But to America, these cars were new, different, cheap and dependable. Reclining bucket seats, a clock that worked, a five speed, 30 miles per gallon, and without a Detroit brand name. Suddenly folks in Des Moines tasted the auto equivalent of plain white rice and discovered it wasn’t poisonous.This made me think about my old Subaru station wagon. We got it when #1 Son was 1. See, it was the end of the quarter, and with the promotions, I could buy it for rediculously small money (maybe $12,000 - this was back in 1993).
Well, we drove that car for 130,000 miles, and I think that the only maintenance we had to do was changing the oil and tires. And we weren't the only ones - Maine is full of Subaru 4WD station wagons. Inexpensive, reliable, practical. Yeah, they're boring, too, but anything that gets us through a bunch of trips with the kids - without complaining (the car, not the kids) - is a home run.
Haven't had anything nearly as reliable since.
In my driveway is a 2000 Nissan Maxima with 320,000 miles on it. The most significant maintenance item was replacing the starter about 50,000 miles ago.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was growing up, Papa Raptor had a Mazda 626 from the late 80s. He sold it in '97 or '98 because it was starting to develop some electrical issues, but if I recall right it had well north of 200,000 (maybe 300,000) miles on the odometer.
ReplyDeleteI got my first, used, well junked actually, Toyota in 1978. It's body was a piece of crap, but mechanically it was in great shape. I drove that for two years and then replaced it with another junked Toyota that I rebuilt. Drove that until the seat fell through the floor boards, and got another junked Toyota that I rebuilt. I drove that until it started to stall for no apparent reason and couldn't be fixed.
ReplyDeleteAll of them were better than the Ford Escort I got in 1985.
In 2000 we bought a former Enterprise Rent A Car Camry with about 13,000 miles on it. Since then it's been nothing but Toyotas for us because of value and reliability.
Except for maybe Nissan, Toyota is the best value per car buying dollar out there.
I still don't understand why a transportation tool is "boring" in a bad way when it functions flawlessly.
ReplyDeleteI hope my firearms, parachute and birth control are boring too.
$12K for a Subaru 4WD wagon? It has been a very long time since you bought one then. I looked at full size 4WD F150s for what a Subaru Forester goes for now.
ReplyDeleteThey may run well and forever, but they ain't the initial deal they once were.
Hunter
Alaska
hunting for a new car right now. The Subarus have a reputation for being very long lived and dependable vehicles. The AWD really appeals to me. If only I could afford one right now. But, I have two Mercedes in college, so the Subaru will have to wait.
ReplyDelete