>The situation is much better than it was 40 years or so

Car's don't rust like they used to! One of my favorite childhood memories was seeing from my dad getting so mad at his '78 Toyota Celica (we called it the Rustola) that he kicked a hole in the door and got his foot stuck inside.

We had a similar aged Corona in the late '80s and that thing was like 90% rust. It even had some a steel plate riveted under the windscreen to hold the windscreen wiper because the windscreen wiper mount literally rusted off.

It's phenomenal how much improvement there was in rustproofing between even '70 and '90. If a '90-'00 car hasn't been crashed and not driven in very salty conditions, you can find them with essentially no rust even now.

Yep. Midwest metropolis (out in the suburbs, but still fairly dense). It's the rust.

Well, and in a few Chrystlers and a Ford I've been familiar with, the trannie. Kind of a race between the two factors.

Right now, I have an older Subaru that would be good for at least a few more years, except the rust has compromised the gas tank. And dropping that means dropping the drive train. And you can get it back together -- but how many parts do you end up having to replace, because the rust has gotten to them too badly. And then you're closing in on the value of the car.

If/when we switch to composites (and/or aluminum), with an electric drive train maybe localized at the four wheels, or at least "compartmentalized" and swap-able (1), then maybe the rust factor and overall longevity will improve. Maybe... I'm waiting to see what creative means corrosion demonstrates to further its entropy under this scenario.

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1. And for the record, I'd still prefer a "hybrid" design with backup on-board generation from some type of chemical fuel, at least until electric penetration is thorough and cold-weather capacity is secured.

Aluminum has some advantages--albeit at a price. [1] though it's not clear cut for a variety of reasons. It's also not just the structure but everything carrying fluids around or making up the suspension system. Corrosion is nasty--I used to be involved with the design and maintenance of offshore drilling rigs--and it's pretty much a constant battle that you never win.

[1] https://www.engineering.com/AdvancedManufacturing/ArticleID/...

An aluminum car is kinda like a gold car: Higher up-front cost, but higher resale value when it goes to the crusher.

We're short-sighted to require cars to show MPG before purchase. They should all require a spreadsheet showing Total Cost of Ownership dependent on expected annual highway/city mileage as input.

What's gas cost? How much extra is the hybrid? What's the scrap value?

Though I guess you can lookup insurance rates to figure out the scrap value (some cars are worth more parted-out than running).

It makes me wonder what the designed and realized life times will be for new Fords with aluminum beds.

Although I doubt it makes up for the harm from salt damage, heat can cause damage too.

Without UV constantly hitting your tires and interior, they last longer. Your electric water pump runs less/lasts longer. But that's all I can think of, but it's harder to measure the general impacts of ambient being, on average, 20C less.

I think we should just send every car from the NE down South once it's 6-8 years old to balance the wear. The rust process will largely stop.

The trick is body-on-frame light trucks with thick body panels and plastic fuel tanks. They are the most long lived in the snow belts and can last 25+ years with periodic maintenance as replaceable bits and pieces rust out.

I've personally had better luck with cars. The unibody construction doesn't leave as many places for rust on the underside where as truck frames tend to rust out wherever they can't easily be washed, particularly with newer boxed frames.

That said, none of my ~25yo vehicles are failing inspection for structural rust, they're all failing because the fenders rust out where the wheel sprays everything.

I’m from Pennsylvania, and I’ve seen places that sell used cars that are sent there from down south, specifically to advertise the lack of rust damage compared to local used cars.

Hopefully they weren't from the coast or suffered water damage from whatever hurricane :-)