Will New Vehicles Last?

I heard someone say the other day, that modern day vehicles won't last more than 10 years because they have just gotten too complicated.

Which got me thinking... Do you think you could take a 2009, well equiped vehicle, and drive it for 40 years straight, like many have done with their Ford Mavericks?

Do you think it will be possible to keep a newer vehicle on the road for 40 years w/o the support of a dealership for troubleshooting today's compliacted electrical components?

What about all the plastic, and thin gauge metals... Will they make it 40 years?

What about all the little plastic, and other cheap interior items? Most new vehicles start developing rattles fairly early... 40 years?


Do you think people will be restoring a 2009 Ford F150 one day?


IMO it seems the long lasting, restorable vehicles went away in the mid 80's. I don't see the do-it-yourselfer restoring anything much later than that, in his garage.

That's why I really hated to see everything getting crushed when metal prices went sky high.

What do yall think?

 

Definitely something to think about. I have no doubt the cars will still be here because they are building the bodies so much better than 40 years ago but the technology will certainly be so far advanced 30-40 years from now, I don't even want to think about it. I mean how many people can work on a 2000 up car in their garage right now? Ya gotta take it to the dealership because of the computers. I think it will be much worse in the future. Anybody can work on a Maverick...now...and certainly in the future.

 

I voted 20 & scrap it.Why?For one thing,people put bunches more miles on 'em now than 30-40 years ago.It's not uncommon to find 5-10 year old cars/trucks w/over250k on them,on the other hand you can still find old cars w/less than 100k on 'em.Some components of these newer cars are very expensive,and the markets are flooded w/all kinds of them,making them worth next to nothing.So some really nice shape cars(Taurus/Intrepid come to mind)that have tranny and/or engine problems are being scrapped because theres so many out there that it's not worth putting 1200-3500 for driveline repairs when you can go to a lot & buy one ready to go for less than the cost of parts.The days of $100 rebuilds on C4s & 350 turbos are gone.
I also agree that the late '80s is pretty much a cutoff for most cars that are worth saving as far as GM goes.Probably mid '90s on the Fords,although there will ALWAYS be a following of the Mustang as long as it's around.
On the other hand,these are my opinions.I'm 37 & don't like foreign cars.Whos to say that years from now the next couple of generations(who embrace technology-I don't)will look upon WRX Subies/Lancer EVOs/Neon XRT-4/SVT Focus the same way I look at the musclecars of the 60s-early 70s.Time will tell.

 

Unfortunately the majority of the electronics on new cars is all for luxury, safety and emissions. Very little of it has to do with keeping the car running. As long as they continue to make all he electronic components you should be able to run a new car a long long time. 40 years from now I won't be able to go out in my garage and fabricate a new Throttle Body Position sensor, for example, ... and without that my 2006 Mustang wouldn't run. THere are so many electronics parts for so many different cars that I figure manufacturers will obsolete them fairly quick. We just have to hope the aftermarket continues to make them.

 

i dont think people car as much about their cars anymore. now a days an old car means its more then 5 years old and 150k miles means its ready to die anyday now. and eventually it goet to the point where replacment parts and labor outweigh the value of the car. plus its just not trendy to have an older car. older as in 5-10 years old, even if it runs fine, your still out of style. the thought of buying a car as a long term investment with the idea of keeping it on the road for over a decade just doesnt seem to be a motivating factor anymore

throw aways i guess?

why do dishes if you can afford plastic cups?

 

I completely agree with tim (edit, a couple others chimed in while I was writing with the same ideas). We, or at least I, put 100k on my new vehicles every 5 years, and many of our mavs and older vehicles have WAY less than that after 30-40 years. My 74 (73) mav has less than 55k on the odometer, but my daily drive truck has 110k in 5 years.

So, NO, they won't last, unless driven as a hobby car. But most new "muscle car" buyers are buying a muscle car to drive as a daily driver, in my opinion.

 

I say 20 years as people will be getting rid of cars more often in the future. I don't think car buyers are buying certain brands as much as they used to .Such as people sticking with Fords, Chevys, or Mopars. The brand loyalty i usually se nowadays is for the trucks more than anything.

 

I remember in 1988, when I bought my 5.0L Mustang new, everyone was up in arms about how we couldn't fix it without going to the dealer. Look at them now.. they are one of the most modified cars around. Go to Wal Mart and you can buy a code reader for under 50 bucks, and fix your own car. Just wait till cars have a USB port, your cell phone will be able to tell you whats wrong with it.
Even up here in the north cars don't rot away like they use to, you'd make it 4-5 years in the 70's before you had to go in for body work, my wife's blazer has had exposed e-coat on the bottoms of the front doors for a few years now, and no rust, and it'll be 10 years old soon, I got my first Maverick when it was about the same age, and it was rotten beyond repair.
40 years from now...they'll still be here.

 

The wifes 2000 Windstar has a dashboard like an Xmas tree. Lit with all sorts of warnings and symbols. Parking brake light is on, the brake is off. Battery dies daily, no reason that we can see, it just dies. I have no idea what to do to fix it either. Code reader for it has some ridiculous blink code. 167 blinks means---124 blinks means---59 blinks means---and who can afford to send it to the dealership or pay $60 hr to have a mechanic fix it?

I can fix the Comet with just a little money and this website.

 

I just bought a 86 Buick Skyhawk for a beater. Old lady had it an only 49,000 miles. Needed a winter getter an better gas mileage than the superduty! Had little issues with it and check out the forum sites,,,, golly! These guys are taking 80's an early 90's cavaliers, skyhawks etc with a ton of rust and issues an restoring. Not picking on anyone here, but I just can't see it. But some guys never heard of Maverick, Scamp,SST or a whole slue of my year cars. Enough of that ranting.

I have seen cars needing a computer, even airbags, (Pa cars get a salvage title if airbag not replaced( I think)) aint just wasn't worth the $$$ to put into it. Certain parts are not made anymore and you'll have a hard time finding them in junkyards! Scrap prices were so high this summer that a lot of good parts car with very little wrong got scraped!

Some cars will stay, but I think when you look at a costly repair bill on a 6-10 year old car, it's junk! People who are barely making it can't afford to buy an fix it either.

Cars have gotten more of a status symbol, the looks I get in the Ole beater, I'm surprised I don't get handout $$$ for the poor!

New cars are great,,, till they give you fits!

 

Not unless you can make your own electronics and computer parts for them....

all the USB ports and affordable diagnostic equipment won't do you a bit of good if replacement parts aren't being reproduced.

Most individual models take different electronics parts, many of the same models take different versions of one part according to options, equipment, etc..... like ECU's sensors, computers, even if they share the exact same engine....so there's hundreds of specifically individual parts for every single model of car, among all the models of a make, among all the makes being manufactured.

How long do you think a company is going to make electronic and computer parts when they might only sell a few hundred a year and sales don't even cover the cost of making them?

I say 15-20 years max if your lucky enough to own a popular, big selling model that has enough still on the road in 10 years to make remanufacturing replacement parts profitable.

Besides, the goal of car manufacturers is to get you to buy their car, and keep coming back to replace it with a newer car.....how much effort do you think they are going to put into making or supporting replacement parts for their older model cars? Their goal is to sell you a new car every 5-10 years (and I'm betting their goal is alot closer to 5 than 10!) and the aftermarket will only make parts for a market that will demand enough for them to make a profit.

 

most peolpe dont keep a car just because it runs and drives good. they wont last more than 10 years...

only cars that will someday keep up a value would be ones that are greatly known from the past like mustangs and chargers and so on.

 

Most cars today(say from 85 to present) are designed with a 10 yr service life.Dealers/Manufacturers only have to keep parts available for 10 yrs,Then its go fish...Cars before this period had a 5 to 8 yr service life due to the propensity of them to rot away at a rapid rate.
Metallurgy is better now,paint systems are as well.Cars dont rot as fast any more.Mechanically the engines will live forever if maintained well.Once again metallurgy is better.Tolerances are closely monitored during design/fabrication/assembly.The engines have to be tight to pass emissions hence the better parts quality/tolerances/longevity.Will a Dodge ram P.U. with a hemi be the stuff of restorers fantasies or 3rd gen camaros/firebirds??? who would have thought Mavericks would be 35/40 yrs later??? hey you never can tell.Will Back yard restorers tinkerers be doing them???not likely.The technology going into these cars now will require very specialised mechanics/restorers in 30/40 yrs.Bottom line... Restorations of desireable and or "muscle cars" of this day and age will still have their followers but... Its going to cost them ALOT more to do it than it does a chalk mark 500 Pt concourse restoration on a 67 Shelby GT 500 does right now.

 

fiber glass!!!!!!!!! i say yes and no because you can get replacement bodies but if your talking about original, one minor crash and your done!

 

Greed, cost cutting, unions, pollution, EPA regs, excessive manditory safety regulations, etc...
Everything has come together in the 'perfect storm' to produce cars that are overly complex, over-engineered, under-built, over-priced, and just plain JUNK!

One glaring example: Turbo-Diesels... They used to be a $3k option on a truck. The fuel was literally half, or less, than gas. They got the same performance and economy no matter if they were light or were towing 10k# load... Unlike gas engines.
They were tough and 400k miles of durability were well within reach... Unlike gas engines again.

Now they require extra refining of the fuel, running the price through the roof. They require a special particulate incinerator in the exhaust, which adds complexity, DANGER, and increases the 'buy-in' cost for the diesel option. Further government tinkering also required the engine size be reduced, which in turn increased complexity and buy-in costs even further. Not to mention lighter and cheaper parts being used to make the same power levels as the earlier/larger engines.

It's all a recipe for expensive vehicles that don't last.