Vehicles that retain quality after 8-10 years

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My Cobalt is 11 years old. Next year I'm planning on buying a 1-3 year old used car to replace it. Things like fuel mileage and initial quality are fairly straightforward to assess, but one of the things I'm interested in is how "new" the car feels after 8-10 years.

As an example, my Cobalt has felt rickety for several years now. It has squeaks and rattles in the suspension, steering and interior; the steering isn't quite as tight as it used to be; the suspension is fairly wallowy; the AM radio no longer works. (On a positive note, the seats and A/C have held up really well!)
On the other hand, my wife used to have a 2001 Accord which we sold after 8 years (it was a coupe, and we had a kid). That car still felt really nice when we sold it.

So I'm looking for your experiences - what cars have you had for 8-10 years that still felt solid? Mileage plays a role as well, so younger examples with 150 to 200,000 miles are also welcome.

Thanks!
 
My wife's Charger still feels tight and is rattle free, however the Dodge interior (dash and door panels) of the era takes away from that somewhat, as it looks/feels cheap.

It just had a new steering rack installed, and has needed tie-rod ends during our ownership. The car is also not high mileage, despite being 10 years old. It has roughly 95,000 miles on it. We've owned it for going on three years now IIRC, it was a one-owner car.
 
Nate it sounds/looks like your usage is light given you've only got 100K miles on a 2005 Cobalt. Nothing against Cobalts. I owned a 2007 LS 4dr that I liked a lot, but they are the cheapest of the cheap. Point being, if you can make one of those last, you can make any present day vehicle last at least as well, most likely better.
 
BMW... also stays looking classy. Something about beemers and 'cedes they age well as far as styling goes. Ten yr old beemer still looks classy.
 
Originally Posted By: JTK
Nate it sounds/looks like your usage is light given you've only got 100K miles on a 2005 Cobalt. Nothing against Cobalts. I owned a 2007 LS 4dr that I liked a lot, but they are the cheapest of the cheap. Point being, if you can make one of those last, you can make any present day vehicle last at least as well, most likely better.


I agree; conscientious maintenance is what counts.
 
Honda ain't what it used to be.
I take great care of my cars but my last Accord Sport 2013 was delivered with super thin paint already chipped and the sloppy dealer scratched several pieces removing the OEM tape etc. Door nicks and so on. The clear coat on the wheels was peeling and I turned it back in and that was with only 19K on it. The Interior wasn't wearing great either. The stupid dealer scratched the navi screen.

I was at the dealer and heard the same complaints about the dealer prep service. That said the quality besides the dealer prep was not like it used to be. I bailed on Honda for now.
 
Originally Posted By: JTK
Nate it sounds/looks like your usage is light given you've only got 100K miles on a 2005 Cobalt. Nothing against Cobalts. I owned a 2007 LS 4dr that I liked a lot, but they are the cheapest of the cheap. Point being, if you can make one of those last, you can make any present day vehicle last at least as well, most likely better.

That's true, and I probably should have mentioned it in the original post. This is mostly a to-and-from-work vehicle; 10,000 miles a year or fewer. And as someone else pointed out, I am in the northeast, although they do take care of the roads pretty well around here.
 
All of our mazdas feel fine after 10 plus years. Some of them have a clunk or two from bushings that need replaced every 5 years or so, (mazdas seem to be hard on sway bar bushings and end links) but nothing on the interior rattles or creaks. My 2002 protege has 200k miles and makes no noise going down the road after replacing sway bar bushings with poly in the front. My little brothers protege was even quieter, but he didn't have the sports suspension on his. The Mazda5 needs a new end link and the MPV is quiet as can be. The newest one is the 2007 Mazda5. everything else is an 01/02 model. I think it is a Japanese quality thing. American cars never seem to last as long in my experience.
 
Skip any economy or smaller car. They have to cut corners and also the lower quality ride seems to rattle them apart as they age.

Mid size and up seem to hold together better. Even "quality" brands like Toyota, Honda smaller offerings feel like tin cans after 10 years vs the larger counter part. (Eg Corolla vs Camry , civic vs accord, focus vs fusion etc)
 
Originally Posted By: LoneRanger
BMW... also stays looking classy. Something about beemers and 'cedes they age well as far as styling goes. Ten yr old beemer still looks classy.


Yes, my M5 aged well, as has my sister's 330i. But one needs to be cognizant of the scheduled maintenance and parts replacement with these cars (bimmers, benzes and Audi's) that add to the overall cost of the car during its lifetime.
 
The difference between the CRV and the Focus is noticeable.
Everything still works on the CRV, and it has most of the original rubber parts, like motor mounts and suspension bushings. The Focus has all 3 mounts replaced, both front A-arms(for ball joints). Little things like the rear wiper still works well on the CRV, doesn't on the Focus. CRV is slightly less rusty, but both are reasonable for our area.
Motor and trans are as good as new as far as I can tell in both ,but the CRV has more miles.

One front corner of the CRV is starting to get a little clunk in the bumps so I might be replacing a strut on it soon. But the struts overall still keep the ride pretty controlled.
Ford was pathetic when they didn't bother to extend the wheel well liner a 1/2" to protect the bottom edge of the quarter panel. The Focus has few more rattles in the bumps from the dash now, the CRV is pretty silent. The electrics in the Focus are starting to go too, down to one speaker on the radio and the rear window switches for the driver don't work. Kind of minor stuff, but its nice not to fool around with that.
Anyways there is a reason the CRV resale is quite a bit higher.
Ford got the steering 100% better than the CRV and for an econo box the suspension design works pretty well even with some summer tires for autocross. Very controllable and steerable with the throttle for autocross in the quicker corners.
 
Another thing - can I expect a compact car to last as well as a mid-size? What about a small SUV? I guess I'm asking whether compact cars tend to be built more to a price point than their larger peers.
 
Originally Posted By: LoneRanger
BMW... also stays looking classy. Something about beemers and 'cedes they age well as far as styling goes. Ten yr old beemer still looks classy.
So do the repair bills.
 
The ride and handling of my 2002 Lincoln still feels essentially the same when I got in 7 years ago with 22,000 miles...not at 71,000, all with original suspension. 2nd set of tires at 20K now. Its appearance/paint/interior are not drastically different either. It's retained most of its quality. Then again, it had already depreciated 75% by 2009. And now another 45% since then. So while the quality is holding up....the price continues to chug downwards.

Quality is not always reflected in price though I'm sure some people assume price is a direct reflection of quality. Market pricing is based on consumer supply vs. demand.
 
Originally Posted By: madRiver
Skip any economy or smaller car. They have to cut corners and also the lower quality ride seems to rattle them apart as they age.

Mid size and up seem to hold together better. Even "quality" brands like Toyota, Honda smaller offerings feel like tin cans after 10 years vs the larger counter part. (Eg Corolla vs Camry , civic vs accord, focus vs fusion etc)
You don't know much about Corollas.
 
Originally Posted By: NateDN10
Another thing - can I expect a compact car to last as well as a mid-size? What about a small SUV? I guess I'm asking whether compact cars tend to be built more to a price point than their larger peers.

I would think so, but buying new and running for 10 years, the $15k box is going to cost much less than the $25k suv.
I still prefer the Focus by a country mile because I like driving it, and it gets much better mileage. The CRV would burn ~$800 more in gas per year which easily pays for the extra repairs the Focus needed.
Also it depends on your roads, I do only 60 mph on excellent roads, so almost anything runs quiet and smooth. If your chopping across the midwest on cupped concrete at 80mph you should pick your car carefully, many midsize won't work well for that either.
 
I've got a 2004 Buick Rainier SUV with 176K miles on the clock, and it runs very well for a 12-year-old vehicle. It's got the 5.3-liter V8 with AWD. Leather interior has held up very well, too. Exterior still looks good after twice-a-year waxing with Collinite 845 -- no rust whatsoever. When driving, this mid-size, body-on-frame SUV feels like a very heavy vehicle, and gas mileage is around 18 mpg overall. I'll keep it until it dies.
 
Originally Posted By: madRiver
Skip any economy or smaller car. They have to cut corners and also the lower quality ride seems to rattle them apart as they age.


Exactly. Automakers have to give us consumers a reason to want to purchase their higher level models. Or else we'd all be rolling around happily in econoboxes that give great fuel economy and are quiet and smooth as a 70's Caddy

What kind of world would that be?!?!
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Originally Posted By: LoneRanger
BMW... also stays looking classy. Something about beemers and 'cedes they age well as far as styling goes. Ten yr old beemer still looks classy.


Agreed- my wife's 2004 X3 at 12 years and 187,000 miles:
X3%20Ext_zpswc4ni7le.jpg

X3%20Int_zpsvqcztyyr.jpg
 
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