Are there any modern cars with strong reliable bodies( built to last)?

DaveH said:
No offense but you must be rather young and have never experienced cars made in the 70's and 80's. Certainly some were better then other's but cars of the last 15 years are light years better then the crap people had to put up with previously. (Except for Buick which still puts out utter crap)
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Yes the 80's with old meet new combination of technologies nightmare period. Thank God for today cars. Older cars before 75 are a pleasure to work on but require way more man hours to keep running in top order. remember my first truck in high school (1993/1994) it was a 1973 f100 camper special. 390 v-8 which was easy to work on, but it seemed every other week it require some tlc. My current 2002 f250 (95,000 miles) have not touched it in two months since it last PM repair. And so far has held up above my standards, requiring only Pm repairs and very few non planned repairs. Three times in fact (2 were warranty, other recall repair).

The other truck I owned was f 150 which was replaced after it was found chopped up. 287,000 mile and it was still good. Second motor but that was my fault. Also had to replaced a 94 merc. sable after 140,000 miles and twice had the tranny rebuilt. Sable/taurus tranny were known for the poorly built trans. The computer died and would cost more than the car was worth (3,000.00).Yes I could find a used one but it too could fail at any time. The engine was strong and trans was only 4000 miles old...damn it.

what I am saying American car in the past 10 years are not poorly made as Japanese cars. In fact today Toyota quality has slipped. Honda builds good car but not cup of tea. Honda engines are some of the best, but so are others.
 
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jdm61 said:
The idea that old cars were more reliable is an absolute fiction. They were not more relaible. They were just easier to work on at home.
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Agreed. And this is coming from a guy who has driven a 1972 Ford Torino since 1978 with 386,000 miles on it, and a 2002 Acura RSX with 93,000 miles. My Acura has not left me stranded once since I bought it. Yes, the check engine light has come on and some of the safety related gear (air bag sensor) has failed, but that's it. And it burns maybe 1/2 quart of oil between changes!

I love my body on frame Torino, but to be truthful I'm always pleasantly surprised when it starts ups and get me to my destination without any problems. I have literally learned enough to be a mechanic at any garage keeping that thing running. Not to brag, but the last two times I took my Torino to a garage I was right about the problem and the professionals were wrong! Well, I guess that's what happens when you work on a car for 30 years!

Still, I have to wonder if my Acura will still be in one piece on it's 36th birthday after covering almost 400,000 miles. And ya, the Acura is no fun to work on. No space! And you have to smog it!:grumpy:
 
My beetle turned up its wheels at 34yrs, my mum is still driving a '84 nissan sunny (very very tinny) with only service and consumables.

My Opel Corsa has taken a beating and at 7 years going well. Few cars can take a Tbone like a corsa. Tough as nails. The old model is still on sale in South Africa as they are very impact resistant.
 
In the theme of this thread, I hope...

What would you estimate; today, United States, is the equivalent of what the VW Beetle was. Certainly not the "New Beetle."

What car is reliable, efficient, durable, serviceable, affordable, in the way that the Beetle was? It was, IMO, perhaps the most perfect pure automobile ever engineered.

So what's now?

The Civic, or the Fit perhaps, the Corolla...? :confused:
 
Subaru Impreza shares a similar "boxer" engine, reliability, efficiency as the old Beetle. Unfortunately the body/paint isn't all that.

D
 
tortoise said:
In the theme of this thread, I hope...

What would you estimate; today, United States, is the equivalent of what the VW Beetle was. Certainly not the "New Beetle."

What car is reliable, efficient, durable, serviceable, affordable, in the way that the Beetle was? It was, IMO, perhaps the most perfect pure automobile ever engineered.

So what's now?

The Civic, or the Fit perhaps, the Corolla...? :confused:
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I forget which car magazine it was, but a few years back,( maybe 3 or 4) one of them called the Toyota Corolla the most reliable small car in the world.

I loved the old VW beatle and had a couple of them. Many fond memories there. But looking back, they really were not that good a car by modern standards. They were great cars when you compared them to the junk Detroit was churning out, but they needed alot of servce, and the engines had to be rebuilt at milages that would be unacceptable in present day. BUT; it was a piece of cake to pull the motor and rebuild it. Could be done in a single Saturday.

On the other hand, I've had the experiance of having my last couple of Toyota pickups go well over 200,000 miles with no major repairs at all.
 
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