Originally Posted by jeepman3071
Originally Posted by supton
Originally Posted by Toyt1219
I used to think my 1997 Camry xle v6 was as good as a car could get. Simple robust systems with good build quality.
My 2012 Camry has actually been more maintenance free, however, the 1997 seemed more solid.
My experience would mirror that--my '99 has needed a "pile" of work yet my wife's '11 has been pretty much free of anything not in the manual (outside of brakes once and a battery, and a bunch of tires). But her car seems big, floaty, isolated, and not of quality. It's getting the job done, but nothing about it invokes any sort of feeling--other than sleepiness. Then again my '99 isn't exactly a riot to drive.
It's just dirt simple.
There's something about many newer cars that just makes them feel "cheap" or I guess a better phrase would be built to a price point. A friend (the one with the 08 Taco) recently picked up a 2000 Honda Civic with 158k miles for 1500 bucks as a commuter car. He drives 90-100 miles a day like I do, and the Taco is getting very expensive fuel-wise. I drove the Civic the 40 miles back to his house, and it felt very solid. Obviously being a 2000s Honda it had the typical road and wind noise of an economy car, but there were zero clunks, and zero rattles. The car has been well maintained, but so has his mom's 2011 Civic. The 2011 has plenty of rattles and buzzing sounds in comparison, with similar mileage. Same with the 2008 Tacoma, lots of rattles on the inside.
The same can be said when comparing my 2009 BMW E90 to a friend's 2015 F30 335i. His has less miles and he complains how mine has virtually no interior rattles and his has many.
It's probably because all the parts either fell off or rubbed enough to get enough clearance to stop the squeak!