Featured Woman gets fed up by problems in her aging Gen 3 Prius

EGR maintenance; pay 'em now or pay 'em later.
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I must say, modern cars are kind of scary as far as end-of-life is concerned. Maybe I'm just nostaligic and don't remember all the bad.

But, like, I didn't get rid of my 1970's through 1990's cars due to them being too expensive to fix. And I'm talking about a couple of them having well over 200,000 miles. What I knew back then no longer applies. Cylinders and bearings wear out, you bore them, replace the parts for cheap, put it back together, some cars $500, others up to $1,000. But then you knew the engine was "brand new."

But nowadays, the transmission suddenly stops working and you end up having to cough up more than the car is worth, that is, some $9,000. And after that goes out, the whole engine has to be replaced. And then the very expensive HV battery. Like, what happened? Why isn't it just a simple re-hone and re-ring and call it a day?

 

When there is no access port:

• Crank position sensor broken
  • Normal process - remove engine and replace part
  • Workaround - drill a hole to access part

Wished I'd had that option when the Gen 1, hydraulic pump failed,

Bob Wilson

 

Watching the video and seeing how ridiculous that air filter was? Unbelievably ridiculous.

 

modern cars are designed for efficient, low cost manufacturing. repair costs aren't taken into consideration. or, the skeptical might say repair costs are a profit center

 

Mmm, not just yet. Another decade or so, maybe sell it to one of the grandkids.

 

I'm not skeptical, it is likely that high repair costs on some models are a built in profit center for the steelerships plus incentives to replace instead of repair cars. The huge price increases since covid and the tarrifs mean you get screwed either way. I know 5 people that bought new instead of used because of lower costs versus purchase and maintenance of used. Used prices are just so high and supply chains being what they are car companies have incentives to make repairs as costly as the market will take.

Japan has forced obsolecence. This is a good thing for my nephew in new zealand as they dump really good used vehicles there. He bought an estima last year, that I drove when visiting. The US used to dump good used vehicles to mexico but used prices in this country have gone up so much they just dump those that are hard to repair or can't pass emissions.

BMW and porsche are exeptions. They used to build them to be great when new and owners would eat the maintence. As others caught up they started producing more reliable easier to maintain vehicles but like bob's example there still is a lot of the old thinking involved.

 

You can point to a sensationalized example from any make/model. After all, isn't click bate what the current internet is driven by.

And yes you can still get parts for 40 year old Porsches. It's affording the dealer's hourly rates that kills you. But for the driving experience, you put up with that as the price of entertainment.

Pulling the Crank Position Sensor is a bear on any car as it sits between the engine and the transmission even in older cars. Creates a pulse from the flywheel to enable the timing. A video of replacing one on a mid engine Porsche.