Being someone who DIY repairs, I’ve had very good experience with cars well over 200K miles. My wife’s daily is a 227K mile CR-V that’s needed rear brake pads ($21) and a pair of H1 headlight bulbs ($5) and a $30 oil change in the last year.

You are right that lots of people don’t want to buy a car after 175K miles, which makes them cheap for me.

Would you send your wife and kids on a 3 hour cross country trip in an old car with over 200k miles?

There are older cars that could make it --- but the potential risk of leaving them stranded is just too high for a lot of people. It's a judgment call but this perceived risk has a definite adverse effect on the value and utility of older vehicles.

I’d do it (and have done it) without giving it a second thought. This CR-V will almost surely die from rust, not a mechanical issue.

In a Honda? Yes.

A Honda mechanic once told me that if you ever see a Honda broken down on the side of the road, it is most likely either a fuel pump (often safely located inside the tank to protect it from DIYers) or a blown head gasket. The head gasket being a follow on effect of overheating --- often due to a ruptured coolant line.

Honda's are pretty reliable but they tend to fail in spectacular and expensive ways.

Not to get all mythical about it most Honda and Toyota cars are heavily overbuild for what they are. Stock CR-V engines (K20/K24) reliably deliver 400HP with simple $500 ebay turbo kit without modifying anything inside. Thats 100% safety margin on all engine internals. Stock engine is almost unkillable in normal operation. Take care of consumables (oil, fluids, filters, sparkplugs, clutch, brakes, tires, ignition wiring, rubber hoses, suspension bushes, shocks, battery) and rust and you can drive same car for 40 years.

In contrast German cars wear out mechanically or kill you slowly with electrical system deterioration. Parts are meticulously calculated to need replacement at a set point of vehicle life. One example: Audi (VW group) 2.0 TDI BLB Engine is made to fail at ~200K no matter what you do, from oil pump to head micro fractures. Crankshaft sprocket at 200K

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VW answer: this part is non serviceable, whole crankshaft needs to be replaced :D Why is it made out of putty while smaller sprocket (the one taking more force) is still ok? Why is it designed not to be replaceable? Good 'old timer/not by the book' mechanic is still able to replace it (heat whole crankshaft, use big hammer). In good heavily driven cars 200K is usually first crankshaft turn/grind, engine block itself should be good for >500K easily. Not here. Smells like planned obsolescence, if not on purpose then as a byproduct of cutting part safety margins to the bone to save cents on the dollar.

That's not the case for many brands. My GFs Jeep has transmission problems and a water pump failure at 17k miles. Its actually one of the worst car brands according to JD Power. She drives gently compared to me. BMWs don't make much sense to keep past 100K miles, they just cost way too much to maintain.

The only car brands you're talking about is Japanese brands and maybe the Korean ones.

Considering the cost of new cars --- if you can't get 200K with regular maintenance and minimal repairs, you have been ripped off.

Volkswagen has decent quality, though the whole DieselGate has lost them lots of buyers.

Jeeps are like Harleys. People like their looks, but they're trash cars and motorcycles.