Your Most RELIABLE, TROUBLE-FREE Vehicle?

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For us it has to be our fleet purchased 2004 3500 GMC Savana. Loaded up brand new with cleaning equipment, ran it to 500k miles with almost zero repairs. This truck weighed over 9k pounds every day of it's life and was sold still running great with zero smoke, no leaks, cold AC, etc. Definitely a freak!
 
My 1996 Contour with the 2.0L Zetec and 5 sp manual. I still have it at 115,000 miles, barely broken in. The only "major" repair was replacing the rear struts twice, the factory struts and Motorcraft replacement struts. I have Gabriel struts on there now. I did 1 set of replacement brakes, 3 batteries, tires and normal fluid changes. It still runs great and is a blast to drive for a car that turned 23 years old this past December
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. The other most reliable vehicle was my wife's 1996 Explorer Sport, the short wheel base version. It was totally trouble free for 155,000 miles when she unfortunately sold it to buy a new 2002 Explorer that was a total piece of junk. She unloaded the 2002 at 37,000 miles because it needed the timing chain cassette repair job costing over $3,000
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. She unloaded the 2002 for a new 2005 4.6 V-8 Explorer. I'm still using it at over 195,000 miles. It needed some repairs but when you consider how old it is and how many miles are on it the repair costs over the years are not major.

Whimsey
 
My 1983 Silverado with the reliable 305, bought new in June 83 and she's been my daily driver since, 230K on the clock, keep her tuned and 3K oil changes, original block, heads and manifolds, tranny rebuilt twice.

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Some that really stand out in my memory. 1980 MB W123 200D, nothing much to say about that tank of a car, its probably one of the best cars ever made, to me the W123 cars and the older W186 and W189 Adenauer 300 models are the gold standard for longevity and reliability. 1986 Toyota Corolla GTI Euro spec over 450K km without a breakdown or major repair just routine maintenance, 1996 Subaru Legacy 2.2 EJ engine automatic AWD. 300K miles with only front CV axles, fuel filler tube and brake jobs, timing belt w/wp etc. IMO the 2.2 EJ with its closed deck was possibly Subaru's best engine, not fast but reliable as it gets.
Some of the VW cars have been very reliable also.
 
Originally Posted by Trav
Some that really stand out in my memory. 1980 MB W123 200D, nothing much to say about that tank of a car, its probably one of the best cars ever made, to me the W123 cars and the older W186 and W189 Adenauer 300 models are the gold standard for longevity and reliability. 1986 Toyota Corolla GTI Euro spec over 450K km without a breakdown or major repair just routine maintenance, 1996 Subaru Legacy 2.2 EJ engine automatic AWD. 300K miles with only front CV axles, fuel filler tube and brake jobs, timing belt w/wp etc. IMO the 2.2 EJ with its closed deck was possibly Subaru's best engine, not fast but reliable as it gets.
Some of the VW cars have been very reliable also.



My dad leased a 1984 300D-Turbo. The really odd thing was that our next door neighbor also had one. It was really weird too because our dog could recognize the sound of that engine. Sounded like marbles rattling around. Even when the neighbor got home our dog would start jumping from the sound of the inline-5.
 
Awesome cars in every way, their lack of high speed on the non turbo diesels was more than made up for with the sweet sound of that diesel engine at high rpm (for a diesel).
 
Interesting some of these vehicles list transmission and even an engine rebuild. True some are really old vehicles, but I think some of us are more forgiving of major work than others.

My Dakota at 130-some K miles would never make my list because I had to put heads on it at 105K. But at 2K miles per year now, it may outlast me before it needs them again.
 
The G37 has been pretty good, with few repairs. My 1990 Town Car is pretty close in that regard. I only did two repairs on the thing in four years, which was sealing an air ride suspension leak and replacing a headlight switch. Everything else was maintenance. On the other hand, the Town Car had very easy miles, with almost no city driving.

Some of the cabs went very long distances, but that's a different usage pattern and a different time period, one where seasonal changing of the thermostat, let alone the oil, was considered normal practice. With the small block Chevy engines, my dad pretty much considered a cam replacement an early maintenance issue, and just never fretted about it.

The F-150 cannot make the list because it has a carb and the previous owner's maintenance was beyond atrocious.
 
Most reliable ever was a 1988 VW Jetta Carat; 180K miles with only an alternator, clutch cable and a few window switches as non routine maintenance.

Of recent, it was my 2001 Honda S2000.
 
My current daily driver.....2006 Chevy 2500HD, Over 400,000 with nothing but maintenance items except a couple sets of transmission cooler lines. Engine, Transmission, Starter, Alternator, Radiator/Hoses, PS Pump/Hydroboost/Hoses, AC Compressor, Injectors, Injection Pump, U-Joints/Carrier Bearing, Wheel Bearings, Engine/Trans mounts, & Every Sensor on the truck is still original!
 
I really haven't put crazy miles on many cars that I have owned so here is mine.

2010 Mazda3 GT Sedan (2.5L - 6MT) - IIRC I traded it in with ~85k miles (maybe a bit more) and the only problem I ever had with it was the HVAC re-circulation door gear stripping out causing it to rapidly rat-tat-tat while changing modes, that was a warranty repair ~32k miles and never reoccurred. Only thing I ever spent on that car over the course of 4 years was for oil changes, cabin filters, air filter, wiper blades and tires - didn't have to do any brakes or anything else over that time. I will go on record in saying that is one car I still miss and regret trading in - wish I had hung onto it.
 
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I believe my best car was I think a 1960? getting old cant remember the year.was a studbaker lark eight.
only trouble I ever had was a leaky radiator. looked like a little box..
 
Originally Posted by clinebarger
My current daily driver.....2006 Chevy 2500HD, Over 400,000 with nothing but maintenance items except a couple sets of transmission cooler lines. Engine, Transmission, Starter, Alternator, Radiator/Hoses, PS Pump/Hydroboost/Hoses, AC Compressor, Injectors, Injection Pump, U-Joints/Carrier Bearing, Wheel Bearings, Engine/Trans mounts, & Every Sensor on the truck is still original!



A good truck for sure. How does GM get those two piece driveshafts with 3 u-joints and a carrier bearing to hold up for so long?
 
Originally Posted by HangFire
Interesting some of these vehicles list transmission and even an engine rebuild. True some are really old vehicles, but I think some of us are more forgiving of major work than others.

My Dakota at 130-some K miles would never make my list because I had to put heads on it at 105K. But at 2K miles per year now, it may outlast me before it needs them again.


Considering they started building the W186 around 1950 or 51 yes they are getting very old, multiple owners, who knows what for maintenance if you are lucky enough to get a true survivor not something oily rag restored.
Literally hundreds of thousands of these vehicles were in daily taxi service over the decades they were in production (usually 4 cyl diesel) and the norm in this sort of service was about a million KM. MB didn't consider the engine broken in properly till it had 100K KM (60K miles) on it.

In the German owners manual it said in black and white the life expectancy of this car is 30 years. That assumes the car is properly maintained and serviced using OE parts which in Germany is the norm not the exception. This was my W123 200D 4 spd stick at 25 yrs old the day I sold it, it was flawless and all original. Notice the nice slim Euro bumpers.






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Originally Posted by SteveSRT8
A good truck for sure. How does GM get those two piece driveshafts with 3 u-joints and a carrier bearing to hold up for so long?

Not sure I understand your question. Nothing inherently wrong with multipiece driveshafts, all MD trucks have them. At work we have a truck with a 4-piece drive shaft. As long as sufficiently beefy U-joints and carrier bearings are spec'd, they will be troublefree.
 
Originally Posted by Trav
Originally Posted by HangFire
Interesting some of these vehicles list transmission and even an engine rebuild. True some are really old vehicles, but I think some of us are more forgiving of major work than others.

My Dakota at 130-some K miles would never make my list because I had to put heads on it at 105K. But at 2K miles per year now, it may outlast me before it needs them again.


Considering they started building the W186 around 1950 or 51 yes they are getting very old, multiple owners, who knows what for maintenance if you are lucky enough to get a true survivor not something oily rag restored.
Literally hundreds of thousands of these vehicles were in daily taxi service over the decades they were in production (usually 4 cyl diesel) and the norm in this sort of service was about a million KM. MB didn't consider the engine broken in properly till it had 100K KM (60K miles) on it.

In the German owners manual it said in black and white the life expectancy of this car is 30 years. That assumes the car is properly maintained and serviced using OE parts which in Germany is the norm not the exception. This was my W123 200D 4 spd stick at 25 yrs old the day I sold it, it was flawless and all original. Notice the nice slim Euro bumpers.






What I would give for a early-mid 80's W123 300D - anyone who has a good example nowadays hangs onto them until they are ready for the scrap yard.
 
Toss up between a 1991 S-10 Blazer and 1998 Pontiac Bonneville.

I personally drove the Blazer to 280,000 miles and gave it to a buddy who drove it to 400,000

Couple of water pumps, brakes, 2 oil pressure sending units. 1 pitman arm, one idler arm, 1 intake gasket.


Bonneville went 280,000 when I sold it, still bumming around the area.
 
Just the a side note...I always love the guys on the original clutch with those miles. 1. It is because you don't make enough power to break anything. 2. It never sees the track 3. Burnouts are fun you should try it sometime. :
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WS6 is 68,000 miles. Clutch number 3. To be fair the last and current clutch are Mcleod twin disk. The don't last like a stock clutch.
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