How long before that new car is just a throw away item?

Weird thing about everyday machines often-passed around, like lawn mowers -- everyone needs them, and the more the mfr sucks content to the bleeding edge on the current models, the more the desire for those who use them regularly, to find the older, simpler, non-decontented ones.

Could be said my old Paseo was not a complex machine: speed-density EFI, FWD, 5-spd, rear beam axle -- everything else was as Toyota made it more than a decade. But was designed after Toyota debuted Lexus, so were eager to show even the entry-level could benefit. And I did -- 285K miles and 16y with it, was eminently fixable -- even before I trained to become a mechanic.

Complying with stricter emissions, customer want for garbage infotainment, and hybrid systems... drove up the cost of these, esp the cost of knowing how to fix them. Now you need a code reader (and minimum requirements going more expensive all the time), or at the very least a kit and app to make your phone one, to diagnose the myriad crap that's been brinksmanship'd into your car, esp near warranty-end mileage.

So it's no surprise the kinds of vehicles that don't make you do this, are still changing hands like gold here -- the original iron-block V6 Tacoma with 300K but an intact bed and frame, goes for way more than you think in a land of constant salt spray. The 4.0L later Tacomas also demand a premium, as they make more emissions but have the torque where you need it vs. 3.5L...

For small engines like mowers... the existence of parts from the OEM is usually tight, but lots of PRC-made knockoffs for at least keeping them working, if not made with enough attention to detail to perform like new. My buddy in WA used to say good SBC cranks could be had from PRC for pennies on the dollar back in Y2Ks... but the price was only realising you'd bought a loose-QC'd dud, when your rods knock holes in your block

 

OK ... I'll start off with "I'M NOT SAYIN' ... I'M JUST SAYIN'.".

For the boatload of cars I've purchased in my lifetime, I've maybe bought 3 or 4 new. That being said, outside of the cars that I've flipped for $$$ gain, none of them has gone less than 350,000-laps; I think 385,000 is the general average. As people say, "I drive them until the wheels come off.".

Two(2) very cool cars I had in the days of being a snotty-punk kid, got somewhere in the range of +/- 8-mpg premium regular gas, back in that day. My current super extra very very cool '05 G2 gets +/- 60-mpg.

Anyway ... I had somewhat this same conversation with the guy at the auto parts store Saturday when I bought the headlight stuff. Lots of stuff just isn't "maintained" any more today, it's just replaced. As an example, rotors and drums. Nobody store-wise has a machine shop any more. It's just cheaper to replace. Wth?!? That's no fun. Also, it's a lot tougher working on cars today. One of the worst is Toyota's 6-cyl Avalon. It's got a tilted back sideways engine. It's a drag getting at the plugs in back unless you've got long very thin arms. They use 8-mm nuts, which uneducated mechanics are gonna lose if they don't have the tricky experience (jam a glob of grease in a magnetic socket). On top of that ... the jerk-off mechanical engineers designed the thing so it needs 350 ft/lbs torque for the cam-gear-sprocket. Wth?!? I'm not the only guy that doesn't want to work on those.

So ... there it is, my few ideas on the topic.

 

Yeah, they kinda raised me. They sold me said car when I was 15, and yes, it would be a running car, by the time I could get my permit a year-ish later.