stuff.

There's a whole era of vehicles that have EFI and electronically controlled ignition systems, but not much else, and those seem to seriously outperform the carburetor/distributor stuff across the board. Reliability, power, efficiency, ease of maintenance... everything.

For the purposes of this thread, those are the vehicles I'd be targeting. There are certain engines at the end of the distributor road that I'd still consider (ie SBC), but I'd prefer to avoid that.

Act now and you too can be lucky enough to be featured on a news channel, boy. Better hurry before its too late. Gon' get mighty competitive over here as I start my plans to re-enact the hillbilly convoy scene from ID4. Welcome to Earf, OP.



@JLPettimoreIII

i'm priced out of the house market everywhere.

i'm your huckleberry.