Low ownership cost cars

[mickeyd]

I am in the market for a new ride and this article has been helpful in my quest. Enjoy.

Whether you hope to resell your new vehicle in a few years or run it into the ground, low maintenance costs can go along way towards helping you stay on track for your financial goals. If you are in the market for a new vehicle that comes standard with a few years of warranty, you might think that maintenance costs do not matter at all. But who wants or needs the hassle of having to run into the repair shop any time a problem arises? Not only are repairs costly, but a damaged vehicle is often unsafe to drive, putting you and your loved ones at risk.

https://www.thebalance.com/cheapest...tm_source=cn_nl&utm_content=15042213&utm_term=

 

[Lakewood90712]

Toyota....Use synthetic oil......Stay away from the dealer service dept. except for warranty work......Stay away from Quick Lube places

 

[pb4uski]

You may find this useful.

https://www.edmunds.com/tco.html

 

[RetiredAt55.5]

You may find this useful.

https://www.edmunds.com/tco.html

Interesting, I just plugged into this tool a 2018 Chevy Malibu. It said one would spend $4,715 in maintenance over 5 years. I haven't spent nearly that much in maintenance in the last 9+ years on my 2009 Chevy Malibu. Oil changes, air filters, coolant, tires and brakes (even at dealer prices), wouldn't get you anywhere near that.


I got almost 60,000 miles out of the original tires.

 

[Red Badger]

I am in the market for a new ride and this article has been helpful in my quest. Enjoy.



https://www.thebalance.com/cheapest...tm_source=cn_nl&utm_content=15042213&utm_term=

For Texas, skip that Kia Soul the article lists. I drove a rental in a large western state a couple years ago. Trying to go about ~80 MPH (like everyone else). Had some headwinds and the poor car was constantly downshifting - very exasperating.

 

[pb4uski]

Interesting, I just plugged into this tool a 2018 Chevy Malibu. It said one would spend $4,715 in maintenance over 5 years. I haven't spent nearly that much in maintenance in the last 9+ years on my 2009 Chevy Malibu. Oil changes, air filters, coolant, tires and brakes (even at dealer prices), wouldn't get you anywhere near that.


I got almost 60,000 miles out of the original tires.

True, I put in our 2016 Outback and the repairs and maintenance in the first 3 years was much more than our real life experience... just oil and filter changed and tires so far. 60,000 for OEM tires is outstanding! We have 46k and will be on our 3rd set soon, but I blame that on the dud Michelins that are on it now that only gave me 20k miles.

 

[Bamaman]

There are so many angles to purchasing automobiles:
Initial purchase price
Actual depreciation
Scheduled maintenance
Unscheduled maintenance
Tire usage and cost of tires.
Cost of insurance

Cost--some brands of dealers sell cars/trucks reasonably. Some rip customers heads off.
Depreciation--Cars like Toyota Corolla and Honda Civic are tops. Accords and Camrys are relatively low depreciating. BMWs and some Chevys bomb in value vs. cost.
Some cars require 5000 mile oil changes. Some require oil changes when the car computes they're needed--maybe 10,000 miles. 0W16 oil is 2x the price of 0W20.
The incidence of long term repairs is documented well online. Some cars eat owners' pocketbooks with expensive repairs. Some cars, like older Hondas are very durable.
Any car with high performance, low profile tires will not get many miles on tires. And they are very expensive to replace. Most Hondas eat tires alive, for example, I can profess. My Lexus tires are a major cost of ownership.
Some cars have high incidence of car wrecks, and some cars have few collisions. Some cars are stolen more often than others. Some cars are cheaper to rebuild than others. These all are why some cars have more expensive insurance than others.

Like I said, there are different angles to car ownership. Everything is a compromise.

 

[GravitySucks]

Also a good indicator:
https://www.rockauto.com/repairindex/

If you keep your cars well past their warranty parts prices matter.

 

[TwoByFour]

If you want low maintenance costs, don't buy a German car. They are well engineered but when something goes wrong, it costs a bundle to fix them is our experience. We have had really good luck with Toyota the last 20 years, just don't go to the dealer.

 

[gerntz]

I've said this before, but with rapid technology changes, I'm no longer interested in long-term ownership. Used to be an 8-15 years owner person.

 

[calmloki]

It's all in what you want or need. We drive north and south between Oregon and SoCal doing the snowbird thing. Want to have backup cars in each place, which allows having a car if we fly in for a week or so, as with a recent HS reunion down south. Backup cars only get miles now and then, but stay garaged. During the time we were down for the reunion the SoCal backup took a big dump. It is/was a '98 BMW 318ti with cloth California roof. Fun and a bit quirky. We are headed south this week for the winter and are going to swing through Pahrump to check out a 2013 Smart cabriolet with 30k miles. Reviews are pretty horrible, but a sub-nine foot long car is great for the garage down there. It has quirky in spades and the convertible nature can be fun in the sun. AND it has Oregon plates and only has to get 250 miles to La Quinta vs 1100 from here. AND it has a tow bar setup as it served as a toad vehicle. AND it has been owned by a meticulous multiple VW show car owner we've traded cars back and forth with in the past. So maybe those things trump what general evidence reports.

 

[Beldar]

Well, just my experience since abt 1990...

Japanese cars for us have been the most reliable, easy to service, and long lasting over any domestic manufactures we have ever owned.

We have owned several Honda, Toyota and Mazda vehicles and I can recommend any of these without reservation.

Of course, if you're in the market for a mega truck or monster size SUV / van then you probably won't consider any of these manufacturers.

Just one POV.

_B

 

[Car-Guy]

To remember, I would have to stop and think hard and write down all the new cars I've bought in the past 20 years, heck, I can't recall of the top of my head how many I've bought in the past 10 years. And forget counting collectables.

I'm going to guess that I've bought at least 15 new cars in the past 20 years, probably more. However, I can count how many times I've had to take them in for repairs. (Three) and all three were for covered warranty work and all were for recalls. Two for body part defects and one for a mechanical issue with an external AC belt.

Chevy's, Toyota's and FCA's. (No Ford's for me) All have been extremely reliable. The Chevy's and FCA's products were all very high performance cars. I do drive them hard (as designed) but maintain them well. Car's these days are built so much better than 30+ years ago it's no comparison.

Now I'll admit, I drive a lot and I don't keep them a long time. Usually 40 to 50k miles (or 2 yrs) and I'm looking to buy new. The longest was ~200k miles and about 6 yrs and it was still going strong.

Mtce cost is the last thing on my mind when considering a new car. Example, the oil for my latest car (Jeep) is ~$12+ qt from Walmart, when on sale. $14 to 15 per qt at the auto parts stores. And it takes 8+ qt's per oil change. Tires are $500 "each" and are only good for about 12k miles. So cost of ownership isn't what "drive's" everyone. YMMV

 

[ivinsfan]

Carguy one would hope that the byproduct of buying 15 cars in 20 years would be low to no repair costs..the law of averages.

 

[aja8888]

Of course, if you're in the market for a mega truck or monster size SUV / van then you probably won't consider any of these manufacturers.

Just one POV.

_B

Toyota makes some very nice pickups and Honda makes decent one too.

 

[Hermit]

My 2013 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon is tbe worst car for maintenance I have ever owned by far. I have spent several thousand dollars on maintenance this year and that is pretty normal for every year. I like it when it isn't broken. Funny thing is they really hold their value.

 

[Car-Guy]

Carguy one would hope that the byproduct of buying 15 cars in 20 years would be low to no repair costs..the law of averages.

No doubt about it..... One of the advantages of keeping new cars.

 

[aja8888]

My 2013 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon is tbe worst car for maintenance I have ever owned by far. I have spent several thousand dollars on maintenance this year and that is pretty normal for every year. I like it when it isn't broken. Funny thing is they really hold their value.

(my bold above)...yes, there are still a lot of people that have never owned one.

 

[nativenewenglander]

Bought a 1994 Jeep Grand Cherokee drove it for 325K spent little on maintenance on it traded it for a 2006 Liberty diesel it was the worst I spent 8K on maintenance in 137K. I sold it and bought a Toyota Tacoma in 2011. I only change the oil more or less in 100K so far. My brother has a Lexus and loves it. My wife has had two Subaru and they are low cost of owning.

 

[jabbahop]

My 2013 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon is tbe worst car for maintenance I have ever owned by far. I have spent several thousand dollars on maintenance this year and that is pretty normal for every year. I like it when it isn't broken. Funny thing is they really hold their value.

We bought a used 2016 wrangler that we only use in our winter home (6 months of the year). Part of the rationale was the high resale value since if we sell this in a 5 years, it will be relatively low mileage and hopefully relatively high value.

 

[retiredunder50]

I like checking carcomplaints.com before I buy a car. You could see the trend of problem areas for your car, especially if it is a current generation that has been around for a few years. For used car buyers, it's even better as there are more data points for older cars. Although Toyotas and Hondas are manufacturers of typically low maintenance cars, you will see quite a few years of popular models with serious problems.

 

[Bamaman]

I've probably got you all beat on cars--over 100 new cars. Thankfully most were company cars. But in my ER, I'm more careful with choosing brands/models since I'm paying.
Fortunately, I'm up to over 600K miles driven without any warranty work on new cars. I did have a recall on a Explorer exhaust manifold that was fixed, however.
My current cars are a Lexus IS250 that's 10 years old and never had more than brakes replaced. I've had 2 Honda Civic SI's that never had any warranty work. My F250 diesel is 16 years old and running great at 150K miles--no warranty work was done. A 2014 Explorer is our grandchild/travel vehicle. And my 2018 Camry Hybrid with 24K miles has never seen the shop except for expensive oil changes.
In many cases, the most durable cars are also relatively low depreciating vehicles and those that are easily sold (high demand) on the used car market. I've always tried to stick with 1st tier car companies as they have the resources to stay on top of modern engineering and just perform well in the long run.

 

[CoolRich59]

If you want low maintenance costs, don't buy a German car. They are well engineered but when something goes wrong, it costs a bundle to fix them is our experience.

Learned my lesson. I had a couple of Accords, then a couple of Maximas, then a Lexus.

But, I just *had* to have an Audi. What a mistake. I dumped it after only 18 months. I got some grief from the DW, but there was no way I intended to keep pouring money into that car.