Never think that you are buying your last car. That would be admitting to mortality. It might be realistic but is no fun at all.
There is more to being patriotic than buying a car made in the US. Our two newer cars were also designed in the US; were old line US brands that are more likely to source their mfg tooling and equipment from US companies. It’s my opinion that the Japanese brands made in the US are more likely to source their tooling from Japan. This attitude comes from some of my employment time at a company that sold products to Ford, Chevrolet and US machine tool builders.
@GeorgeSanJose. I bough several of them myself. A Couple under the Nova Name, one under he Prism name and one Corrolla. I never saw a difference and all lasted for many miles and years with few repairs.
I always relate the story of the Lemforder company who built parts for cars in our area. While on a tour, an engineer told my wife that Ford refused higher quality parts for the same price as the lower they had ordered. Lemforder offered to avoid retooling costs from same parts provided to Nissan. Ford said they would go elsewhere if Lemorder provided. " the better" parts, regardless of price. Ford intentially wanted cars for the profit on service and repair and skrew the customer.
Wife says that we are going to be a 1 car family when my 1999 Civic dies. I don’t really have the option to disagree with her because of we need the joint incomes to make a new car happen.
My only option is to find a mode of transportation that accommodates her. - Intown condo.
You might also consider a motorcycle. Even the small displacement bikes (less than 500cc) can leave fast cars in the dust for all practical driving situations. I suppose if you live too far north, that makes motorcycle riding seasonal, but I have a friend that rode throughout the winter in Northeastern Pennsylvania.
I retired in 1997 at 55. In 2001, right after 9/1/1 I bought a new Sienna, which now has over 190,000 miles on it. I assumed it would also be my last car. A couple years ago, in McAllen, where I live when I am forced to return to the States, I was talking to a man well into his 80’s, who had just driven down from Minneapolis. I went into the house and told my wife we need to start saving for a new car…
Sunday “morning” at 12:05 am, my wife’s best friend for 47 years died. She was 97. We didn’t find out until Sunday evening, because we went out climbing a 1500 foot “mountain” with friends. My wife took the bus to the border overnight, got to McAllen this morning. She will fly to Illinois with our daughter Thursday.
That woman, in 2011, when she was 96, had visitors who came to the Quad Cities for her birthday party. She drove them to the church hall, in her mid-90’s Buick, I think Regency. A few days later, she passed her annual driving test for renewal.
That 15+ year old Buick was flawlessly maintained, and stored in an unheated garage. She did not drive a lot, and no one doubted that car would have gone 30 years the way it was treated.
Wha Who, I admit my mortality, but do not find it lacking in fun to know I am probably going to die in the next 20 or 30 years. Once people come to terms with their mortality, one can then concentrate on making those years into positive and productive years, and not at all worry about death. Studies over the years have shown old, retired people in good health find those last years the best years of their life.
I am 71 and I have no idea how many more vehicles I will own until I will be unable to drive. However, a new or newer car is better for beating the effects of geezeritis than is Geritol. We like to travel and I certainly want a reliable car when I am on the interstates. When I was much younger, I did my own maintenance and many repairs out of financial necessity. I haven’t kept up with the changes in technology and would not really know where to begin if something went wrong with the cars I presently own. Even the spark plugs are hidden under a cover in the vehicles I now own. (I guess the spark plugs were hidden under covers in my 1954 Buick, but I knew how to get the covers off). At any rate, for safety and convenience, I’ll replace my vehicles as necessary.
Once I realized OBDII works much like what they call SELF-TEST in military equipments, I understood if. That doesn’t mean I am going to be able to know 100% of every problem, but it does give me a clue which before that, I did not have…
The further out you project your car’s desired lifetime, the less reliable your prediction will be.
It would be hard to beat going with a Honda or Subaru (many of them built in the US by Americans), and it would be hard to beat NOT going with a European, GM, or Chrysler car. Good luck and let us know in 20 years and hope you have a long and happy retirement ahead.
@irlandes Good story! I drove by the Legion yesterday and parked there was a veteran’s 1976 Mercury Grand Marquis 4 door with a vinyl top. This big boat had no rust on it and was immaculate. I’m sure the veteran bought it new in 1976 and cared for it lovingly ever since. His only difficulty may be paying for the gas this beast consumes, although at his age he would not drive much.
If he was 55 when he retired from the military that would make him 92 now. Keep driving old fellow!
I am semi-retired and drive only 9000 miles a year but I spend a lot of time in rental cars when on projects. We have a 2012 Mazda and a 2007 Toyota, and I don’t think we’ll ever need to buy another car unless they got demolished in accidents or stolen. If I live to be 100 the Mazda will only have about 200,000 miles on it.