What's the life expectancy of my car?
Automakers would just love it if we went out and bought a new car every few years. But not all of us are hitting the showrooms with that frequency. Mike in Maine, for example, wants to know how long his car will keep going.
I’m driving a 1993 Toyota Camry with over 235,000 miles. I have spent about $2,000 in maintenance on the car since 1996, when I bought it with 64k on the odometer. The car runs fine and drives fine. What’s the useful life of a car these days? No one can tell me the average life I should expect from this engine or transmission.
Mike T., Portland, Maine
You should be driving down the road with a big smile on your face, because you certainly got your money’s worth from that Camry. Consumer Reports says the average life expectancy of a new vehicle these days is around 8 years or 150,000 miles. Of course, some well-built vehicles can go 15 years and 300,000, if properly maintained.
There’s no way to tell how much longer your car will stay trouble-free, but somewhere down the road, even with the best maintenance, a major part is going to fail. “When a vehicle exceeds 200,000 miles you are riding on borrowed time and the car is paying you back,” says John Ibbotson at the Consumer Reports Auto Test Center.
In its April issue, Consumer Reports released the results of its annual car reliability survey. “Asian vehicles are by far the most reliable,” the editors say. Japanese and Korean vehicles had, on average 12 problems per 100 vehicles. U.S. makers “have been edging closer to the Asians in reliability,” the magazines reports, with an average of 18 problems per 100 vehicles. European manufacturers are still “the most unreliable overall,” with 21 problems per 100 vehicles.
By the way, even if you don’t have any mechanical problems any time soon, you might consider getting a new car, if you can afford it, for another reason. A new or even slightly-used vehicle would have a number of important safety features that are not on your 1993 Camry.
By Herb Weisbaum
MSNBC contributor
Updated: 8:50 a.m. ET March 28, 2006
Herb Weisbaum answers your questions on consumer issues
I’m driving a 1993 Toyota Camry with over 235,000 miles. I have spent about $2,000 in maintenance on the car since 1996, when I bought it with 64k on the odometer. The car runs fine and drives fine. What’s the useful life of a car these days? No one can tell me the average life I should expect from this engine or transmission.
Mike T., Portland, Maine
You should be driving down the road with a big smile on your face, because you certainly got your money’s worth from that Camry. Consumer Reports says the average life expectancy of a new vehicle these days is around 8 years or 150,000 miles. Of course, some well-built vehicles can go 15 years and 300,000, if properly maintained.
There’s no way to tell how much longer your car will stay trouble-free, but somewhere down the road, even with the best maintenance, a major part is going to fail. “When a vehicle exceeds 200,000 miles you are riding on borrowed time and the car is paying you back,” says John Ibbotson at the Consumer Reports Auto Test Center.
In its April issue, Consumer Reports released the results of its annual car reliability survey. “Asian vehicles are by far the most reliable,” the editors say. Japanese and Korean vehicles had, on average 12 problems per 100 vehicles. U.S. makers “have been edging closer to the Asians in reliability,” the magazines reports, with an average of 18 problems per 100 vehicles. European manufacturers are still “the most unreliable overall,” with 21 problems per 100 vehicles.
By the way, even if you don’t have any mechanical problems any time soon, you might consider getting a new car, if you can afford it, for another reason. A new or even slightly-used vehicle would have a number of important safety features that are not on your 1993 Camry.
By Herb Weisbaum
MSNBC contributor
Updated: 8:50 a.m. ET March 28, 2006
Herb Weisbaum answers your questions on consumer issues
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