I put over 200k on my 2013 Corolla, and that car still felt new except for a plastic pin that broke the first week on the rear driver quarter panel. I was on a road trip with my wife from Houston to Vegas and heard a flapping while on the highway, I pulled off and saw the panel was loose, I pulled off at the next town, got some super glue from a pharmacy and a stick from the side of the road, and that held solid until I traded it in for $2500 off a Chevy Trax this year (we moved to Upstate NY a few years ago, and we now need the AWD).
I’ve been tempted for Tesla many times. Sure being green is cool but the complexity of engineering puts me off.
Electric cars have less moving parts. They should be more reliable and well built than a gas guzzler but I couldn’t say that for Tesla. Too many bells and whistles for my need.
Comma.ai satisfies my hands off highway autonomous needs for <$1000 on my 3 year old RAV4 hybrid.
Just great value for money.
The only things that went wrong were a speeding ticket and an exploded tire after 5000 miles. In hindsight it was a stupid trip to take - the people at the tire shop in Arizona were split between laughing and looking very concernced - but that little truck kept my self-sabotage from turning into a disaster and made the whole thing a fun experience.
I had completely unrealistic expectations about what a car should be able to do, and it lived up to them. Even after the 200,000 miles that usually marks the end of a car's life.
In general, if you want to find reliable cars, look at the old models that you still see on the road. Those are the ones that'll last awhile on the cheap. I still see plenty of Toyotas, Hondas, and Chevies from the '80s puttering around, and it warms the cockles of my heart whenever I do. I get the feeling I would have had the same experience with an old S-10 or Ranger. I wish modern pickups came in smaller sizes...
Then there’s the service. I got an indicator on the massive screen telling me that the radiator needed service. I called the Service center and was told by two different people, “that’s not possible because our cars don’t have radiators.” I said, “look, I’m not the technician here, you are; but, I am reading you the message that the car has on the screen.” Finally got someone who acknowledged that, yes, Tesla’s do have radiators and I brought it in. When I picked it up, the Air Conditioning didn’t work. In the middle of Summer. I called them and told them and they told me there were no openings for service for 6 weeks. After arguing with the service manager for 20 minutes on the phone, he agreed to have me come in the next day and, sure enough, they’d forgotten to reconnect it when they were working on it.
Was it the worst car I’ve ever owned? Honestly, it might have been. When I factor in that it cost over $90K, it’s definitely the worst car purchase I’ve ever made.